The Big Picture

Led by India, South Asia is moving towards becoming center of global growth and could contribute about one-third of the world's growth by 2040, according to a latest research by the International Monetary Fund. Notably, under the IMF's geographical division of the world, South Asia does not include Afghanistan and Pakistan. For IMF, South Asia includes India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, and Maldives. Under a substantial liberalisation scenario, supported by stepped-up efforts to improve infrastructure and successfully harness South Asia's young and large workforce, the region could contribute about one-third of global growth by 2040, argues the IMF paper 'Is South Asia Ready for take Off? A sustainable and inclusive growth agenda. The IMF noted that based on demographic trends, more than 150 million people in the region are expected to enter the labour market by 2030. On this edition of The Big Picture we analyse what India needs do be a global economic leader. Anchor: Frank Rausan Pereira Guests: Banuchandar Nagarajan, Former Consultant, The World Bank, Washington DC Ajay Dua, Former Secretary, Ministry of Commerce & Industry Arvind Virmani, Former Executive Director, IMF

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who left for Bangkok on Saturday, said India will consider whether its concerns and interests in trade in goods, services, and investments are being fully accommodated when he attends the meeting of the RCEP there. PM Modi is in Bangkok to participate in the 16th ASEAN-India Summit on November 3. He will also attend the 14th East Asia Summit and the 3rd Summit meeting of nations negotiating a Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement on November 4. In his departure statement, Prime Minister said ASEAN related Summits are key elements of India’s foreign policy, most notably our Act East Policy. Highlighting the importance of East Asia Summit, Prime Minister said it gives an opportunity to present our vision for the Indo-Pacific region. The Prime Minister added that during the visit, he will also hold bilateral meetings with a number of other world leaders present in the Thai capital for related summit meetings. On this edition of the big picture we will analyse India’s Act East Policy. Guest - Rajendra Harshe, Foreign Affairs Expert, Ashok Sajjanhar, Former Ambassador, Prof. Swaran Singh, School of International Studies, JNU, Anchor - Frank Rausan Pereira Producer - Sagheer Ahmad

India and Germany signed multiple pacts and joint declarations of intent and exchanged agreements after bilateral talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in New Delhi on Friday. The agreements were inked for cooperation in fields such as space, civil aviation, maritime technology, artificial intelligence, digital technology, medicine, defence, cyber security and education. Prime Minister said the expertise of economic power houses like Germany could help in his government’s aim to build a “new India” by 2022. He invited Germany to also take advantage of opportunities in defence production in dedicated corridors in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Germany is India’s largest trading partner in Europe and more than 1,700 German companies operate in the country. Merkel said she was accompanied by a big German business delegation including small and medium enterprises (SMEs), who wanted to engage in business with India. On this edition of the big picture we will analyse the state of bilateral ties between India and Germany. Guest - Prof. Gulshan Sachdeva, Centre for European Studies, SIS, JNU, Pramit Pal Chaudhuri, Foreign Affairs Editor, Hindustan Times, Meera Shankar, Former Ambassado,r Anchor - Frank Rausan Pereira Producer - Sagheer Ahmad

Three months after the bold decision of scrapping Jammu and Kashmir's decades-old special status under Article 370, the strife-torn state ceased to exist on Wednesday midnight when the clock struck 12. India now has two new Union Territories - Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh - while it has one less state. The big change of status for Jammu and Kashmir comes 86 days after the Centre moved to scrap the special status of the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The new Union Territories will be headed by Lieutenant Governors GC Murmu and RK Mathur, respectively. They took oath on Thursday. This is for the first time in the history of India that a state is being converted into two Union Territories. The total number of states in the country will now be 28, while the total UTs will go up to nine. The UT of Jammu and Kashmir will have a legislature like Puducherry while Ladakh will be a UT without legislature like Chandigarh. On this edition of the big picture we will analyse the way ahead for the two new Union Territories. Guests - Balmiki Prasad Singh, Former Governor and Home Secretary, Dr. Tej Tikoo, President, All India Kashmiri Samaj, J. Sai Deepak, Advocate, Supreme Court, Anchor - Frank Rausan Pereira Producer - Sagheer Ahmad

India and Saudi Arabia on Tuesday inked over a dozen agreements in several key sectors including oil and gas, defence and civil aviation to bolster their ties as Prime Minister Narendra Modi held extensive talks with the Kingdom's top leadership during which a Strategic Partnership Council was established to coordinate on important issues. Saudi Arabia has, for some time now, been looking for new friends in the East. The disappointing response of the United States after half of the kingdom’s oil production was knocked out by drone attacks last month, or when the West cornered Riyadh on the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi last year, has only driven it to look east. India is also achieving its strategic goals alongside trade with Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, the bilateral ties between India and the UAE too have reached new heights. Having prospered for several decades, it has more recently advanced into a sterling partnership spanning multiple dimensions, with both countries firmly committed to expanding collaboration in new sectors. Not just Saudi and the UAE, the whole of West Asia is looking to engage with India and explore new frontiers. On this edition of the big picture we will analyse India’s ties with West Asia. Guests - Harsh V. Pant, Head, Strategic Studies, Observer Research Foundation, Prof. A. K. Pasha, Centre for West Asian Studies, JNU, Prabhu Dayal, Former Ambassador, Anchor - Frank Rausan Pereira Producer - Sagheer Ahmad

Vice President Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday pushed for the Women’s Reservation Bill and reforms in the way Parliament works including a code of conduct for lawmakers and greater powers to the presiding officer to deal with disruptive legislators. The Vice President, who delivered the first Arun Jaitley memorial lecture at Delhi University, also pitched for a minimum sitting for both Houses in a year and a longer tenure to parliament’s standing committees. Pointing out that women at present constitute only about 13% of Parliament, he urged political parties to take forward “the legislation in the Parliament for reservation of women in legislatures”. The Vice President also suggested a list of broad framework of reforms for parliamentary institutions to “enhance the trust of the people in them.” He suggested both “pre and post Legislative Impact Assessment” for “quality and informed law making. He also said that the practise of reconstituting Parliamentary standing committees every year can be stopped and nomination of members in the committees may be “based on academic backgrounds and their re-nomination on the same committees for a longer period.” On this edition of the big picture we will analyse how parliamentary institutions can be strengthened. Guest Name:- V. K. Agnihotri, Former Secretary General, Rajya Sabha, Chakshu Roy, Head of Outreach, PRS Legislative Research K.V. Prasad, Senior Associate Editor, The Tribune Anchor: Frank Rausan Pereira Producer: Sagheer Ahmad

With the next round of peace talks to end the protracted Naga political problem scheduled for October 31, the Nagaland and Manipur governments have taken steps to meet any eventuality and have put their respective police forces on "high alert". Officials said in Kohima the Nagaland government has directed all deputy commissioners of the districts and administrative officers to remain in their place of posting and within their jurisdiction till further orders. In neighbouring Manipur, where Nagas have a sizeable presence, security forces in the state have been put on high alert and a large number of security forces, including women personnel have been deployed at important areas to thwart any "unwanted activities”. The crucial round of talks on October 24 to find a lasting solution to the seven-decade-old Naga insurgency problem has remained inconclusive. Naga tribal organizations, civil societies and political groups have been saying that any agreement on the Naga issue should be "inclusive, honourable and acceptable to all sections of the people". On this edition of The Big Picture we analyse the history of the Naga issue, the problems and way forward. Guests - Sandeep Phukan, Deputy Editor, The Hindu, Joyeeta Bhattacharjee, Senior Fellow, Observer Research Foundation, Gautam Sen, Former Advisor, Government of Nagaland, Shekhar Iyer, Senior Journalist, Anchor - Frank Rausan Pereira

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu has hit out at Pakistan for misusing the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit to justify its long-standing policy of cross-border terrorism against its neighbours. Addressing the 18th NAM summit at Baku in Azerbaijan, he said, Pakistan must decisively abjure terrorism for its own good, for that of its neighbours and for the good of the world. The Vice President called upon all NAM countries to come together to forge a common front against terror in all its forms as there was no justification for violent extremist ideologies and terrorist actions that maim and murder innocents. Vice-President Naidu said terrorism is the single most destructive threat to international peace and security, which has no borders ad called for strengthening all international laws and mechanisms to combat terrorists and their enablers. On this edition of the big picture we will analyse how India and the world can tackle Pakistan’s terror policy. Guest Name:- Prabhu Dayal, Former Ambassador Rana Banerji, Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat Maj. Gen. Ashwani Siwach (Retd.), Strategic Affairs Expert Anchor: Frank Rausan Pereira Producer: Sagheer Ahmad

In a setback to telecom service providers, the Supreme Court on Thursday allowed the Centre's plea to recover adjusted gross revenue of about Rs 92,000 crore from them. A three-judge bench, headed by Justice Arun Mishra, upheld the definition of adjusted gross revenue formulated by the Department of Telecom. In July, the Centre had told the apex court that leading private telecom firms like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and state-owned MTNL and BSNL have pending licence fee outstanding of over Rs 92,000 crore till date. Industry body COAI has expressed deep disappointment over the SC ruling and termed it the last straw in contributing to the sector's financial distress. It added that it remains to be seen whether the industry -- which is reeling under a daunting debt of about Rs 4 lakh crore and is in dire financial straits -- will be able to recover from this setback. The bench made it clear that there would no further litigation on the issue and it would fix a time frame for calculation and payment of dues by the telecom companies. O this edition of the big picture we will analyse the problems of the telecom sector. Guest Name:- Ganapathy Subramaniam, Chief of Bureau, Puthiya Thalaimurai Manu Seth, Director, Cellular Mobile Association of India Sandeep Aggarwal, Chairman, Telecom Committee, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry Anchor: Frank Rausan Pereira Producer: Sagheer Ahmad

Hello and welcome to Rajya Sabha Tv… You’re watching the big picture with me Frank Rausan Pereira. After an action-packed day of changing numbers, the picture in Maharashtra is clear. The BJP and Shiv Sena combine is well past the half-way mark and incumbent Devendra Fadnavis has led the NDA back to majority. The performance of the BJP has not turned out like how many of the exit polls have predicted. Caste equations have not trumped good governance, but have had a major role to play in the election. On the other hand, the NCP has performed better than expected, and Sharad Pawar’s party led the opposition race, thereby relegating the Congress to the fourth position. On this edition of the big picture we will analyse the results of the elections in Maharashtra. Guests - Prof. Sunil K. Choudhary, Political Analyst, Prafulla Ketkar, Editor, Organiser, Ashok Tandon, Senior Journalist, Anchor - Frank Rausan Pereira Producer - Sagheer Ahmad

Winter session of parliament is all set to begin on 18th November and will conclude on 13th December. Ahead of the this month long session , the Chairman of Rajya Sabha M Venkaiah Naidu has advocated detailed Legislative Impact Assessment. He called for informed law making in the country by bringing out social , economic , environmental and institutional impacts of legislative proposals . This , he said , will help in realising the stated objectives of various laws. So how can such assessment be made a part of the lawmaking process and how will it benefit. Guest- P D T Achary, Former Secretary General, Lok Sabha Chakshu Roy, Head of Outreach, PRS Legislative Research Aditi Phadnis, Political Editor, Business standard Anchor: Vishal Dahiya

Foreign Direct Investment or FDI is a major driver of economic growth and is largely a matter of private business decisions. FDI inflows depend on a number of factors sub as availability of natural resources , infrastructure , market size , general investment climate etc. Govt of India has put in place a liberal and transparent policy for FDI with most sectors open to FDI under the automatic route. To further attract more investors the department for promotion of Industry and Internal trade and the investment promotion agency Invest India have joined hands to put in place a new mechanism under which those looking to invest 500 million dollars or more will have a designated person to facilitate all clearances . So how will this policy help in attracting more FDI and what more needs to be done on this front . Guest - S K Jindal, Chairman, Investment & Capital Markets, ASSOCHAM, Prof. Aman Agarwal, Director, Indian Institute of Finance, Ajay Dua, Former Secretary, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Anchor - Vishal Dahiya

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged business leaders and technocrats to build a bridge between the artificial intelligence and human intentions. In fact artificial intelligence has penetrated several aspects of our life in the past few years . The govt on its part has also been vocal about its intention to mainstream AI applications and several ministries along with NITI Aayog have come up various recommendation yo enhance the use of AI. So what are various policies on this aspect and how can they be used to further implement AI in emergening areas. Guest Name - Arnab Kumar, Program Director, NITI Aayog, Mausam, Associate Professor, IIT Delhi, Jiten Jain, Director, Voyager Infosec Private Limited, Dr. K R Murali Mohan, Mission Director, NM-ICPS, Ministry of Science & Technology, Anchor - Vishal Dahiya Producer - Sagheer Ahmad

Campaigning for assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana has come to an end and now the ball is in voters' court who will cast vote on 21st October . Just like every election all political parties released their election manifestos for these two states. Two major points which prominently feature in all these manifestos relate to agriculture and jobs. While in Haryana all major political parties have promised reservations in jobs for locals , the opposition parties in both states have promised loan waivers for farmers and the ruling BJP has reiterated doubling farmers' income by 2022. So how does the election manifestos impact voting behaviour and how does political parties fare on the promises made once they are voted to power ? Guest - Anant Bal Bagaitkar, Chief of Bureau, Sakal, K V Prasad, Sr Associate Editor, The Tribune, Ashok Tandon, Senior Journalist, Anchor - Vishal Dahiya

n the recent past we have seen a rapid proliferation of video and audio content provided through Over the Top or OTT services. According to a industry data as of 2018 India is the tenth largest market for OTT in the world with an overall revenue of more than 4000 crore rupees. The CAGR growth for the subscription based video on demand platforms is expected to be 23.33 % in next five years. The issue of regulation of content provided on OTT platforms is being hotly debated now a days and the govt has also started it's consultation process with all stakeholders. Aiming at self regulation earlier this year in January some of the OTT service providers had agreed to a code of best practices for themselves . However one of the major players Amazon did not sign up this code saying current laws are adequate for regulation . Guest - Jiten Jain, Cyber Content Analyst, Karnika Seth, Advocate, Cyber Law, Stuti Sardana, Film & Media Critic, Sunil K. Gupta, Secretary TRAI, Anchor - Vishal Dahiya

Once approved by the ministry if Human Resource and Development , the National Testing Agency , NTA is all set to conduct a common admission test for 15 central universities of the country for the next academic session . Till now the the Central University Common Entrance Test was conducted by Central University of Rajasthan. The NTA id also said to be in talks with other central universities to join the common test .According to the draft National Education policy , in the long run the NTA will institute processes which would ease admissions in to higher education programs and tests will be offered in all mediums of instruction . Guest - Prof. M Jagadesh Kumar, Vice Chancellor, JNU, Arun K Pujari, Chairman, Steering Committee, Central Universities Common Entrance Examination, Prof Saroj Sharma, Former Member, NCTE & MHRD, Rajendra Harshe, Former Vice-Chancellor, University Of Allahabad, Anchor - Vishal Dahiya

Its that time of the year again when the pollution level in the air quality index goes up to dangerous mark in the national capital and the ODD EVEN scheme is all set to make a return for the third time from 4th to 15th November. While various studies give conflicting reports about the success of previous editions of the odd even scheme in combating aur pollution , Delhi Govt is finalising new guidelines for this edition. State transport department has suggested giving exemption to women drivers and two wheelers but the private CNG vehicles will come under the purview of odd even traffic rationing scheme. So today we will analyse the rationale behind the odd even scheme , how can it be made more successful and whether not giving exemption to private CNG vehicles could act as a disincentive for those switching to clean burning fuel ? Anchor: Vishal dahiya Prof. C.K. Varshney, Former Dean, School of Environment Sciences, JNU K.T. Ravindran, Urban Planner Dr. B. Sengupta Former Member, Secretary of Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) Anchor: Vishal Dhaiya

Anchor - Amidst the attempts by American officials to revive talks with Taliban , the Afghan outfit's spokesperson has said India should not be apprehensive about withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan . In an interview to a private TV channel , Taliban Spokesperson Mohammad Suhail Shaheen has said that they need India's help in developing and reconstructing Afghanistan. India has been doing immense development work in the war ravaged Afghanistan which includes building roads , dams , schools and even Parliament . At around 3 Billion dollars India is the largest donor to Afghanistan in the region. So in the evolving situation in Afghanistan , how should India play it's part and more importantly how should India deal with Taliban which is now looking upon themselves as a political force in the war torn Nation. Guests - Dilip Sinha, Former Ambassador, Pramit Pal Chaudhuri, Foreign Editor, Hindustan Times, Gautam Banerjee, Editor, VIF, Anchor - Vishal dahiya

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval has come down heavily on Pakistan for providing safe haven for terrorists and using terrorism as an instrument of state policy. Addressing the national conference of chiefs of Anti terrorism Squad and STF, the NSA also said that to fight terrorism one should recognise as to who are the terrorists, which countries are supporting them and how they are being funded. Meanwhile the crucial meeting of the global anti money laundering watchdog FATF has begun in Paris during which a final decision will be taken on Pakistan's grey list status. Pakistan has fared poorly in the recently released report of FATF's Asia Pacific Group on terror funding. Guests - Brig (Retd.) Rumel Dahiya, Defence Expert, Prabhu Dayal, Former Ambassador, K. V. Prasad, Senior Associate Editor,The Tribune, Anchor - Vishal Dahiya Producer - Sagheer Ahmad

In a bid to tackle malnutrition, government is developing an Atlas to map the crops and food grains grown in different regions of the country so that nutritious protein rich food in local areas can be promoted. The ministry of Women and Child Development in association with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Deendayal Research Institute is developing a POSHAN atlas under POSHAN abhiyan, government's multi-ministerial convergence mission with the vision to ensure attainment of malnutrition free India by 2022. According to the World Bank Global Nutrition Report – 2018, malnutrition costs India at least $10 billion annually in terms of lost productivity, illness and death and is seriously retarding improvements in human development and further reduction of childhood mortality. POSHAN abhiyan is focusing on ensuring the nutrition of children, women, and pregnant mothers in impoverished areas and the government seems to be looking at community management of the problem. On this edition of the big picture we will analyse how India can be malnutrition free by 2022 Guest Name:- Dr. Ajay Khera, Commissioner, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare Aditi Tandon, Special Correspondent, The Tribune Dr. Punit Mishra, Professor, Community Medicine, AIIMS Anchor: Frank Rausan Pereira Producer: Sagheer Ahmad