logo
episode-header-image
May 2021
29m 5s

India’s pandemic politics

Bbc Radio 4
About this episode

The pandemic’s impact on politics is being picked over in India after a disappointment for the BJP in West Bengal's state election. Mark Tully was born in India in 1935 and reported from across the subcontinent for the BBC for many years - working as the chief of its Delhi bureau for some of that time. He still lives in the city and has recently been shielding at home – and sent us this long view of how Narendra Modi’s government has dealt with this emergency.

After a sluggish start – and some concerns about public reluctance - Germany’s vaccination campaign is gathering pace. The government has agreed to lift some restrictions for vaccinated people. But the new social divide between the vaxxed and the un-vaxxed is sparking some awkward new emotions — and some new German words to describe them. Damien McGuinness reports from Berlin.

During the last twenty years, a new generation of Afghan girls have grown up aspiring to work outside the home – some even daring to start up their own businesses. But the past year has been tough for them, and there are fears of what increased Taliban influence may mean for their enterprises. Charlie Faulkner met one young woman wondering how long she can stay afloat.

The Galapagos Islands off Ecuador are a showcase of marine life in all its variety - but the country's fishing fleets are fuming over plans to extend the limits of environmental protection zones. Dan Collyns examines the delicate balance between saving the fishing industry and protecting the planet.

And in the week that France commemorated one of its greatest sons – Napoleon Bonaparte, who died 200 years ago - Julia Buckley gleans some personal insights into the man behind the myth in an unexpectedly intimate museum of his belongings in the Dordogne.

Up next
Sep 5
USS Abraham Lincoln's troubled deployment ends in Thailand
Kate Adie introduces stories from Thailand, Ukraine, Kenya, Spain and Hungary.After nine months at sea the USS Abraham Lincoln docked in Thailand this week. The psychological plight of its crew, which ran short on supplies, turned up the heat on Donald Trump and his longer-than-p ... Show More
29m 11s
Aug 29
Germany's far-right AFD eyes first state win
Kate Adie presents stories from Germany on the Alternative für Deutschland party's plans if it takes power in state elections; India's Cockroach party takes on a new fight; inside the factories of China's robotic revolution; how corned beef changed a Uruguayan town and the protes ... Show More
29m 6s
Aug 22
Russia blames West for deepening crisis
Kate Adie presents stories from Russia, with authorities defiant as the war impact is felt; a grim Ebola milestone in the DRC; Brazil's presidential campaign and the small Bulgarian city chosen to host Eurovision.Moscow has issued a warning to the UK of 'consequences' following c ... Show More
29m 8s
Recommended Episodes
May 2024
One Strongman, One Billion Voters, and the Future of India
<p>India is in the midst of a national election and its prime minister, Narendra Modi, is running to extend his 10 years in power.</p><p>Mr. Modi has become one of the most consequential leaders in India’s history, while also drawing criticism for anti-democratic practices and ch ... Show More
33m 12s
Jan 2021
EU vaccine export tensions, a serious look at stock prices, India’s farmers
<p>Facing a shortfall in vaccine supplies and slow pace of vaccinations, the EU is debating how to restrict exports of coronavirus vaccines, India’s farmers are angry about agricultural reforms that could erode the state-run model and boost private agribusiness, and the plant-bas ... Show More
9m 51s
Apr 2021
Plagued by uncertainty: German politics
tail spinning
21m 58s
May 2021
S4E7 - Russia, COVID-19 in India and local elections
This week on fuse in focus the team discusses the strife engulfing Russian politics centring around the two personalities of Vladimir Putin and the imprisoned activist Alexei Navalny. In other international news we discuss the Indian covid catastrophe and the debate surrounding r ... Show More
59m 4s
Apr 2021
India struggles to breathe
As India has recorded the highest one-day Covid-19 tally anywhere in the world, friends of the podcast Sima Kotecha and Rajini Vaidyanathan join Adam to explain the crisis. And top chef Tom Kerridge talks about chicken pie and how his new project with Marcus Rashford will get kid ... Show More
33m 42s