In Focus by The Hindu

Chess has a new world champion – 30-year-old Ding Liren from China. He defeated Russia’a world no. 2 Ian Nepomniatchi to become only the 17th player in chess history to wear this crown. He is the first ever Chinese and the first Asian since Viswanathan Anand to be achieve this.This year’s world title championship match took place under the looming absence of defending champion Magnus Carlsen, who refused to defend his title citing a lack of motivation. Interestingly enough, speaking to the media after his victory, Liren remarked, “For me, it’s not so important to become world champion. I always wanted to become the best player in the world.” Will Liren, who wears the mantle of ‘world champion’, be accepted as the best player in the world? Will Carlsen ever come back to pit himself against the new world champion? And what does it mean for the chess world to have its latest world champion from Asia, and from China in particular?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Between September 2022 and February 2023, eight cheetahs from Namibia and 12 from South Africa were translocated to India as part of an initiative to reintroduce the species in India, where it had gone extinct in the 1950s. The animals were released in the 748 sq km Kuno National Park (KNP) in Madhya Pradesh, and seemed to be doing well until, within a span of a month, two out of the 20 cheetahs died.Furthermore, one of the cheetahs was spotted in a village outside the national park area, sparking fears of cheetah-human conflict. The Madhya Pradesh Forest Department has asked the Centre for an “alternate” site for the cheetahs, citing lack of logistical support and space.Meanwhile, scientists from the Cheetah Research Project of the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Berlin, have published a letter in the journal, Conservation Science and Practice, stating that the translocation did not take into consideration the spatial ecology of cheetahs, as a result of which the animals are bound to come into conflict with people in the neighbouring villages.So, how serious is the problem of space for the cheetahs at the Kuno National Park? And what does wildlife science tell us about the spatial ecology of cheetahs?We speak with one of the scientists behind the letter on the spatial ecology of the translocated cheetahs, Dr Bettina Wachter, head of the Cheetah Research Project and a senior scientist at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW), Berlin.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Social media was abuzz recently with a controversy over Bournvita, a product that most of us have probably had as children. This sparked a discussion around all of the processed and packaged foods that are now widely available and consumed in the country. How healthy are these foods? With a lot of these items, it is not always easy to understand their nutritional content, going by the ingredients. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India or FSSAI is now considering introducing front of pack labelling – a regulation that will involve all brands indicating if the product is high in salt, sugar or fat, right at the front of the product. Several countries across the world have brought in such regulations, in order to make consumers more aware about what is in various products.So do our processed and packaged foods contain too much sugar, salt or fat? Are unhealthy eating habits contributing to obesity, heart disease and diabetes? How much salt or sugar should we be consuming on a daily basis, and do we, as a country, consume too much? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sudan is once again on the verge of a civil war. Fighting erupted on April 15 between two military factions, leading to the death of more than 400 civilians, and leaving around 3,700 injured so far. One of the factions is headed by Lt. Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the commander of the country’s military, and the other is led by Lt. Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who controls a state-sponsored paramilitary outfit known as the Rapid Support Forces or the RSF.The fighting has destroyed civilian infrastructure such as airports, hospitals and roads in a country already devastated by years of conflict. Different countries, including India, are scrambling to evacuate their citizens trapped in the country. With 3,000 Indians stuck in Sudan, the government has just started Operation Kaveri to evacuate them.So, what has caused this war to break out? What do the two Generals want? What are the implications of this conflict for Sudan’s democratic transition that was underway before this conflict erupted?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the 22nd of April, Pakistan announced that its Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will visit India for a multilateral meeting with his Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, or SCO, counterparts. The visit by a Pakistani Foreign Minister to India comes after a long gap. Also, on the 22nd of April, five Indian soldiers were killed close to the Line of Control, pointing out yet again the dangers of unabated terrorism in the country. The abrogation of Article 370 and reducing Jammu & Kashmir to a Union Territory in August 2019 has not helped in ending terrorism, belying the tall claims of the Modi government. At the same time, Islamist forces and hardline Hindu groups have ensured that dialogue and contact between Pakistan and India is almost non-existent. Can a Bilawal Bhutto visit change anything on the ground?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Tiger Census 2022, released recently, estimates that India has 3,167 tigers at present. This is a slight increase from the figure in 2018’s report, which was 2,967. Project Tiger first began in 1973 when there was an alarming decline of the national animal. From the nine reserves the country had in 1973, there are now 53 reserves, spanning over 75,000 sq km, roughly 2.3% of India’s land area. Since 2006, a tiger census has been carried out every four years. There are, however, criticisms with regard to the methodologies adopted.What do the numbers revealed in the current census mean for tiger conservation? What are the major threats facing tigers at present? Can India support bigger tiger numbers, and if so, what can be done to achieve this? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There finally seems to be some movement towards a peace settlement in the Yemen civil war, which has been raging for nine years now. The Iran-backed Houthi rebels, who have been fighting the Saudi coalition forces, are now in talks with Saudi Arabia with Omani mediation. Although the negotiations are expected to take time before they yield results, there is some optimism in the air as the talks are happening in the aftermath of a China-mediated agreement between Iran and Saudi Arabia to resume diplomatic relations.While war fatigue could be one trigger behind the talks, another seems to be a clear shift in Saudi Arabia’s foreign policy engineered by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS). In recent months, in stark contrast to the aggressive foreign policy that he started out with --- starting the war in Yemen, the failed blockade of Qatar, the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey, the house arrest of Lebanon’s Prime Minister and so on – MBS seems to have made a conscious switch to a more tactical foreign policy centred on building relations with all the key powers in the region.So, what are the contours of Saudi Arabia’s new foreign policy? What prompted it? And does it signal a more peaceful West Asia in the long run? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Education Ministry has released the pre-draft of the National Curriculum Framework for school education, or NCF-2023, for public feedback and comments. The document, which was last revised in 2005, has a critical role to play in determining pedagogical approaches and how textbooks are designed.Some key recommendations of NCF-2023 that have made headlines include: board exams twice a year, a semester system for Class 12, and giving students the option of pursuing a mix of courses from science, humanities and commerce rather than splitting them into exclusive streams.What are the implications of the changes proposed by NCF 2023? Are they what the Indian school system needs? How will they get reflected in the schooling experience of students going forward? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The mafia-style execution of former legislator Atiq Ahmed and his brother, Khalid Azim, by three assailants on the night of April 15 in Prayagraj, while speaking to reporters on camera has again turned the spotlight on the absence of the rule of law in Uttar Pradesh. Two days earlier, on the 13th of April, Atiq’s son, Asad Ahmed, was killed in an alleged encounter with the police in Jhansi.The killings come days after Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath told the State Assembly that he would smash the mafia in his state to the ground.In March this year, Atiq Ahmed wrote to the Supreme Court that he might be killed in a fake encounter with the U.P. police. His fears were proven correct. Both Atiq and Asad were accused in the murder of a political rival in February. Atiq, a former leader of the Samajwadi Party and the Apna Dal, had more than 100 criminal cases against him.More than 180 alleged criminals have been shot dead in so-called police encounters in the last six years that Adityanath has been the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh.So, what does the sensational execution of Atiq and his brother tell us about the state of law and order in Uttar Pradesh? Can the rule of law be restored in a state where the police has been seen as aggressive and high-handed?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's back in the news and it's back everywhere. Covid-19, which seemed to be going away, has had a resurgence in India recently, with the data as of April 14, showing that over 11,000 new cases have been recorded. While this particular sub-variant, XBB.1.16, is believed to be mild and not as virulent as last 2021's Delta variant, the government is taking the surge in cases seriously, and has asked States to remain prepared, in terms of beds, oxygen and adequate testing kits. The country has so far administered over 220 crore doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, though booster dose coverage remains low at about 16%.Do we need to worry about this current surge in cases? Who needs to take the booster? Will Covid-19 continue to lie low and emerge occasionally with a spurt in cases, and what precautions should we take? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices