All Things Policy
Episodes
Critical Minerals Partnerships
24 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
On May 26th, India and the US signed a bilateral critical minerals framework; the same day, the QUAD unveiled a $20 billion initiative spanning mining...
China's Legal Architecture of Economic Statecraft
23 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
What are the complex web of regulations driving China's economic statecraft? Set against the backdrop of intensifying US-China technological compe...
The Paradox of Pakistan’s Kashmir Narrative
22 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
As Pakistan gains diplomatic attention in West Asia, unrest has intensified in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, exposing the deeper questions about the regi...
The Indian Radius: New Actors, Old Neighbourhood
19 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The past couple of weeks have been interesting and eventful in terms of India’s foreign policy visits. From Myanmar, Nepal, Venezuela to the UK, Fra...
How Can Biotechnology Strengthen Military Resilience?
18 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Biotechnology is more likely to shape warfare through improvements in health protection, sensing, and distributed manufacturing than through exotic ...
Japan’s Defence Transformation
17 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Japan spent most of the last eighty years as the textbook case of a pacifist state. A constitution that renounces war, a one percent cap on defence sp...
India's Orbit Problem Isn't Pakistan
16 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
A recent investigation argues that Pakistan, with Chinese support, has rapidly expanded its Earth-observation satellite network, creating the ability ...
How Securitised is the Quad?
15 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
How relevant or securitised is the Quad? Is the Quad doing enough? These are recurrent questions that dominate the narrative around the grouping. When...
India’s Push for Drone Procurement
12 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
After Operation Sindoor, there was a significant push to increase the use of drones in India’s military operations. Since then, drones have been use...
Why India Hit Pause on Starlink
11 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Days before SpaceX's record-breaking IPO, India froze Starlink's launch in the country. In this episode, hosted by Adya Madhavan, Ashwin Pras...
Street Dogs: Public Safety or State Failure?
10 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
India has 3.7 million dog bites a year. It accounts for 36% of global rabies deaths. In May 2026, the Supreme Court ruled that civic authorities may e...
Heat: An Invisible Threat to National Security
09 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, host Devyani Rao interviews Dr Y. Nithyanandam, professor and head of the Geospatial Research Program at the Takshashila Institution,...
India’s West Asian War Tightrope
08 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
When the US and Israel launched coordinated strikes on Iran in late February 2026, India's abstract strategic interests in West Asia transformed i...
India-China Cooperation on Climate Adaptation
05 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Can India and China cooperate on climate change despite ongoing geopolitical tensions? In this episode of All Things Policy, Bhumika Sevkani, Research...
The Strait and Narrow
04 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The Strait of Hormuz has become central to global conversations with the War in West Asia and Iran’s closure of the Strait. Global supplies of oil a...
Industrialising Sugarcane
03 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of All Things Policy, Anwesha Sen and Anisree Suresh examine the draft sugarcane (control) order 2026 released by the Department of Fo...
Reading the Quad Between the Lines
02 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Brigadier Anil Raman (Retd), Lokendra Sharma and Ashwin Prasad Rao sit down to make sense of the Quad partnership that's sending ...
The Indian interest in US-China AI Chips Tango
01 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Should the US sell advanced AI chips to China? This is a question that has animated US technological and political circles for years now. But looking ...
Governing AI Distillation
29 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Chinese AI labs stand accused of distilling frontier models from American AI companies. The concern has escalated fast, with a new executive order cal...
Dissecting Quad Foreign Ministers Meet
28 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of the All Things Policy podcast, Vanshika Saraf and Abhishek Kadiyala examine the outcomes of the Quad Foreign Ministers Meeting held...
Energy Realism for India
27 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Amidst the escalating conflict in West Asia and the resulting constriction of oil and gas supply, the urgency to deploy renewable energy for enhanced ...
Decoding the American Strategy towards US-China Competition
26 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we unpack the evolving contours of U.S.–China strategic competition through first-hand insights from Yusuf Unjhawala, after a recen...
The Iran Brief: Regional Order Unravelling
25 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Drawing on the evolving trajectory of the US–Iran war and the wider regional transformations it has triggered, this episode of All Things Policy fea...
Deciphering China and Japan's Rivalry
22 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
How should we understand the growing rivalry between two 'tigers', Japan and China? The tension between both countries reached a critical point follow...
Agentic AI and the Future of Governance
21 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Despite exclusion errors and privacy concerns, the JAM trinity has fundamentally transformed public service delivery in India. Now, with AI becoming i...
Unlocking India’s Seaweed Economy
20 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Seaweed is not just a coastal livelihood activity. It sits at the intersection of industrial biotechnology, climate strategy, coastal development, and...
What did Trump's China trip achieve?
19 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
After a gap of nearly 9 years, and a recent postponement due to the Iran war, a US president finally visited China. Trump traveled with a large contin...
The Myth Of ISRO's Frugal Engineering Model
18 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of All Things Policy, Shobhankita Reddy sits down with Ashwin Prasad Rao to discuss his latest book chapter published in The Hindu'...
Digitising the Count: A Governance Experiment
15 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of All Things Policy, Sowmya Prabhakar is in conversation with Y Nithiyanandam to unpack the self-enumeration exercise. What happens w...
Parasport, Medicine and Policy
14 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of All Things Policy, Malathi Renati speaks with Dr. (Maj) Ameya Kagali, Chief Team Physician for the Indian Paralympic contingent, ab...
From Chips to LLMs: How Fast Is China Catching Up?
13 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
DeepSeek recently released a preview version of V4, a 1.6-trillion-parameter AI model trained and capable of being deployed entirely on Chinese homegr...
No Shortcut to Military Power
12 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Wars are expensive. And there's a seductive idea going around — that maybe they don't have to be anymore. That drones, loitering munitions, ...
The Iran Brief: Beyond the Ayatollahs
11 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
How much do we really understand about one of the world's most scrutinised, and possibly the most misread political systems? In this episode, Aish...
The Iran Brief: The Democratisation of Drone Warfare?
08 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Today, drones have become front and centre in modern warfare. Despite having lost much of its military infrastructure to the war in West Asia, Iran ha...
Why India's DISCOMs Are Trapped in a Doom Spiral
07 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Power cuts have become so routine that we've stopped noticing them. But this normalisation of unreliability has a cost — and it's a cost tha...
The Iran Brief: US Blockade as a Leverage
06 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Six weeks of US-Israel strikes on Iran destroyed infrastructure, eliminated leadership, and degraded Iran's missile arsenal. Yet when peace talks ...
Across the Strait: KMT-CPC Ties and the Future of Taiwan
05 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The recent meeting between Taiwanese Kuomintang party Chairwoman Cheng Li-Wun and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing marked a new effort between ...
The Iran Brief: Impact on the Indian Economy
04 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of All Things Policy, Bhumika Sevkani and Anisree Suresh examine the impact of the war in Iran on the Indian economy, tracing how the ...
The Iran Brief: Airpower Paradox
30 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of All Things Policy, Brigadier Anil Rahman and Air Marshal P.D. Joseph are joined by Dr. Kelly Grieco, Senior Fellow at the Stimson C...
The Iran Brief: US Congress and Trump
29 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of the All Things Policy podcast, Abhishek Kadiyala and Brigadier Anil Raman speak with Soren Dayton about why the U.S. Congress has r...
India’s Critical Minerals Challenge
28 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The global conversation on power is evolving, from energy security to supply chain resilience, and now to the minerals that underpin modern technology...
Inside China’s Energy Fortress
27 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
China's 15th Five-Year Plan (2026–2030), formalised, inter alia, its "dual-track" energy strategy investing in coal and renewable ener...
The Iran Brief: Pakistan's Moment in West Asia
24 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Pakistan finds itself in a critical mediatory position as the US and Iran navigate a fragile ceasefire, and add to that, decades of mistrust. Pakistan...
Trust Before Policy: Why Communities Matter
23 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In a society marked by a trust deficit, even the best solutions run into limits. This episode explores how intentional, hyper-local communities can lo...
AI-Powered Cyber Defence and Offence
22 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Anthropic just revealed an AI model that found a 27-year-old bug in one of the world's most secure operating systems. In this episode, Col KPM Das...
SMR for India's Energy Security
21 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) represent a significant technological shift in nuclear power generation, offering scaled-down versions of traditional nu...
How India Counts its Future
20 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
India’s Census 2027 promises to be more than just a population count. With digital tools, geospatial mapping, and innovations like DigiPin, it could...
AI Enters the Classroom: What Indian Schools Need to Know
17 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
AI isn't coming to Indian schools; it's already there, and students are embracing it. But is the Indian school system ready? Survey findings b...
The Iran Brief: West Asia in Historical Perspective
16 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this conversation, Professor Kingshuk Chatterjee joins Aishwaria Sonavane to place the current West Asian conflict in its deeper historical context...
India’s Sporting Achilles’ Heel: Age Fraud, Doping, Coaching Gaps
15 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Is India's sports integrity on the line? Listen to the latest podcast: "India’s Sporting Achilles’ Heel: Age Fraud, Doping, Coaching Gaps...
A Blueprint for City Finance in India
14 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Cities are the engines of economic growth - generating the bulk of GDP, driving innovation, and shaping the everyday lived experience of millions. Yet...
BIRSA101 and The Future Of Gene Therapy In India
13 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
November 2025 saw the launch of BIRSA 101- India’s first indigenous CRISPR-based gene therapy for sickle cell disease. What does this mean for affor...
Artemis II and Return To The Moon
10 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Amid the bleak news coverage of the projectile war in West Asia, there was one development that served as a glimmer of hope for humanity at large. NAS...
The Iran Brief: The US-Iran Air & Missile Campaigns
09 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The opening campaign of the US/Israeli - Iran War has witnessed an asymmetric fight between the two parties, playing to their different strengths. The...
NavIC - Navigation, Power, Sovereignty
08 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Navigation satellites are invisible infrastructure - until they aren't. In an era where GPS signals are being jammed over conflict zones, spoofed ...
The Quiet Decline of NavIC: India’s Geospatial Sovereignty at Risk?
07 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Following the failure of the last atomic clock on IRNSS-1F, India’s homegrown navigation system, NavIC, has fallen below operational strength. In th...
The Iran Brief: Chink in the CRINK
06 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of the Iran Brief of Takshashila’s All Things Policy podcast, Amit Kumar discusses with Anushka Saxena the reactions of three of the...
Charting a Shared Maritime Future
02 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
As the Indian Ocean grows in strategic importance, India and Australia are increasingly seen as key partners in shaping its future. In this episode, V...
The Iran Brief: Why Is US Congress Failing To Stop Trump On Iran?
01 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of the All Things Policy podcast, Abhishek Kadiyala and Bhumika Sevkani examine why the US Congress has repeatedly failed to restrain ...
The Iran Brief: Does the AI Boom Run Through the Strait of Hormuz?
31 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
What happens to the AI boom when data centres become military targets? Shobhankita Reddy and Bharath Reddy discuss how the Iran war is stress-testing ...
Data, Decisions, and the Future of Farming
30 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
AgriStack represents India’s ambition to build a digital public infrastructure for agriculture, linking farmer, land, and crop data to improve credi...
The Iran Brief: The Saga of Iranian Nuclear Programme
27 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
For decades, the Iranian nuclear programme has caused consternation in Western capitals. Despite US and Israeli efforts involving negotiations, cyber ...
Technology in Welfare: Ground Realities
26 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Digital technology is often seen as a fix for inefficiency and corruption in government welfare programmes—but does it actually deliver on that prom...
On Norms, Habits, And Incentives
25 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Think about the last time you were in a crowded metro station. Did you consciously decide what to do, or did you simply follow what everyone else was ...
The Iran Brief: War and MAGA fissures
24 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
As the projectile war continues to rage on in West Asia, engulfing multiple Gulf states in addition to Israel, the US and Iran, fissures are developin...
The Iran Brief: Theory of Victory and Global Energy Anxieties
23 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of The Iran Brief by All Things Policy, we take a closer look at how the West Asian conflict is evolving as it enters its fourth week ...
The Iran Brief: China’s Stakes and Strategies
20 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of All Things Policy, Bhumika Sevkani speaks with Anushka Saxena, Staff Research Analyst at the Takshashila Institution, to unpack Chi...
Urban Heat: A Society, Market, and Government Perspective
18 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Sowmya Prabhakar is in conversation with Dr Y Nithiyanandam to vent about the heat. We will examine it through the lens of Society, M...
Invisible Data Workers Powering Machine Learning Models
17 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
AI systems depend on vast amounts of labelled data, produced by “data workers” who tag images, categorise text, and review content so machine-lear...
Behind the Scenes of Conflict Mediation
16 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of All Things Policy, Pakistan researcher Aishwaria Sonavane speaks with peace mediation expert Ameya Kilara. Drawing on her experienc...
Can India Solve the LPG Crisis?
14 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of All Things Policy, Bhumika Sevkani and Anisree Suresh unpack India’s LPG supply challenges amid the ongoing crisis in West Asia. ...
Financing The Future Of Indian Sport
13 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of All Things Policy, Malathi Renati gets an insider view from Anil Kumar, Founder of Great SportsTech, on Financing the Future of Spo...
Unpacking the 16th Finance Commission Recommendations
12 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Federalism is a defining feature of India’s republic. It shapes the relationship between the Union government and the states. One of the important a...
Anthropic's Pentagon Problem and the Inevitability of AI Diffusion
11 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Two recent developments have thrust Anthropic into the centre of AI geopolitics. The company has accused three Chinese research labs of running “ind...
Why the Last Internet Shutdown Has Already Happened
10 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of All Things Policy, Shobhankita Reddy and Ashwin Prasad on satellite internet, smuggled Starlink terminals in Sudan and Iran, Africa...
The Newer Era of China's Socio-Economic Trajectory
09 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
As China convenes its 'Two Sessions', the draft of Beijing's 15th Five-Year Plan is grabbing global attention. The plan features, among ot...
India’s Trade Strategy for the Emerging World
06 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of All Things Policy, Aishwaria Sonavane and Anisree Suresh explore India’s evolving trade strategy in a volatile global environment...
The War That Changed West Asia Overnight
05 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The US and Israel struck Iran on the morning of February 28. Israel's Air Force said it flew over 200 fighter jets and fired 1,200+ munitions at...
Congress and the Making of India-U.S. Relations
03 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of the All Things Policy podcast, Vanshika Saraf and Abhishek Kadiyala examine the often-overlooked role of the U.S. Congress in shapi...
Technology Denial Regimes and the Limits of Containment
02 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of All Things Policy, Arindam Goswami speaks with Shreya Ramakrishnan about the findings and lessons from his discussion document on t...
Analysing India's AI Ecosystem
27 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of All Things Policy, Adya Madhavan speaks with Bharat Reddy and Anwesha Sen about the AI Impact Summit and their insights on some of ...
Samaj, Sarkar, Bazaar: Why Domestic Founders Are Winning
26 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
From local market immersion (Samaj), to capital maturity (Bazaar), to digital public goods and regulatory shifts (Sarkar), Sowmya Prabhakar and Shobha...
Takeaways from Munich Security Conference
25 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Closely following the heels of the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos in January 2026, the conversations in the Munich Security Conference (MSC) ce...
Key Provisions in the India-US Trade Deal
24 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of All Things Policy, Bhumika Sevkani speaks with Anisree Suresh, Research Analyst at the Takshashila Institution to break down the In...
The Momentum of Japan’s New Mandate
23 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Japan is at a political turning point. In this episode, Leah Govias and Vanshika Saraf break down how Japan’s system of government and electoral rul...
Understanding India's Mineral Diplomacy
20 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Over the past year, India has stepped up its critical mineral diplomacy with a notable urgency. There has been a flurry of activity with several inter...
What Could Model High Court Rules Look Like?
19 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
High Courts across India have evolved their own unique sets of rules and processes for litigation practices and judicial administration in the courts....
India Should Double Down On Rare Earth Recycling
18 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Critical minerals are materials and, unlike oil, can be recovered and reused from end-of-life products. Importantly, recycling offers a pathway to red...
Limits of China-Pakistan Interoperability
17 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of All Things Policy, Vanshika Saraf speaks with Aishwaria Sonavane, Research Analyst for Pakistan Studies, about her paper “Limits ...
VB-GRAM-G And The Future Of Employment Guarantees
16 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
With MNREGA set to be replaced by VB‑GRAM‑G, the implications for rural livelihoods are profound. In this conversation, Ameya Naik and Suman Joshi...
Sectoral Plurilateralism to Overcome Geopolitical Coercion
13 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
India’s current multialignment strategy is buckling under the pressure of a volatile, transactional US and a structurally aggressive China. In this ...
Can Tax Breaks Make India a Cloud Hub?
12 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The Union Budget 2026-27 makes one of the most far-reaching moves we have seen so far to attract global cloud players to build and run their infrastru...
Universal Patterns in Elections
11 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Elections often seem messy and chaotic, shaped by multiple interactions among various agents. Different countries vary widely with respect to the rule...
Climate change & Sport
10 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of All Things Policy, Malathi Renati chats with veteran sports journalist Sharda Ugra on reshaping the sports landscape through the 3 ...
Rupee Beyond India
09 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of All Things Policy, Anisree Suresh and Vanshika Saraf examine the strategic, institutional, and economic rationale for advancing rup...
The China–EU Battle Over Electric Vehicles
06 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Electric vehicles have become a frontline issue in global trade politics. In this episode of All Things Policy, host Kavya Rai speaks with Bhumika Sev...
Clean Energy, Hard Power: Tibet as Leverage
05 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Yusuf Unjhawala sits down with Dr. Y. Nithiyanandam to unpack his latest piece in the Takshashila Geospatial Bulletin, a deep dive into the rapid expa...
One License, Many Problems
04 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Is the proposed copyright framework to protect content creators actually going to stifle the AI revolution? Shobhankita Reddy and Bharath Reddy dive i...
Evaluating India and Japan’s Techno-Economic Cooperation
03 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Professor Eri Ikeda, a leading scholar of Japan’s political economy joins Vanshika Saraf to explore how India-Japan economic and te...
How Satellite Megaconstellations are Entrenching Space
02 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Companies like SpaceX are launching satellites rapidly to lock up resources in the global commons of outer space. In this episode of All Things Policy...