Left, Right & Centre

There is no law that prohibits the use of headscarves in educational institutions, is what lawyers representing students who insist on wearing the hijab to educational institutes today argued in the Karnataka High Court. While the hearings continue, the key argument being made was that the hijab was mandatory as per the Quran, and that there is no authority which can say no to its use unless there is a law and order issue. Today though, there were several unfortunate scenes in the districts of Karnataka which have seen the hijab row. There were students who chose not to attend school if they were not allowed to wear the hijab. Elsewhere, there were videos of women having to remove their hijab under public glare before being allowed to enter schools and colleges and there was also a video of a little girl torn between what her father wanted - for her to keep wearing her hijab - and a school teacher who said rules were rules. These are all perspectives in what appears to have become a difficult debate. We just have one question, since education is fundamental, shouldn't everyone prioritise that and attend school even as we wait for the outcome of the court judgement?

A former CEO of the National Stock Exchange (which has a market capitalisation of nearly $4 trillion) allegedly let a faceless yogi make key, seemingly ludicrous decisions - as per an official SEBI report.

In the largest military buildup since the Cold war, nearly 150,000 Russian armed forces personnel are now deployed along the borders of the Ukraine, with many suggesting that a Russian invasion of Ukraine is just a matter of time. Russia disputes this and maintains that for now it has no plans for invading while Washington, it appears, is fairly certain that Moscow will make a move, perhaps in days. For President Putin, this is all about reclaiming the strategic space that Russia lost with the end of the Cold War while for the United States and its NATO allies, the prospect of an expansionist Russia would mark a dangerous return to a Cold War like situation. On Left Right and Centre, some of the finest analysts from around the world, at what is now, perhaps, the gravest international crisis.

The high-pitched electoral campaign reached a crescendo on the concluding day of electioneering today for single-phase polls in Goa and Uttarakhand, and for second phase of seven-phase Assembly Elections in Uttar Pradesh. But where are the 'Bijli, Sadak, Paani issues? Have problems of people been highjacked by personality and polarization politics?

A three-judge bench of the Karnataka High Court began hearing the hijab case on Thursday. The hijab protests began last month at the Government Girls PU College in Karnataka's Udupi when six students alleged that they had been barred from classes for insisting on wearing the headscarf. The hearing will resume on Monday. Can religious symbols be banned from classrooms? We debate.

Tearing into Samajwadi Party and the Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in an exclusive interview with news agency ANI that dynastic politics is the "biggest enemy of democracy". The Prime Minister targeted Rahul Gandhi describing him as a "person who does not listen and does not sit in the House". The interview came on the eve of polling. On Left, Right and Centre, we discuss Prime Minister's comments and claims.

As the row over hijabs in Karnataka intensifies, with the situation in some areas getting violent, the Karnataka High Court has appealed for peace. On LRC, tonight we are asking, is religious polarisation destroying beti padhao?

"Why do people not answer why this (women wearing Hijab) bothers them, how does it affect their freedom in school? These people are objecting to a practice that has no bearing on them," says Congress's Shashi Tharoor.

Amid heated protests in Karnataka by some Muslim girls to be allowed to attend classes wearing a hijab, a group of students today ( both boys and girls) marched to their college wearing saffron scarves. Videos from Kundapur in the Udupi district show boys and girls wearing the scarves over their college uniforms and raising slogans of 'Jai Shri Ram (praise Lord Ram)' while going to college.

China lost 42 soldiers in clashes in the Galwan Valley in June 2020, at least nine times more than the four it has acknowledged, a report quoted by Australian newspaper 'The Klaxon' has said. The investigative piece by Anthony Klan, the Editor of 'The Klaxon' who joins us on the show, is based on the work of a group of social media researchers who have been able to unearth a sustained effort by Chinese officials to bury the truth on what really happened in the Galwan Valley.

While globally the original Omicron virus is accounting for the most number of cases, the World Health Organisation has said that most cases in many countries, including in India, are primarily the new BA.2 subvariant. On the show, we ask WHO Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan, whether the new subvariant is more dangerous, and whether our current vaccines will work against it.

On a day when the China issue erupts in Parliament after very strong remarks by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, we bring you a very special set of interviews. Caught, beaten, electrocuted and eventually released when he thought he was being taken away to be killed, the story of the 17-year-old from Arunachal Pradesh captured by Chinese forces within Indian territory and his friend who escaped.

A lot is riding on Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman's budget this time, considering the fragile state of the Indian economy and volatile growth. On this episode of Left, Right and Centre, we address some of big questions ahead of Budget 2022.

There was no link between the $2 billion India-Israel deal that purportedly involved the Pegasus spyware and an Indian vote in the United Nations as suggested by The New York Times, the former Indian envoy to the United Nations Syed Akbaruddin told NDTV on Saturday.

Air India, which was on the verge of shutting down, got a new lease of life today. It has been formally handed over to the Tatas, after they successfully bid Rs 18,000 crores for the airline which they had started way back in 1932. Air India was one of the best airline in the world in the sixties and early seventies and Tata Group would want to rebuild that legacy. But it will not be easy.