In Focus by The Hindu

Did you know that pain is considered the leading cause of disability in the world? A large global study on pain, published recently looked at how pain is distributed around the world and how pain affects people across their lifespans. The results were interesting. Some of the findings were that women report suffering more pain than men. Pain rises steeply before the age of 55 and 18.3% of the global pain burden was due to smoking, obesity and low household incomes. This comes amidst rising concerns about the gender pain gap: that even though women experience more pain, their pain is still under-recognised and under-treated. Guest: Dr. Sadasivan S. Iyer, consultant and lead, pain medicine, Manipal Hospital, Bengaluru and vice president of the Karnataka chapter of the Indian Society for the Study of Pain Host: Zubeda Hamid Producer/editor: Jude Weston Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Over the past few months, right-wing parties and leaders have faced electoral setbacks across countries including Romania, Hungary, Serbia, the U.S. and Brazil, while youth-led protests in India are challenging the grip of Narendra Modi’s government. Do these developments signal a wider global shift? Has the populist far-right finally entered a period of decline? Here, we discuss. Guests: Christophe Jaffrelot and Irfan Nooruddin Host: Sonikka Loganathan Producer and editor: Jude Francis Weston Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hardik Pandya has left the Mumbai Indians. The all-rounder, a two-time T20 World Cup winner, has ended his second stint with the franchise in a direct swap with Punjab Kings’ Arshdeep Singh. His exit followed a difficult three years as captain, in which he appeared to lose favour with teammates and the franchise’s demanding fanbase. Now 33, Pandya is set to play under Shreyas Iyer in a Punjab side still searching for its first IPL title. In this episode of In Focus, The Hindu’s Amol Karhadkar explains how the deal came together and what went wrong at Mumbai. He assesses what Pandya brings to Punjab, what the trade means for both franchises, and where the all-rounder’s international career stands. Guest: Amol Karhadkar Host: Reuben Joe Joseph Producer: Shiksha Jural Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bengaluru, grappling with a governance deficit and an infrastructure catch up for decades now, has been experimenting with restructuring its governance mechanisms, probably offering India a new model for mega city governance. The Karnataka Cabinet has recently decided to split the Bengaluru City Police Commissionerate into five commissionerates, reporting to a Chief Police Commissioner. This comes a year after Bengaluru's civic body was split into five corporations with a pan city body called the Greater Bengaluru Authority. We have V. Ravichandar, member, BBMP Restructuring Committee, a government formed committee championing splitting of the civic body from 2015 and N. S. Megharik, former Bengaluru City Police Commissioner (2015-16), who was the first to propose a splitting of the commissionerate, to discuss these experiments. Host: Adhitya Bharadwaj Camera: Ravichandran N Producer: Shiksha Jural Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Incumbent FIFA President Gianni Infantino is a polarising figure in the world of football. The presidential elections are scheduled for March 18, 2027, and the deadline for filing the nominations is on November 18. With his third tenure coming to an end and a re-election almost guaranteed, we take a look into what the future would be like for world football if Infantino were to get re-elected in today’s episode of The Hindu’s In Focus podcast. From Infantino’s failed FIFA privatisation bid to his feud with UEFA, we discuss the various factors that would affect the incumbent president’s standing if he were to get re-elected and its implications for global football. Guest: N Sudarshan, Special Correspondent (Sports), The Hindu Host: Rohan Pillay A Producer: Jude Francis Weston Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices