In Focus by The Hindu

In this episode, we bring you analysis of the key developments from the first ever leadership summit of the Quadrilateral Framework or ‘Quad’ grouping of countries - India, Australia, Japan and the United States. The leaders of all the member countries highlighted cooperation among the member countries to beat the global COVID-19 pandemic, with joint partnership on vaccines, and emphasised the need for an “open” and “free” Indo-Pacific region. A number of other areas of strategic cooperation and partnership were also identified. What does the future of the ‘Quad’ look like after this first meeting and, in the months to come?Guests: Suhasini Haidar, National and Diplomatic Affairs Editor, The HinduAnanth Krishnan, China Correspondent, The Hindu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode we’re doing today of the first ever summit of the leaders of the Quadrilateral Framework or ‘Quad’ that will take place virtually on March 12. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will participate in the discussion which will also witness the participation of President Joe Biden of the United States, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison.The statement about the meeting from India’s external affairs ministry says, “the Leaders will discuss regional and global issues of shared interest, and exchange views on practical areas of cooperation towards maintaining a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region.” It adds that the summit will provide an opportunity to exchange views on contemporary challenges such as resilient supply chains, emerging and critical technologies, maritime security and climate change,” a press release has stated. Underlying all of this of course, and the issue that is likely to be the big elephant in the room is the China challenge. Whether any kind of statement emerges specifically about it that is the subtext that most commentators will try to read into once we know more about what takes place in the meeting itself. For this preview of the first ever Quad meeting today we are joined by Suhasini Haidar, The Hindu’s National and Diplomatic Affairs Editor and Ananth Krishnan, The Hindu’s Beijing correspondent. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode we discuss the spectrum auction that took place last week and try to decipher the trends that it gives us for the telecom industry going forward and where things stand between the major players at this point. By most accounts, and according to most commentators, the auction itself was a rather tepid affair. Only 37 percent of the total available spectrum was sold and that too was bought at reserve price without any competitive bidding among the major players like Reliance Jio and Airtel. It’s a sign perhaps, that unlike the intense competition that existed even a few years ago among multiple operators, we’re now looking at an industry, still expanding and still with a lot of headroom to grow, but clearly also under stress in some ways and proceeding with caution. We’re going to explain a lot in this episode and try and give you the most comprehensive guide to understanding these auctions, breaking down the various bands of spectrum that are available and that are being sold, what they mean for existing technologies like 3g and 4g and future technologies like 5G, and why companies like airtel and reliance Jio are making the moves, and spectrum purchases that they are. We're joined today by the Hindu Business Line's Mumbai bureau chief Thomas K Thomas who has covered and tracked the telecom industry for several years. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In today’s episode we’re discussing China’s plans to build a major hydropower project on the Brahmaputra river and it’s a topic that because of the geopolitical situation between the two countries, assumes a strategic context. Here’s the story so far:China has made public a plan to build a dam in the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo river before it crosses the border from Tibet into Arunachal Pradesh and flows on to become the Brahmaputra. The project is mentioned in the draft of China's new five-year plan, which is set to be passed in the National People's Congress, the country's ceremonial legislature.While China has one operational hydropower project and three others under development in the upper and middle parts of the river, previous plans for a dam in the lower reaches had failed to be cleared. But the inclusion of this project now in the five year plan suggests that it has got a go ahead and it will mark a new chapter in the hydropower exploitation of the river.What are the details of this project that we know of and what should India’s concerns be, if any? Water sharing as we know, is always a politically sensitive issue, even more so when the river in question flows through national boundaries. These are the questions we’ll take up in today’s episode and I’m joined today by Ananth Krishnan, The Hindu’s Beijing Correspondent. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In today's podcast we continue our discussion around the new rules that the government has introduced to regulate the digital space, called the Information Technology (Guidelines for Intermediaries and Digital Media) Ethics Code Rules of 2021. These rules seek to provide a grievance redressal mechanism for users of social media platforms, messaging applications, streaming services as also digital news publishers. These are much stricter and broader in scope compared to the existing rules.To discuss the implications of these guidelines across several different spaces we have with us, Pranesh Prakash, co -founder of the Centre for Internet and Society, and an affiliated Fellow at the Yale Law School’s Information Society project. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In today’s episode we will discuss the new rules that the government has introduced to regulate the digital space, called the information technology guidelines for intermediaries and digital media ethics code rules of 2021. These rules seek to provide a grievance redressal mechanism for users of social media platforms, messaging applications, streaming services as also digital news publishers. These are much stricter and broader in scope compared to the existing rules.To discuss the implications of these guidelines we have with us Pranesh Prakash, co-founder of the Center for Internet and Society, and an affiliated Fellow at the Yale Law School’s Information Society project. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On March 1, India launched the second phase of its Covid-19 vaccination programme, targeting 27 million citizens above the age of 60 and those above 45 with co-morbidities. Looking back, how did the country perform in phase 1 of its vaccination drive that was launched in January for healthcare and frontline workers? With the country seeing a surge in cases after a few months of a decrease in numbers, do we need to accelerate the pace of our vaccine coverage. To speak to us about this and more, we have with us Dr. K. Srinath Reddy, president, Public Health Foundation of India. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joining us for this special episode today is Milan Vaishnav, director of the South Asia program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Mr Vaishnav’s research is centred around the Political Economy of India, for instance, state capacity, corruption, governance and electoral behaviour. He is the author of When Crime Pays: Money and Muscle in Indian Politics, and has edited a number of books. Milan is also an adjunct professor at the Edmund a Walsh School of foreign service at Georgetown University. Today he joins us to discuss the results of a survey on how Indian Americans view India.Hosted by Sriram Lakshman, U.S. Correspondent, The Hindu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode we will discuss the sweeping changes made by India in the regulation of geospatial data and maps.The rules governing the sector have been liberalized in a complete reversal of the government's approach till date. According to the new guidelines, entities and individuals required no prior approval or security clearance, or a license for collecting, processing, publishing or storing data. India currently relies quite heavily on foreign technologies in mapping. And so the new policy seeks to spur innovation on the ground in this sector in India.Many experts have welcomed this move and in this podcast we’ll discuss the significance of the new guidelines and what impact they could have on the ground.Our guest today is Devdatta Tengshe. He is a geographic information systems professional who works with both private and public sector clients in the mapping industry. He earlier worked with ISRO as a remote sensing scientist. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode we discuss the India Pakistan agreement for a ceasefire or a re-observance of the 2003 ceasefire agreement. Was the announcement of the agreement a surprise, is there something still going on behind the scenes and should we expect more? And is there potential now to use this agreement as a stepping stone to build on India-Pakistan ties?Guests:TCA Raghavan, Director Indian Council of World Affairs, Former High Commissioner to PakistanHappymon Jacob, Associate Professor, Centre for International Politics, Organization and Disarmament, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices