We The People

A book has now questioned what medication are people giving their children. Do they work? What's in them? Will it do more them harm than good? This is an issue that affects everyone - there is nobody in this country who has not at one point of time in their lives had to take or will need to take medication. The findings of a book, a New York Times bestseller, Bottle of Lies, has thrown up these questions. Was Ranbaxy a one-off, a bad apple, or is this a industry specific problem? Is the problem of a lack of quality controls more systemic, ingrained?

Earlier this week, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) wrote to the district magistrate (DM) of south-east Delhi asking for an investigation into a complaint they received of children being "misled" at Shaheen Bagh about the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) by their elders and, as a result, may be suffering from 'mental trauma'. The top government child rights' body has now told the DM to send a child protection officer and a child welfare police officer to "identify these children and arrange counselling sessions for them and their parents, if deemed fit". They have 10 days to file a report. Meanwhile, three Congress-ruled states have made the Preamble to the Constitution part of school curriculum. The BJP has described the decision as a political one. They say it will backfire on Congress. We are asking tonight? Are India's children being made into pawns for politics? Should children be made aware of the politics of the day, given that they are going to inherit

February 1 - that's the day the four convicts in the Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case are to be hanged to death, instead of January 22, the date first set by a trial court. The four men found guilty of the rape and brutal murder of a 23-year-old paramedical student in the national capital seven years ago are to be executed by the state at 6 am on February 1 in fresh warrants that were issued hours after President Ram Nath Kovind rejected a mercy plea filed by one of them, Mukesh Singh. The new death warrants or black warrants are dated February 1 because according to the law there has to be a gap of 14 days after a mercy plea is turned down, so those on death row can exhaust all legal options before one can be executed by the State. The three other convicts have yet to file their respective petitions, which they may do at any time prior to their execution. However, remember that each time a petition is filed and rejected that 14-day period must be observed, thereby prolonging the execution. That's not all,

Today we are talking about the youth of the country, the millennials or gen Z who are often dismised by the older generation as self-involved, interested in gadgets, the good life and films, entertainment - who have actually taken the country by storm, showing us they will not be dismissed, they will voice their concerns, they will make demands and they will dissent. Over the last couple of weeks, from the end of 2019 into this year, the youth have enthralled us. They quote the Constitution, the Preamble, Mahatma Gandhi and Dr BR Ambedkar with ease. It began with campus protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the brutal police crackdown in Jamia University on December 15, which sparked anger and protests across campuses in the country. Then the January 5 attack by masked men in JNU, which again saw a strong reaction among the youth with more angry demonstrations, even in St Stephens, in IITs and even the scientists in IISC in Bengaluru were chanting azaadi slogans. Today, on the show we're discuss

The poetry of Faiz Ahmad Faiz, especially "Hum Dekhenge", has become a chant of students who are protesting against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. After students of IIT Kanpur chanted it during a protest on December 17, a police complaint was filed, claiming the poem was anti-Hindu. A panel was set up by IIT Kanpur to look into the protests and the complaint. This move has sparked off fierce debates on social media whether Faiz's poem was communal and anti-Hindu. The poem was written in 1979 during General Zia-ul-Haq's oppressive martial law regime in Pakistan, and it used Islamic religious imagery to attack Zia's dictatorship and push for democracy. It became a song after Iqbal Bano sang it to a packed audience in 1986 despite a ban on Faiz's poetry. And now it has sparked a controversy in India.

We look at the year that was: The people, the stories and the issues that made headlines in 2019.

It has been a dramatic week with the youth of the country rising up against the new citizenship law passed by the government and against police brutality against students in an act of solidarity that has shaken the country's politics. After a violent police crackdown on protests in and around Jamia Millia University in Delhi on December 15, college after college have taken to the streets or held demonstrations condemning the force that was used against the protesting youth. This last week we have seen young India rage and engage leading to larger protests where ordinary citizens, students, writers, activists, artists, opposition parties and film stars have showed their anger against a law that is being viewed as communal and has been challenged in the Supreme court.

This week, the government passed the Citizenship Amendment Bill which has now become a law. But it has been a move that has sparked anger, protests and despair in various parts of the country. The law now makes it easier for non-Muslims from 3 Muslim majority countries - Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan to acquire Indian citizenship. Opposition parties and many civil rights activists had opposed the bill on the ground that it discriminates against Muslims and this is unconstitutional under Article 14 - a cornerstone of our Constitution that states Equality before law.

The despairing question: when will India's women be safe? When will there be justice for India's daughters? It's been seven years since the Nirbhaya case in Delhi that had led to an outpouring of anger and changes in the law. But the sad truth is while women have become bolder in reporting rape, the number of attacks on women are not going down. We've had the horrific Telangana rape and murder case where the four rapists were actually gunned down by the police in an alleged encounter. That has been received by a mixed response across the country. Many have welcomed it but many others have condemned and questioned it. And then the tragic case in Unnao where a woman who was fighting for justice within the system was set on fire by her rapists - one of whom who had just gotten out of jail. She finally died in a Delhi hospital after fighting for her life for 40 hours.

Why has nothing seemed to have changed since the horrific Nirbhaya gang-rape in 2012? Today, another barbaric case from Telangana has emerged. The entire case has left the country shocked and seething, but also feeling frustrated and helpless. On the day a 26-year-old veterinarian was raped and murdered, four more rape cases in different states were reported.

The Rajya Sabha on Wednesday deferred the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, which seeks to ban commercial surrogacy in India. The proposed legislation was moved by Health Minister Harsh Vardhan in the Upper House on Tuesday. It was passed in the Lok Sabha in the Monsoon session of parliament. The government says the bill is aimed at checking unethical practices, exploitation of surrogate mothers, abandonment of children born out of surrogacy and rackets around intermediaries importing human embryos. We ask tonight: Is this protecting rights or denying choice?

On Children's Day on 14 November, a day celebrated to increase awareness of the rights, care and education of children, a time has come where the young ones are having to fight for their right to clean air to breathe. On this Children's Day, the young eco warriors say enough is enough.

Delhi last month declared a health emergency on November 2 when pollution levels registered an unprecedented spike. When the media attention was focused on the national capital, the city was not even among the top 10 most polluted cities in the country. The trend of pollution now seems to be spreading down South too. We are sitting on a ticking time bomb as far as public health is concerned. Is enough being done to check pollution?

The government is working on formulating guidelines to regulate social media citing "growing threats to individual rights and nation's integrity, sovereignty, and security" . While there is recognition for the need for security considering that the technological world is expanding at an unimaginable pace, there are also growing concerns about the use of technology for surveillance of citizens, especially those critical of those in power. The latest draft on intermediary guidelines has given rise to similar concerns. Companies say that it's impossible to give up encryption due to technical reasons as well as commitment to users. But this is not a demand being made by India alone. Many Western countries are also making similar demands. On this episode of We The People, we debate, how can privacy and security be balanced and what are the concerns that authorities should keep in mind while drafting these guidelines.

On Monday, Haryana and Maharashtra are going to vote. Economy, farmer distress, unemployment, drought, poverty are the major issues that the public of these two states have been talking about but what we have heard all through election campaigning is a discourse around the abrogation of Article 370 in Kashmir, implementation of Assam's NRC all over the country and only very recently, the promise of giving Bharat Ratna to Vinayak Damodar Savarkar. On We The People, we ask just one simple question. Are local issues dead in elections? The problems may exist in real life, but do they simply not matter when voters go out and vote?

BJP MLA Nand Kishore Gujjar has written a letter to Union Minister Prakash Javadekar demanding that Season 13 of the reality show "Big Boss" be taken off air. He has alleged that the show is promoting "obscenity and vulgarity". This comes at a time when the government is considering regulation on over-the-top platforms. The big question is: who will decide what is offensive?

We take a look at the unfolding PMC Bank scam, where 70 per cent of the cooperative bank's loans were allegedly routed to HDIL- a Mumbai-based real estate developer.

On October 2, the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to announce a ban on some single-use plastic. Is this implementable? What will it mean for businesses and consumers during an economic slowdown? Some say banning its use when an alternative is not available could be difficult. Environment activists have welcomed the move. However, questions have arisen over the lack of an effective waste disposal system.

Home Minister Amit Shah has sparked an uproar with his comment that it is necessary to have a language which could represent India in the world and it should be Hindi. We are asking tonight - Is the stage being set for a new language struggle? Is the centre planning to make teaching Hindi compulsory?

On his Independence Day address, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for a movement to make India free of single-use plastic, beginning on Gandhi Jayanti, which falls on October 2. However, plastic is everywhere and shopkeepers and customers continue to depend on single-use plastic. Is the target of a full ban on single-use plastic too high, or it can be achieved? Across the country responsible citizens are working on their individual capacity not to use such plastic and spread awareness.