In Focus by The Hindu

In today’s episode we’ll look at External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar’s visit to the U.S. last week, a trip that was largely seen as a mission to secure various agreements relating to the supply vaccines or raw materials for vaccine production. Taking off from Dr. Jaishankar’s visit, we’ll also use the second part of the podcast to discuss some of the major diplomatic challenges that India now faces post the COVID-19 second wave. I’m joined by The Hindu’s national and diplomatic affairs editor Suhasini Haidar. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The advent of the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown measures have meant work-from home for many. And work-from-home means plenty of Zoom meetings and webinars, which often involve both audio and video. Studies by mental health researchers suggest that web-based official meetings are far more demanding than face-to-face, offline interactions, and over a period of time, a heavy dose of webinars can cause a host of problems – ranging from anxiety and eye strain to restlessness and disturbed sleep. These and other symptoms are often tagged together as webinar fatigue.With the pandemic looking unlikely to recede very soon, web meetings will remain a staple of professional life for some time to come. This makes it all the more important that there is greater awareness about webinar fatigue, so that people can manage it better. So, what exactly causes webinar fatigue? How is it diagnosed? Are there steps that workplaces and managers can take to prevent it?To answer these questions, we speak to Dr Manoj Kumar Sharma, Professor of Clinical Psychology at the National Institute of Mental Health & Neurosciences, Bangalore. His area of specialisation includes the management of technology overuse, and the healthy use of potentially addictive technology. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bitcoin and other leading cryptocurrencies crashed last week, with prices falling by nearly 50%. A mind-boggling $1.3 trillion of market value was wiped out. Despite such a massive crash, investors and traders on Wall Street and elsewhere continue to be bullish about cryptos such as Ethereum. And in all the mayhem, the role of tech billionaire Elon Musk remains a puzzle.And yet, diehard crypto-investors still believe that in the not-so-distant future, many banking functions will be displaced by decentralised, blockchain protocols, smart contracts, and so on, making cryptos an attractive investment option in the present. To help us decode what’s going on, and where the cryptocurrency scene is headed, we speak to Vivek Kaul. Kaul is the author of five books, including the bestselling Easy Money trilogy. His most recent book is called ‘Bad Money: Inside the NPA Mess and How it Threatens the Indian Banking System’.Host: G Sampath Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One is on the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 which came into effect on May 26. The rules apply to various categories of online content providers such as social media platforms, OTT streaming services and online news providers. Some of its key points relate to the setting up of grievance redressal systems and having local personnel to ensure compliance with rules. One requirement for large social media providers is that under certain conditions, they will have to trace the originator of a message. This is a problem for messaging apps like WhatsApp, whose key feature is end-to-end encryption. The fear is that if an option is given to break this end-to-end encryption, it will lead to mass surveillance. WhatsApp has now approached the Delhi High Court against the rules.The other set of headlines are on the back and forth between the Centre and Twitter on the 'toolkit' issue. Twitter had marked a tweet from BJP leaders Sambit Patra on an alleged 'toolkit' by the Congress party, as 'manipulated media'. This has led to the government accusing the microblogging site of defaming India and to the Delhi police visiting the company offices. The San Francisco-based company has called the police visit an intimidation tactic.Now, where do these two sets of headlines intersect? What are the nittie gritties of the new IT rules? What are the prevailing rules on privacy? We explain in this podcast.Guest: Apar Gupta, Executive Director, Internet Freedom FoundationHost: P.J. George Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

India has so far recorded close to 12,000 cases of mucormycosis, or black fungus infection as it is commonly known. The Central government has now declared it a notifiable disease. Mucormycosis was not unknown in India, but it is now, with the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to rage, that the country has seen a surge in these infections. While the increased use of steroids, needed for the treatment of severely ill COVID-19 patients is being cited as one possible reason, experts have also said that a majority of cases are seen in those with poorly-controlled diabetes.Mucormycosis can affect many organs in the body, but what is being seen now, is the rhino-orbito cerebral form -- the infection affects the sinuses, nose, eyes and then brain. Doctors have reported that patients come to them a few weeks after recovering from COVID-19, with symptoms of mucormycosis.Amphotericin B is the main antifungal drug used in treatment, though stocks are running low now in the country due to high demand. The Centre recently said five new pharma companies had been approved to produce Amphotericin-B. Earlier, only six firms were manufacturing it.To speak to us about this fungal infection, its link with diabetes and what can be done to prevent it, is Dr. V. Mohan chairman, Dr. Mohan's Diabetes Specialities Centre in Chennai Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode we’re talking about the challenges of counting or estimating the death toll from COVID-19 in India. This is, of course, a complicated and polarising subject. Due to a combination of factors such as the size of India’s population, and the lack of good and accessible data in many instances, there is a difference between the officially reported figures for deaths from the pandemic and the actual death count. But to what degree is there under-reporting? This is the cause of much speculation -- the subject of many mathematical models and projections even. As we record this podcast today, the 26th of May, the New York Times has an article that projects a likely scenario in which there are 1.6 million deaths in India as against the reported figure which, as of May 24, stand at a little over 300,000.We're going to take a slightly broader approach to this issue in the podcast today and break down some of the issues with counting deaths in India, the various methodologies that are used, and the challenges of each. We are joined today by Dr. Anand Krishnan, professor at the centre for community medicine at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). He has also written two recent columns for The Hindu on counting the COVID 19 toll in India. We go through a lot of technicalities during the conversation about the processes through which mortality, not just from COVID-19 but other causes as well, are calculated. We hope that it will give you a more comprehensive picture on this issue.Episode notes:https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/the-many-challenges-in-estimating-deaths/article32537264.ecehttps://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/counting-the-covid-toll-in-india/article34582009.ece Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The COVID-19 pandemic has now entered rural parts of our country, where 65% of our population lives. Data from May shows that the case load is now 65% in rural and semi-rural areas versus 35% in urban and semi-urban areas. Even as hospital in our cities are towns are overloaded and overwhelmed, our rural infrastructure is in danger of collapsing -- with inadequate testing kits, drugs and trained healthcare professionals. There are reports of village residents having to travel for hours to try and secure a hospital bed and with deaths increasing, images of bodies floating on rivers as the people of India attempt to deal with an unprecedented crisis. The Central Government has released an SOP on Covid-19 Containment and Management in Peri-urban, Rural & Tribal areas, but how much of this is feasible? Were we unprepared for the surge of the virus in rural India? What measures can now be put in place to revamp our primary health systems that have, in many parts, been consistently ignored and under-funded for decades?To speak to us about this, we have with us today, Dr SP Kalantri, Professor of Medicine at the Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences and Medical Superintendent of Kasturba Hospital, SevagramHosted by Zubeda Hamid Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode we get deep into the use of steroids, in medicine more generally and in the treatment of Covid-19. Steroids like dexamethasone seem to have a very positive effect on people who have COVID that's been proven, but Experts have warned that irregular and overuse of steroids causes severe infections like pneumonia and mucormycosis. The latter disease has just been declared an epidemic in India as several states report cases.In this podcast we try and get to the root of the issue. Is the issue with the use of steroids itself and when? Or is it a problem of how much to give and how it should be carefully calibrated?Guest: Dr Vincent Rajkumar: Professor, Mayo Clinic and Editor, Blood Cancer JournalHosted by Ramya Kannan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Among the key voices of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Dr. Soumya Swaminathan with her clarity of thought, articulation and deep awareness of the Indian context, has emerged as a reliable voice amid the covid 19 pandemic maelstrom. In an online interview, she provides detailed responses to a range of topics that are simmering, resolves some doubts, and advocates strategies to adopt gainfully. Investments in health care are crucial, she says, because it is now clear that there is nothing without health and without sufficient physical and mental well being, it would be impossible to take the path to recovery.Host: Ramya Kannan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’re talking today about the big international story that’s dominated this week and that's the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Palestine. There is very little that I need to say by way of introduction, even as we record despite some truce efforts the conflict between the two sides only seems to be escalating and there's real danger now that this could be a long drawn-out affair that could spiral out of control. The number of casualties is already high. So, in this episode we’re going to look at the immediate triggers for this conflict, look at where things stand between the two sides now and as we always do on this podcast, we will pan out and look at how various geopolitical factors have brought us to this point. Guest: Stanly Johny, International Affairs Editor, The Hindu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices