NITI Aayog's EVs Battery Swapping Policy
Dear Reader,
We hope you are doing well. This week’s edition discusses our comments on NITI Aayog’s draft battery swapping policy, the effect of the Ukraine war on China, and the importance of fiscal federalism in India’s unity.
Comments on NITI Aayog’s Draft Battery Swapping Policy
In April 2022, the NITI Aayog published a Draft Battery Swapping Policy (Policy). It aims to create a framework for greater interoperability while safeguarding the innovation potential for the Electric Vehicles (EV) battery ecosystem. The draft was open for comments until June 05 2022.
Pranaav Gupta, Aparajith Raman, Narsimh Kamath, Saurabh Chandra, Pranay Kotasthane and Aakanksha Joshi sent a policy advisory with comments. Pranaav and Aparajith are alumni of our Graduate Certificate in Public Policy programmes, while Pranay is Deputy Director at Takshashila. Their major recommendations were:
The Policy guidelines should expand its existing focus on safety by including SOPs on the shipping of batteries, fire safety etc.
The Policy should mandate that EVs, Batteries, Charging Stations, and other related accessories are ISO26262 (or equivalent) compliant.
The Policy must specifically state that data privacy concerns will be factored in. Remote monitoring and tracking need to be done to ensure the privacy of the EV owner. Using state-of-the-art cryptographic mechanisms can help ensure that battery identity and battery data are trustworthy.
The mechanism for apportionment of liability between the Battery Provider, Original Equipment policycturer (OEM) and EV user is not clear and needs to be specified in the Policy.
The Policy should be suitably amended to remove reference to self-certification. While self-certification may appear as a simple process, it poses safety risks and concerns.
Increase capacity for inspection, testing, and certification (ITC) by using a marketplace model where ITC can be done by multiple private agencies which receive licenses from the relevant government bodies.
#BookLounge: December in Dacca
We are pleased to invite you to our latest #BookLounge event. Author K.S. Nair will discuss his new book, December in Dacca: The Indian Armed Forces and the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War with Aditya Ramanathan, Research Fellow at Takshashila.
Date & Time: Friday, 6 PM IST, 17th June. Venue: The Takshashila Institution, 2nd Floor, 46/1, Cobalt Building, Church Street, Bangalore, 560001
To RSVP, scan the QR code or click the button below
Why Aren’t Indians Looking for Jobs?
In April of 2022, CMIE estimated that around 900 million Indians have voluntarily exited the workforce because they do not want to look for jobs.
In the June 9 episode of All Things Policy, Sudisha Mishra and Aarushi Kataria discuss why this might be happening, the idea of ‘discouraged workers’, and the steps that can be taken to alleviate this, including data collection, employer policies, and skill development.
Dialogue Key to Stop Targeting of Kashmiri Pandits
In his weekly column in ThePrint, Lt. Gen. Prakash Menon wrote about the resurgence of attacks on Kashmiri Pandits over the last few weeks. He argued that the answer does not lie in inducting more Armed Police Forces or the Army against the perpetrators of violence since the use of force can, at most, only bring violence down to a degree of manageability. Instead, it is through political dialogue that India must find a solution. Gen. Menon wrote:
The BJP, with its overwhelming grip on power at the Centre, must take the first step towards reversing the course of adversarial politics in the strategically vital state of J&K. The initiative must restore the J&K statehood (though without the Union territory of Ladakh) and must be done before the elections are scheduled later this year. Let the forces of democracy first elect their representatives before dialogue is initiated. Let the voice of the people of J&K find expression through elections conducted with the knowledge that statehood has been restored.
Ukraine War: China’s Choices Have Damaged its External Environment
In an essay for India Today, Manoj Kewalramani wrote about how the Ukraine war has adversely affected China. In February, when Russia invaded Ukraine, China found itself in a difficult position, having to manage many competing interests.
These included maintaining its close alignment with Russia; containing the economic costs of Western sanctions on commodity prices, supply chains and Chinese enterprises; not appearing supportive of a blatant violation of the territorial integrity of a sovereign state; avoiding the acceleration of bloc-style confrontation in the Indo-Pacific; and keeping the developing world on its side. Manoj argued:
Chinese diplomacy over the past 100 days since the invasion of Ukraine has prioritised political and diplomatic support for Russia, limiting economic costs and seeking support for its own propositions in Europe and across the developing world. In this effort, it has achieved mixed outcomes.
While the developing world has been extremely cautious about choosing sides, China today faces a much-more united West, which views Beijing as an increasingly unfriendly - if not hostile - actor. In addition, it has to contend with intensified American engagement in the Indo-Pacific, as was evident by President Biden’s recent trip to East Asia. The core objective of this engagement, as US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan recently argued, is to present the US as the “partner of choice” to states in the region.
While this is a far cry from an either/or proposition, one of the desired outcomes of this effort is clearly to constrain China’s influence. Such a situation creates fresh hurdles in the Communist Party’s efforts to achieve the strategic goal of national rejuvenation.
How Fiscal Federalism has Kept the Indian Republic United
Nitin Pai wrote about the importance of fiscal federalism for the unity of India. He Argued:
Both the Union and states are political creations. Their boundaries need not necessarily enclose economically self-sustaining societies. Thus, a sub-continental federation allows the forces of comparative advantage to benefit everyone: each region can produce what it is better at and trade with others. Yet, balancing equity, equality and efficiency in a hyper-diverse federation is complicated. At the time the Constitution came into force, some regions were endowed with more human capital, infrastructure and industrial capacity, others had abundant natural resources, and a few had very limited economies. While the linguistic reorganization of states helped address political aspirations, fiscal federalism was the crucial but invisible factor that permitted the political restructuring. What we take for granted to this day is actually part of the ‘secret formula’ of India’s success.
Nitin then discussed how India has failed to uphold fiscal federalism and what needs to be done to fix it.
That’s it from us this week. With COVID-19 cases rising again, please remember to mask up. We hope you stay safe.