Parley by The Hindu

After daily new COVID-19 cases peaked on September 16, 2020, during the first wave, new cases and deaths in India began to increase from the third week of February 2021, marking the beginning of the second wave. The rise in daily cases and deaths has been steep since April 1. On April 14, India reported nearly 2 lakh cases. The seven-day average test positivity rate has also been climbing.Here we discuss what will it take to contain the second wave?Guests: Giridhara Babu, an epidemiologist at the Public Health Foundation of India and a member of the Karnataka COVID-19 Technical Advisory Committee; Gautam Menon, a Professor of Physics and Biology at Ashoka University.Host: R. Prasad, Science Editor, The HinduRead the Parley article here.You can now find The Hindu’s podcasts on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Stitcher.Search for Parley by The Hindu. Write to us with comments and feedback at socmed4@thehindu.co.in

Australia’s new News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code will force platforms like Facebook and Google to pay local media outlets and publishers to link their content in news feeds or search results. The Australian law is being seen as one of the early shots fired in the coming battle by countries to regulate tech giants to take back some of the control they have on global communications.But is it an ideal regulatory model? Won’t regulating the platforms affect free speech? Is regulating platforms the way to save the news media business that is in the doldrums? Here we discuss the issue.Guests: Dwayne Winseck, Professor, School of Journalism and Communication, Carleton University, Canada; Jeff Jarvis, Director, Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism at City University of New York’s Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism.Host: P.J. GeorgeRead the Parley article here.You can now find The Hindu’s podcasts on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Stitcher.Search for Parley by The Hindu. Write to us with comments and feedback at socmed4@thehindu.co.in

Producers of entertainment content, especially stand-up comedians, are increasingly becoming the target of legal action. To take just two examples, while Kunal Kamra is facing contempt proceedings for remarks about the Supreme Court, fellow comedian Munawar Faruqui had to spend more than a month in jail on vague charges before getting bail.Are Indians so lacking in humour that their first response to a joke is to take offence and then file a case? Here we explore this question.Guests: Arti Raghavan, an advocate practicing at the Bombay High Court and also the counsel for Kunal Kamra in the criminal contempt proceedings before the Supreme Court; Agrima Joshua, a Mumbai-based stand-up comedian.Host: G. SampathRead the Parley article here.You can now find The Hindu’s podcasts on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Stitcher.Search for Parley by The Hindu. Write to us with comments and feedback at socmed4@thehindu.co.in

Last month, a United States Trade Representative investigation report found India’s Digital Services Tax to be discriminatory. It said the tax is “inconsistent with prevailing principles of international taxation”, and burdens or restricts U.S. commerce. India has denied these charges. The bone of contention is a 2% tax that India has charged since April 2020 on revenues from digital services, applicable only to non-resident companies.Here we discuss this issue.Guests: Nikhil Kapoor, a Research Fellow at the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy; Suranjali Tandon, an Assistant Professor, National Institute of Public Finance and PolicyHost: Sriram SrinivasanRead the Parley article here.You can now find The Hindu’s podcasts on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Stitcher.Search for Parley by The Hindu. Write to us with comments and feedback at socmed4@thehindu.co.in

With the COVID-19 pandemic disrupting the academic year 2020-21, for the first-time, students of class X and XII are set to face board examinations based on knowledge gained almost entirely from virtual teaching.Here we discuss the challenges in conducting board examinations now.Guests: K. Devarajan, a former Director of Government Examinations, Tamil Nadu; Chandra Bhushan Sharma, Professor, School of Education, Indira Gandhi National Open University, New DelhiHost: D. Suresh KumarRead the Parley article here.You can now find The Hindu’s podcasts on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Stitcher.Search for Parley by The Hindu. Write to us with comments and feedback at socmed4@thehindu.co.in

On January 19, precisely a month after being bowled out for its lowest Test score of 36 against Australia, India bounced back to script one of the more memorable series triumphs in cricketing hiistory.Dealing with injuries and insult in varying degrees, the squad fought gallantly to beat the odds and a full-strength opponent to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The series-clinching three-wicket win at Brisbane — the first for a visiting team since 1988 — was achieved by a team that was missing nine of the regular players who formed the playing XI in the first Test at Adelaide.This fitting finale to India’s tale of guts and glory brought with it the admiration of not only cricket-playing nations but also sports-lovers across disciplines.Here we discuss why India has not replicated or even remotely matched the success of cricket in other sports?Guests: R.B. Ramesh, a British championship–winner, a Commonwealth champion, a Grandmaster-turned-coach, and former chief of the National Selection Committee; Sharath Kamal, a two-time Asian Games–medallist, a Commonwealth Games gold-medallist, and a Commonwealth champion.Host: Rakesh RaoYou can now find The Hindu’s podcasts on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Stitcher.Search for Parley by The Hindu. Write to us with comments and feedback at socmed4@thehindu.co.in

On January 12, the Supreme Court stayed the implementation of three controversial farm laws passed recently, and ordered the constitution of a committee of experts to negotiate between the farmers’ bodies and the Government of India.Rather than deliberating on the constitutionality of the three laws, the court appears to be trying to move both the parties towards a political settlement, thereby wading into the domain of the government.Here we discuss whether the court has abdicated its constitutional duty mandate in this case, and is this in a growing trend?Guests: Anuj Bhuwania, Professor at the Jindal Global Law School, is the author of Courting the People: Public Interest Litigation in Post-Emergency India; Arun Thiruvengadam, a Professor of Law at the School of Policy and Governance, Azim Premji University, BengaluruHost: Jayant Sriram, Assistant Editor, The Hindu

Disinformation, or “fake news” in common parlance, is a malaise born amid the infodemic of the social media age. In the last few years, it has been used as an effective weapon to polarise communities and upset democratic processes.As we begin 2021, we discuss the current state of the malady.Guests: Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, Director of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism and Professor of Political Communication at the University of Oxford; Pratik Sinha, co-founder of Alt News, a fact-checking website.Host: P.J. George, Deputy Internet Editor, The HinduRead the The Hindu Parley article here.You can now find The Hindu’s podcasts on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Stitcher.Search for Parley by The Hindu. Write to us with comments and feedback at socmed4@thehindu.co.in

The Special Marriage Act (SMA), 1954 is seen as a progressive law enacted to help inter-faith couples. But with States such as Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh framing laws that target inter-faith marriage, the procedural requirements of the SMA — such as the need to give prior notice, and allowance for ‘objections’ — seem to be undermining its original intent by opening the doors to violent moral policing by vigilante groups.Can the SMA come to the rescue of inter-faith couples, who, in addition to the old challenge of parental opposition, today also have to contend with the bogey of ‘love jihad’? Here we discuss the issue.Guests: Veena Gowda, a women’s rights lawyer who has been practising in the High Court of Bombay, Family Court and other trial courts for more than two decades; Faizan Mustafa, Vice-Chancellor of NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad.Host: G. SampathYou can now find The Hindu’s podcasts on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Stitcher.Search for Parley by The Hindu. Write to us with comments and feedback at socmed4@thehindu.co.in

The number of coding and programming bootcamps that are being offered by educational technology (Ed Tech) companies for children as young as four or five years has increased exponentially in recent times. Ed Tech companies argue that careers in the 21st century will be based on technology, for which children should get a head start. There have also been ringing endorsements from celebrities for this trend.Should we at all be concerned about this? What are the repercussions of increasing screen time for young children? Here we discuss this issueGuests: Latha Madhusudhan, an educator for over 30 years, is the founder of ‘Prakriti - A Waldorf Kindergarten’, a Waldorf-inspired school in Bengaluru; Pritika Mehta, a data scientist and entrepreneur who leads initiatives to teach coding to young children via interactive gamesHost: Mandira ModdieYou can now find The Hindu’s podcasts on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Stitcher.Search for Parley by The Hindu. Write to us with comments and feedback at socmed4@thehindu.co.in