Nanaimo…Bar None
On dining tables across Canada this weekend you’ll find a number of festive foods as the country celebrates its own iteration of Thanksgiving on October 14 (a month prior to their American counterparts). But unlike their neighbours in the south, the Canadian feast features a unique item - the Nanaimo bar.
What is a Nanaimo bar, I hear you ask, curious reader. Named eponymously after the city in the province of British Columbia (B.C.), this three-layered dessert features a chocolate ganache topping, a custard filling and a coconut-wafer crumb base. This three-in-one treat even managed to be featured on the menu for a 2016 state dinner hosted for Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau by then U.S. President, Barack Obama.
But now to the more pressing question: who could take issue with this popular dessert? Turns out, a few.
In 2019, the national postal service announced a new series of stamps to honour five classic Canadian desserts from across the country: butter tarts, the tarte au sucre (sugar pie), the blueberry grunt, the Saskatoon berry pie…and the humble Nanaimo bar. And British Columbians were not happy.
Politicians, journalists, writers and local residents weighed in to lament that this was not the Nanaimo bar they knew and loved…the ratios were off. Too much filling. Too little base. The debate even prompted then B.C. Housing Minister to remark that the stamp image must have been drawn by an artist who had never eaten a Nanaimo bar.
But it’s not only beloved dessert renderings that prompt individuals to think, something’s off. It’s the same thought that passed through Takshashila Director, Nitin Pai’s mind as he recently learned of the concentration of market power related to satellite communications devices, as announced by Elon Musk.
“My instinctive reaction was one of shock and misgiving” admits Takshashila Director, Nitin Pai, when he learned of this alarming fact. He writes:
“...as much as LEO constellations provide valuable telecom connectivity, there are competing uses of space and radio spectrum that need wider global deliberation. The world should not allow itself to be railroaded by SpaceX, the Chinese government and other constellation operators.”
But unlike the Nanaimo illustration that is now fossilised in time, it’s not yet too late for some changes to be made to right these market wrongs when it comes to space and satellite communication. Nitin continues:
“India could help shape global rules for the use of space. We should use it to ensure that space remains humanity’s common resource. Space and telecom policy should come together to ensure that the market for satellite communication is competitive. “
Click here to better contextualise his recommendations and to trace the series of decisions that have led to these grim realities.
But space is not the only area that should be of interest to policymakers. Our next piece will bring you earthbound as we look at why administrative state capacity needs our attention.
P.S.: If you feel particularly inspired to try making a Nanaimo bar, refer to this recipe from the City of Nanaimo itself.
Mind the Gap!
In the fourth piece for his current ‘Quantity to Quality’ series in The Mint, Takshashila co-founder, Narayan Ramachandran, casts needed attention to the issue of administrative state capacity, and the role of local government. While he makes a strong case for the value of devolution, he also argues for the important role that technology can play in bolstering state capacity. He writes:
“A technology platform can enable improvements in the system. Also needed is strong political will for meaningful financial devolution and political decentralization.”
“Giving effective voice to local government[s] to negotiate with state governments is an imperative not only from a democratic point of view, but also from a functional effectiveness perspective. No amount of training or technology can substitute for effective decentralization reform based on the principle of subsidiarity.”
Click here to take a closer look at his recommendations for bridging governance gaps and taking meaningful steps toward a future where Viksit Bharat is a reality.
Let’s move next to another area of governance that interests Team Takshashila - platform governance and privacy.
The Social Media Ecosystem: Should We be Alarmed?
“The need for reorienting public discourse on the social media ecosystem cannot be more pressing “ warns Takshashila researcher Lokendra Sharma.
But what could have Lokendra feeling such alarm? Read on, patient reader.
He points to a few canaries in the coal mine such as the string of developments related to privacy and platform governance policy landscape from the Puttaswamy judgement (2017) to the government’s exchange with WhatsApp on encryption that led to a warning from the latter on the possibility of leaving the market on grounds if required to break encryption.
Click here if you’d like to walk through his analysis, with a particular focus on three social media issues: the Information Age’s impact on power and legitimacy, the visibility of privacy and platform governance issues and lastly, the impact of influence operations.
Moving onward to some exciting developments amongst the Takshashila team. In Nanaimo bar terms, we’ve just passed the ganache layer and have reached the custard filling section of Dispatch.
ISC Expert Group Members Announced! And Guess Who’s on the List…
The International Science Council Expert Group dedicated to enhancing the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) has announced its ten members and includes Takshashila’s own Head of Research and Chairperson of the Advanced Biology Programme, Shambhavi Naik.
In this new capacity, Shambhavi will contribute to the ISC Expert Group’s three focus areas: Science and Technology Advisory Mechanisms, Compliance and Verification and International Cooperation and Assistance.
Click here to read more about the Expert Group, its goals and intended outcomes.
But ISC isn’t the only entity concerned with policy goals and outcomes. They find company with one Takshashila researcher who has been paying close attention to some policy tools being used in the Indian context.
Move Over MEP…
Takshashila’s Anisree Suresh is keeping a close watch on trade happening in the nation’s food sector, and is here to help us parse out some of the implications of the recent decision to lift the minimum export price (MEP) for onions and basmati rice. In her recent Op-Ed in Moneycontrol, she poses a more fundamental question to policymakers: Does India need a MEP?
She argues:
“The MEP is ultimately a redundant policy tool that harms small farmers, distorts trade, and fails to control domestic food inflation effectively”.
She details four key ideas as she justifies her claim above: the effect of MEPs on producers, the disproportionate impact on small farmers, fluctuations in domestic and international supply and lastly, distortion of international and in turn domestic prices.
She makes a strong case for coherent trade policies that contribute to a stable agricultural market and leave room for market equilibrium to be attained.
Click here to read more.
While Anisree thinks the Indian state is doing too much, her colleague and fellow Takshashila researcher, Rakshith thinks the European Union may be doing too little.
Too Little, Too Late? The EU vs. Chinese Electric Vehicles
As his Twitter handle will attest, Takshashila’s Rakshith Shetty, reads. Luckily for us, he’s been reading about the recent vote taken by the European Union (EU) to raise tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles (EV), and is here to help us understand this development in his recent Op-Ed for The Diplomat.
His detailed analysis examines the fraught nature of China-EU relations (revealed in the many abstentions to the vote), potential retaliatory measures from Beijing, and whether this recent EU vote may in fact be too little, too late…
Click here to read more about this evolving geopolitical and geoeconomic development.
We turn next to another bilateral relationship of China’s that India is interested in, as argued by Takshashila’s Chairperson of Indo-Pacific Studies Programme in this next section.
An Indian Take on the “Great Power Competition Between…”
If you read the Centre for Strategic and International Studies’ (CSIS) October 2024 report titled, “Defining Success: Does the United States Need an “End State” for Its China Policy?”, the Takshashila community may see a familiar name.
Takshashila’s Chairperson of the Indo-Pacific Studies Programme, Manoj Kewalramani, authors a chapter in the report providing “An Indian View on U.S.- China Strategic Competition”, where he argues for why a “sustained yet contained competition” between the U.S. and China may be what serves India’s interests best.
Click here to access the CSIS report and read his thoughtful insights (Manoj’s chapter begins on Page 57).
We move onward to India’s exciting BioE3 policy and recommendations to harness its full potential. In Nanaimo bar terms, we’re nearing the end with the coconut-wafer base layer of Dispatch.
Could These Changes Help Realise the Full Potential of BioE3?
In her column for IndiaBioscience, Takshashila’s Head of Research, Shambhavi Naik, examines the BioE3 (Biotechnology for Economy, Environment, and Employment) policy, that presents six key areas of action: bio-based chemicals, smart proteins, precision biotherapeutics, climate-resilient agriculture, carbon capture, and marine and space research.
Shambhavi’s analysis of this policy however casts much needed light on a few enabling actions that need to be taken in order to realise the policy’s full potential: sustained funding allocation and incentivisation, access to international markets, and regulatory coherence and inter-ministerial collaboration.
Click here to take a closer look at her analysis for each of these components.
But India has been busy not only on the biotechnology front, but also with semiconductor chips. Read on to learn more from Takshashila’s Deputy Director.
Delusions of Grandeur? Perhaps Not. India’s Plans for Semiconductor Chip Manufacturing…
The Diplomat recently hosted Takshashila’s Deputy Director, Pranay Kotasthane and Trinh Nguyen on the ‘Beyond the Indus’ podcast to discuss India’s plans with regard to semiconductor chip manufacturing.
Pranay covers the role that geopolitical, geoeconomic and technological factors play in decisions related to semiconductor chip manufacturing. He draws attention to changes in India’s policies in this domain and highlights the promise of the current Indian semiconductor chip ecosystem which includes: notable and preemptive capital support from the Union government, an increase in downstream demand, an enabling infrastructural environment and India’s collaborative approach toward geopolitical relations with other countries.
Click here to hear more of their informative exchange.
Pranay isn’t the only one participating in insightful exchanges at Team Takshashila. Let’s head to our All Things Policy (ATP) episode of the week to see what our staff have been discussing off late.
The Complexities of Unemployment: In Conversation with Mohit Satyanand…
This week’s ATP episode we’d like to highlight is an insightful conversation with noted entrepreneur and investor (and avid cyclist!), Mohit Satyanand, in conversation with Takshashila’s Adya Madhavan on India’s dire employment situation.
Click here to hear more of their discussion, where they discuss the many layered challenges of unemployment in India and the factors that contribute to high unemployment rates, using a number of pragmatic examples to unpack the complexities of the issue.
Wait, There’s More!
Takshashila is looking for a motivated researcher who would like to work on research and development related to India’s law enforcement system. The ideal candidate would be interested in proposing pragmatic policy ideas and exploring police-related reforms. If that sounds like you or anyone you know, click here to apply. Applications will be accepted until November 15, 2024.
This edition of the Dispatch was written by Kripa Koshy, Programme Manager for Takshashila’s Post Graduate Programme in Public Policy.