The Reserve Bank of India’s Monetary Policy Committee announced on Thursday (August 8) to keep the repo rate unchanged at 6.5% in its August 2024 meeting for the ninth consecutive time. It maintained its inflation projection for FY25 at 4.5 per cent.While announcing the MPC policy, Governor Shaktikanta Das noted that headline inflation reached 5.1 per cent in June 2024, driven by unexpected factors. Fuel prices remained in deflation for the tenth consecutive month, but food inflation surged. Food inflation contributed over 75 per cent to headline inflation in May and June. Vegetable prices alone accounted for roughly 35 per cent of June's inflation.Governor Das said that that the MPC cannot afford to ignore this, espicially in an environment of persisting high food inflation.Vegetables and pulses have kept headline retail inflation has been over 5 per cent for eight months in the last one year. However, retail core inflation — the non-food and non-fuel segment — moderated to a four-year low of 4.3 per cent in FY24. In fact, core inflation saw a historic low during May and June.Some experts believe that high food inflation is stopping the RBI from cutting rates. In fact, the Economic Survey has suggested that "India’s inflation targeting framework should consider targeting inflation, excluding food."The argument for the change is that core inflation is muted, meaning the domestic demand is weak. Core inflation measure the change in the cost of goods and services, but it does not include the food and energy sectors. A rate cut would help boost demand. Others say that food inflation is a very important component and it can't be excluded.In this podcast, V Nivedita spoke to Dipti Deshpande, Director and Principal Economist at CRISIL Limited, to decode the debate - should the RBI focus on core inflation while forming its monetary policy?Guest: Dipti Deshpande, Director and Principal Economist at CRISIL LimitedHost: V. NiveditaEdited by Jude Weston

Kamala Harris’s late entry in the Presidential race leaves her with just three months to roll out her campaign. What kind of campaign strategy will work best for Harris given her vulnerabilities, especially on the immigration issue, and her record as attorney general in California?As for the Republicans, their entire Presidential campaign had been designed keeping in mind a race against Biden. According to the Washington Post, Trump’s running mate JD Vance reportedly told donors in a private meeting that the Biden to Harris switch is a “political sucker punch”. What adjustments will the Trump campaign need to make, given that Harris doesn’t carry the ‘baggage’ that Biden does? We take a close look at how Team Trump and Team Harris are approaching the coming months of the Presidential race – what issues they would seek to highlight, what strategies they will adopt, and how they define their political vision. Guest: Varghese K George, The Hindu’s Resident Editor in New Delhi.Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The HinduEdited by Jude Francis Weston

Imane Khelif, an Algerian boxer, is now at the centre of a gender row at the Paris Olympics 2024. This controversy began after Angela Carini from Italy withdrew from her Round-16 bout with Khelif just after 46 seconds. After the decision was announced, Carini didn't shake Khelif's hand but cried in the ring on her knees. Later Carini said she hurt her nose after the opening punches.This led to a heated debate on social media. Many accuse the Algerian boxer of being male or transgender, calling it unfair to women's sports. J.K. Rowling and Elon Musk also joined the debate, questioning the decision made by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Simultaneously, several childhood pictures of Algerian boxer Imane Khelif surfaced on social media, aiming to prove that she is female.Along with Khelif, Taiwan's double world champion Lin Yu-ting was cleared to compete in Paris despite both being disqualified at the 2023 World Championships after failing the International Boxing Association (IBA) gender eligibility tests.Why is Khelif at the center of the controversy? What is the current IOC criteria for determining gender? What is the dispute between the IBA and IOC? How will the Olympic matches unfold in the coming days?Guest: YB Sarangi from The Hindu’s Sports Bureau.Host: Jude Francis WestonListen to more In Focus podcasts:

The national capital was rocked by student protests last month after three IAS aspirants tragically drowned when the basement library of their coaching centre flooded, following torrential rains. While a police case has been registered and arrests made, the students pointed out that safety norms are routinely violated at coaching centres and stormwater drains in the area were clogged, leading to water inundation. Just this week, a woman and her three-year-old son drowned in a drain in Delhi, again following heavy rains.India has a massive problem that is not acknowledged or recognised enough: preventable drowning deaths. As per the National Crime Records Bureau’s statistics for 2022, over 38,000 people died in India due to drowning, a little over nine percent of all deaths.Apart from deaths due to flooding, there are also multiple deaths due to accidental falls into water bodies, due to boats or other vessels capsizing or due to getting washed away in rivers while doing basic household work such as fetching water, washing clothes or bathing.What is the scenario with regard to drowning in India? Are we doing enough to prevent drowning deaths? What did India’s framework on drowning prevention, released last December say?Guest: Lopa Ghosh, Senior Communications Advisor at Global Health Advocacy IncubatorHost: Zubeda HamidEdited by Jude Francis Weston

The Union Budget has announced several changes to the tax regime for Long-term Capital Gains. The most controversial of them is the removal of indexation benefit for the calculation of long-term capital gains (LTCGs), which could have implications for tax obligations in real estate transactions.Many now fear that the tax obligations of ordinary investors will shoot up, that black money will flood into real estate as sellers seek to lower the paper value of the transaction, and that investors will now prefer short-term holdings rather than lobg-term ones.Are these apprehensions valid? What do these taxation changes mean for the middle income investor? How will the real estate market be impacted?Guest: Ravi Saraogi of Samasthiti Advisors, who is also a SEBI-registered investment advisor.Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu.Edited by Sharmada venkatasubramanian.

As the dust settles on the proposals that the Finance Minister made in the Budget earlier this month, some aspects have become clearer while questions remain on others.Budget 2024-25 saw several initiatives around employment and skilling being proposed. Do these form a good first step in addressing the jobs challenge the country faces? Or should the government have begun addressing the problem at the level of primary school and worked upwards?Guest: Amit Basole, Professor of Economics at Azim Premji UniversityHost: K. Bharat KumarEdited by Jude Francis Weston

The discussion dives into the Finance Minister's cautious stance on fiscal deficit and its implications. Special allocations for Andhra Pradesh and Bihar raise questions about federal priorities. The shift from cooperative to competitive federalism indicates a changing dynamic between central and state governments. Key reforms in education and employment highlight the need for better data and quality improvements. Additionally, the complexities of direct benefit transfers reveal challenges around digital infrastructure and equitable governance.

The case of a probationary IAS officer Puja Khedkar has exploded in the news recently. While a lot has been said and written with regard to Ms. Khedkar’s alleged demand for privileges and her use of a red-blue beacon on her private car made headlines, what has also come under the scanner is the disability quota in the All India Services – Ms. Khedkar has been accused of falsely claiming to have disabilities to use the quota. This was followed by India’s G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant calling for a “review” of the reservations for persons with disabilities, as he claimed they were being misused. And then, Telangana IAS officer, Smita Sabharwal questioned the need for this quota. Even as this continues to rage on social media platforms, what is not making the news quite as much is that there are candidates with disabilities who have qualified in the civil services exams but are yet to be placed. So why is the disability quota – and this quota alone – being targeted? What do the rules say with regard to this reservations? What is the certification process like and does this need changes or loopholes to be plugged? And why do there continue to be barriers for persons with disabilities who qualify in the exams? Guest: Rahul Bajaj, practicing lawyer, co-founder at Mission Accessibility, Senior Associate Fellow at the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy and adjunct faculty at BML Munjal University School of Law Host: Zubeda Hamid Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian. 

More than 170 people have been killed in violent clashes following massive protests by student groups seeking a reform of the country’s quota system for government jobs. While this is not the first time students have protested against reservations, the main bone of contention is the 30% reservation for freedom fighters and their descendants – a quota that the Sheikh Hasina government has always wanted to retain but which the protesting students oppose. The situation has somewhat calmed down after a Supreme Court order scrapping this quota.But what was the immediate trigger for the protests and violence? What do they signify for the Sheikh Hasina government, which has just come back to power for the fourth time? And will Sheikh Hasina publicly apologise for the mass deaths of protesters, as the students are demanding?Guest: Kallol Bhattacherjee from The Hindu’s Delhi Bureau.Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu.Edited by Jude Francis Weston

The BJP-led coalition government has lifted the ban on government employees taking part in activities of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, or RSS, an organisation which has been banned three times since India attained independence.The RSS was banned days after Gandhiji’s assassination by Nathuram Godse in 1948, during the Emergency by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and under civil society pressure after the demolition of the Babri Masjid in December 1992.Interestingly, the restriction on central government employees associating with the RSS remained in force during the first two terms of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and under Atal Bihari Vajpayee during his 1998-2004 terms.So, the question that arises is: why now? Is Modi trying to appease the RSS after facing an electoral setback? Didn’t RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat indirectly poke fun at Modi saying he wasn’t biological during the recent election campaign? Does this decision have anything to do with what appear to be efforts to remove Adityanath as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh?Guest: Nilanjan Mukhopadyay, independent journalist, columnist and author.Host: Amit Baruah, Senior Associate Editor, The Hindu.Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian.