Quiz: What connects Reverend Daniel Reehil of Nashville, Harry Potter, Barbara Streisand, TRAI and Takshashila?
In August 2019, the Revered Daniel Reehil, a pastor at the St. Edward’s Catholic School in Nashville, the capital city of Tennessee in the United States, issued a rather unexpected edict: Remove all Harry Potter books from the school’s library, he told the school, and later sent an email to all parents informing them of this decision to ban the tales of the teen wizard and his adventures. He said he had “consulted several exorcists, both in the United States and in Rome,” and had been assured that the “curses and spells used in the books are actual curses and spells; which when read by a human being risk conjuring evil spirits into the presence of the person reading the text.”
The parents were not happy, of course, and later, when JK Rowling the multimillionaire author of the Harry Potter series was asked about this ban, she replied, “Banning things never works; it only makes them more appealing.” She is right, and this is often borne out by events that transpire after a ban or even a minor restriction or legal action. Alcohol goes underground and thrives after a prohibition order, and average movies sometimes become cult classics after an organisation or a government issues orders against them.
In the internet age, there is even a name for this phenomenon: the Streisand Effect. It is named for the great American singer Barbara Streisand who, in 2003, wanted to restrict access to a photo of her palatial house in the upscale area of Malibu, California. Instead, the photo became a viral hit because more people — as Rowling had pointed out — became curious about it after Streisand wanted no one to see it.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) feels that selectively banning Over-The-Top services such as entertainment (Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc.) and communication apps (WhatsApp, Skype, Telegram, etc.) will be beneficial to India in some form. So will regulation. To that effect, it put out a consultation paper in July 2023 asking the general public and stakeholder to send their responses.
Here’s where Takshashila comes in. In its response, Takshashila researchers Bharath Reddy and Rijesh Panicker put together a policy advisory for the TRAI.
On regulation, they write:
“Over-The-Top (OTT) communication services differ significantly from traditional telecom services and treating them similarly could harm consumer welfare. These services operate globally, and subjecting them to diverse regulations across different regions could hamper their growth and adaptability. Far from substituting traditional services leading to a loss of revenue, OTT communication services create additional demand for data which generates revenue for telecom service providers. Furthermore, intense market competition among platforms like WhatsApp, Skype, and Signal leads to continual innovation and improved services. Imposing stringent licensing or regulations on OTT communication services poses challenges in complying with diverse regulations globally, inhibiting innovation and consolidation among players, and reducing consumer welfare.”
On selective banning, they write:
“Selective banning of OTT services in certain regions poses both technical and practical challenges. Users can easily sidestep these bans through VPNs and proxies, with some inadvertently opting for malicious services that jeopardise their safety. Banning a popular OTT service can lead to the rise of new platforms, potentially lacking robust content moderation, which can amplify the spread of harmful content. Over time, threatened bans could push users towards P2P or decentralised platforms, which are harder to regulate.”
If you want to write to TRAI with your viewpoint, you can read the press release here, which has all the contact information.
Bharath later appeared on this excellent podcast hosted by The Hindu Businessline on the proposed selective banning of OTT services. You can listen to it here.
PS: The Nashville St Edward’s Catholic School ban was one of the scores that JK Rowling faced for her Harry Potter books. Not that it mattered much, because, the books have, until June 2023, sold more than 600 million copies, making it the bestselling book series of all time. Rowling’s net worth as of July 2023 is estimated to be $1 billion and the value of the Harry Potter brand is approximately $15 billion.
Geeking Out the Geek-o-Meter
Our resident geek Bharath Reddy (he of the above post fame) continued his good run this past week and wrote this masterful Discussion Document on the Open Radio Access Network (Open RAN) and its geopolitical importance.
He writes:
“Open RAN began as a mobile network operator (MNO) initiative to reduce lock-in, increase competition and improve vendor diversity in the radio access network (RAN) market. A few big companies dominate this market, and with bans on Chinese vendors by many states, the vendor pool has become even more concentrated. Consequently, what started as an MNO initiative has now acquired geopolitical significance. In addition to addressing concerns around the market power of vendors, it is now expected to enhance network security, reliability, and supply chain resilience.”
Why is Open RAN important? Well, the mobile telecommunications industry has high entry barriers and is dominated by a few big companies. The Radio Access Network, or RAN, provides the last-mile connectivity for mobile networks. The RAN includes a network of cell towers (or base stations) and other equipment that transmit and receive radio signals to provide wireless coverage. When you make a call, send a text, or use mobile data, your mobile device communicates with the RAN to establish a connection and transmit data. This part of the network is estimated to account for at least 60% of the capital and operating expenses for the operators.
To quote Bharath:
“Chinese telecom equipment vendors such as Huawei and ZTE have gained a significant portion of the global RAN market share by aggressively investing in research and development while maintaining competitive pricing. Favourable policies and incentives from the Chinese government have facilitated this growth. This equipment presents a value proposition to many operators seeking to deploy cost-effective solutions. However, the widespread adoption of equipment from Chinese vendors is seen as a critical national security vulnerability for communication networks, leading to bans by many countries. Huawei's unclear ownership structure and susceptibility to Chinese government mandates add to the threat perception. The potential risks include the existence of backdoors that could enable espionage or sabotage of network equipment, particularly in times of conflict.”
Did Ramakant Achrekar make SRT, or Vice Versa?
The great Marathi litterateur and Padma Bhushan awardee Purushottam Laxman Deshpande would write short biographies like no one else. Pu La or PL, as he was fondly known, is one of Maharashtra’s most beloved personalities, perhaps even the most beloved. One of his best-known works is ‘Chitale Master’, a story about his childhood teacher named Chitale. Pu La would always narrate his own stories, and his TV series ‘Nivdak Pu La’ (‘Selected Works of Pu La) is as immortal as his books. There was not a dry eye in the audience when his narration ended. In fact, so stunned were they that they took a second more than usual to start clapping. But who was Chitale Master? Would we have known him had it not been for Pu La? As a corollary, would Pu La have become Pu La had it not been for Chitale Master?
In the vast expanse that is Shivaji Park in central Mumbai, a similar question is often asked of the late cricket coach Ramakant Achrekar and a student of his named Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar.
One theory about education is that it is the students that make the institution as much as it is vice versa. This is why we at Takshashila take so much pride when our students — with their immense ability to understand and then implement policy — excel. This past week, three of our Post Graduate Programme (PGP) in Public Policy students recorded a remarkably in-depth episode of All Things Policy, our daily podcast produced by IVM Podcasts.
Jaydeep Daripa, Debashree Chatterjee, and Avantika Srivastava, all current students of Takshashila's 48-week PGP course, joined Malathi Renati, the head of our policy school, in analysing India’s crucial power sector. They explored market structures and failures, government interventions via tariff control and cross-subsidies, its disproportionate role in power purchase agreements between Gencos and DISCOMs, its control of coal production and transport freight controls, etc. They also spoke on some of the unintended consequences as a result and delved into some known solutions to the multiple-faceted issues faced by the power sector.
You can listen to the episode here.
Is IMEC The New Silk Road?
In his 2015 review of Peter Frankopan’s celebrated book ‘The Silk Roads: A New History of the World’, British journalist and travel writer Anthony Sattin critically examines one of the more important works of history in recent times. Prof Frankopan, a professor of global history at Oxford University, has been mostly hailed for his work on the Persian-centric view of world history, but Sattin was not as impressed:
“The need for brevity has led to some troubling misrepresentations. Although Frankopan makes the important point that the prophet Muhammad made allies of the Arab Jews, he omits to mention the number of Jews who were killed by Muslims soon after. There is no such place as the “Arab-speaking world”.
The Crusaders never did manage to take Aleppo, although they desperately wanted to. And it is unfortunate, in this post-colonial era, to write that TE Lawrence took Aqaba in 1917 without mentioning the Arab forces who did the fighting — not even Lawrence’s most slavish fans would claim that for him. It is doubly unfortunate to read these and other errors because, for much of its 646 pages, The Silk Roads is full of intriguing insights and some fascinating details.”
You see, for historians, the Silk Road —a network of Eurasian trade routes active from the second century BC until the mid-15th century and spanning over 6,400 kilometers — is possibly the most important strategic bridge in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and religious interactions between the East and West. Frankopan was using the nomenclature as an idea.
When, at the recent G20 summit in New Delhi, a memorandum of understanding was signed to create what is being called the India Middle East Economic Corridor (IMEC), there was a similar reaction — elation and then criticism by some (Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, for instance, has said he will create an alternative named Iraq Development Road Project).
So, what does it really mean, then? Is the IMEC idea worth pursuing, or is it just that, an idea? Well, to begin with, as Takshashila’s Aditya Ramanathan explains in this amazingly insightful episode of Puliyabaazi, India’s most popular Hindi-language policy podcast, it is as yet still a concept, a proposed trade route connecting India’s west coast with the Mediterranean Sea.
Takshashila’s deputy director Pranay Kotasthane asks some hard questions about the IMEC to Aditya.
Among other things, the podcast discusses whether the IMEC is a competitor to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). After all, even though the United States has nothing to do with the IMEC in terms of economic benefit, it is still a signatory to the MoU. Or, as Pranay puts it, “America ka aashirwad hai.”
Littered with some good humour, and brilliant insights, this episode of Puliyabaazi is a must-listen.
Why Evolution is Important
Sun Tzu, in his epochal work ‘The Art of War’ said, “To win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill.”
Takshashila’s enterprising researchers from its Indo-Pacific Programme agree. Because the biggest enemy of a writer is a reader’s ennui. But the team is ready. With a swift swoosh of the policy sword, they have revamped the popular Eye on China newsletter.
They write:
“Welcome to the first edition of a revamped ‘Eye on China’ newsletter. We’ve been going strong for about 5 years, and we’re now attempting to narrow our focus to Chinese chatters (discourses, narratives, and rhetoric) on external events and actors, military and security issues, and India.”
You can subscribe to the newsletter here. Even if we say it, it is easily one of the best China newsletters you could read.
Wait, there’s more
Takshashila’s head of the Indo-Pacific Programme Manoj Kewalramani co-authored this piece with Bharat Sharma on India, China, and the Global South as an op-ed for Hindustan Times. Read it here.
Bharat Sharma has put together a comprehensive issue brief on the Quad’s sectoral pillars, the policy objectives that flow from it, and relevant bodies and initiatives as they relate to each pillar. You can find it here. It is one of the easiest ready-reckoners out there on this topic.
From scheduling delays to inefficient ticket sales, the 2023 Cricket World tournament organiser, the Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI), had quite a surprise for fans. In an episode of All Things Policy, Carl Jaison speaks to Jaideep Vaidya, who writes on sports business for The Signal, a business and tech newsletter. They cover the opportunity cost of the scheduling delays, scarcity of tickets, the economy of ticket distribution, and why e-tickets still need to be a viable option in India. Listen to it here.
Takshashila’s co-founder and director Nitin Pai weighs in on the diplomatic lava that has enmeshed the world after Mount Justin Trudeau erupted recently when he said India was responsible for the killing of Canadian citizen and designated Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia. You can read his op-ed for Mint here.
Takshashila’s Sachin Kalbag moderated a heavyweight panel on climate change in Mumbai recently. Organised by Germany’s Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, it featured Dr. Rajeev Gowda, vice chairman of the State Institute for Transformation of Karnataka; Vandana Chavan, Rajya Sabha MP, and climate change activist; Tikender Singh Panwar, an Indian delegate at the Stockholm COP negotiations; Amit Sihag, Haryana MLA; Prof Vaijayanta Anand, an expert in migrant labour economics; and Amruta Padgaonkar, an ecologist and co-author of the Climate Change Primer.
Upcoming #BookLounge | Namma Bangalore: The Soul of a Metropolis with Shoba Narayan | October 6th, 6:30 p.m.
That’s all from this week. See you next!