In Focus by The Hindu

It’s hard to imagine a world without plastic now – plastic exists in almost every sphere of our life. Microplastics, the tiny toxic particles that plastics shed and that are scattered across the environment have been found everywhere – from clouds, to the bottom of the ocean, in Antarctica and even in our bodies – we swallow them and we breathe them in. In a recent study published in The New England Journal of Medicine however, researchers found microplastics and nanoplastics – which are even smaller particles – inside our innermost organ -- in the fatty deposits or plaques that can accumulate in the blood vessels of the heart. They also found that those with these plastics in their blood vessels had a greater risk of experiencing heart attacks, strokes or death. However, they have cautioned this was only a link and not proof that plastics led to bad health – much more research is needed to establish how plastics really affect our health.The study comes at a time when the world and India is attempting to ban plastic and encourage people towards sustainable, plastic-free options – but this is happening very slowly, as we can see all around us, in daily life and in the massive landfills in our city.What can micro and nanoplastics do to the human body? What is the direction research into this must take? And how can we minimise our exposure to plastic pollution?Guest: Dr Sanjay Rajagopalan, one of the authors of the study and Chief, Cardiovascular Medicine and Chief Academic and Scientific Officer at University Hospitals, Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute, Ohio, United StatesHost: Zubeda Hamid Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Exploring the revelations of electoral bond details, concerns about quid pro quo relationships, questionable company donations, controversies surrounding political donations, and the need for thorough investigations into irregularities in electoral bond practices.

Pre-dawn air strikes by Pakistan on Afghan territory targeting Tehreek-e-Taliban, or TTP, militants on the 19th of March mark a new low in relations between Kabul and Islamabad. Pakistan claims that it retaliated against TTP strongholds in Afghanistan following a terror strike in North Waziristan on the 16th of March in which 7 Pakistani security personnel were killed. The Taliban claim that eight women and children were killed in the Pakistani air raids. A spokesman for the group warned of dire consequences even as Taliban border forces attacked Pakistani positions. What do these events spell for Pakistan-Taliban relations? Has the wheel come full circle for Rawalpindi which was responsible for the creation of the Taliban and was vociferous in welcoming the return of the group to Kabul in 2021? What can we expect in the weeks and months ahead? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The 2024 Lok Sabha polls will be held from April 19 in seven phases across the country. In Bihar, West Bengal, and Uttar Pradesh, voting will take place in all the seven phases. Assembly elections will also be held simultaneously in Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh. The last phase of voting will be on June 1 and counting will take place on June 4.This parliamentary election will be the second longest polling exercise in India’s electoral history. The longest one was the country’s first general election, which was held over a five-month period from September 1951 to February 1952. But the 2004 Lok Sabha polls, for instance, were held in four phases – between April 20 and May 10 – they were over in 20 days. The 1998 elections took place in just three phases – on February 16, 22nd and 28th – over two weeks.So what has changed between 1998 or 2004, and 2024 -- that we seem to have become so much slower?Why does India need seven phases and one-and-a-half months to hold general elections? How do other big democracies like Indonesia manage it in one day? And what are the pros and cons of having a multi-phase election?To discuss, we are joined by MG Devasahayam, a former IAS officer who is also Coordinator, Citizens Commission on Elections.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s that time of the year again, when exams are looming, and students are stressed. Most students in India write a number of exams -- from the final boards at schools to the multiple competitive tests that are attempted to try and get a seat at coveted medical or engineering colleges. The process is so difficult – lakhs of students competing for a few thousand seats that coaching them for these exams has become a massive business at several cities across the country. Kota in Rajasthan, one of these hubs has been in the news recently over student suicides – 26 students died by suicide last year, and this year there have already been six deaths.  How can the mental health of students be protected at a challenging time in their lives? What should the role of parents, teachers and other stakeholders be? What can be done to bring down the number of deaths by suicide? And what happened to the National Suicide Prevention Strategy that the Indian government announced in 2022? Guest: Dr Soumitra Pathare, director, Centre for Mental Health, Law & Policy Host: Zubeda Hamid  Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

NITI Aayog B.V.R. Subrahmanyam recently claimed that less than 5% of Indians now live below the poverty line. He made the claim based on the findings of the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES), 2022-23. Mr. Subrahmanyam argued that the average consumption expenditure in the bottom 5% of India’s population, as estimated by the survey, is about the same as the poverty line in India, suggesting that the poverty rate in India is somewhere in the range of 0 to 5%.Has poverty really dropped to 5% in India? Here we discuss the question. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The resignation of Arun Goel as Election Commissioner just ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections has created ripples in Indian politics. For the first time since 1993, a single-member Election Commission is currently supervising poll preparations in the world’s largest democracy. There is no word on why Mr. Goel, who was handpicked by the BJP government, quit but some media reports point to differences with the Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar.So, what does Mr. Goel’s resignation spell? Will the Government rush to appoint two Election Commissioners under the new law that gives the political executive a majority in the selection process? Do Election Commissioners grow a spine after taking office?Guest: Nilanjan Mukhopadyay is a senior journalist and author, whose latest book is The Demolition and the Verdict: Ayodhya and the Project to Reconfigure India (2021). He has also authored The RSS: Icons of the Indian Right (2019) and Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times (2013).Host: Amit Baruah, Senior Associate Editor, The HinduEdited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With peak summer approaching, Bengaluru is already facing a water crisis. The city, which is dependent on the Cauvery river and groundwater for its freshwater needs, remains vulnerable to drought in the dry seasons and flooding in the monsoon months. With its bore wells having to contend with receding water tables, and tankers having to travel increasingly longer distances to fetch water, there is a big question mark over the city’s water security.This was not always the case -- India’s IT capital used to have a system of tanks and parks that gave it water resilience. What happened to this infrastructure? How much water does the city need? What is the shortfall? And how can the shortfall be bridged in a sustainable way? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The 164 member world trade organisation holds what it calls a Ministerial Conference – a once in two years meeting of all its member countries to discuss, negotiate and address global trade rules. WTO’s thirteenth ministerial conference, or MC13 – took place in Abu Dhabi in late February this year, but it failed to make headway on key agenda items. Such failures in negotiations have come to plague the WTO lately. Yet, despite this, failed outcomes are often touted as major victories by member counties. Like in India’s case, where Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal claimed a win for the country’s farmers, when India’s position on demanding sovereignty over public stock holding of food, and providing largely artesanal fishing nations, subsidies for fisheries failed to reach consensus. Two more demands of developing countries – the first – lifting the moratorium on levying customs duty on e-commerce, and second, a reconstitution of the WTO’s dispute settlement appellate body, remained unresolved as well. And yet, why are these key wins for developing nations? Guest: Ranja Sengupta from the global non-profit – Third World NetworkHost: Kunal Shankar, The Hindu’s Deputy Business EditorEdited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pakistan’s new Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has his task cut out for him. From steering the economy out of choppy waters to dealing with a belligerent opposition that continues to contest the results of February’s general elections, Mr. Sharif has to show that he is up to the job.  As Cabinet formation and election of a new President await Pakistan, Mr. Sharif will also be watched for his ability to deal with the country’s permanent establishment – the Army. Will the fact that he has more patience than his brother Nawaz Sharif allow for political stability in governance? To discuss these issues, I am joined from Karachi by Shahzeb Jillani, co-host of Dawn TV’s current affairs show, Zara Hut Kay. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices