All Things Policy’s 1000th Episode: Join Us for the Celebrations
Dear Reader,
We hope you are well. Takshashila’s daily public policy podcast, All Things Policy, is celebrating its 1000th episode next week. We plan to do a special episode to mark the milestone, take questions from our dear listeners and do a merch giveaway!
Also in this edition of Dispatch, we bring to you our latest work on forthcoming India’s defence budget, why public policy should be a household name, India-Egypt ties, India’s military preparedness against China, tech policy predictions for 2023, and a discussion on inclusive digital public infrastructure.
We are also delighted to announce our new short course on Space Power, designed to offer expert insights into India’s emergence as a top scientific, military and commercial player in outer space. More details are below.
All Things Policy’s 1000th Episode: Join Us for the Celebrations
In January 2019, when we began All Things Policy - the world’s only daily public policy podcast - the world appeared on the precipice of change. Major power frictions were on the rise. Economic globalisation was increasingly looking strained. And a new technological revolution was on the horizon.
Today, in January 2023, and after a once-in-a-century pandemic, we believe it is time to re-evaluate our assumptions and findings about where the world is heading. What’s needed is a new paradigm of thinking through the opportunities and challenges of the future.
This is precisely what we will be doing during the special 1000th episode of All Things Policy releasing on January 31, 2023. And this time, we’d like you to be part of the conversation.
Is there a question that you’d like to ask us? Is there a view that you’d like to express? Share your thoughts with us in form below, and be part of unpacking the key issues of our time on All Thing’s Policy.
To keep it more exciting, the questions or ideas that get featured in the episode will receive a gift from the exciting policy wonk merchandise at the Takshashila Campus Store!
A Defence Budget to Meet the China Challenge
Will the forthcoming Union Defence Budget for FY 2023-24 inspire confidence in the strategic community that India enjoys enough fiscal power to counter the Chinese security threats in the coming years? Pranay Kotasthane answers in an article in The Quint:
Multiple parliamentary standing committees on defence have repeatedly highlighted the need for a non-lapsable defence capital fund account as a budgetary mechanism for handling the multi-year capital acquisition processes. The Fifteenth Finance Commission also recommended the creation of such a fund. Since capital acquisition is a complex process spanning multiple years, a non-lapsable capital account would be helpful in the seamless carryover of surplus funds from one year to the next instead of the standard budgetary procedure of handing over unutilised funds back to the Consolidated Fund of India. Last year's budget didn't mention this reform, even though the union government had given an in-principle agreement way back in Feb 2021.
Missing in Action Releases Today
While Missing in Action hits the stands today, the authors of the book Pranay Kotashtane and Raghu S Jaitley appeared on Amit Varma’s The Seen and The Unseen podcast to discuss their efforts to make public policy great again:
Republic Day Boost for India-Egypt Ties
Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi will be the chief guest at India’s Republic Day parade on 26th January later this week. Sisi will be accompanied by a large Egyptian delegation. What does this signal for India-Egypt ties? Kingsuk Saha writes in News18 on the prospects:
Under President Sisi, despite domestic and economic challenges, there has been greater international engagement in MENA and beyond. In this, India is emerging as a key strategic partner. The Indian defence minister visited Egypt last year, giving a boost to the existing defence relationship between both countries. The two signed agreements for joint training and exercises of the armed forces, co-production and maintenance of military equipment and platforms. Egypt has shown interest in acquiring Akash surface-to-air missiles and Tejas fighter jet, apart from expanding the army, the navy and the air force exercises. Special Forces of both countries recently held their first joint exercise in Rajasthan.
Anticipating Tech Policy Developments in 2023
2023 promises to have many important developments in the tech policy space. Shailesh Chitnis and Bharath Reddy look at what we can expect this year in terms of upcoming legislation, antitrust judgments and digital public infrastructure.
Human Force is India’s Strength Against China
As Indian Forces brace it out in the cold winters of the Himalayas in anticipation of military confrontation by China, Lt. Gen. Prakash Menon writes in The Print that India’s superior human strength will make a difference:
The Indian Army’s experience in high-altitude warfare supersedes China’s. After all, the Siachen Glacier has provided a sustained experience for nearly 30 years. In operational effectiveness, experience matters as long as it is utilised through institutional memory. No doubt, the scale of troop deployment on the northern border is significantly greater, but learning from experience is the military leadership’s bread and butter. Devising tactics boosted by technology, harnessed indigenously, and anchored in experience is the military leadership’s primary challenge.
There is nothing more psychologically devastating to forces holding ground at high altitudes than when they realise that their logistic sustenance has been cut off. Special forces and local scouts like the Ladakh or Arunachal Pradesh Scouts are especially suited for these high-risk missions.
Beyond the Banter: Inclusive Digital Infrastructure and Agenda 2030
Shambhavi Naik, Head of Research at Takshashila, participated in the Think20 Inception Conference in New Delhi. She was part of a panel discussion on Beyond the Banter: Inclusive Digital Infrastructure and Agenda 2030, along with Pencho Kuzev, Sharad Sharma, Ramiro Albrieu, Kalpana Sastry Regulagedda, and Urvashi Aneja.
Shambhavi spoke on how public welfare, equitable distribution and purpose limitation are key to governing digital public infrastructure. Watch the full video here:
Excerpt from Nitopadesha by Nitin Pai
Customers would pay in copper coins after partaking of their meals, which the employees would put into an earthen pot placed near the proprietress’s seat. The pot would be opened at the end of every month, and after paying the employee’s wages and the suppliers of grain and green, the old proprietress would keep the rest. The business returned a modest profit year after year, and everyone – the proprietress, the employees, the suppliers and the customers – were generally happy and satisfied.
A few months after Damani took charge, Benbisiji the crab said to her, “Your food is excellent and your reputation is good, but somehow your profits are lower than they should be. I have seen many businesses improve when they introduce more discipline in everything they produce.”
Thus inspired, Damani gathered her staff and said, “Everyone should wake up an hour before dawn and wash themselves with cold water infused with petals of fresh jasmine. Else they will be dismissed from my employ.”
Special Credit Course on Space Power
The ability to use space for commercial, scientific and military purposes is a vital determinant of national power. Recent years have seen the rise of a global commercial space sector, growing lunar ambitions, and plans for interplanetary exploration.
The Special Credit Course on Space Power will provide an introduction to emerging issues related to space and how those could shape India’s interests, its opportunities, and the choices it makes. The course will cover the government and commercial space sectors, strategic affairs, and international governance.
The course is primarily designed to be useful for government officials, members of the armed forces, space entrepreneurs, lawyers, academics, policy professionals, as well as other individuals interested in outer space affairs. It will be conducted online only on weekends.
That’s all from us this week. Take care!