In Focus by The Hindu

The 22nd edition of the FIFA men’s World Cup will kick off in Qatar on November 20. The month-long tournament is one of biggest sporting events on the planet, followed by millions the world over. But this year’s event has been dogged by controversy ever since Qatar won hosting rights back in 2010.There have been allegations that Qatar bribed FIFA officials in order to win the bid. The host country has also faced criticism on its human rights track record, treatment of migrant workers, and restrictions on civil liberties. For their part, Qatari officials have termed all the criticism as unfair. So, how did a tiny Gulf nation with hardly any soccer tradition end up hosting the world cup? What’s in it for Qatar? Will the criticisms overshadow the event? And coming to the sport itself, how do the 32 teams stack up?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020), among other things, also envisaged what is being called ‘assessment reform’ – that is, changing the way school students are assessed. With this objective in mind, it recommended setting up a centralized, national-level assessment regulator called PARAKH – Performance Assessment, Review and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development.The government invited international consultants to bid for a contract to help set up PARAKH, and now three global nonprofits – Educational Testing Services (ETS), American Institutes for Research (AIR) and the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) – have expressed interest. So, how will having a centralized assessment regulator change the way assessments are done in India? Why do need the help of foreign consultants for setting up PARAKH -- do we lack the expertise in India? How will PARAKH help secure better educational outcomes for our students?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The 27th summit of the Conference of Parties (COP27) in Egypt comes on the back of extreme weather events that seem like a trailer of the climate catastrophe that awaits the planet: epic floods in Pakistan, heat waves in Europe, wildfires in Australia, to name a few. One theme has figured prominently so far: climate finance for mitigation and adaptation. Developing counties need about $2 trillion annually to cut their greenhouse emissions so that the world is on track to meet its net-zero targets. But will the rich counties, who account for 1/8th of the global population but half of all emissions, fulfill their moral responsibility? What happened to their promise to commit $100 billion annually from 2020?The other big theme of COP 27 is the impact of the Ukraine war, and a turn to new fossil fuel projects in different parts of the world – apparently as a temporary measure but which, if executed, could get locked in for a longer term. How are these issues playing out in COP 27?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his American counterpart Jo Biden met for over three hours on November 14, ahead of the G-20 meeting in Indonesia. It was their first face-to-face meeting as heads of state.Readouts from the two sides suggest that both Xi and Biden did some tough talking, reiterating old positions and supposed red lines. Both sides agreed to keep talking and resume engagement on climate change and issues related to global economic stability even as their differences persisted.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In late October, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) levied penalties exceeding Rs. 2000 crore, totally across two cases for anticompetitive practices. One was to do with what CCI called Google’s abuse of its dominant position in the mobile ecosystem. CCI said that mandatory pre-installation of the entire Google Mobile Suite, with no option to uninstall the same, and their prominent placement amounts to imposition of unfair condition on device manufacturers and thereby contravenes competition law. In the second case, CCI said making access to the Play Store dependent on mandatory usage of Google Play Billing System for paid apps and in-app purchases was one-sided, arbitrary and devoid of any legitimate business interest. A third complaint that the CCI is currently reviewing is against Google for allegedly denying market access to Smart TV makers who do not enter into licensing agreements with Google. To share his views on the topic, we have with us today Rahul Singh, Associate Professor, NLSIU Bangalore, who teaches Competition Law & Policy, Regulation, WTO and Jurisprudence. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On October 31 this year, the Supreme Court declared that the two-finger test - a test used on survivors of rape or sexual assault, was not only regressive and unscientific but also re-victimised and re-traumatised women. In a first, it also said that that any person who conducts this test in sexual assault cases shall be guilty of misconduct. Activists and survivors have for years, been calling for an end to be put to this test - which involves checking the laxity of a woman's vaginal muscles with two fingers. This is not the first time the Supreme Court has said it must not be used. In fact, the Union Health Ministry's 2014 guidelines too say the test must not be conducted. Experts say however, that the guidelines do not translate into change on the ground - that there still is not enough sensitisation and training of all the personnel involved in the reporting, examination and investigation of a sexual assault case.The problem in India is huge and multi-faceted -- the country, as per National Crime Records Bureau statistics, registered 31,677 cases of rape in 2021 -- an average of 86 a day. And this too, may be an under-reported number. Challenges for survivors range from the actual reporting of a case to the police station, to getting an FIR lodged, the medical examination and then navigating the court system. How much has changed since the Nirbhaya case shook the nation in December 2012 and led to the criminal law amendment of 2013? How much do the departments of police and health work together in cases where medical examinations and collection of evidence could be important to an investigation? How much of what is the law on paper translate into the experience of a survivor? And what can be done to make the process better and more sensitive?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The dates for the Gujarat assembly elections are out – polls will be held in two phases, on December 1 and 5, and the results will be declared on December 8. The BJP has been in power in Gujarat since 1995, for 27 years. But there has been little talk of anti-incumbency, with most analysts ,and an opinion poll, predicting another comfortable victory for the BJP.However, unlike in the past, this time with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the mix, many constituencies are expected to see a three-cornered contest, instead of a two-way contest between the BJP and the Congress. Which party is likely to lose ground due to the AAP factor – the Congress or the BJP? Is the splash made by AAP merely a social media phenomenon or has it made an impact on the ground as well? And what will be the significance of this election for the BJP, looking ahead to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Democrats have performed better than expected in U.S. midterm elections to the House of Representatives and the Senate. In the House, a Republican advantage looks to be slender and the Senate is still up for grabs with a couple of seats set to be the decider.Exit polls suggest that inflation and abortion were key issues in the minds of American voters. Nearly 60 per cent of voters surveyed said they were dissatisfied or angry with the U.S. Supreme Court overturning abortion rights.So, did the abortion issue allow the Democrats to perform better? Did it help in turnout at a time when President Joe Biden’s approval ratings are down?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Western powers, particularly the Group of Seven wealthy nations are working to fix a price cap on Russian oil. They expect major buyers in the West, Australia included, will comply and not buy Russian oil above the price cap. Their hope is that even countries that don’t formally subscribe to the cap, will use the opportunity to negotiate with Russia and buy the Urals crude at prices cheaper than even the price they now get – which is said to be at a 20-30% discount to global oil prices. The idea is to allow Russian oil to continue to flow in the global markets so that supply constraints don’t drive up prices and hence strengthen the possibility of a global recession that is already on the horizon.There's no saying if this will take off or fall apart, but the U.S. Treasury Department has been able to convince the G7 to go along with the proposal. We have with us today, David Wessel, Director, The Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy, Brookings Institution, and a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner as a journalist, to share some perspectives with us. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) of the Environment Ministry on October 18 cleared the proposal for the commercial cultivation of genetically modified (GM) mustard. The GM mustard variety, named Dhara Mustard Hybrid (DMH-11), has been developed by the Centre for Genetic Manipulation of Crop Plants at Delhi University.While this development has been welcomed by sections of the scientific community, it is being opposed by farmers and environmentalists. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court, in an interim order, has ordered “status quo” on the GEAC’s clearance, telling the government “Do not take any precipitative action”. It has posted the matter for hearing on November r10th.In the second part of this two-part Deep Dive podcast on the issues around the introduction of genetically modified mustard crop, we decode the socio-economic ramifications. For instance, given the certainty of GM crops contaminating non-GM ones, what happens to the right of farmers to not cultivate a GM crop? Can scientists take that call? What would be the impact on food security, famer livelihoods, and India’s agri-exports to GM-hostile markets such as Europe? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices