All Things Policy

The much-awaited Indian Space Policy 2023 was unveiled recently after the Union Cabinet approved it in early April. The policy seeks to provide regulatory certainty to India’s fledgling private space sector. In this episode, Pranav R Satyanath and Shrikrishna Upadhyaya discuss the aims, objectives, and limitations of the policy, the major hits and misses of the policy, and other anticipated develo...

As the new academic year begins, the issue of unauthorized schools and the regulations around them will make news. What are the issues involved in regulation and what can be the way forward? Sarthak and Suman discuss this in this episode. Readings: Over 1300 Unauthorised Private Schools Identified in Karnataka REGULATION OF PRIVATE SCHOOLS IN INDIA Ease of operations for budget private schools in...

In this episode of All Things Policy, Anushka Saxena discusses with Amit Kumar and Harshit Sharma, the fine details of the recent Iran-Saudi-China Joint Agreement and what it means for the relevant actors in West Asia. @‌harshit2442

Over the last two decades, the India-US relationship has gradually become one of the world's most important partnerships. But there are sceptics. Where exactly do two of the world's largest democracies stand vis-a-vis each other? Sachin Kalbag poses some questions to Yusuf Unjhawala.

Regulation is an intrinsic part of what the government does. But what exactly is regulation? What does it mean? Is government the most competent to regulate? In this episode of ATP, Saurabh Todi and Anupam Manur discuss all these questions!

The Human Genome Project celebrated its 20th anniversary on Apr 14th. In this episode of All Things Policy, Shambhavi Naik and Saurabh Todi discuss the history of the Human Genome Project and its implication in the field of genome sequencing.

The horticulture department which maintains Bangalore’s iconic Cubbon Park, recently enforced restrictions on citizens who they believe ‘misuse the park in many ways, including playing games or engaging in romantic gestures’. Apart from the sheer harassment and moral policing, this entails, the new restrictions also go against the government’s AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transfo...

Have you ever just wanted to skip all the traffic in the city, and try cycling to work? Sathya Sankaran, the Bicycle Mayor of Bangalore, and Leah Govias discuss the infrastructure in place that you can use to pursue cycling to work. Whether you work at a corporate and want to cycle to work or would like to travel by metro with your cycle, the Mayor speaks about the facilities in place and potentia...

Many cab and auto-hailing apps have tried to challenge the might of Ola and Uber and have failed over the years. There's a new app called Namma Yatri that is doing something different and is acquiring more customers every day. Shailesh Chitnis and Bharath Reddy talk about the app and what's so different about it.

Public consultation on draft laws, regulations, and policy is critical to participatory democracy. Perspectives brought in by citizens can help better policymaking. To this effect, Civis is releasing a handbook titled Climate Voices - Citizen Participation in Environment and Climate Policy Making on this World Earth Day on April 22.

How do legal barriers impact women's employment in factories? Suman Joshi and Sarthak Pradhan discuss with Anu Maria Francis and April Suzanna Varkey the Kerala Government's recently drafted rules on the Occupational Safety, Health, and Working Conditions Code 2020. They discuss the limitations and the possible remedies.

In this episode, Shrikrishna Upadhyaya and Satya Sahu discuss the findings from the India Justice Report 2022, particularly the vacancies and infrastructure constraints within the judiciary and police and second order effects of the shortages.

Since September 2021, Chinese President Xi Jinping has launched three new initiatives, which have become the cornerstone of his foreign policy. In this episode, Anushka Saxena talks to Manoj Kewalramani about China’s new Global Development, Global Security and Global Civilisation initiatives and what they mean for the world.

Kingshuk Saha speaks to Anubhav Raj Shekhar, Assistant Professor of Law at BML Munjal University (on sabbatical at the University of Oxford where he is researching South Asian societies) on the capital punishment jurisprudence in India.

On April 1, 2023, India celebrated 50 years of Project Tiger, arguably the most important ecological conservation programme in the country, and easily the most successful large carnivore protection initiative in the world. Yet, policy challenges abound: development vs ecology, human-animal interaction, habitat loss. Dr Anish Andheria, president and CEO of Wildlife Conservation Trust speaks to Sach...

The Bar Council of India recently allowed the entry of foreign lawyers and law firms in India to practice foreign law, diverse international issues, and international arbitration. In this episode, Saurabh Todi speaks to Shrikrishna Upadhyaya about the significance of the reform, its reception, and future prospects. They also discuss other bottlenecks in the growth of the legal sector, namely, rest...

In this podcast, Anushka Saxena and Amit Kumar discuss the mandates of Private Security and Military Companies operating in situations of armed conflict, debates surrounding their proliferation in international law, and repercussions for UN peacekeepers and the state monopoly on coercive power.

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The extent of female property ownership impacts women and their families, society, and the economy. Governments provide gender-based tax incentives to increase female property ownership. Suman Joshi and Sarthak Pradhan discuss the effectiveness of these measures as outlined in a recent World Bank working paper. Here are the papers referred to in the episode: World Bank Working Paper Which women ow...

Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden have recently signed the first Nordic Air Commanders' Intent to create a unified Nordic air defence alliance, pooling the resources of their air forces. In this episode, Saurabh Todi and Pranav Satyanath unpack this development and analyse its implications.

It came as no surprise that Chinese President Xi Jinping’s first diplomatic visit after the commencement of his unprecedented third term was to Russia. In this episode, Manoj Kewalramani dissects Xi’s visit to Russia and its strategic importance and gets quizzed by Shrikrishna Upadhyaya on its implications for India-Russia relations.

In February 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that his country will suspend its participation in the New START Treaty. But does this mean the end of bilateral arms control between Russia and the United States? Not quite so. In this episode, Aditya Ramanathan and Pranav Satyanath discuss the nuances of the New START treaty's suspension and its implications for future arms control tre...

India needs to grow its bio-economy and work with other countries to bolster its research and development capabilities and its manufacturing capacity. In this episode, Shambhavi Naik and Saurabh Todi discuss how India should work with like-minded partners across the globe, including with plurilateral groupings such as the Quad to seize this opportunity.

Does the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Credit Suisse herald wider troubles for banks? Anupam Manur talks to Shrikrishna Upadhyaya and Aditya Ramanathan about how a combination of macroeconomic factors, monetary tightening, and bad management have conspired to create a major crisis.

In this episode of All Things Policy, Amit Kumar and Anushka Saxena discuss key developments and sweeping institutional reforms that took place at the Two Sessions of the 14th NPC, as well as in the follow-up 'Party and State Institutional Reform Plan' released by the CPC Central Committee