Dear Express Explained reader, In 'Doctor, I Have a Question', The Indian Express's new series of interviews curated by Kaunain Sheriff M, in which eminent medical specialists explain important issues around health/illness that are currently top of mind, liver transplant surgeon Dr Arvinder Singh Soin spoke this week about Covid-hit children reporting seemingly unexplained symptoms of hepatitis, and Dr Pragya Yadav of ICMR-National Institute of Virology summed up why you should - and should not - worry about monkeypox. Both are informative, in-depth interviews, do read. We have been explaining a fair bit of late about aspects of the agricultural economy. This week, Rural Affairs Editor Harish Damodaran and Parthasarathi Biswas broke down the nature of the current surge in food inflation — it is driven by a supply shock, and is more calorie-led, rather than the demand-driven, protein — and micronutrient-led inflation of a decade ago. What to make of this situation, and what factors will determine the inflationary trend in the coming days and weeks? Partha separately wrote about the restrictions on the export of sugar that the government announced this week, what had guided the decision, and what implications it was likely to have. With regard to developments on the strategic and foreign affairs front, Nirupama Subramanian wrote a short analysis ahead of this week's Quad Summit — a sort of status report on the issues and challenges before the four leaders of the grouping and, separately, on the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework launched by the United States on the sidelines of the meeting in Japan. This new Indo-Pacific bloc is body with great potential — why has the Biden administration felt the need for such a framework for the region, and what's in it for all those, including India, who are its part? Nirupama also wrote an explanatory profile of Yasin Malik, the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front leader who was given a life term in prison this week. Malik is a fascinating figure: a man who picked up the gun more than 30 years ago and wielded it proudly for several years before turning to self-professed Gandhian resistance in the mid-1990s. For a while, the Indian state invested in him as a potential safety valve for the cauldron of bubbling political discontent in the Valley, but the effort failed to bring the desired returns. As Nirupama explained, the life and career of Yasin Malik traced the arc of the Kashmir militancy itself, a problem stoked relentlessly by Pakistan, which neither the use of force nor statecraft by India has yet succeeded in taming. Also, for those who would want to know more about the specific case in which Malik has been convicted and sentenced, I would recommend Deeptiman Tiwary's excellent summing-up of the details. Do check it out. Stay safe and stay aware. Keep reading The Indian Express Explained. Some of our content is now behind a paywall, so if you haven't subscribed to The Indian Express yet, this may be the perfect time to do so. Click here to subscribe. Sincerely, Monojit (monojit.majumdar@expressindia.com) If you received this newsletter as a forward, you can subscribe to it here | Do read our Explained articles here | 
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