Golden Jubilee episode of Dispatch!
Where There’s A Will, There’s Whey
Is Anisree Suresh a secret gym rat? Does she spend hours working out and later gulp down protein shakes? We have instituted a special investigation team, an SIT if you will, to find out just that, but what do you know… Anisree has gone ahead and published an authoritative piece on whey protein.
At Takshashila, we are anything but gym rats. So, Anisree, in her latest discussion document, is not writing about her muscles but provides an analysis of the demand and supply conundrum in India’s whey protein market. She examines the competitive advantage of India’s dairy sector, the role of private players and the factors that hamper whey protein production.
The truth is, due to increased demand and lower domestic production capacity, India faces a whey protein deficit. India’s import restrictions exacerbate the supply issues in the market. The dominance of the unorganised sector in India’s dairy market further limits the ability of private players to address the demand-supply imbalance in whey protein. Additionally, low productivity, poor yield, and substandard products further impede the sector’s growth, along with various tariffs and non-tariff barriers against dairy exports.
Phew! We are just calorie-exhausted just reading that.
But here’s the contradiction. India is the world’s largest milk producer (the Food and Agricultural Organisation says India produces 22% of the world’s milk), but its productivity is nowhere close to world standards.
Anisree writes:
“India's dairy sector faces significant challenges related to low productivity. Despite rising milk yields per animal, India lags behind milk productivity compared to other major producer countries, including Pakistan, Latin American states, China, Russia, Australia, the European Union (EU), the United States, and Canada. The Indian dairy sector faces ongoing challenges in improving its competitiveness and transitioning to value-added products like whey protein. Despite being the world's largest producer of milk and milk products, no major Indian dairy company ranks among the top 15 global dairy giants, and only one makes it to the top 20. This is due to the sector's largely unorganised nature.”
You can read her full piece here.
The Technopolitik Newsletter Looks at Budget 2024
While presenting the Budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman explicitly highlighted the criticality of technologies and digital infrastructure in furthering the economy and improving citizens’ lives. The presentation’s accompanying rhetoric was also helpful in understanding the newly elected government’s focus on utilising technology as a vehicle of economic and social change. For instance, the idea of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) as a “factor of production” alongside land, labour and capital seems to be driving the Union government’s plans to implement it in agriculture within three years. It certainly provides some food for thought for us analysts as well, but for now, Takshashila’s High-tech Geopolitics team pens down some thoughts on a few key technology areas the Budget 2024 touches upon.
Electronics and Semiconductors
Nuclear Energy
Space
IndiaAI Mission
Data Protection Board
Energy Transition
Anusandhan National Research Fund (ANRF)
Equalisation Levy
These are eight serious and important issues that need to make it to the national discourse. Take a look at the full document here.
A Special Event with Dr Aditya Sondhi
Is there a predominant reason why India is not Pakistan? Many would likely point to the omnipresence of the military in the polity of the latter. While the interventionist attitude of the army in Pakistan easily explains the democratic shortfall in its history, the mirror opposite in India is rarely studied or credited.
This Friday, at the Takshashila Institution’s office, we will have a conversation with Dr Aditya Sondhi, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India & High Court of Karnataka on his latest book, ‘Poles Apart’.
Moderated by Amit Gaur, Fellow, Takshashila Defence Fellowship, the conversation will offer a unique opportunity to engage with Dr. Sondhi in a deep and thought-provoking discussion about the militaries' comparative roles and understand their influences on the growth of democracy in the two countries.
More details here.
India’s Olympics Conundrum
If India won seven medals at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, the country’s athletes were expected to better this year. We have been excelling, after all, on the world stage otherwise. So, what explains India’s relative average performance at Paris 2024?
Should the promotion of a sporting culture be an objective of the government? How have CSR contributions helped to plug the gaps in the sports ecosystem? Why is Haryana a unique paradox in relation to women’s participation in sports and their participation in other spheres of economic & social activities? In our favourite All Things Policy episode of the week, Takshashila’s Carl Jaison speaks to Sharda Ugra, a sports journalist for over three decades, on some of these topics as India competes in the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games.
Sharda started her career with Mumbai tabloid Mid-Day before working with national daily The Hindu, India Today magazine and ESPNcricinfo.com / ESPN India. She worked with former New Zealand captain John Wright on his Indian Summers, his memoirs of his years coaching India and with Yuvraj Singh on The Test of My Life, an account of his diagnosis and recovery from cancer. Based in Bangalore, Sharda is a columnist with the Hindustan Times, Delhi and BBC World Service's Hindi website and also contributes to other publications.
You can listen to the episode here.
We are hiring!
Takshashila has five current openings. If you are interested in working with us, drop us an email. All the details of the roles are here.
Our Next GCPP Cohort is in September. Are You In?
Takshashila’s signature programme — the Graduate Certificate in Public Policy — meets for its latest cohort in September. You can get all the details of the programme here, and also apply for it. It is easily India’s best-organised short-term public policy course for professionals and students alike, and since all the classes are held over weekends, you don’t have to worry about juggling projects.
Go right ahead. Apply here.
Why is India Huffing and Puffing Up The Innovation Ladder
In 2015, Indian brands dominated India’s smartphone market, commanding 68% of the market share by volume. Fast forward to 2021, and the share of Indian brands plunged to a mere 1 percent. Despite their earlier dominance, Indian brands could not keep pace with market trends, such as the move toward 4G connectivity. This shift raises significant questions: Why were Indian brands unable to compete or at least maintain their market shares despite their initial dominance? Why didn’t they innovate and upgrade faster even when they had the opportunity to do so?
In their latest paper on innovation, Takshashila’s Pranay Kotasthane and Sarthak Pradhan join hands to investigate just this, and also provide us a roadmap to make things happen.
First, they explain India’s innovation ecosystem, and examine whether it is working well or not. Then, they look at policies that have held India back, with a specific reference to bottlenecks that have impeded India’s semiconductor sector. Later, they also offer policy recommendations.
Read the full paper here.
Extended: The China Challenge Survey
At Takshashila, we have opened a survey to all our readers to help us assess public opinion on India-China relations. Filling out the survey should not take more than five minutes. Head out here, and let us know what your thought are.
Introducing a New Course in Life Science Policy
Life science policy covers a vast arrays of laws, policies and guidelines that govern research, and use of life science in India. If you are interested in understanding how India approaches life science policy — be it funding research, governing emerging technologies or responding to pandemics — this course is for you. The course covers key determinants of public policy and how they impact the research and development of life science policy in India. These determinants include economic reasoning, role of government, impact of narratives, incorporating ethics in public policy, amongst others.
To know more, click here.