This year’s edition of the United Nations climate summit, COP-28, concluded in Dubai earlier this week. It began with a lot of expectations – especially on the key issue of phasing out fossil fuels. In the end, a deal seems to have been worked out – to transition away from fossil fuels.

What exactly does the ‘Dubai Consensus’ entail? What are the other major takeaways from the summit? What progress, if any, has been made on climate justice? And given the slow and limited progress in CoP meetings, are there alternative modes of collective decision-making on climate action?

Guest: Kanchi Kohli, Researcher (Environment, Law and Governance) and co-author of the book ‘Development of Environmental Laws in India’.

Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu.

Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian.

Argentina’s president-elect Javier Milei, a self-described ‘anarcho-capitalist’, has threatened to disband his country’s currency, the peso, and adopt the US dollar in its place.

Argentina has been grappling with hyperinflation for a long time – it was above in November 2023. Milei has argued that dollarisation of the Argentine economy will bring inflation down, and usher in a stable climate favourable for investment. How exactly does dollarisation work? What are the risks it entails? And what has been the experience of countries such as Ecuador which have already tried it? 

Reports of a spike in respiratory illnesses in China have recently caused some amount of panic. Perhaps this is not surprising considering that next month will mark four years since the Covid-19 pandemic broke out and changed the world as we knew it. The current surge of illnesses however, have been reported primarily among children. 

On November 22, the World Health Organisation requested information from China about these infections. Subsequently, Chinese authorities have said that the outbreak is due to a number of pathogens – all of them known, none of them new. On November 26, the Indian government asked State Governments to ensure that the influenza-like illnesses (ILI) and severe acute respiratory illnesses (SARI) be closely monitored, particularly in children and adolescents. Several State governments have since then, stepped up their surveillance measures, especially as winter sets in, in many parts of India while parts of the south are experiencing heavy rains. We have since heard about RSV, adenoviruses and mycloplasma that have been the causes behind many of these infections.

So what are these pathogens that have caused the Chinese outbreak? Why are they affecting children? Does India have cause for concern? And what measures can we take to safeguard ourselves? We discuss these and more in this episode. Tune in!

The BJP has won the elections in three of the four states whose results were declared on Sunday. It has won in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, while the Congress bagged Telengana. In Mizoram, the Zoram People’s Movement is headed for a majority.

The BJP has stamped its dominance in the Hindi heartland. The results, however, seem to have taken many by surprise – especially the margins of victory. What went wrong for the Congress, especially in Chhattisgarh, where it was expected to win? What were the deciding factors in MP and Rajasthan? What lessons can Congress draw from its win in Telangana? And what do the Congress’s losses mean for the INDIA alliance, in the context of the 2024 general elections?

A politician known as the ‘Dutch Donald Trump’ has won the general elections in the Netherlands. Geert Wilders, the leader of the far-right Party for Freedom, or PVV as it is known, is a frontrunner to be the next Dutch Prime Minister after his party won 37 seats, ahead of the outgoing PM Mark Rutte’s VVD, which got only 24.

Wilders is both anti-Islam and anti-immigration. He is also anti-EU and is opposed to sending weapons to Ukraine. His victory in a country known for its tolerance and multiculturalism has come as a surprise.

How did he end up winning? What are the chances of him heading the next government? What are the implications of his victory for the immigrant minorities, and the Muslims in particular, who comprise 5% of the Dutch population?

The 28th UN climate conference, or COP28, is starting today in Dubai, and will go on till December 12th. Delegates from almost 200 countries, as well as climate scientists, business leaders, and other stakeholders will take part in the meeting.

It is clear the world is not on course to meet the target set in the Paris Agreement – which is to keep the global rise in temperatures within the 1.5-degree Celsius limit. There are indications that if we continue with our current climate policies, the earth would be warmer by 3 degree Celsius by 2100 – which would make severe climate events a regular occurrence.

What is top of the agenda at COP28? Will there be progress in funding the ‘loss and damage fund’ established at COP27? Is there a developing consensus on what climate accountability might look like?

After winning ten matches on the trot, India could not win one more and bring home the World Cup. It started the final as favourites, but things did not go according to the expectations that fans had built up over one month of pure magic.

So, what went wrong for India? Was the match lost with the toss itself? Was Australia too good on the day? Or did India make mistakes? If it did, what were they, and what are the positives we can take away from this tournament?

Most of us would remember the sudden shortage of semiconductor chips during the pandemic – how it affected automobile manufacturing, delaying deliveries, and in many cases, even caused manufacturers to deliver cars without some features. But semiconductors form an integral component of not just cars but almost any high tech device we use today – from smartphones and laptops to televisions, satellites and, of course, all kinds of advanced military hardware.

As nations jockey for geopolitical dominance, in addition to traditional factors such as military capabilities and economic power, technological prowess has become another, and perhaps most critical factor. Control over the manufacture and availability of the most advanced semiconductors is a key element of geopolitical security and strategic autonomy.

And yet, geopolitics and semiconductor supply chains have mostly figured in separate debates. A new book, titled ‘When the Chips are Down’, by Pranay Lotasthane and Abhiram Manchi brings the two parallel discourses together, and also presents a framework for understanding where India fits into the picture.

We speak with the authors Pranay Kotasthane and Abhiram Manchi. 

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) released a set of guidelines last month for the Central and State governments to tackle the problem of Child Sexual Abuse Material or CSAM on the internet. Over the past few years, there has been a colossal increase in the availability of CSAM online. In its 2023 report, WeProtect Global Alliance, which consists of governments, companies and charities working together for digital safety, said there was an 87% increase in such cases since 2019. What is the situation like in India? The NHRC says, that according to the Cyber Tipline 2022 statistics, of the 32 million reports received about child sexual abuse material, 5.6 million reports were uploaded by perpetrators based in India.

Recently, the United Kingdom passed a stringent online safety bill that introduces a number of obligations on how large tech firms must design, operate and moderate their platforms. Other countries too are contemplating or have already put in place such measures.

What are the vulnerabilities children in our country face, when they go online with their devices? How does child sexual abuse material online lead to offline consequences? Where does India stand when it comes to regulating and making the digital space safe for children?

As we keep hearing everyday, artificial Intelligence is on the verge of fundamentally changing the way human beings live and work. There are also many fears about the dangers posed by AI – which range from mass disinformation and privacy risks, to extinction of the human race itself.

Amid this debate over how to regulate AI so that we are able to benefit from it while keeping it safe, governments around the world have been coming up with proposals for AI governance. The latest is the Biden administration’s Executive Order on the Safe, Secure and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence.

What are the concerns shaping these preliminary moves toward AI regulation? Are there any fundamental principles that an AI regulatory regime needs to address? What are the potential conflicts – say, between the interests of AI researchers and ordinary citizens --- when framing such laws?