All Things Policy

Howdy Modi 2.0?

24 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

India's PM Narendra Modi became one of the first state leaders to pay a visit to the US as Trump 2.0 completes a month in office. Join Anushka Sa...

Metropolis Matters: India’s Urban Challenges & Fixes

21 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Have you found yourself frustrated with some of the issues you face every day in your city? Be it real estate prices or public transport systems? In t...

'Loiter'-ally Speaking: Gender Responsive Urban Design in India

20 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

How can cities be designed to be more inclusive and accessible for women? In this episode of All Things Policy, Maya and Aparna explore gender-respons...

Landmarks and Legends: How Maps Led the Way

19 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Throughout history, Humans have crossed forests and the sea using their navigation skills. Europeans leveraged maps for conquering foreign lands and i...

Decoding R&D in the Union Budget 2025-26

18 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A budget reflects the government's priorities. The union finance minister presented the budget a few days back. Given the role of research and dev...

Innovation Policy, AI and Economic Growth

17 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Join Abhishek Nagaraj and Arindam Goswami in this episode of All Things Policy, where we discuss innovation policy, private sector R&D and AI. In ...

Breaking Down India’s Defence Budget 2025-26

14 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of All Things Policy, Aishwaria and Anushka unpack India’s defence budget for FY 2025-26, exploring spending priorities, capital all...

Futureproofing AI: America's Play in Global Tech Control

13 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, Vanshika Saraf sits with Ashwin Prasad to understand the strategic nuances of the U.S. AI diffusion framework, exploring how it aims ...

China’s Yarlung Tsangpo Mega Dam: Power or Peril?

12 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

China has approved the construction of a massive hydropower project on the Yarlung Tsangpo, yet key details about its impact assessment remain undiscl...

South Asia's battle with Locust

11 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In today's episode of All Things Policy, Shree Keerthi and Swathi Kalyani discuss the world of locusts, exploring their origins, evolution, and sw...

Making Sense of the DeepSeek News Story

10 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The big news story in artificial intelligence is the R1 model from DeepSeek, a chinese AI lab. Shobhankita and Rijesh from the Takshashila Institution...

The Joy of Play: Nurturing Active Citizens (Pt.2)

07 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This is the second of a 2-part series. Childhood is precious! How can we guarantee that India's youth receive a well-rounded and enriching educati...

The Joy of Play: Nurturing Active Citizens (Pt.1)

06 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Childhood is precious! How do we ensure India’s youth experience a fulfilling and holistic education, where play is part and parcel of learning? Mal...

India's Leap into Hypersonic: Scramjet Technology

05 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of All Things Policy podcast, Ashwin Prasad and Avinash Shet discuss the scramjet engine technology. Motivated by the ground test of t...

Solving Mumbai's Urban Congestion

04 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of All Things Policy, Miheer Karandikar and Anisree Suresh explore the latest proposed policy by the Maharashtra government to mandate...

The Future of Work for Domestic Workers in India

03 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

How can conditions be created where domestic workers can flourish through their engagements and employment? Why domestic workers, though - They cook, ...

India's Challenges in the Air

31 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

There are numerous challenges facing India in the aerial domain. Lack of pace of modernisation, China’s rapid pace of acquisition and technological ...

Reflections on the AI Guidelines Report

30 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

An Advisory Group, chaired by the Principal Scientific Advisor, has been formed to develop an India-Specific AI Regulatory Framework. A subcommittee w...

Seoul-o? Policy Interventions to Tackle Loneliness in South Korea

29 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 2024, the City of Seoul announced that it would spend $325 million over the next five years to “create a city where no-one is lonely”. The init...

The Dealmaker Returns to Negotiate a New World Order

28 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

With his return to the Oval Office for a second term, US President Donald Trump has promised a 'Golden Age' for America. But questions loom la...

Bus or Bus(t): Karnataka's Shakti Policy

27 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Shakti program offers free bus travel for women and transgender individuals in Karnataka, boosting workforce participation and financial freedom f...

A New Approach to the De-Risking Debate

24 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In the latest episode of 'All Things Policy', Anushka Saxena quizzes Amit Kumar on his approach and framework to determine sectors of vulnerab...

China's Clean Technologies and Climate Commitments

23 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, Rakshith hosts Lauri Myllyvirta, a co-founder and lead analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) as well as a...

Reapportionment and Delimitation: Key Issues and Possible Pathways

22 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The discussion around the upcoming census and the ensuing delimitation and reapportionment exercise has immense ramifications for the democratic futur...

Economic Trajectory of India’s States

21 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

India’s states have each charted their unique growth paths. While some states have performed remarkably well, some have lagged. Recent studies highl...

India's strategic dilemma in Myanmar's Civil war

20 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Since the military coup in 2021, things have dramatically changed in Myanmar and the nation has succumbed to a civil war. Shobhankita and Vanshika, re...

Negotiating the India-China Standoff: 2020-2024

17 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, Rakshith quizzes Saheb Singh Chadha, a senior research analyst at Carnegie India, who recently authored a paper that meticulously exa...

Afghanistan-Pakistan Tensions: Navigating the Future of Fragile Ties

16 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of All Things Policy, host Aishwaria Sonavane sits down with Abdul Basit, Senior Associate Fellow at RSIS, to examine the future of Ta...

India's PLI scheme - is it working?

15 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Join Miheer Karandikar and Arindam Goswami in this episode of All Things Policy, in which we unpack a scheme that was touted as a game-changer in Indi...

AI on the Battlefield: The Future of Military Power

13 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The nature of warfare is rapidly evolving with advancements in technology. In this episode of All Things Policy, Avinash Shet and Adya Madhavan explor...

AI-led Predictive Policing: Safety or Illusion?

10 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Predictive policing is an AI use case in law enforcement wherein biometric technologies are used to “predict” crimes. There has been a considerabl...

Starlink in Manipur: India's Satellite Internet Awakening

09 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The appearance of Starlink in Manipur wasn't just about unauthorised internet access - it was a wake-up call. Rakshith Shetty and Ashwin Prasad explor...

The Air We Breathe: India’s Pollution Crisis

08 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

There is much talk about the state of India's air quality and the urgency of the problem. However, thus far, most mechanisms for its addressal focus o...

Decoding the Crisis: Delays in Municipal Elections in India (Pt.2)

07 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Local government bodies are essential to grassroots democracy and effective governance in any country, much more so in a large country like India. How...

Decoding the Crisis: Delays in Municipal Elections in India (Pt.1)

06 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Local government bodies are essential to grassroots democracy and effective governance in any country, much more so in a large country like India. How...

2025 - Indian Sport on the Move

03 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Sports in India is at a turning point. We are a young nation, holding alot of potential and promise across sectors. There is no better time than now t...

The Accessibility Puzzle

02 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, Sowmya Prabhakar, COO of Takshashila Institution, is in conversation with Bhumika Modh from The Association of People with Disabilit...

One Nation One Subscription: Yet another stratagem?

31 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It is a season for one nation, one ‘fill in the blank’. The Government of India, on 25 November 2024, approved One Nation One Subscription — or ...

Bridging Borders: India's Drive for Regional Connectivity and the Data Behind It

30 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of All Things Policy, Vanshika Saraf discusses India’s regional connectivity efforts with Riya Sinha, who has extensively worked on ...

Examining the Political Apology

27 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

While it may feel strategic, could a political apology be a necessary feature of a healthy democracy? You've seen many a political leader take to a pu...

What is brewing at the Bioweapons Convention?

26 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Aditya R and Shambhavi Naik discuss the ongoing plans for updating the biological weapons convention, a key UN treaty that prevents the development an...

Climate Resilience in UN Peacekeeping

24 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Join Dr. Y. Nithiyanandam in a thought-provoking conversation with Ms Ingvild Brodtkorb, guest speaker at the United Service Institution (USI) recent ...

The Teesta River dispute

23 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

India and Bangladesh have had cordial relations in various geopolitical frontiers. While a successful Ganges water treaty came into existence in 1996,...

India and the Forgotten Planet

20 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

After years of delays, India's ambitious Venus Orbiter Mission is set to launch in 2028. Space writer Jatan Mehta joins Ashwin Prasad and Aditya Raman...

A lot hinges on India's Next Generation Launch Vehicle

19 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In a follow-up to a previous discussion on the Starship, Ashwin and Swathi delve into the Next Generation Launch Vehicle (NGLV), a cutting-edge rocket...

Accelerating private sector R&D in India

18 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Private players in India do not spend enough on Research and Development. India’s in-house industry R&D spending is a mere 36.4 per cent of Indi...

Engaging with Sino-India Disengagement

17 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

India's Minister of External Affairs, S Jaishankar, recently briefed the Parliament on the disengagement deal between India and China in Depsang and D...

LLMs in Indian languages: An insurmountable challenge?

16 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Large language models (LLMs) generally do not work that well with non-English languages. But why is that the case? What does this mean for India, whic...

X Marks the Spot: Analysing Deepfake Regulation in the Musk Era

13 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Join Rohan Pai and Leah Govias in today's exciting episode of All Things Policy as they dive into the world of deepfakes! Following close on the heels...

India's Mineral Dependency On China

12 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

To strengthen India’s stance on critical mineral security, the Ministry of Mines in 2023 identified 30 critical minerals deemed essential for the na...

An entrepreneur's journey | Building a sports platform

11 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It all started with a dream, a vision; to bridge gaps and improve the status quo. Sports entrepreneur and alumna of the #OpenTakshashila "Building a s...

India's state capacity challenges

10 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of All Things Policy, Miheer and Anisree delve into India's state capacity challenges. They examine the Takshashila Institution's rese...

DeepTech Software Startups: Beyond Intellectual Property

09 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of All Things Policy, Shobhankita and Avinash discuss deep tech software startups. They ponder how we can measure its impact without s...

The Role of Startups in India's Urban Housing Challenges

06 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

India faces a significant urban housing crisis, particularly affecting low-income households. Indian cities are overcrowded, lack sufficient infrastru...

India’s Ageing Crisis

05 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

India is on the brink of a demographic transformation. With a rapidly growing elderly population, the nation faces an ageing crisis with far-reaching ...

Did the COP 29 deliver?

04 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this discussion, Rakshith and Anika explore Azerbaijan's presidency during COP 29, examining how it was organised and assessing the outcomes relate...

Choking Point: Delhi's Smog & Public Policy

03 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Join Srinivasan Iyengar and Arindam Goswami in this episode of All Things Policy, where we have an absolutely fascinating and insightful discussion ab...

AI Adoption: Think tasks not jobs

02 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

AI has risen to prominence over the last few years, and fears that it will take over jobs has driven narratives around it. In this episode, MIheer Kar...

Indian Women's Participation in Leisure

29 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

At a time when the labor force participation of women in India continues to lag significantly behind that of men, is a woman’s participation in leis...

Gender Equity: A Fundamental Right

28 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The significance and continuous necessity of discussing gender equity have numerous benefits. As we enable all genders to participate in the nation-bu...

India’s Role in UN Peacekeeping

27 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Dr Y. Nithiyanandam, Professor & Head of Geospatial Research at the Takshashila Institution, Interacts with Col KK Sharma (Retd.), a decorated vet...

China Makes Moves at the G20 Summit

26 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The 19th G20 Summit recently concluded on November 19, 2024 in Rio, and given that the overarching themes of the summit were quite relevant to the dev...

Balancing competition and cooperation in Space

25 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Join Ashwin and Rijesh in this episode of All Things Policy as they explore the potential for international cooperation in an arena as heavily contes...

Resisting Resistance: All things to know about AMR

22 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Vanshika and Shambhavi discuss the origin of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), mitigation strategies and possible ways forward for tackling AMR. All Thi...

Veteran Healthcare in India

21 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

What are the components of a veteran healthcare system? How does India's veteran healthcare system look, and how does it compare with other countries?...

Interplay between society and theatre

20 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In the episode, Sowmya Prabhakar COO of Takshashila Institution is in conversation with Preethi Nagaraj. They go over the nuts and bolts of what goes ...

Powering India's Future: Three stage Nuclear Plan

19 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Join us to explore India's ambitious three-stage nuclear power programme. From harnessing the power of uranium to unlocking the potential of thorium, ...

Why should we care about the AI chips hardware ecosystem?

18 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

As AI becomes pervasive in our lives, the demand for AI chips, especially Graphic Processing Units (GPUs) have gone up exponentially to process data o...

What's Goa-n On with Indian Tourism?

15 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It's been an eventful week in Goa after the State's Tourism Department filed a police complaint against a social media user who supposedly disseminate...

What Does Trump 2.0 Mean for the World?

14 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Against all odds, Donald Trump has clinched a victory in the recently concluded US presidential election. Not just the White House, the Republican Par...

India-Taiwan Relations

13 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of All Things Policy, Anushka Saxena and Arindam Goswami talk about India-Taiwan relations. They take a look at the historical perspec...

Beyond Cricket: The Rise of India-Australia Strategic Ties

12 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of All Things Policy, Anisree Suresh converses with Professor Ian Hall from Griffith University, Australia, about the evolving India-A...

Taxes, tariffs and Green Tech

11 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Sarthak Pradhan and Sridhar Krishna discuss how the EU, the US, and other countries use taxes and tariffs to promote the development and deployment of...

Decoding Shigatse in Tibet - China’s firing range.

08 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

China is expanding its military infrastructure in Shigatse in Tibet. In the first of our podcast, Nithiya and Yusuf talk about the firing range- why i...

Voter Sentiments in the Kashmir Valley

07 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of All Things Policy, Carl Jaison speaks to Karishma Mehrotra, South Asia correspondent for The Washington Post regarding her report o...

How to survive and thrive in the AI economy

06 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Sridhar Krishna and Anupriya Mohta discuss how to survive and thrive in an AI economy and the skills required to make this happen. They refer to recen...

The AI Agents have Arrived

05 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Anthropic has just announced that its frontier Claude model can use computers the way people do—by looking at a screen, moving a cursor, clicking bu...

Mind Matters

04 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of All Things Policy, Mariam Azeemuddin and Srividya, a Research Scientist at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, explore a critica...

How Chinese Analysts View India's Climate Diplomacy

30 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of the All Things Policy podcast, Rakshith Shetty and Amit Kumar talk about Rakshith's latest issue brief on the opinions of Chinese a...

Why is SpaceX's Starship such a big deal ?

29 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

SpaceX's Starship made headlines with its dramatic descent and catch of the Starship rocket 7 minutes after its launch. Join Ashwin and Avinash in thi...

Anusandhan National Research Foundation-Old wine in a new bottle?

28 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Satya, Saurabh and Shambhavi analyse the latest initiatives under the Anusandhan National Research Foundation and discuss a potential roadmap for the ...

The Clock Is Tikking: Analysing TikTok's Addictive Algorithm

25 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of All Things Policy, Rohan Pai and Mariam Azeemuddin analyse the latest lawsuits filed against TikTok in the US for harming the menta...

Value of Third Spaces

24 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In the 1980s, sociologist Ray Oldenburg coined the notion of a "third place": a space dedicated to informal gatherings to facilitate conversation and ...

Deliberating a New Modus Vivendi with China

23 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

India-China relations are dynamic, featuring periods of marked conflict, competition, and some cooperation. Structurally, however, the relations face ...

All Things Digital Policy

22 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Why do governments, including India’s, struggle in the cybersecurity domain? In the context of global AI governance wherein the US and EU are pushin...

Minimum Export Price Impact on Essential Goods Trade

21 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, Avinash Shet and Anisree Suresh explore how policies like Minimum Export Price (MEP) affect global trade, particularly for essential ...

How the Samaaj and Bazaar can promote a sporting culture in India

18 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

While the Government has been the primary driver of sports since independence, it is time the other 2 pillars the society and markets, who have equal ...

Beyond the Middle East’s Wars

17 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In mid-2023, some imagined the Middle East and North Africa would move on from internecine conflicts to an age of economic connectivity. The war that ...

Chess in India: making the right moves

16 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

India won the gold medals in both the open and women's categories in the recently concluded 2024 Chess Olympiad. Regarding this massive success, Mihee...

Carbon Pricing in India

15 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of All Things Policy, Rakshith Shetty and Anisree Suresh discuss carbon pricing in India, its significance as an economic tool, policy...

Asian NATO: India's stance?

14 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Join Yusuf Unjhawala and Arindam Goswami in this episode of All Things Policy, where they talk about the new Japanese Prime Minister's rather provocat...

Long-term lessons from global tech outage

10 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In July 2024, what is being called the biggest global tech outage was caused not by a malicious actor but a cybersecurity company. A mere 40 KB faulty...

Life and times of Syeda X

09 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Neha Dixit's The Many lives of Syeda X weaves a compelling tale around the intersectionality of poverty, gender and religion. In this episode, Miheer ...

Navigating Bengaluru’s Water Challenges

08 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

What are the major sources of water for Bengaluru? Why did the city face a water crisis earlier this year? What steps can be taken to prevent similar ...

Decoding India’s unemployment crisis

07 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of All Things Policy, Adya Madhavan speaks to entrepreneur and investor Mohit Satyanand. As a long-time investor. Mohit speaks about t...

Will synthetic biology produce the next pandemic?

04 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, Aditya and Shambhavi discuss the new developments in biotechnology how they can help create bioweapons and the likelihood of their us...

Looking Beyond the AI Hype

03 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The past two years have given us a glimpse of what is possible with artificial intelligence. Some say that AI will have a transformative impact to riv...

Expanding Horizons: Quad and India-Australia dynamics

01 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, Vanshika Saraf discusses the outcomes of the recent Quad Leaders' Summit with Professor Pradeep Taneja from the University of Melbour...

Food: The Universal Language We All Understand

30 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Lakshmi Shashidhar and Sowmya Prabhakar join Smita Murthy in an engaging conversation about food—an essential part of everyone's life. Together, the...

The Fall of Homo Economicus?

27 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The entire edifice of economics is predicated on the assumption that human beings are rational creatures, who are capable of maximising their self-int...