In Focus by The Hindu

On May 20th, Russian forces managed to take control over the city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine. The ‘battle of aBakhmut’, which has been raging for nine months, has seen some of the bloodiest fighting in Europe since World War 2. With Ukraine investing a lot of its resources in defending the city, the fight for it took on a symbolic significance. In his speech to the U.S. Congress last year, President Volodymyr Zelensky even compared it to the decisive battle of Saratoga in the American war of independence.But now, thanks primarily to the Wagner Group, Bakhmut is in Russian hands. What are the strategic implications of the ‘fall’, so to speak, of Bakhmut? Is it a pyrrhic victory for the Russians, as Ukraine and western observers seem to suggest? Whose forces have been degraded more by this long-drawn battle of attrition? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Central government introduced the Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, 2023 in the Lok Sabha on March 29th this year. Generally speaking, the Bill exempts certain types of forest land from the protection afforded by the Act. It also expands the list of activities that can be carried out on forest land. Both these aspects have drawn an outcry from conservationists and environmentalists, who are saying that the amendment opens the doors for commercial exploitation of lands that were hitherto protected under this Act.The government has also not inspired much confidence regarding its intentions by sending the Bill to a Select committee of Parliament instead of referring it to the Standing committee on science, technology, environment, and forest for scrutiny. With the Parliamentary committee now accepting submissions on the Bill, there is renewed debate on its provisions and what they mean for India’s forests.Will this Bill safeguard India’s already depleted forests or does it dilute the protections?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This year’s French Open, which is starting on May 28th, will take place in the looming shadow of 14-time champion Rafael Nadal’s absence. It is also expected that this year could finally mark the long overdue transition in men’s tennis – from the domination of the Big Three of Nadal, Federer and Djokovic, to the next generation of players led by the likes of Carlos Alcaraz, Holger Rune and Jannik Sinner. On the women’s side, defending champion Iga Swiatek is under an injury cloud – though its reportedly not serious -- and it’s a typically open field, defined by a growing rivalry between this year’s Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka and Wimbledon winner Elena Rybakina. It is also possible that we could see a completely new women’s Grand Slam champion at Roland Garros this time. Who are favourites? Who are the dark horses? And can Djokovic take advantage of Nadal’s absence to notch up a record 23rd Grand Slam?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Even before the World Health Organisation announced this month that the Covid-19 pandemic no longer constituted a global emergency, the pandemic had begun to slowly fade from public memory. For some people however, health issues from the viral infection remain even months since they first contracted the infection: long Covid continues to haunt hundreds of people in the country. Long Covid has a wide variety of symptoms, often not easy to diagnose, potentially leaving many not even realising they have it or not knowing whom to seek help from. What is long Covid? How, and in whom, does it manifest? Now that the pandemic is no longer an emergency, what can be done to better understand and treat people with it in India? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Turkey’s high-stakes presidential elections are headed for a run-off. None of the candidates could cross the 50% mark needed to win the presidency in the first round, which took place on May 14. Now the incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his opponent Kemal Kilicdaroglu of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) will face each other once again on May 28.In the elections held last Sunday, Erdogan confounded pollsters – who had given the edge to Kilicdaroglu – by winning 49.51% of the vote, while Kilicdaroglu finished with 44.89%. The third candidate, Sinan Ogan of the right-wing nationalist ATA Alliance, secured 5.17% of the vote. He could play kingmaker ahead of the run-off. Meanwhile, in the Parliamentary polls, which also happened simultaneously, Erdogan’s party, the AKP secured a majority for its alliance with 266 seats, while the CHP managed 166 seats in the 600-member House.Who is the favourite as the country heads for the run-off? Who is the kingmaker Ogan likely to back? And how did Erdogan, despite public anger over his regime’s inept response to the February earthquake and a worsening cost-of-living crisis, manage to do so well?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Congress has returned to power in Karnataka with an emphatic victory. It has won 135 seats – more than double the BJP’s tally – and has increased its vote share by 5% from the last Assembly poll. While the BJP held on to its vote share, its seat share fell by one-third. All the high decibel campaigning by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah proved to be inadequate.How did the Congress manage to secure this victory? What were the main issues that decided the elections? And what does this poll result mean for the big Assembly elections that are due later this year, and of course the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We are living through an era of immense political and social turmoil. People have thought the same in many past eras too. But still, the enormity of the present is something that we cannot overlook. Assumptions about our collective self that evolved over decades have been challenged, and we seem to be in the search for alternative organizing principles. This is true for India, as is for the whole world. Professor Bhargava’s writings in the recent years, seek to address some fundamental questions about how we see ourselves and relate to one another. For Professor Bhargava, the Constitution of India represents the distilled wisdom of the founders of the nation. And it offers a moral compass as well as the institutional framework to create what we call Unity in diversity. In this episode, we are joined by Rajeev Bhargava who is one of the finest thinkers and political philosophers of our time. He is familiar to the readers of the Hindu, as a regular writer in our op-ed pages. We discuss with Professor Bhargava his faith in the Constitution, which he considers sacred and why he remains optimistic, regardless of the sectarianism that surrounds us all.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The recent announcement from the World Health Organization that COVID-19 would no longer be considered a public health emergency of international concern sort of threw a spanner in the works. Was this a message of hope? Is it true that COVID is really over? What about vaccination or masking? The questions were aplenty. Today we have with us Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, former chief scientist of the WHO and present chairperson of the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation in Chennai, to bring some clarity to the issue. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Delhi has been witnessing a series of demolition drives of working class neighbourhoods. These demolitions are being carried out as part of a ‘beautification’ drive ahead of the G-20 Summit in Delhi in September this year. Places where citizens’ homes were reduced to rubble included neighbourhoods in Mehrauli and Ghosiya Colony, Tughlaqabad, Kashmere Gate, and Moolchand Basti at Rajghat.Residents whose homes were destroyed have alleged that demolitions were carried out in complete violation of laws and rules that regulate demolitions and evictions. Many have said that eviction notices were only served as the bull dozers were rolling into their street.What are the laws that govern demolitions and evictions in Delhi? Did the municipal authorities follow them? How did the evictions affect livelihoods and the lives of children?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

About 60 have been killed, more than 230 injured, and thousands have been displaced following inter-ethnic clashes in Manipur. According to the state government, around 1,700 houses, including religious places, were burnt.The clashes followed months of mounting tensions over successive measures by the Manipur government that the state’s tribal groups believe to be against their interests. The immediate trigger for the conflict seemed to be an order of the Manipur High Court directing the State government to submit its recommendation -- to include the state’s majority Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribes list – to the Union Tribal Affairs Ministry by May 29.On May 3, as the All Tribal Students’ Union (ATSU), organised a ‘solidarity march’ to protest against this move, violence broke out, and spread to different parts of the state.So, what are the issues behind the communal clashes rocking the state? What are the moves by the state government that have proved controversial among the tribal populations? And what possible steps could lead to the restoration of peace in the state? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices