In Focus by The Hindu

With Ajit Agarkar departing his role as the chief selector of the Indian men's cricket team, Pragyan Ojha now leads a reconstituted five-member selection committee. With the 2027 ODI World Cup on the horizon, how much power do Indian cricket selectors really have?

In this episode of In Focus, we discuss about Agarkar’s legacy, what to expect from Ojha at the helm, and how selectors build and blood a squad.

We also discuss how much say the captain and the coach have, how the scouting network covers India’s enormous domestic talent pool, and whether selectors should explain their decisions in public.

Host: Reuben Joe Joseph

Guest: Amol Karhadkar, Deputy Editor, Sports

Producer: Jude Weston

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(This episode was aired on October 5.)

From November 9, 2026, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) is implementing a 30% cap on trade margins for 137 anti-cancer drugs. We go back to the episode that spoke of the soaring cancer drug prices and how can a pooled procurement and value based pricing improve affordability of cancer care in India.

Every year, we record 15.6 lakh new cancer cases, and 9 lakh deaths due to cancer. More than 90% of India’s working population doesn’t have a stable or formal employment. A majority of them are not adequately covered by health insurance. Taken together, this means high out of pocket expenditure for treatment, which imposes a huge economic burden on the patient’s family.

A recent survey showed that the overall prevalence of Catastrophic Health Expenditure (CHE) was 80.4% due to outpatient treatment. Clearly, the stratospheric costs of medicines, diagnostics and consultation fees are unsustainable for most Indians.

Doesn’t the government have a responsibility here? Why can’t off-patent drugs be made cheaper? Can centralised, pooled procurement, and value-based pricing improve affordability of cancer care in India?

Guest: Dr. Indranil, Professor at the School of Government and Public Policy, OP Jindal Global University.

Host: G Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu

Producer and editor: Jude Weston

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For most Indians, the bulk of their medical expenses come out of pocket. In such a scenario, rapidly rising healthcare costs are no less dangerous than any deadly disease. One major reason for cost escalation is the entry of private equity into India’s healthcare sector. A new book, titled ‘The Silent Syndicate: How Big Finance is Destroying India’s Healthcare’ documents how global financial capital is gobbling up Indian hospitals, pharma companies, insurance players, and diagnostic labs. And all of this is happening in a regulatory void, with the state seemingly abandoning its responsibility toward the well-being of its own citizens. How did we let this happen? What is the remedy? Is there a way to keep privatised healthcare both affordable and accountable to patients? We speak with public policy expert and the book’s author, Ameer Shahul. Host: G Sampath Producer: Shiksha Jural

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Earlier this month, the Supreme Court asked the Central government to issue a clear public protocol to curb malpractice in stem cell therapy for autism spectrum disorder. This follows a judgement given in January this year following a petition that raised concerns about the commercial promotion and administration of stem cell “therapy” for autism. The court examined the scientific and regulatory position and held that, given the evidence available at present, stem cell therapy for ASD could not be offered by medical practitioners as a clinical service outside an approved and monitored clinical trial or research setting. The Health Ministry’s current approved list covers 18 adult and 14 paediatric indications. Autism is not on this list.

What are the implications of the Supreme Court order, and why was it necessary? Is stem cell therapy something that is being researched for autism abroad and in India and should this continue? Why is the prevalence of autism believed to be increasing and what should we know about it?

Guest: Dr. Ennapadam S. Krishnamoorthy, neuropsychiatrist and founder, Buddhi Clinic, Chennai

Host: Zubeda Hamid

Producer: Jude Francis Weston

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Europe is seeing a wave of protests against economic inequalities and poor living standards. The immediate causes vary across countries, from the housing crisis in Spain and issues with the education system in France to public anger over perceived corruption in Serbia and Albania. But one thing is common: youth at the vanguard. Europe always had space for democratic dissent and has seen major protests to influence state systems and public policy.

But with more and more youth taking the streets across the continent and beyond, are these protests merely reactionary, or is there a generational, existential anxiety at play? Are youth worried they will be worse off than their parents? Here, we discuss.

Guests: Gilles Verniers and Rohit Azad

Host: Vighnesh P. Venkitesh

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In May, Pope Leo XIV published his first encyclical, titled Magnifica Humanitas (Magnificent Humanity), on safeguarding human dignity in the age of AI. He later shared on social media that he believes human-created art cannot be replaced by machine-generated art. Earlier, AI firm Anthropic, per a New York Times report published in September, had invited religious thinkers, priests, monks, rabbis, and scholars from across the world, trying to sway their views on Claude, the company’s AI chatbot. As religious leaders clarify the role of technology to their laity, tech billionaires are reaching out to religious experts to try to better understand morality, ethical decision-making, and philosophy. At the heart of this debate is the question of whether AI chatbots are conscious or not, even as Claude-maker Anthropic plays a key role in lobbying spiritual leaders. Should we treat these conversations as a performance for customers? Are tech leaders perhaps building up hype before key IPOs? Or, to put it bluntly: are tech leaders using religion to distract users from more pressing regulatory worries? Host: Sahana Venugopal Guest: John Xavier Camera: Shivaraj Producer: Shiksha Jural

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The Supreme Court, in a judgement on October 15th, declared that a Hindu who converts to a “non-Hindu” social order cannot claim the benefits of reservation. It reasoned that backwardness can’t be transferred automatically from the Hindu social order to a non-Hindu one after conversion. The judgement came in a case where a Hindu OBC man who had converted to Islam wanted to avail reservation benefits as a Muslim OBC. Following the judgement, DMK president and former Chief Minister M.K. Stalin urged the Tamil Nadu government to file a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court to protect the reservation rights of members of Backward Classes (BC) who had converted to Islam. “Social backwardness does not arise in a day or a generation. It is the result of a social system built over thousands of years. Conversion to another religion does not erase it,” he said in a statement. So, how sociologically grounded is this judgement? What about the impact of a lifetime of ‘backwardness’-related disadvantages that shape a Hindu OBC’s life until the point of conversion? Can that be disregarded? Critically, religion was never a criterion in determining OBC status – so, can reservation benefit be denied due to a change in the person’s religion? Guest: Abhinay Lakshman from The Hindu’s Delhi Bureau Host: G Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu Producer & Editor: Jude Weston

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The death by suicide of Sahil Wakode, a second year B.Tech student at IIT, Bombay, has sparked protests, allegations of caste discrimination, and demands for institutional reforms. Between the years 2020-21 and 2024-25, IITs reported 45 student suicides, of which 28, or 62%, were from SC/ST or OBC communities. There is a tendency to assume that India’s premier educational institutions such as the IITs are islands of ‘merit’, where everyone is treated solely on the basis of their capabilities. Why then, do we keep getting reports of SC/ST students dying by suicide in some of India’s most prestigious institutions? Who should be held accountable for caste discrimination in a campus setting? What’s the remedy? Guest: Professor N Sukumar, Department of Political Science at Delhi University Host: G Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu Producer & editor: Jude Weston

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As José Mourinho's Real Madrid returns to the Camp Nou to face Hansi Flick’s Barcelona, we look at the history, identity and drama behind the Clásico Real Madrid and Barcelona share one of football’s fiercest rivalries, shaped by history, politics, regional identity and contrasting ideas of how the game should be played. From the era of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo to the present-day battle between Hansi Flick and José Mourinho, El Clásico has continued to capture the imagination of fans around the world. On this episode of In Focus, we examine what makes this fixture a global phenomenon, how Barcelona’s Cruyff-inspired philosophy has evolved under Flick, and whether Mourinho can find a way to counter Barcelona’s attacking game. Beyond the result, what does El Clásico tell us about the identities and ambitions of these two footballing giants? Guest: Srinivasan Ramani, The Hindu’s Deputy National Editor Host: Reuben Joe Joseph Producer: Shiksha Jural Video: Shivaraj S

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Mis-selling of financial products is rampant in India. The single biggest mis-sold product is life insurance. People get ripped off by bank relationship managers (RMs), and by insurance agents. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has for long been a spectator. But last month it released a consultation paper proposing some sectoral reforms. We will discuss the IRDAI proposals in this episode. But before that, three datapoints that exemplify the sheer scale of insurance mis-selling. One, commissions can consume up to 80% of your first year premium on some policies. Two, from 2022-23 to 2024-25, insurance premiums grew by only 28%, but commissions grew by 125%! Three, just 48%, or less than half of all new policies survive into the sixth year -- what the industry calls ‘persistency rate’. A persistency rate of 48% means, more than half the time, when people buy a life insurance policy, they surrender it within five years, after having paid one or more premiums -- this is personal wealth destruction on a massive scale. Why is this happening, and will IRDAI’s proposed reforms make a difference? All this and more in the second episode of Pocket Money, with business columnist and author Vivek Kaul. Host: G Sampath Producer and editor: Jude Weston Do mail your personal finance queries and dilemmas to: pocketmoney@thehindu.co.in.

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Tamil Nadu recently went through a game-changing election that threw up a surprise. The TVK won largely on the strength of its appeal among young people; the younger the people were greater was their enthusiasm for the TVK and Vijay, the current chief minister. Many older voters were telling journalists that their sons, daughters and grandchildren were telling them to vote for Vijay.

Recently, a DMK candidate who lost in Salem North went to court, arguing that Vijay had appealed to children to persuade their parents to vote for the TVK, and that this was wrong. The High Court dismissed the petition but made some very caustic, very critical remarks about the trend.

Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy said that the entire act of involving tender children in elections “is in bad taste, and the tasks they are made to perform at home for making YouTube reels reflect poor parenting besides being a cheap and politically motivated act.” He said that it was for Parliament to consider whether such acts should be made a ground for setting aside the election of candidates.

Should children be involved in political campaigning? Here, we discuss. Guests: Andrew Sesuraj M., child rights activist, Chennai; Dr. Anil Pillai, behavioural scientist

Host: M. Kalyanaraman (host)

Producer: Jude Weston

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This year’s Nobel Prize in Economics was awarded to an American duo – Prof Robert Hall of Stanford University and Prof Michael Woodford of Columbia University – "for microeconomic foundations of macroeconomic stabilisation”. Both Prof Hall and Prof Woodford were part of a new crop of economists who studied the economy not as a monolith, but also as a collection of many of microeconomic decisions. Simply put, their work helped change how economists understand the economy: not just through a broad set of indicators such as inflation, output and consumption, but by examining how businesses and consumers make decisions, and how these decisions affect the economy as a whole. Their studies look at how the future plays a part in today’s economy. To help us understand what they studied and how it can be applied today, I have with me Dr. Partha Chatterjee, Dean of Academics & Professor of Economics, Shiv Nadar University Host: Nivedita Varadarajan Producer: Shiksha Jural

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Indian cities have undergone rapid urbanisation over the past few decades. Yet, accessibility continues to evade the design and planning priorities. Despite the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, mandating accessibility in public buildings across the country, Indian cities need to go a long way when it comes to inclusive public spaces, transport and other infrastructure. Several pertinent questions remain – how many barriers must a person with physical or intellectual disability navigate to get from point A to point B? Have the efforts towards inclusivity been centred around a narrow understanding of disability? How do we make cities in India answerable for accessibility? Guests: Nivedita Krishna, founder of Pacta, a law firm and think tank focusing exclusively on the legal needs of social sector, and Bhumika Modh, who heads the Yes to Access initiative of the Association of People with disability, share their insights. Host: Elizabeth Shilpa Abraham Producer: Shiksha Jural Video: Ravichandran N

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This month, a word that has not been in the news for decades perhaps, suddenly erupted: the death of a lab worker in Siberia, sparked concerns, rumours online and theories as to what really happened, given that official information coming out was limited. The worker, Darya Shiplova, who worked at a plague research institute in Siberia, is believed to have died of pneumonic plague. Russia subsequently quarantined dozens of people but said there was no risk of an epidemic, while a WHO official, meanwhile, called for the country to provide more information.

But what is plague and why is it that is has been more or less forgotten? What was India’s tryst with plague in the 1890s and then again in Surat in 1994? How infectious is it and how is it treated? Is there really a risk of a plague breakout?

Guest: Rajib Dasgupta: Head, Centre for Social Medicine and Community Health, Jawaharlal Nehru University

Host: Zubeda Hamid

Producer: Jude Weston

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How should India balance wildlife conservation with development, local livelihoods and the need for scientific research?

In this discussion, Prof Qamar Qureshi, formerly of the Wildlife Institute of India, and Prof Uma Ramakrishnan of the National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bengaluru, examine the changing approaches to conservation, the challenges of protecting threatened species and the need to make conservation science more inclusive and responsive to the realities on the ground.

Host: Jacob Koshy

Producer: Jude Weston

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October 10th witnessed a massive display of state repression in the national capital. Brutal violence was unleashed against journalists, students, activists and citizens who wanted to protest at Jantar Mantar, seeking Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation. India’s Opposition parties have united over the demand that Gyanesh Kumar must go and the SIR must be annulled. Even as the government responded by denotifying Jantar Mantar as a protest site, the Congress has vowed to ‘reclaim’ Jantar Mantar. The Opposition’s overarching political plank, as of today, is to ‘save Indian democracy’, and ‘save the Constitution’, by fighting to protect the ordinary Indian’s right to vote. It has announced plans to continue this protest campaign until the demands are met. This raises some key questions: does the SIR issue resonate with the masses? Can we really be sure that today’s protesters, despite all their grievances, will not go back and vote for the BJP come election time? Can we read bigger and bigger protests as a setback for the Hindutva project? Or, is the BJP-RSS juggernaut resilient enough to survive expressions of large-scale dissent? Joining us today is Ajay Gudavarthy, Associate Professor in Political Science at the Centre for Political Studies, JNU. Host: G Sampath Producer: Shiksha Jural Video: Jude Weston

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Over a year after Jio Platforms and SpaceX announced a deal to bring Starlink satellite internet to India, multi-billionaire Elon Musk has taken a public swipe at the Ambani family and the Indian government. In a sarcastic post on X, the billionaire described Mukesh Ambani as India’s prime minister and the country’s “real boss,” reigniting debate over Starlink’s delayed entry into one of the world’s biggest internet markets.

But beyond the social media sparring lies a bigger battle over competition, market power and regulation. Why is Starlink’s India launch taking so long? Is the government’s cautious approach to satellite internet protecting national interests, or limiting competition? And what could the tussle mean for Jio Platforms as it prepares for an IPO?

In this episode of The Hindu’s In Focus, Technology Editor John Xavier unpacks the political and business stakes behind the Musk–Ambani feud, examining India’s approach to satellite internet, the regulation of monopolies, and the competing interests shaping the country’s digital future.

Host: Sahana Venugopal

Camera: Thamodaran

Producer & editor: Jude Weston

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Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has said there are “no parallel protests”, there is only one protest – demanding the rollback of SIR, and the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Leaders from almost every INDIA bloc party joined the Congress-led march to the Supreme Court on Monday, drawing massive crowds from all over the country. Has the alleged ‘vote chori’ issue finally managed to unite the entire Opposition? What’s really at stake on the question of whether Gyanesh Kumar stays or resigns? And how do these protests compare with the one in July, that sought the resignation of the then education minister Dharmendra Pradhan? To unpack the political ramifications of the ongoing protests, we are joined today by Anand Mishra, Political Editor with Frontline magazine. Host: G Sampath Producer: Shiksha Jural Video: Jude Weston

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We’re used to thinking of cancer as something for which there is no known cause and we know that risk factors include using tobacco and excessive alcohol as well as obesity. And while of these factors are true, what we may not have realised is that infections could also, in some cases, lead to cancers. A new study conducted by the International Agency for Research on Cancer or IARC, has now found that infections were responsible for 2.3 million new cancer cases in 2024, or 12% of the total cases globally that year.

What infections? A bacterium and several viruses were linked cancer cases, and what is significant is that a large proportion of these cases were found in low- and middle-income countries.

What are the cancers caused by infectious agents, and how common are they? Could vaccines eliminate these sorts of cancers? Are there vaccines available for all the viruses and bacteria that cause cancers? What kind of screening programmes and preventive measures should we take?

Guest: Dr. Rajeev Jayadevan, Convener Research Cell Kerala State IMA Physician and gastroenterologist

Host: Zubeda Hamid

Producer and editor: Jude Weston

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All roads, it seems, lead to the good old Jantar Mantar. Or do they, considering many of them are closed these days. Built in 1724, Jantar Mantar was not always the preferred site for anyone with a prayer, petition or protest on mind. The protest sites at various times in the past were at Boat Club where one remembers anti cow slaughter protests some 50 years ago followed by those during the Babri Masjid-Ramjanambhoomi stir. Then the Ramlila grounds became the place where thousands would gather to vent their anger against the government. It was here that the India Against Corruption protest caught the common man's imagination. As for Jantar Mantar, for ages it was an observatory where schools brought the youngsters to imbibe scientific spirit. Today it throbs with the soul of democracy, from the Cockroach Janata Party to the Congress to the entire INDIA Bloc, Jantar Mantar is the place to be as the Opposition seeks the resignation of the Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. So what is it about Jai Singh's 18th Century creation that draws everyone to it? Telling us this and more is noted historian Ruchika Sharma who runs a hugely popular YouTube show and is renowned as one of the more frank and fearless voices on matters of history. Host: Ziya Us Salam Producer: Shiksha Jural Video: Jude Weston

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