Big Tech v. Fediverse
Dear Reader,
Hope you are well. In this edition of Takshashila Dispatch, we bring you our latest work on the challenges web 3.0 faces, the debate over national security strategy and theatre commands in India, what the U.S. Space Force is up to, our predictions for outer space policy in 2023 and more.
Big Tech v. Fediverse
In recent years, multiverse, crypto, web 3.0, open digital public infrastructure and sundry have all been touted as competitors to Big Tech, which controls most of the internet today. Will any or all of these displace Big Tech’s powers? In his column for the LiveMint, Nitin Pai sheds some light on the issue:
The second hurdle pertains to the economics of information. It is unclear how a decentralized Web 3.0 internet can be sustainable at global scale. Conceptually, the information space has characteristics of what economists call public goods, which are non-rival and non-excludable. The classic problem with public goods is that not enough people are prepared to pay for them because they can always free-ride. This is why subscriptions alone are insufficient to sustain media businesses, except in niche areas. The Fediverse cannot escape this problem unless it evolves new organisation structures and financial models.
National Security Strategy Can Follow Theatre Commands
The debate on whether India must have a national security strategy before establishing theatre commands has gained salience in the last week. In his column for The Print, Lt. Gen. Prakash Menon writes that it need not necessarily be the case:
The creation of the theatre command system is an organisational reform that is expected to optimise India’s military resources much more efficiently and effectively. Its primary methodology is anchored in the belief that restructuring will provide enhanced cooperation through integrated functioning between the three Services and is the doctrinal underpinning of the political mandate. The military leaders have all signed on to the mandate. Going forward, the differences are about the structural framework of the theatre command system and are in essence about which Service controls what. The absence of a written and publicised NSS is a deficiency but should not be the causal excuse for the military leadership’s inability to establish the theatre command system and functionally move it forward in a spirit of give and take.
All Things Space
Last week, we hosted Dr. Brian Weeden (Director of Program Planning for Secure World Foundation) on Wednesday, January 12, 2023. Prof. S. Chandrashekar (National Institute of Advanced Studies), Group Captain Anand Rao, Ashok G.V. (Partner, Factum Law) and Shreyas Mirji (Digantara) also participated, along with staff from Takshashila. We discussed India's position on joining the U.S.-led moratorium on destructive direct ascent anti-satellite missile (ASAT) testing and the possibility of participation in the Artemis Programme and related issues.
Dr. Weeden also joined Aditya Ramanathan and Pranav Satyanath on All Things Policy to speak about the U.S. Space Force and helped demystify its purpose and missions:
Last week, we had another exciting All Things Policy episode on space - ‘Prognostication on Space Policy Matters’ by Aditya Ramanathan and Pranav Satyanath, where they discussed the exciting space news we can expect in 2023:
An Excerpt from Missing in Action: Why Should You Care About Public Policy
Missing in Action by Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu S. Jaitley releases next week. Read this short excerpt from the book published in their newsletter Anticipating the Unintended to get a sneak peek into what the book holds for you:
A typical scene in those old Bollywood films with a rural setting was that of the zamindar standing with his ‘not-so- smart’ (naalayak) offspring on the terrace of their haveli and telling him:
Yahan se jahaan tak tumhari nazar jaati hai, woh saari zameen hamari hai! [All the land that you can see from here belongs to us.]
In reality, the only zamindar who can make such a claim in modern India is the Indian State.
A fundamental concept underlying economic reasoning and public policy is the property rights system. To an Indian, the phrase ‘right to property’ conjures up the image of a rapacious zamindar exploiting peasants. This narrative has fostered a zero-sum perception—owning property is assumed to have occurred in the context of the violation of someone else’s human rights. This perception has, in turn, meant that the enforcement of property rights has always been weak in India.
Contribute to Open Tech Strategy for India: Now on GitHub
Last month, we published ‘An Open Tech Strategy for India (Working Draft).’ This proposes an approach through which we aim to ensure India's strategic autonomy, economic growth, technology leadership, and skill development using open-source technologies.
We invite contributors to build on and add to the ideas in this document. If you have any feedback or would like to contribute to any of the sections in this document, please contact us at research@takshashila.org.in or raise it on the GitHub repository.
Takshashila’s Post-Graduate Programme in Public Policy
The Post-Graduate Programme in Public Policy (PGP Programme) is a 48-week multi-disciplinary, specialised programme, designed for students who wish to gain a deeper understanding of the theoretical and practical approaches to public policy.Â
To understand what the programme is all about and to get answers to all your queries, watch this Ask Us Anything session on the PGP Programme:
That’s all from us this week. Take care!