In Focus by The Hindu The Hindu

The untimely death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash on the 19th of May has many implications not just for Iran but the region as a whole. Along with him, Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian also perished in the crash.
As Iran goes to the polls on the 28th of June to elect a new President, all eyes will be on the country’s Guardian Council that has the power to decide which candidates get to contest. There is also speculation in the Western press about who might replace Supreme Leader Ali Khamanei.
So, what is Raisi’s legacy on the domestic and international front? How will Iran deal with the many challenges that it faces in the region especially as it claims to be a bulwark against Israeli aggressionin Gaza? Will Raisi’s tango with Russia and China as well as an opening to Saudi Arabia hold his successors in good stead?

Guest: Dinkar Srivastava, former Indian Foreign Service officer, who worked as India’s Ambassador to Iran.
Host: Amit Baruah, Senior Associate Editor, The Hindu.
Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian.

Chinese President Xi Jinping last week hosted a reception for Vladimir Putin at the historic Great Hall of the People in Beijing. The two-day summit was marked by a lengthy joint statement that, among other things, said that China and Russia will promote “an equal and orderly multipolar world”. The statement also outlined a vision of a new world order with “no neo-colonialism and hegemonism” of any kind.
The two countries took aim at the US, criticising unilateral sanctions and what they termed ‘long-arm jurisdiction’ without basis in international law or UN Security Council authorisation. The statement also highlighted the expansion of Russia-China ties beyond “opportunistic” bilateral cooperation to one of deeper partnership.
What are the implications of this growing strategic convergence between two major powers, both of whom are veto-holding Security Council members? Can China balance Western concerns about its aid to Russia, especially dual-use technology? What are the implications of this friendship for India, which views China as a geopolitical rival and military threat, but is highly dependent on Russia for defence imports?
G. Sampath is joined by Jabin T Jacob, Associate Professor in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Shiv Nadar University.

Covid-19 may not be raging any more, but a controversy over the AstraZeneca vaccine, sold as Covishield in India is. The issue first erupted when AstraZeneca, in a submission to a court in the UK, acknowledged that its vaccine could cause a rare, potentially life-threatening condition, known as thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome or TTS. This led to everything from outrage on social media, to political parties issuing statements and to a host of misinformation being circulated. What is significant is that this information about TTS is not new – it was established as early as in 2021, when India’s vaccination programme was underway, and it has been a known fact now for well over three years. Just a short time after the court submission made headlines, AstraZeneca also announced the worldwide withdrawal of its vaccine, citing a decline in the demand. As of this year, India has administered over 1.5 billion doses of Covishield to its eligible population. 
What led to the furore over the vaccine’s rare side effect and what do we know about it? How robust is India’s system to monitor adverse events arising from vaccinations? And what happens to India’s vaccination programme if Covishield is no longer available – are there other options available for those who need them or for future immunisations? 

Guest: Dr Anurag Agrawal, Dean, BioSciences and Health Research, Trivedi School of Biosciences at Ashoka University 
Host: Zubeda Hamid 
Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian. 

In a major embarrassment for India’s human rights image, the National Human Rights Commission has been denied ‘A’ status accreditation for a second year in a row. The Geneva-based, United Nations-linked Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) took the decision to defer it again during a meeting of the Sub-Committee on Accreditation (SCA) earlier this month.
The NHRC was set up under the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, and it had enjoyed ‘A’ Status accreditation since the beginning of the accreditation process in 1999, which it retained in 2006, 2011 and in 2017 also, after a deferment.
So, what are the reasons for the deferment of accreditation for India’s top human rights institution? What are the implications of not possessing this accreditation? And what does India have to do get the accreditation back?

Guest: Henri Tiphagne, Executive Director, People’s Watch, a non-profit that works in the field of human rights.
Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu.
Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian.

India is seeing a sharp increase in the number of ghost shopping malls, according to a new report from real estate consultancy, Knight Frank India. The report, titled ‘Think India Think Retail 2024’, found that in 2023, there was 13.3 million square feet of ‘ghost shopping infrastructure’ across 29 cities, causing a loss of $798 million.
By definition, a ghost shopping mall is one where the vacancy rate of retail space is above 40%. If we counted only the eight Tier 1 cities, the pan-India vacancy rate across all categories of malls stood at 15.7%. Also, while Tier 1 cities had 271 shopping malls in 2022, the number came down to 263 (77% of total shopping centres) in 2023.
So, what is the reason behind this phenomenon of ghost shopping malls and high vacancy rates? Is it because offline shopping is giving way to online shopping? Is it due to weakening consumer demand? Or are there other industry-specific dynamics at play?

Delhi’s Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has been given interim bail to campaign in the elections. After many hearings, a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court granted conditional bail to Kejriwal on the 10th of May.
Describing the elections to the Lok Sabha as the most significant event this year, the bench, facing stiff resistance from the Centre, pointed out that Kejriwal had no criminal antecedents nor was he a threat to society.
What implications does Kejriwal’s release have smack in the middle of the election campaign? Will he impact elections in the seven seats of Delhi or even beyond?

Guest: Javed Ansari, senior journalist and commentator, and former political writer for The Hindu.
Host: Amit Baruah, Senior Associate Editor, The Hindu.
Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian.