The Green Credit Programme, announced by the Environment Ministry in October 2023, is a market-based mechanism where individuals and companies can claim incentives called ‘green credits’ for contributions to environmental and ecological restoration. However, there is criticism that these initiatives may be used to circumvent existing laws, particularly those that deal with forest conservation.  Jacob Koshy is joined by Vaibhav Chaturvedi, Fellow at the Council on Energy, Environment and Water and Debadityo Sinha, Senior Resident Fellow, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy.

Earlier this month, following a report in The Guardian stating that the Indian government had killed about 20 people in Pakistan since 2020 as part of a broader plan to eliminate terrorists on foreign soil, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh responded that India will enter Pakistan to kill terrorists. A few days later, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, too, said that under a strong government, “atankwadiyon ko ghar mein ghus ke mare jata hai (terrorists are being killed in their homes)”. Is the Indian government justified in targeting terrorists outside the border? Here we discuss the question. Guests: Rakesh Sood, a former diplomat who served as Ambassador to Afghanistan, France, and Nepal. He was also Special Envoy of the Prime Minister on Disarmament and Nonproliferation until 2014; Tara Kartha, the director for research at the Centre for Land Warfare Studies. She spent 17 years at the National Security Council Secretariat, which sits at the apex of India’s national security architecture Host: Suhasini Haidar.

Bengaluru, often celebrated for being a ‘garden city’, the ‘IT capital’ of the country, and its pleasant weather, has been making headlines this year for facing a severe water crisis following the drought of 2023. The water crisis is also likely to hit other urban centres and rural areas. According to a recent weekly bulletin by the Central Water Commission, even as peak summer is around the corner, most of the major reservoirs in the southern States of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana are filled to only 25% of their capacity or less. Is the urban water system breaking? Here we discuss the question. Guests: T.V. Ramachandra, Coordinator of the Energy and Wetlands Research Group, Centre for Ecological Science, Indian Institute of Science; S. Vishwanath, a water conservationist Host: K.C. Deepika 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

Many companies that faced regulatory action from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) or Income Tax (IT) Department donated electoral bonds worth crores of rupees to ruling parties via the electoral bonds route, show data submitted by the State Bank of India (SBI) to the Election Commission of India (ECI). Some companies which got huge government contracts purchased bonds for large amounts. Some new companies, which were incorporated during the COVID-19 pandemic, purchased bonds worth crores of rupees just months after starting out.  Was the electoral bonds scheme used as an extortion tool? Here we discuss this question.  Guests: Subhash Chandra Garg, former Finance and Economic Affairs Secretary, Government of India; Anjali Bhardwaj, a Right To Information activist and founder of Satark Nagrik Sangathan, a citizens’ group working to promote transparency and accountability in government functioning Host: Vignesh Radhakrishnan Read 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

Recently, hours after resigning as a judge of the Calcutta High Court, Abhijit Gangopadhyay announced that he was joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The judge’s decision to join politics and the manner in which it was taken has raised questions of judicial impropriety. Some people disapprove of the practice of judges holding official posts after retirement; they believe that this may impinge upon the independence of the judiciary. Others, including those in the government, have pointed out that such posts often require judicial personnel of the highest integrity and there is no Constitution bar to this effect.  Should judges accept official posts after retirement? Here we discuss the question Guests: Justice Deepak Gupta, a former judge of the Supreme Court; Sanjay Hedge, a senior advocate based in Delhi Host: Aaratrika Bhaumik Read 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

NITI Aayog B.V.R. Subrahmanyam recently claimed that less than 5% of Indians now live below the poverty line. He made the claim based on the findings of the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES), 2022-23. Mr. Subrahmanyam argued that the average consumption expenditure in the bottom 5% of India’s population, as estimated by the survey, is about the same as the poverty line in India, suggesting that the poverty rate in India is somewhere in the range of 0 to 5%. Has poverty really dropped to 5% in India? Here we discuss the question. Guests: Surjit Bhalla is a former member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council; Jayati Ghosh is a development economist and author of ‘The Making of a Catastrophe: The Disastrous Economic Fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic in India’ Host: Prashanth Perumal

On February 13, groups of farmers began a march to New Delhi, to press for fulfilment of their demands, which include a legal guarantee for purchasing crops at Minimum Support Price (MSP) and India’s withdrawal from the World Trade Organization (WTO) which, they allege, places pressure on the Centre for drafting policies for procurement and MSP. While the Centre has fixed MSP for 23 farm commodities, it is implemented mostly for rice and wheat mainly because India has vast storage facilities for these grains and uses the produce for its public distribution system (PDS). The Union government has repeatedly asserted that a legal guarantee for MSP will not be possible. Should MSP be legalised? Here we discuss the question. Guests: Lakhwinder Singh, Professor at the Department of Economics, Punjabi University, Patiala; Siraj Hussain, former Union Agriculture Secretary and adviser of FICCI Host: A.M. Jigeesh

Recently, music composer A.R. Rahman tweeted that the song Thimiri Yezhuda from the Tamil film Lal Salaam uses an Artificial Intelligence (AI) software to recreate the voices of singers Bamba Bakya and Shahul Hameed. Bakya died in September 2022 at the age of 42 and has sung songs in films including 2.0 and Bigil. Hameed, who died in 1998, worked extensively on movies such as Gentleman and Kadhalan. Though their voices were used with the permission of their families, who were also compensated, the move has raised a debate among artists about the use of AI.  Is it ethical to use AI to clone voices for creative purposes? Here we discuss the question.

India’s growing private coaching industry has long been plagued by student suicides, fire incidents, complaints of poor infrastructure and teaching, exorbitant fees, and false promises. The spate of student suicides in Kota, Rajasthan, has spurred the Ministry of Education to issue new guidelines, which state that coaching centres cannot enrol students below 16 years of age, make misleading promises, and guarantee rank or good marks.  Should coaching be restricted to those above 16 years? Here we discuss the question

On February 1, the BJP-led government will place its Interim Budget in Parliament, seeking a vote on account. Has the NDA government’s economic performance in its second term fared better than its first? Here we discuss the question.

On December 27, 2023, the New York Times filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and its backer Microsoft, accusing them of copyright infringement. The NYT has alleged that OpenAI used thousands of its articles to train ChatGPT, a large language model, without permission or compensation. The lawsuit says that this has positioned ChatGPT as a competing source of information to the NYT, which has implications for the newspaper’s business model.  Should AI models be allowed to use copyrighted material for training? Here we discuss the question. Guests: Cecilia Ziniti, a San Fransisco-based lawyer specialising in technology and start-up companies; Arul George Scaria, an Associate Professor at the National Law School of India University Host: P.J. George

The National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) recently found that over half of the nearly 10,000 hospital patients surveyed for a study were given antibiotics to prevent, rather than treat, infection. The survey mapped patients treated on one to five days each at 20 tertiary care institutes across 15 States and two Union Territories between November 2021 and April 2022. It found that 55% of the patients surveyed were prescribed antibiotics as prophylaxis, or as a preventive; only 45% were prescribed antibiotics to actually treat infections; and of them, only 6% were prescribed the drugs after identifying the specific bacteria. This is worrying as India carries one of the largest burdens of drug-resistant pathogens worldwide.  Are antibiotics being over-prescribed in India? Here we discuss the question.

According to the Periodic Labour Force Survey, the unemployment rate among graduates is higher than in many other developing countries. Students who enrolled in college during the pandemic have now graduated and there are concerns over their employability and the quality of online education.  Is higher education in India out of touch with the skill requirements in the job markets? Here we discuss the question.  Guests: Furqan Qamar, Professor, Department Of Management Studies, at Jamia Millia Islamia; Santosh Mehrotra, Professor in Jawaharlal Nehru University  Host: A.M. Jigeesh

Recently, Geert Wilders, an anti-Islam, far-right populist, won the general elections in the Netherlands. In Argentina, the far-right politician, Javier Milei, won the presidential elections. In 2022, Marine Le Pen finished a close second in the French presidential elections; and a party with roots in the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement won the general elections in Italy. In the U.S., early polls suggest that Donald Trump has a chance of returning to power again. In India, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is widely expected to win a third term. Is right-wing populism seeing a resurgence across the world?  Irfan Nooruddin and Rahul Mukherji discuss the question in a conversation moderated by Radhika Santhanam.

Recently, President Droupadi Murmu suggested that an All-India Judicial Service (AIJS) will help diversify the judiciary. In the same way that the Union Public Service Commission conducts a central recruitment exam and assigns successful candidates to cadres, the recruitment of judges of the district judiciary is being proposed to be made central, following which they will be assigned to the States. This idea has been discussed in the past and has also been a part of the Union government’s official policy for years. However, there has been no consensus on the proposal either from the High Courts or the State governments.  Should an AIJS be created? Here we discuss the question.  Guests:Alok Prasanna Kumar, co-founder and lead, Vidhi Karnataka; Bharat Chugh, a lawyer based in Delhi and a former civil judge Host: Aaratrika Bhaumik

In a historic first, all 198 signatories to the 28th United Nations’ Conference of the Parties (COP28) adopted to “transition away” from “all fossil fuels” as opposed to only coal, as was agreed upon at COP26, in Glasgow. India had played a pivotal role in Glasgow in modifying the language from “phasing out” coal to “phasing it down”. Unsurprisingly, it supported the incumbent COP President Sultan Ahmed Al-Jaber of the UAE when he proposed to “transition away” from oil and gas, as opposed to “phasing out”, as demanded by several developed countries and small island nations.  As the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases, albeit with a drastically smaller per capita emission rate, should India set a higher bar to mitigate and adapt to climate change? Here we discuss the question.

The world has witnessed several disruptions in recent years. China’s phenomenal rise has unleashed a superpower competition between Washington and Beijing. Russia is challenging the post-World War security architecture in Europe through military means. In West Asia, Israel is engaged in a brutal war with Hamas. The world is also witnessing the rise of several middle powers such as India. Is the emerging global order bipolar? Here we discuss the question

Kerala, a State known for its vibrant public sphere, is now in the news for what film producers have termed as the phenomenon of “review bombing”. Makers of a couple of films have approached the Kerala High Court, seeking a gag on social media and YouTube reviews for at least seven days following a film‘s release; the claim being that these reviews can make or break films, and by extension the sustainability of the Malayalam film industry. The Kerala police have also booked some online reviewers and social media platforms, following complaints from producers. The State is now witnessing a heated debate with a groundswell of support for the reviewers, raising pertinent questions on freedom of expression.  Here we discuss the issue.  Guests: B.Unnikrishnan, a filmmaker and general secretary of the Film Employees Federation of Kerala (FEFKA); C.S. Venkiteswaran is a national award winning film critic Host: S. R. Praveen

A Constitution Bench headed by the Chief Justice of India, D.Y. Chandrachud, recently reserved its judgment on petitions challenging the validity of the electoral bonds scheme. The proceedings focused on arguments pertaining to the voters’ right to information vis-a-vis the right to confidentiality of donors. Transparency in election funding has become the central issue here. Should elections be state funded instead? Here we discuss the question.

Starting with the immediate aftermath of the October 7 attack by Hamas on Israeli targets, , the Israeli Defense Forces have carried out a relentless campaign bombing civilian locations across Gaza. The Israeli argument has been that it is focused on eradicating Hamas but the casualties are mostly women, children and infants which has drawn worldwide condemnation for Israel. Last Friday, the UN saw the adoption of a non binding Jordanian resolution in New York by large majority of member states. 120 members votes in favor, 14 voted against and 45 countries abstained. India was among those who abstained. The General Assembly adopted a major resolution and call for an immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce, leading to a cessation of hostilities. It was proposed by Jordan and backed over 45 countries India of course abstain and was criticized for that domestically. But the conflict has continued as there is no call for bringing in a ceasefire. Is this failure going to end the UN and end the present global order?