In Focus by The Hindu

Last week, Broadcom announced its decision to acquire VMWare for a humongous $61 billion. VMWare is known in technology circles for its specialisation in virtualising hardware assets. It offers app modernisation, and services across cloud, networking and security technologies. Broadcom designs, develops and manufactures a range of semiconductor and infrastructure software products.What did Broadcom see in this target firm? Is there complementarity? How can VMWare help Broadcom scale its offerings and/or raise revenue potential?Guest: Naveen Mishra, Senior Director Analyst at GartnerHost: K. Bharat KumarEdited by Ranjani Srinivasan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A high-profile Indian Administrative Service couple – Sanjiv Khirwar and Rinku Dugga – were shunted out of Delhi to Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh a few days ago. Their transfers came soon after ‘The Indian Express’ newspaper published a photo showing the couple walking their dog in New Delhi’s Thyagaraj stadium at a time when athletes should have been using the sports facility’s tracks.The transfer orders likely flowed from an official desire to punish the couple for doing wrong. They also stirred up a hornets’ nest by pointing to both Ladakh and Arunachal as dumping grounds for erring officials. It is not for the first time that a government has resorted to a punishment posting. In this episode, we decode this issue and the emotions that go with it.Guest: Pradip Phanjoubam, Imphal-based senior journalist and editor of the Imphal Review of Arts and PoliticsHost: Amit Baruah, Senior Associate Editor, The HinduEdited by Ranjani Srinivasan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Union Government last week cut excise duties on fuel sales in a bid to temper galloping inflation. Is such a move enough to tame retail inflation? Are there other factors that are spurring retail consumer prices? If so, are there levers that the government can move to arrest a further deterioration?Guest: Aditi Nayar, Chief Economist, ICRA RatingsHost: K. Bharat KumarEdited by Ranjani Srinivasan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After almost a decade, the Labour Party is back in power in Australia. In the federal elections on May 21, the ruling Liberal-National coalition led by Scott Morrison conceded defeat and the Labour Party’s Anthony Albanese is now the new Prime Minister.So what does the return of Labour mean for Austalian domestic politics, and what changes, if any, can we expect in Australian foreign policy?Guest: Professor Amitabh Mattoo from the School of International Studies at JNUHost: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The HinduEdited by Reenu Cyriac Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Umran Malik, the 22-year-old tearaway fast bowler from Jammu and Kashmir has been making waves in the IPL. Now he has received a much anticipated call-up to the Indian national team. He has been picked for the five-match T20 series against South Africa next month.One of the reasons there is so much excitement around Umran Malik is that for the first time India has a quickie whose speed is within touching distance of the 160 kmph-mark. Malik’s emergence also comes at an interesting time for India – despite a long tradition of spin bowling, India is now facing a scenario where there seems to be a surfeit of fast bowling talent but the cupboard is close to empty in the spin department. How do we understand this trend? And given that India has a history of young fast bowling talent that tends of fade away fast, how good really is Umran Malik?Guest: Vijay Lokapally, editorial consultant with SportstarHost: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The HinduEdited by Ranjani Srinivasan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Trade relations between the US and China haven’t been at their best in the past few years. Add to it supply chain disruptions brought on by the pandemic, exacerbated now by the war in Ukraine... disruptions that have made global majors look beyond China for manufacturing bases or partners, in an approach strategy now named the ‘China PLUS One Strategy’.Guest: Srivats Ram, MD, Wheels IndiaHost: K. Bharat KumarEdited by Reenu Cyriac Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The March 21, 2022 crash of China Eastern Airlines Flight 5735 was one of China’s worst aviation disasters, killing all 132 people on board. Investigations are on-going to determine how a Boeing 737-800 suddenly plunged into a near-vertical descent into the mountains of southern China from cruising altitude in normal weather conditions. On May 17, 2022, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing U.S. investigators, that flight data indicated someone in the cockpit intentionally crashed the plane.In this episode, Mohan Ranganathan explains how pilot suicides have caused air disasters in the past, how a pilot can bring down a plane, and the lessons for aviation going forward.Guest: Mohan Ranganathan, air safety expert, former airline pilot and instructor on Boeing 737s, former member of Civil Aviation Safety Advisory CouncilHost: Ananth Krishnan, China correspondent, The HinduEdited by Reenu Cyriac Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One of the primary justifications given by Russian for its invasion of Ukraine was the relentless eastward expansion of NATO. But now two more countries in Russia’s neighbourhood – Sweden and Finland – have announced their decision to join NATO. Finland shares a 1,340km long border with Russia. This means that even as Russia is trying to build a buffer between Russia and a pro-NATO Ukraine in the Donbas region, Russia’s land border with NATO is set to double.How does Finland and Sweden joining NATO change the strategic dynamics of the region? And what are Russia’s options in terms of a response?Guest: Stanly Johny, International Affairs Editor, The HinduHost: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It looks as if the saga of the National Register of Citizens, or NRC as it is called, will not be ending anytime soon for the people of Assam.Despite a final NRC created under the direct supervision of the Supreme Court of India, BJP governments at the Centre and State continue to stonewall its implementation.At stake is the citizenship status of a little over 19 lakh persons whose names did not figure in the final NRC published under Supreme Court orders in August 2019. Nearly three years have passed, but the persons left out – both Muslims and Hindus – haven’t had the opportunity to address their citizenship status.For long, the immigrant issue has been used to play political football with the lives of the people of Assam. It appears that the ruling BJP doesn’t want to implement the final NRC as the numbers don’t suit its political orientation.Of late, Assam’s NRC coordinator, Hitesh Dev Sarma, has written to judges in the Foreigners Tribunals, saying that the NRC as published, under the express orders of the Supreme Court, not be treated as final. At least one of the judges has responded to Mr. Sarma by asking him not to interfere in the functioning of the Tribunals, which was beyond his jurisdiction.So, where does the NRC and those affected by it, go from here? To discuss these issues, I am joined from Assam by Sanjoy Barbora, who teaches at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Guwahati.Guest: Dr. Sanjoy Barbora is Professor at the Guwahati campus of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS).Host: Amit Baruah, Senior Associate Editor, The HinduEdited by Reenu Cyriac Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

India’s triumph at the Thomas Cup seems to have caught the nation – and many even in the badminton community – by surprise. For the longest time India has struggled to make it past the quarter-finals, but this time we achieved back-to-back victories over former champions Malaysia and Denmark to make it to the final, and in the final, against all odds, we blanked 14-time champions Indonesia 3-0.This is a historic achievement. It has already been compared to India’s 1983 triumph at the cricket world cup. So how was this success story scripted? What were the odds? And how can India build on this spectacular achievement?Guest: Rakesh Rao, Deputy Editor (Sports), The HinduHost: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The HinduEdited by Ranjani Srinivasan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices