Podcasts about union government

Lost in Lucknow, Found in Mysuru Mr Shankara Ramamurthy is a respected scientist who served for several years in the Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), headquartered in Mysuru. In 1994, the Government of India called upon him to undertake an important mission in resolving the conflict between the owners of the rice mills of Punjab and the Union Government. In the middle of this assignment, he was stuck because of a major slip on his part. What was the challenge, and how was it resolved? How did Swami prepare him for this more than 40 years ago, when he was playing on the sands in front of the Prasanthi Mandir as a child? What is the secret mantra that Bhagawan had given him, which any of us can use in times of difficulty? In this OMS episode, Mr Shankara shares one gem from his treasure trove of incredible moments with Bhagawan.

This is the Catchup on 3 Things by The Indian Express and I'm Flora Swain.Today is the 20th of February and here are the headlines.First-time MLA Rekha Gupta was sworn in as Delhi's new Chief Minister today, along with her Council of Ministers, at a grand ceremony held at Ramlila Maidan. This marks the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) return to power in the capital after a gap of 27 years. Besides Gupta, six newly elected MLAs were also administered the oath as ministers. The event witnessed the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, senior BJP leaders, and allies from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). The newly formed Council of Ministers, under Gupta's leadership, is expected to hold its first meeting at the Delhi Secretariat around 7 PM. Among the key proposals to be discussed is the implementation of the Mahila Samriddhi Yojna, which will provide eligible women with a monthly allowance of ₹2,500.In a strongly-worded letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin Thursday sought urgent intervention to release Rs 2,152 crores under the Samagra Shiksha scheme. The letter, expressing deep concern over the Union Government's insistence on linking the funds to the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, reiterated Tamil Nadu's unwavering commitment to its two-language policy, described the move as a “blatant violation of cooperative federalism.” Launched in 2018, the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan is a Centrally Sponsored integrated scheme for school education that subsumed the schemes of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) and Teacher Education (TE).The Supreme Court today stayed the 27the of January Lokpal order which said that it has the power to look into complaints against sitting high court judges, terming it as “something very very disturbing”. The top court had taken suo motu cognizance of the January 27 order and listed it for hearing before the bench headed by Justice B R Gavai and also comprising Justices Surya Kant and A S Oka. The Supreme Court directed its registrar judicial “to mask the identity of the complainant and serve him through the Registrar Judicial of the High Court where the complainant resides”.A young teacher with a Catholic-run school in Kerala has ended her life after she was allegedly denied her salary for the last six years. The victim was a teacher at St Joseph's lower primary school at Kodenchery in Kozhikode district. She was found dead at her home on Wednesday afternoon. The Catholic diocese of Thamarassery runs the government-aided school. Kerala Education Minister V Sivankutty said the director general of education has been asked to look into the incident. “It is unfortunate. Once I get the report from the DG, we will take action,” he told the media.Amid US President Donald Trump's onslaught on illegal immigration, several deportees, including Indians, have been sent to a hotel in Panama, where they are being held till they can be repatriated to their origin countries. As many as 299 migrants, belonging to countries like India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, and Iran, among others, were sent to Panama last week. Some of these have been shifted to a remote facility near the Darien jungle. The Indian Embassy in Panama, Nicaragua, Costa Rica said today that they have gained “consular access” to the group of Indians sent to Panama.This was the Catch Up on 3 Things by the Indian Express

This is the Catch Up on 3 Things for The Indian Express and I am Niharika NandaIt's the 5th of July and here are the top headlines of the week.The Uttar Pradesh Police arrested six satsang organizers yesterday in connection with the Hathras stampede that killed 121 people and injured several others on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has ordered a judicial probe into the incident, led by retired High Court judge Brijesh Kumar Srivastava and two other retired IAS officers, Hemant Rao and Bhavesh Kumar Singh.A week after being granted bail by the Jharkhand High Court, JMM leader and former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, along with his Cabinet, took the oath of office for a second term on Thursday. His predecessor, Champai Soren, met the Governor on Wednesday to submit his resignation after the ruling coalition's 45 MLAs elected Hemant Soren as their leader. Hemant Soren had resigned as Chief Minister five months ago, prior to his arrest on money laundering charges, after which Champai Soren had assumed the role.On Wednesday, the Union Government defended the Hindi nomenclature of the three new criminal laws that came into effect on Monday before the Madras High Court, asserting the constitutional legitimacy of the names against allegations of unconstitutionality. The three new laws — The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita, and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam passed in Parliament last December replaced the Indian Penal Code, the Criminal Procedure Code, and the Indian Evidence Act respectively.The Delhi Police stepped up security outside the house of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi after receiving intelligence inputs about possible threats from right-wing groups. This action follows Rahul Gandhi's maiden speech as the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, where he took a swipe at the BJP, saying that those who call themselves Hindus are engaged in “violence and hate.” BJP leaders reacted sharply to the remark, alleging that Rahul Gandhi insulted Hindus.The Lebanese Hezbollah group reported launching over 200 rockets at several military bases in Israel on Thursday in retaliation for a strike that killed one of its senior commanders. The attack by the Iran-backed militant group is one of the largest in the ongoing conflict along the Lebanon-Israel border, with tensions escalating in recent weeks. The Israeli military said that "numerous projectiles and suspicious aerial targets" entered its territory from Lebanon, many of which were intercepted. There were no immediate reports of casualties.This was the Catch-Up on the 3 Things by The Indian Express.Preparing for Civil Services? The Indian Express content that keeps you ahead of the curve is now available also on IAS Saathi. This new AI-driven app provides you credible information and aims to keep a balance of study & health. Download today on Google PlayStore and Apple Appstore.https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.iassathi.IASsathi&hl=en 

In the ninth episode of Satya Samvad, Dr. Mrittunjoy Guha Majumdar engages with Dr. K. Venkatraman to discuss the 2023 Oxfam Report titled "Survival of the Richest: The Indian Story" and the concerning trend of charities being used to disseminate anti-Bharat narratives. While acknowledging the significant role of civil society organizations and NGOs, the conversation highlights the troubling use of these entities for propaganda. The Oxfam Report paints a grim picture of Bharat, using inconsistent data and biased interpretations. It criticizes everything from GST and direct taxation to the social welfare schemes of the Union Government of Bharat, casting them in a negative light. This interaction exposes many of these misleading points and critically examines the role of modern charities. Snakes in the Ganga - http://www.snakesintheganga.com Varna Jati Caste - http://www.varnajaticaste.com The Battle For IIT's - http://www.battleforiits.com Power of future Machines - http://www.poweroffuturemachines.com 10 heads of Ravana - http://www.tenheadsofravana.com To support Infinity Foundation's projects including the continuation of such episodes and the research we do: इनफिनिटी फ़ौंडेशन की परियोजनाओं को अनुदान देने के लिए व इस प्रकार के एपिसोड और हमारे द्वारा किये जाने वाले शोध को जारी रखने के लिए: http://infinityfoundation.com/donate-2/ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/rajivmalhotrapodcast/support

In this episode, Ninni Susan Thomas speaks to Senior Advocate Raju Ramachandran, a former Additional Solicitor General and who has been involved in influential cases related to constitutional law at the Supreme Court for more than 3 decades. Some  nuances about the Marriage Equality Case which was heard by the Supreme Court where the legal recognition of  same-sex marriages in India was sought for and he represented one of the petitioners were discussed. Other topics of discussion included whether the Supreme Court was the right forum for this adjudication, the impact of the judgement on other constitutional and discrimination cases,  the Supreme Court choosing not to decide on the notice provisions in the Special Marriage Act and his thoughts on the Supreme Court having asked for a decision on the issue to be made by a Committee to be constituted by the Union Government.  References:   Supriyo & Anr. v. Union of India, judgement in the Marriage Equality Case: https://main.sci.gov.in/supremecourt/2022/36593/36593_2022_1_1501_47792_Judgement_17-Oct-2023.pdf Round-up of the hearings and constitutional issues: https://indconlawphil.wordpress.com/2023/11/22/the-supreme-courts-marriage-equality-judgment-round-up/ Delinking personal laws: https://www.scobserver.in/journal/adjudicating-marriage-equality-an-opportunity-lost-or-a-bullet-dodged/ Effect on fundamental rights: https://www.scobserver.in/journal/marriage-equality-judgement-overlooking-fundamental-rights-justice-bhat-on-marriage-equality/#:~:text=There%20were%20four%20opinions%20among,of%20LGBTQIA%2B%20persons%20to%20marry. Effect on the queer community: https://repository.nls.ac.in/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1046&context=popular-media Court not dealing with the  notice provisions in Special Marriage Act: https://www.livelaw.in/top-stories/same-sex-marriage-supreme-court-special-marriage-act-provisions-notice-objections-228449 CREDITS:Host: Ninni Susan Thomas This is a Maed in India production. Producer: Sean D'mello  Sound Design & Mixing: Lakshman Parsuram Project Supervisor: Shaun Fanthome

In response to a question about the one thing that the Union Government elected in 2024 must do, Sadhguru speaks about the condition of government-run Hindu temples, the spiritual significance of these temples, and what the government must do for the wellbeing of the nation and the rest of the world. Conscious Planet: https://www.consciousplanet.org Sadhguru App (Download): https://onelink.to/sadhguru__app Official Sadhguru Website: https://isha.sadhguru.org Sadhguru Exclusive: https://isha.sadhguru.org/in/en/sadhguru-exclusive Inner Engineering Link: isha.co/ieo-podcast Yogi, mystic and visionary, Sadhguru is a spiritual master with a difference. An arresting blend of profundity and pragmatism, his life and work serves as a reminder that yoga is a contemporary science, vitally relevant to our times. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In response to a question about the one thing that the Union Government elected in 2024 must do, Sadhguru speaks about the condition of government-run Hindu temples, the spiritual significance of these temples, and what the government must do for the wellbeing of the nation and the rest of the world. Conscious Planet: https://www.consciousplanet.org Sadhguru App (Download): https://onelink.to/sadhguru__app Official Sadhguru Website: https://isha.sadhguru.org Sadhguru Exclusive: https://isha.sadhguru.org/in/en/sadhguru-exclusive Inner Engineering Link: isha.co/ieo-podcast Yogi, mystic and visionary, Sadhguru is a spiritual master with a difference. An arresting blend of profundity and pragmatism, his life and work serves as a reminder that yoga is a contemporary science, vitally relevant to our times. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, we're diving into India's crackdown on surrogate advertisements by liquor companies.In other news, we talk about the issue of fake news and the recent notification from the IT ministry designating the Fact-Checking Unit of the Press Information Bureau (PIB) as the official fact-checker for the Union Government. While the Supreme Court has temporarily halted this move, why is this proposal raising concerns about setting a dangerous precedent? Joining us for this discussion is Archis Chowdhury, a Senior Correspondent at BOOM fact-check. Tune in to this episode of The Signal Daily for more insights.Episode credits:The episode was researched, written, and produced by Shorbori and ManaswiniEdited by Venkat AnanthMastered and mixed by Yash Hirave

Last week, the Union Government liberalised the foreign direct investment (FDI) norms for the space sector and introduced graded automatic route approval for different space sub-sectors. In this episode, Shrikrishna Upadhyaya quizzes Ashwin Prasad on the implications of the government's move, a brief history of the space reforms in India, and the role the government should play in creating demand for space services in the country. Reading: How private sector can propel a new wave of space revolution in India – Firstpost Do check out Takshashila's public policy courses: https://school.takshashila.org.in/courses We are @‌IVMPodcasts on Facebook, Twitter, & Instagram. https://twitter.com/IVMPodcasts https://www.instagram.com/ivmpodcasts/?hl=en https://www.facebook.com/ivmpodcasts/ You can check out our website at https://shows.ivmpodcasts.com/featured Follow the show across platforms: Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, JioSaavn, Gaana, Amazon Music .Do share the word with your folksSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Supreme Court of India (SC) is entertaining a public interest litigation (PIL) asking for fixed rates for medical services in all hospitals in the country and has directed the Union Government to develop rates for each medical service. Otherwise, it proposed to fix rates charged under the Central Government Health Scheme as an interim measure. In this episode, Anupam Manur and Shrikrishna Upadhyaya break down the implications of the Supreme Court's order to impose price caps for hospital services. They argue that this is, both legally and economically, an unsound measure and the SC should refrain from intervening to impose price caps, despite its good intentions. Price caps will inevitably create distortionary effects, leading to poorer quality and a shortage of healthcare in the country. Do check out Takshashila's public policy courses: https://school.takshashila.org.in/courses We are @‌IVMPodcasts on Facebook, Twitter, & Instagram. https://twitter.com/IVMPodcasts https://www.instagram.com/ivmpodcasts/?hl=en https://www.facebook.com/ivmpodcasts/ You can check out our website at https://shows.ivmpodcasts.com/featured Follow the show across platforms: Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, JioSaavn, Gaana, Amazon Music Do share the word with your fSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is the Catch Up on 3 Things for the Indian Express and I'm Flora Swain.It's the 9th of February and and here are the top stories of this week.The Union Government of India tabled a white paper on the Indian economy in Parliament on Thursday. The 59-page ‘White Paper on the Indian Economy' said when the Modi government assumed office in 2014, the economy was in a “fragile state”. It stated strained public finances, corruption, double-digit inflation, ailing banking sector following excessive lending during the boom phase and policy uncertainty marred India's business climate and dented its image under the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government during FY04-FY14.The Uniform Civil Code (UCC), Uttarakhand, Bill 2024, which seeks to “govern and regulate the laws related to marriage and divorce, successions, live-in relationships, and matters related thereto” was passed in the Assembly on Wednesday following a two-day discussion. The Bill will now be sent to President Droupadi Murmu for her assent after which it will become a law. Uttarakhand is now poised to become the first state to get a common law on marriage, divorce, land, property and inheritance for all citizens, irrespective of their religion.A day after it recognised the faction led by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar as the real Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the Election Commission on Wednesday allotted the group led by NCP founder Sharad Pawar the name of “Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar” for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections in Maharashtra. The NCP split in the party came to light on 2nd of July 2023, when Ajit Pawar, Sharad Pawar's nephew, joined the BJP-Shiv Sena government in Maharashtra along with eight MLAsIn other news, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal hit out at the Centre Thursday, saying that it “feels like the Union government has declared war on the opposition party-ruled governments.” The CM was speaking at a protest at Jantar Mantar called by Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan against the Centre's alleged discrimination against states. The Kerala government has alleged that the fiscal policies of the BJP -led government are financially stifling the state, a day after the Karnataka government staged a 'Chalo Delhi' protest at the same venue.Hamas has proposed a ceasefire plan that would quiet the guns in Gaza for four-and-a-half months leading to an end to the war, in response to a proposal sent last week by Qatari and Egyptian mediators and backed by the United States and Israel. According to the Hamas counterproposal, all Israeli women hostages, males under 19, the elderly and sick would be released during the first 45-day phase in exchange for the release of Palestinian women and children from Israeli jails.This was the Catch-Up on the 3 Things by The Indian Express.

The union government has recently announced plans for a sovereign AI computing mission to provide computing resources as a service to Indian startups, particularly in the sectors of agriculture, healthcare, and education. Bharath Reddy and Rijesh Panicker unpack this initiative, looking at what's good, what's not and what could be different.  Do check out Takshashila's public policy courses: https://school.takshashila.org.in/courses We are @‌IVMPodcasts on Facebook, Twitter, & Instagram. https://twitter.com/IVMPodcasts https://www.instagram.com/ivmpodcasts/?hl=en https://www.facebook.com/ivmpodcasts/ You can check out our website at https://shows.ivmpodcasts.com/featured Follow the show across platforms: Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, JioSaavn, Gaana, Amazon Music Do share the word with your folks  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is the Catch Up on 3 Things for the Indian Express and I'm Flora Swain.It's the 16th of January and here are the headlines.The Kerala Cabinet led by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will stage a protest at Jantar Mantar in Delhi on 8th of February to take a stand against the “neglect of the Union Government towards the state”. For the last several months, the Kerala government and the Left Democratic Front have been in a protest mode in the state, highlighting how “the BJP-led government is economically stifling the state by slashing down the state's borrowing limit”, among other factors.A two-judge bench of the Supreme Court today delivered a split verdict on a plea by former Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu challenging the high court order refusing to quash the FIR against him in the Skill Development Corporation scam case. The bench differed on the interpretation and applicability of section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act in the case. The bench has referred the matter to the Chief Justice of India to consider placing it before a larger bench.Congress leader Rahul Gandhi today stated that it was difficult for the party to accept the invitation for Ram Temple inauguration as the "BJP-RSS have given it an election flavour". He was speaking at a press conference in Nagaland's Kohima during the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra. Rahul further stated that the "status of the INDIA alliance is good". On being asked about seat-sharing talks in the Opposition bloc, Rahul added that most of the discussions were easy, and though they are complicated at some places, they can be easily resolved.India's Sumit Nagal defeated World No 31 Alexander Bublik in straight sets to advance into the second round of the Australian Open. He stunned Bublik 6-4, 6-2, 7-6(5. He will face the winner of Mackenzie McDonald and Shang Juncheng up next in the second round. Nagal became the first Indian since Ramesh Krishnan at the 1989 Australian Open to beat a seeded player at a Grand Slam.Vivek Ramaswamy, a multi-millionaire former biotech executive, ended his White House bid on Monday. He endorsed Donald Trump after his longshot bid caught attention but failed to catapult him high enough in the Republican Party's first nominating contest in Iowa. Ramaswamy, a 38-year-old born in Ohio to immigrant parents from southern India, was one of the surprises of the 2024 Republican race dominated by former President Trump.This was the Catch-Up on the 3 Things by The Indian Express.

Dunn Street founder and Community Organiser Stephen Donnelly was joined by National Secretary for the CPSU, Melissa Donnelly.Mel joins the show for the first time to chat about her journey into the union movement, the challenges public sector workers faced under the previous federal government, lessons learned, how COVID reset the idea of “workplace”, and where the CPSU is seeking to make improvements with the new federal Labor government.The presenting sponsor of the Socially Democratic podcast is Dunn Street. For more information on how Dunn Street can help you organise to build winning campaigns in your community, business or organisation, and make the world a better place, look us up at: dunnstreet.com.au

Hello, this is your daily dose of news from Onmanorama. Tune in to get updated about the major news stories of the day.

Purnima Dhar is Program Incharge of Women Helpline 181 in J&K and Director, Aman Satya Kachroo Trust (Aman Movement). Manisha Tiwary is a writer and Director, Aman Satya Kachroo Trust. Integrated Sakhi One Stop Center & 181 - Universal Women Helpline (Sakhi/181) is a scheme of the Union Government to restore Equality & Dignity of women in India. The idea is: By dialing a single 3 digit number, (181), from any where in India a women in distress (WID) can access nearest of 650 sakhi centers. A sakhi centre is a one stop crisis centre where staff will represent ( Not Refer) a WID in front of state service providers like police, legal services authorities, protection officers, counselors, Women's Commissions etc. To realise this vision Aman Movement has developed PRIYA JYOTI. It is state of the art management system & software for Sakhi/181. It is being implemented in several states in partnership with their respective governments. Read more on https://www.amanmovement.org/

This month on CPR Perspectives — our flagship interview series commemorating the Centre for Policy Research's 50th anniversary — we bring you a conversation with KP Krishnan, an Honorary Research Professor at CPR. Krishnan spent three and a half decades in the IAS, retiring in 2019 as Secretary, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. Over his years in the civil services, he served at positions in the government of Karnataka and the Union Government, as well as a stint at the World Bank, giving him a unique vantage point to observe the changes taking place in Indian economic and development policy following the 1991 liberalization. He has previously held the BoK Visiting Professorship in Regulation in the University of Pennsylvania Law School and served as the IEPF Chair Professor at the National Council of Applied Economic Research, in addition to stints as Visiting Professor of Economics, Public Policy and Regulation at the LBSNAA Mussorie, ISB Hyderabad and Mohali, Ashoka University and IIM Bangalore. In the first part of our conversation, I spoke to Krishnan about choosing a career in the civil services, how policy feedback operated within the IAS especially as the economy opened up and the question of being research-minded vs operational within the Indian bureaucracy. In the second part of the conversation, which you will receive later this month, we spoke about how external research was integrated into government systems, Krishnan's work at CPR looking at how well we understand Indian regulators and what advice he has for young scholars.

Matsyanyaaya: Insights from recent OEWG discussions on Information and Communications Technologies— Anushka SaxenaThe militarisation of cyberspace is a reality. And to enable states to discuss and adopt common rules for global governance of cyberspace, on 31 December 2020, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution 75/240  establishing an Open-ended Working Group (OEWG) on the security of and in the use of Information and Communications Technologies. The mandate for the Group extends from 2021 to 2025.The Group recently concluded its informal, inter-sessional meetings on 26 May, and deliberations put forth by various states give us some insights into the kind of talking points we could look out for during the fifth Substantive Session of the Group, scheduled for July 2023.To summarise, various stakeholders, ranging from governments and representatives of UN bodies to scholars from think tanks and technology corporations, submitted ideas about what the 2023 Annual Progress Report (APR) should entail. All of their ideas either build on or expand what has already been discussed in the previous substantive and informal sessions in 2023 or the 2022 APR. Some interesting ideas are as follows:* Iran submitted a Working Paper on establishing a provisional directory of 'Points of Contact' (PoCs) on ICT and cybersecurity.●     The first proposal to develop such a global directory was tabled in the UN Governmental Group of Experts Reports of 2013 (A/68/98). Now, every GGE and OEWG discussion notes progress on the directory.●     The aim of this directory shall be for states to appoint field experts in technical or diplomatic positions (or both), which would be a part of a global PoC network debating everything from responsible state behaviour in cyberspace and the applicability of international law to defining threats to ICT.●     As we know, the current Indian government has quite a knack for portals, and to formalise the creation of a PoCs global directory, India, too, has proposed the creation of a Global Cyber Security Cooperation Portal. The proposal, submitted by India's Permanent Representative in New York in July 2022, states that such a Portal shall be voluntarily updated by states and maintained by the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs.* The UNOCT/UNCCT and the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate presented proposals for 'capacity building'. The proposal by the former was basically about glorifying the successes of its Global CounterTerrorism Programme on Cybersecurity and New Technologies. But the latter proposal, presented by the UNCTED, emphatically highlights the challenge of malicious online activity by rogue non-state actors and how existing counter-terrorism infrastructure can be leveraged to deal with it.●     The important recommendation is to develop comprehensive training programmes for law enforcement personnel and criminal justice practitioners working with digital evidence. The mention of the latter may be an important signal of more private sector participation in navigating the legalities of what constitutes 'terrorism' in cyberspace.* Submissions from the private sector mainly highlighted which governmental proposals are the most crucial for focus on in the next substantive session and how they can be expanded or narrowed down:●     Stimson Center's submission iterated that the two major emerging technologies states should agree on are common threats to ICT Security are ransomware and Artificial Intelligence.●     It should be noted that both El Salvador and Czechia had made statements during the last substantive session in March on the need for developing standards on 'responsible state behaviour' in new and emerging tech like AI and Quantum. But these efforts would be futile until states can first agree on what harmful use of AI/ Quantum is, given the dual nature of such technologies, and then move on to standard-setting.●     DCX Technologies presented anecdotes on how to avert a ransomware attack and engage with the attacker. Two suggestions stand out from their four-page intervention – one, that knowledge of critical infrastructure is essential to know how to protect it (such as by using enterprise security tools to detect malicious behaviour), and second, that any response to a large-scale ransomware attack such as the one DCX faced in 2020 requires a transparent, multi-stakeholder mitigation model.If adopted and developed, these ideas could provide meaningful direction for the next set of discussions at the OEWG-ICT. However, if we look at some of the concerns governments presented during the fourth substantive session of the Group earlier in March, we can safely conclude that some of these ideas are a massive jump ahead of the tide. For example, India's primary concern during the session was as fundamental as something can be – for states to converge on their definitions and interpretations of international law! Similarly, Kenya's proposal entailed that states at least converge on how to define 'common threats in the cyberspace'.This is, however, not to say that there exist no agreements whatsoever – states at the OEWG have now come to agree that the UN Charter is readily applicable to cybersecurity (especially provisions under Articles 2(1), 2(4), and 33). In doing so, they have cemented the idea that existing global governance institutions like the International Court of Justice can be utilised even to resolve cyber-incident disputes peacefully. This has not stopped countries like Russia and Syria from proposing a new legally-binding mechanism to govern state behaviour in ICT, citing the inability of existing mechanisms to do so. Overall, some convergence exists on building capacity, creating a global knowledge base involving both state and non-state actors, and creating a due diligence mechanism for states to respond to malicious activities originating from their territory. The next Substantive Session would be vital to understand how states respond to these ideas and whether they can agree to resolve some of the fundamental challenges facing the OEWG's ambitious goals.Cyberpolitik : A “broadly” unclear Light-Touch Regulation for India's Online Gaming Industry.— Satya SahuOnline gaming is one of the fastest-growing segments of India's digital economy, with millions of users playing various games on platforms ranging from smartphones, consoles and PCs. India's gaming population is pegged to reach 700 million by 2025, with a significant portion of players spending real money on games. (current conversion rate is about 24% or 120 million players. It is a good bet that this trend will comfortably allow the Indian online gaming industry's ambitions of growing to USD 8.6 billion by 2027. However, online gaming also comes with challenges and risks, because it can serve as a pathway to gambling using real money, addiction, an easy target for cybercrime, and exposure to illegal illicit content.So of course, the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) notified amendments to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, related to online gaming in early April 2023.  The amendments aim to enforce greater due diligence by online gaming intermediaries, such as platforms, websites, and apps that offer online games, and to protect users from illegal betting and wagering online. The amendments also envisage the creation of self-regulatory bodies (SROs) that will register and certify permissible online games and resolve complaints through a grievance redressal mechanism.In most regards, the amendments have garnered applause from the gaming industry for being an unusual example of a light-touch regulation and promoting the idea of a trustworthy self-regulating market. It is a rare example of an enabling legislation meant to promote regulatory certainty without much in the way of prescriptive mandates. But with the lack of prescription, also comes uncertainty, particularly in the matter of definitions involved in deciding what constitutes "online gaming", "betting”, or "gambling. While jurisprudence across the country is settled on the distinction being whether the game in question has an element of skill or an element of chance (with the latter legally prohibited), the Rules do not provide any assistance in making that distinction clear.There is also a significant issue about the implementation of these regulations due to the fact that gambling is a state list subject under the Indian constitution; however, the discussion on federalism in this context is beyond the scope of this post.This post's focus, however, is the definition of “user harm” in the context of online gaming. As per the explanation to Rule 3(1)(b)(ii), “user harm” and “harm” mean any effect which is detrimental to a user or child, as the case may be.Even at a cursory glance, this definition is unusually broad and vague, leaving much room for interpretation and discretion by the government and the SROs. For instance, would considerations of obscenity, defamation, hate speech, discrimination, harassment, cyberbullying, cyberstalking, phishing, hacking, identity theft, addiction, or compulsive behaviour etc be relevant while defining “harm” in the context of online gaming? How will these terms be defined and measured? Who decides whether an online game is likely to incite any of these harms? What are the criteria and standards for such decisions? How will the users be informed and educated about these harms and their consequences?Moreover, a definition of user harm that does not take into account the diversity and complexity of online gaming genres, formats, modes, and audiences would be woefully limited. Online gaming is not a monolithic phenomenon, but a rapidly evolving one, with different types of games catering to different players.In games, the depiction of drug use, violence, and sexually explicit content is handled by certification and age-rating systems like ESRB and PEGI in the US and the UK respectively, with generally consistent decision-making. In the case of India, the Rules mention the objective of tackling content-related concerns in terms of depiction of violent or inappropriate content. However, Rules 4A(8) and 4C have imposed an obligation on the SRO to ensure that the verification process to determine a game's permissibility be based on a self-devised framework which assesses whether an online game contains adequate safeguards against user harm. The only considerations to be used while formulating said framework, are “self harm and psychological harm”, which do not do much to circumscribe our definitional woes. The idea of the SROs to also act as a classification and age-rating body is a possible step in the right direction assuming that multiple SROs will not create conflicting frameworks for verification. While India's approach may end up as a beefed-up version of the US and the UK (with legal liabilities on the online gaming intermediaries, and direct oversight of the Union Government etc.) , the case of Australia's National Classification Code should serve as a warning of the kind of distortions that can be created in a regulatory regime when overbroad concepts are used to define what constitutes “harm” to the player. Australia's Office of Film and Literature Classification, bound by their legislative regime, can reject certification for a game if its depiction of sex and drug use is potentially portrayed “positively”. Because age-ratings and classifications directly impact the commercial success of games (as well as movies, which is usually used as a counterpoint against controversial classification systems which do not keep up with the changing nature of multimedia consumption), the Indian gaming market can potentially find themselves reworking key aspects of their games just to be able to get them onto the market. It is a costly endeavour to say the least.As all these teething questions abound, one only hopes that a consistent framework is proposed to guide interpretations regarding the ambit of "user harm" before dispute redressal and adjudication processes inevitably commence in the future.Antariksh Matters : China's in a Hurry to Get to the Moon— Aditya RamanathanChina has announced an official deadline of 2030 for landing humans on the lunar surface. On Monday, Lin Xiqiang, the deputy head of the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said the mission to put humans on the Moon was underway and would include a programme of research during short visits. Lin's announcement confirms a public comment in April by Wu Weiren, a scientist with China's lunar exploration programme, who said putting humans on the Moon by 2030 was “not a problem”. China has been steadily developing its crewed lunar programme. In 2022, it unveiled a model of a 90-metre-long moon rocket scheduled to undergo a flight test in 2027. Earlier in 2019, a promotional video showed off what appeared to be a crewed vehicle for deep space travel being developed by the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST). China's ongoing pursuit of sustained human presence in low Earth orbit will contribute to its ability to send people to the Moon. Lin's official confirmation came at a press conference in which he also presented the new three-person crew for the Tiangong space station, which will launch into orbit this week, replacing three others who have been inhabiting the space station for six months. The experience with Tiangong will especially come in handy if China manages to proceed to the next stage of its lunar project: setting up a permanent base on the Moon. Lunar LivingIn 2021, China and Russia entered into an agreement to establish a permanent presence on the Moon. Eventually dubbed International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), the project was meant to be a direct counterpart to the United States' Artemis programme, which, as of this writing, still intends to return humans to the Moon by 2025 and eventually set up a permanent presence on the lunar surface and in orbit.In April, Wu publicly discussed a multi-stage plan for the ILRS up to 2050. This would include uncrewed missions and the setting up of a “basic version” that will be followed by a “full version” put together by 2040. Other stages include setting up a nuclear power source and research infrastructure. As with Artemis, China plans to support all this by putting a large constellation of satellites into lunar orbit for position navigation and timing (PNT), relay communications to the dark side of the Moon, and remote sensing. Earthly ConstraintsILRS may have begun as a Russia-China collaboration, but since the outbreak of the war with Ukraine, Russia has been conspicuous by its absence from recent Chinese statements. Instead, China has focused on its own plans and has sought other foreign partners for its upcoming Chang'e uncrewed missions to the Moon. China's lunar ambitions are also evidently fuelled by its rivalry with the United States. However, China does not have the option of blending competition with a bit of cooperation. In 2011, the US introduced the so-called ‘Wolf Amendment', which effectively bans US government funding to be used in cooperation with any Chinese entity without clearance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). While this is not technically an outright ban on space collaboration with China, its effect is much the same. Indeed, it seems clear that NASA is determined to keep away from China. NASA's administrator Bill Nelson has made alarmist remarks about China appropriating lunar territory, presumably to bolster support for the Artemis programme. However, if China and the US are engaged in a space race to the Moon, it is a relatively muted affair at the moment. Top politicians have not expended political capital on the issue, and space agencies have not seen an explosion in their budgets. The lunar ambitions of great powers will continue to be subject to Earthly constraints like economic downturns, wars, stubborn technological challenges, and myriad other pressing issues. Our Reading Menu[Podcast] - A Day in the Life of a Cop, a new limited series on 'policing' on All Things Policy, by Shrikrishna Upadhyay and Javeed Ahmed.[Op-ed] Rs 2,000 Note Withdrawal: No demonetisation redux but RBI could have done it better, by Anupam Manur.[Report] Defense Primer: U.S. Policy on Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems, by Kelly M. Sayler. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hightechir.substack.com

The Union Government is focussing on infrastructure to aid the manufacturing sector. Over the years, the government has introduced several schemes like the Bhara Mala, Sagar Mala, and National Logistics Policy to meet its goal. How successful have they been? What can we expect from this upcoming Budget? Abhaya Agarwal, Leader – Infrastructure, Government and Public sector, EY India, explains it for you. Listen in. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/business-line/message

In India, the Union and the State Governments play a role in the health sector. How are the responsibilities divided? What are some of the issues arising out of the allocation? Dr Harshit Kukreja and Sarthak Pradhan discuss. You can follow Harshit Kukreja on twitter: https://twitter.com/harshitk43   You can follow Sarthak Pradhan on twitter: https://twitter.com/PSarthak19  Check out Takshashila's courses: https://school.takshashila.org.in/ You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcasts app on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios, or any other podcast app. You can check out our website at https://shows.ivmpodcasts.com/featured Do follow IVM Podcasts on social media. We are @IVMPodcasts on Facebook, Twitter, & Instagram. https://twitter.com/IVMPodcasts https://www.instagram.com/ivmpodcasts/?hl=en https://www.facebook.com/ivmpodcasts/ Follow the show across platforms: Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, JioSaavn, Gaana, Amazon Music Do share the word with your folks!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Antariksh Matters: Shattering Space Record Myths— Pranav R SatyanathEarlier this week, a record was broken in the shadowy world of military space tech. At least, that's what some of the headlines make you believe. The secretive X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV) uncrewed spaceplane, operated by the US Space Force, landed at the NASA Kennedy Space Center on November 12th after spending 908 days in orbit. It broke the previous orbital record (780 days) by a large margin. The spaceplane, which is built by Boeing, has been in operation since 2010. Its mission and purpose are largely unknown, building some sort of a myth around this mini-Space Shuttle-looking vehicle.Let's take a step back. From all the open-source images available, we know that the X-37B has a single liquid-fuelled engine built by Aerojet and powered by storable propellants. This means it can stay in orbit by increasing its altitude. So, one can say that spaceplanes are not very different from regular satellites, which operate for years and decades in orbit. Now compare those years and decades to 908 days. Not much, right? Well, yes. So long as the spaceplane can maintain orbital speed, it can stay in orbit as long as its operators wish. Although we don't know much about the X-37B's true purpose, we know some meta details that give clues as to what the purpose might be. The programme that gave birth to the X-37B isn't a secret. Back in the early 1990s, people in the US government got pretty worried about the costs of operating the Space Shuttle. It was reusable for sure, but it was a slow and painstaking process to get the vehicle back to space. So, the US Congress told NASA to go and look at other alternatives. The result was the Access to Space study, which outlined faster, better, cheaper and smaller alternatives to the Suttle. After pondering their heads over what to test, NASA began to fund a handful of companies to research and develop reusable spaceplanes, including Single-Stage To Orbit (SSTO) tech, which is considered the pinnacle of rocketry.Chief among these experimental spaceplanes included Lockheed Martin's X-33 and Orbital Science's X-34 reusable launch vehicles, along with Boeing's X-37 experimental space manoeuvring vehicle. By 1999, NASA saw the funds dry up and no progress to show. The US Air Force (USAF) was ready to take up the X-34 and the X-37 programmes. The X-34 programme got cancelled, and the X-37 was transferred to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Two years later, the X-37B was in the hands of the USAF.From what we know, we can draw out two hypotheses:* The X-37B is a highly manoeuvrable vehicle used to inspect suspicious activities and objects in space. * The X-37B is a test vehicle for the US Space Force (and Air Force) which allows them to test hypersonic re-entry, autonomous capabilities and perhaps, deployment of small payloads.A part of the second hypothesis is already confirmed. Astronomer and space watcher Jonathan McDowell reported that the X-37B launched a subsatellite named the FalconSAT-t8, an experimental payload developed by the Air Force Academy. The second hypothesis is less likely to be true, as small satellites can perform a far better (and less suspicious) job of inspecting suspicious activities and objects.Like the US, the Chinese also have a handful of spaceplane projects. It will not be surprising that these vehicles will have both civilian and military uses. India is also testing a version of its spaceplane called the Reusable Launch Vehicle-Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD). Spaceplanes are interesting. But we must not get carried away by spooky headlines.Comments on the Draft Telecommunications Bill, 2022— Satya Sahu and Gayathri PotiThe draft Telecommunications Bill, 2022 will do more to prohibit Digital India's growth story rather than facilitate it. We outline some of its most glaring issues:Definitional Over-breadth, Legislative Conflict and Procedural Lacunae* Explanatory Note to the Bill in para.51 reassures that provisions concerning internet shutdowns recognize citizens' rights; there is no enumeration of this safeguard in the concerned clause nor mechanisms for judicial oversight or review panels to record the legality of suspension orders à la the Telecom Suspension Rules, 2017.* The Union Government recently withdrew the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2021. In the absence of a data protection regime and an independent Data Protection Authority vested with powers to implement safeguards on the access and use of personal data by public authorities in line with the principles laid out in Puttaswamy and Shreya Singhal. , Clause 24(2)(b) contributes to the increasingly fragmented data protection framework in India, alongside the IT Act, 2000, SEBI Data Sharing Policy, 2019, Payments and Settlements Act, 2008 etc. Regulatory uncertainty and compliance costs within this framework become increasingly difficult due to the wide gamut of entities subject to the definition of "Telecommunication services" under Clause 2(2). The increased cost of compliance with implementing KYC norms and mandatory licensing regimes will result in extremely high barriers to entry for players in the OTT market. It will ensure that only market players with significant resources to meet these obligations can afford to remain in it, amplifying concerns about stifled innovation and competition in this oligopolistic sector.* Subjecting OTT platforms to DoT jurisdiction creates regulatory overlap with MeitY's powers, creating potentially conflicting laws, duplication of efforts by regulators and market players alike, ownership of implementation measures, and increasing costs of conducting business.* OTT platforms like real-time messaging services deploy E2E encryption. Currently, access to encrypted communication is governed by the 2021 Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code released by MeitY. Under this, significant social media intermediaries are only expected to enable the identification of the first originator of the information. The rules deliberately refrain from mandating access to the contents of the communication (especially since the 2015 draft rules that insisted on making available the plaintext of communications was met with heavy criticism), but Clause 24 empowers the Government to gain access to the contents of the communication as well. This conflicts with the 2021 Code and further aggravates the issue of regulatory overlap. The provision implicitly requires OTT platforms to create encryption backdoors and inevitably undermines Constitutional protection for free speech afforded by encryption.* The territorial applicability of the provisions of the Bill has not been described unlike in the Telegraph Act, 1885, and the IT Act, 2000, which circumscribe their application in terms of geography and cyber attribution. The telecom and OTT sectors depend on cross-border interconnectivity and rely on internationally administered infrastructure like satellites, marine fibre-optic cable networks, etc. It is necessary to foresee and describe the territorial limits of domestic law to avoid international conflict of laws to maintain market confidence and decrease legal costs and instances of interruption in critical services.* Clause 46 (k) of the Bill dilutes TRAI's standing to requisition information from the Government and provide recommendations before awarding licenses. Deleting the non-obstante clause and provisos to S.11 (1) of the TRAI Act eliminates TRAI's role in ensuring a level playing field for TSPs and fair and non-discriminatory treatment by the Government. Vesting TRAI with the power to investigate predatory pricing exacerbates existing overlap between the mandates of TRAI and CCI, increasing possibility of regulatory arbitrage. * Clause 24(1) vests the Central Government with the power to take temporary possession of telecommunication services, networks, and infrastructure, in the occurrence of any public emergency or in the interest of public safety. Clause 24(4) makes the exercise of this power concomitant with the duration of a public emergency or occasion. The Bill, however, does not provide any procedure for Government action nor define the terms' public safety' and 'public emergency', undermining the temporary nature of this power, inviting constitutional scrutiny and low investor confidence.Insufficient Justifications for Overarching Policy * OTT platforms should be permitted to continue operating under the existing framework without any regulatory intervention until the ITU and similar foreign jurisdictions conclusively determine the regulation of such platforms. TRAI's 2020 recommendations propose no deviation from this approach, especially since there has been limited global progress concerning OTT regulation.* Compliance with KYC norms is mandated for the issuance of SIM Cards and broadband connections; extending this requirement for accessing OTT communication services is unwarranted. The rigours associated with KYC rules are reserved for tightly regulated sectors like banking, where identity verification systems combat the incidence of high-risk pernicious activities. Mandating adherence to the KYC process for creating an account on an IM/e-mail/video telephony platform is not only disproportionate but is likely to dissuade users from accessing critical services. In particular, KYC formalities will deter consumers from testing newer platforms which could result in market stagnation.* Clause 32 envisages framing regulatory sandboxes to enable innovation and technological development in the sector. However, it allows access to regulatory sandboxes only as part of the terms and conditions under its new licensing regime defeating the intent of a regulatory sandbox. Providing access to this environment only upon the award of a license raises the costs of introducing new technology in a fixed-capital-intensive sector like telecom and entrenches the market power of already dominant entities who can bear this cost. The extent and nature of the usage of new technology cannot always be preempted in the terms of a license at the time of licensing. This creates the future burden of bearing opportunity costs of not being able to leverage its own technology in new ways on the licensee, leading to avoidable legal costs and ad hoc renegotiation.The authors are students of Takshashila's GCPP (Technology & Policy) Programme.Matsyanyaaya: Splinternet Conviction?— Bharath ReddyWe often hear predictions about a splinter-net or a bifurcated Internet. What does this mean? And what are the incentives at play other than the obvious state control and censorship?To get an idea of how the Internet could split and what it means, a good example would be Runet - the Russian national segment of the Internet. Russian interventions to create an independent national Internet range from state censorship to mandating ISPs to use national Domain Name System (DNS) servers (where website names are translated to addresses). There are also forces from outside Russia incentivising the split as well. During the initial phase of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, there were appeals by Ukraine to remove Russian domains from DNS servers which would cut them off from the rest of the Internet. This request was rejected as it could destroy trust in a global internet if the DNS does not remain neutral. However, requests by Ukraine to certificate authorities that issue SSL and TLS certificates for websites have been more successful, creating barriers in the process. Lastly, the hardware sanctions and market exits following the conflict could potentially lead to a split in internet standards.As you might know, the Internet is based on communication protocols which enable different devices to speak a common language and communicate with each other. Broadly, these protocols can be classified under - content, logic and infrastructure layers. While censorship at the content layer is quite common, a fork in the lower logic and infrastructure layers could have serious ramifications. Network effects, protocol politics and geopolitics, come together here. The largest networks have incentives to refuse to be interoperable with competitors. In the current nature of the Internet, the US and its allies wield power to cut off competitors from critical chokepoints. This power has been exercised to an extent during the recent sanctions against China and Russia. The threat of such actions creates incentives for bifurcated supply chains and in this world of bifurcated supply chains there would be takers for China's vision of national internet sovereignty. In such a scenario, future network protocols such as New IP being developed by Huawei could become more widespread. The intelligence built into the protocols at the logic and infrastructure layers could enable more surveillance and control by the ISPs and the State.The concerns around the splitting of the Internet is thus a complex interplay between technology, geopolitics, and the relation between the State and the individual.The report titled “One, Two, or Two Hundred Internets” by the Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zürich is an exciting read that covers this subject in detail. As the author hopes, it helps enable informed discussion and decision-making on splitting the Internet.Our Reading Menu[Opinion] Road Ahead for UPI: Free Public Infrastructure or Yet Another Payment Mechanism? by Rohan Pai and Mihir Mahajan.[Chapter] Gene Editing and the Need to Reevaluate Bioweapons by Shambhavi Naik.[Book] Cellular: An Economic and Business History of the International Mobile-Phone Industry by Daniel D. Garcia-Swartz and Martin Campbell-Kelly. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hightechir.substack.com

The telecom industry of India is the second largest in the world. The telecom sector is critical to India's national economy and national security. In recent years, the Union Government has brought in a range of policy measures to support localisation in telecom and allied sectors, especially in manufacturing and design. It has also proposed a new telecommunications law which will replace the British era Indian Telegraphs Act, 1885.In this episode of All Things Policy, Shrikrishna Upadhyaya hosts Aaditya Dighe, Investment Specialist, Invest India, to discuss foreign investment in the telecom sector, domestic manufacturing of telecom equipment, the challenges in the ongoing 5G roll-out, and alternatives like satcom based internet services.You can follow Shrikrishna Upadhyaya on twitter: https://twitter.com/shrikrishna5Check out Takshashila's courses: https://school.takshashila.org.in/You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcasts app on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios, or any other podcast app.You can check out our website at https://shows.ivmpodcasts.com/featuredDo follow IVM Podcasts on social media.We are @IVMPodcasts on Facebook, Twitter, & Instagram.https://twitter.com/IVMPodcastshttps://www.instagram.com/ivmpodcasts/?hl=enhttps://www.facebook.com/ivmpodcasts/Follow the show across platforms:Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, JioSaavn, Gaana, Amazon Music Do share the word with your folks!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With India in its seventy-fifth year of independence, conventional policy is unlikely to combat the breadth of its economic challenges. Does India need the state to be big or small? Is growth to be manufacturing-led or services driven? Will India produce for the exports market or the home market? Do the young prefer government jobs to private sector employment? Across a range of areas - human capital, technology, agriculture, finance, trade, public service delivery and more - new ideas must now be on the table. The COVID-19 pandemic has not only cost India many lives and livelihoods, it has also exposed major structural weaknesses in the economy. A huge farm and jobs crisis, rising and massive inequalities, tepid investment growth, and chronic banking sector challenges have plagued the economy, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. It has also exposed the limitations of the Indian state, which tries to control too much-and ends up stifling the economy and the inherent energies of its young population. Climate change is no longer a distant threat, while disruptive technology has huge implications for India's demographic dividend. In addition, the dangerous lurch towards majoritarianism will cast its shadow on India's pursuit of prosperity for all.  In this episode of BIC Talks, authors of Unshackling India, Ajay Chibber and Salman Soz in a conversation with Ashima Goyal acknowledge hard truths and examine the question: Can India use the next twenty-five years, when it will reach the hundredth year of independence, to restructure not only its economy but rejuvenate its democratic energy and unshackle its potential-to become a genuinely developed economy by 2047? This conversation is an extract from a session at Bangalore Literature festival 2021, which took place in collaboration with BIC last December.  Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, and Stitcher.

A battery swapping policy and interoperability standards are being introduced by the Union Government in the 2022–23 Budget Speech, and NITI Aayog has recently put out the draft battery policy. Priyal D'almeida talks to Rohan Pai about the highlights of the policy and what lies ahead when it comes to battery swapping in India.Suggested readings:Draft Battery Swapping PolicyHow India Can Take a Leaf Out of China's Playbook on Battery Swapping to Form a Robust EV Ecosystem by Rohan PaiIndia's Battery Swapping Policy: Too much expected from too little? by Lydia Powell, Akhilesh Sati, Vinod Kumar Tomar You can follow Priyal D'almeida on twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/lynciapriyalYou can follow Rohan Pai on twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/rohanspai12Check out Takshashila's courses: https://school.takshashila.org.in/You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcasts app on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios, or any other podcast app.You can check out our website at https://shows.ivmpodcasts.com/featuredDo follow IVM Podcasts on social media.We are @IVMPodcasts on Facebook, Twitter, & Instagram.https://twitter.com/IVMPodcastshttps://www.instagram.com/ivmpodcasts/?hl=enhttps://www.facebook.com/ivmpodcasts/Follow the show across platforms:Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, JioSaavn, Gaana, Amazon MusicDo share the word with you folks!

UK cabinet ministers Sajid Javid and Rishi Sunak resigned from their positions, a new scheme ‘PM Special' to be launched by Union Government to provide affordable medical care to elderly at the doorstep, a study from the NIH said the immune response triggered by COVID-19 infection can damage the brain's blood vessels and other top news in today's bulletin.

The Union Government last week cut excise duties on fuel sales in a bid to temper galloping inflation. Is such a move enough to tame retail inflation? Are there other factors that are spurring retail consumer prices? If so, are there levers that the government can move to arrest a further deterioration? Guest: Aditi Nayar, Chief Economist, ICRA Ratings Host: K. Bharat Kumar Edited by Ranjani Srinivasan

Antariksh Matters #1: Telangana’s SpaceTech Framework— Aditya PareekIn its latest policy document, “SpaceTech Framework”, the Government of Telangana acknowledges the central role of private enterprise in the rapidly growing global space economy. The twelve page long document lays down a framework to nurture the state’s own private space tech sector. There is a notable focus on enabling entrepreneurship in both upstream and downstream applications as well as removing many bottlenecks and regulatory hurdles.The policy seeks to attract global investment and setup partnerships with international entities to boost space related manufacturing in the state. Telangana also wishes to become a globally preferred destination for setting up new space related ventures and as a sandbox or testbed for SpaceTech applications like remote sensing. The framework laid out to achieve these objectives, has four key policy pillars - enabling access to infrastructure, business facilitation & collaboration, skill development & training, promoting research and innovation. The policy also pays due regard to involving varied stakeholders and deriving socio-economic benefits across areas & sectors - such as agriculture, insurance, urban development & planning, disaster management, digital connectivity and ecological protection etc.    Hyderabad, Telangana’s capital, already has many advantages, including being the base of institutions and high-tech facilities like ISRO’s National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) and the International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials (ARCI). Telangana has also contributed a significant share to ISRO’s national space efforts, most recently with supplying almost 30% of parts used in India’s Mars Orbiter Mission(MOM).Building on this momentum, the Government of Telangana has identified a “space market value chain”, which stretches from identifying end users to the upstream manufacturing sub sectors. To support this value chain, Telangana aims to encourage public private partnerships and the sharing of expensive high-tech testing and Research & Development(R&D) facilities by both government institutions and startups who can’t afford to set up their own. Some specifically identified R&D and testing facilities apart from the above mentioned ISRO-NRSC and ARCI include - Electronics Corporation of India Limited(ECIL) and the regional complexes of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). By identifying some high-impact use cases, the Government of Telangana also aims to prioritise solving problems which are pressing and have a direct impact on the state, its industry, populous and the nation at large.The government of Telangana also plans to provide competitively priced land in strategic locations inside the state for SpaceTech companies to set up their facilities - including commercial ground stations for satellite constellations. Telangana also has plans for an INR 1,300 crore fund meant for supporting startups under its Information and Communicational Tech.(ICT) policy, the policy explicitly says that space tech startups would also be eligible for support from this fund. As a way to harmonise its other high-tech initiatives such as Telangana’s AI Mission (T-AIM) and Open Data Platform, the policy also advocates for the State Government, Union Government and space tech companies involved in geospatial applications like earth observation, to synergise all efforts. Furthering the cause for synergising the state’s development goals and national space endeavours, Telangana hopes to facilitate partnerships between its own space tech industry and national Public Sector Undertakings (PSU), Union Government agencies, and foreign companies. The Government of Telangana also plans to support individuals and startups in the space tech sector with Intellectual Property (IP) development and preservation by providing advisory services in filing patents and ensuring legal compliance both domestically and internationally. The focus is also on the insurance, banking and financial services sectors. The policy highlights the need for a better understanding in analysing the risk associated with building and operating big ticket items like privately owned and built space launch vehicles and satellites. Matsyanyaaya: How Does the India-EU Trade and Technology Council Work?— Arjun GargeyasI had written long back in this newsletter about the proposed US-EU Trade and Technology Council and how it actually reveals the fissures that divide them with respect to technology cooperation and regulation. Fast forward to the present and we have the president of the European Union (EU), Ursula von der Leyen visiting India during the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. An interesting aspect of the visit was the harmony between both India and the EU on most matters with the exception of the Ukraine war. But the highlight of the visit was the establishment of the India-EU Trade and Technology Council modeled after the US-EU agreement. This is the first time India has signed any such agreement with any of its partners. It will allow the two partners to address challenges in trade, trusted technology, and security, deepening cooperation in these fields. The primary objective behind the agreement is to ensure both sides can work in collaboratively in fields such as 5G, artificial intelligence, climate modelling, and health-related technology.While the talks behind the proposed India-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) have gone on for over a decade, this agreement comes as a positive step towards building a partnership between India and its third-largest trading partner. It should also be noted that the EU has extended this kind of agreement in technology-related domains only to the US and India thus far. Reports say that the Trade and Technology Council will provide the political steer and the necessary structure to operationalise political decisions, coordinate technical work, and report to the political level to ensure implementation and follow-up in areas that are important for the sustainable progress of European and Indian economies. The current Technology Council between the US and EU has introduced the concepts of different working groups and departments in charge of translating the political decisions into actual deliverables. These working groups range from investment screening, climate technologies, and supply chain resiliency among others. A similar working setup is likely to be adopted in the India-EU agreement depending on the comparative advantages that both partners have to offer in the technology markets.But one of the other questions that still needs to be answered is the effectiveness of the agreement. This depends on the extent to which the EU is amenable to sharing critical technology with India. There are some strategic areas of technology that domain leaders like the EU might not be willing to pass on to India. The question of how they can navigate this kind of impasse can determine the extent to which the agreement can flourish. Similar to the US-EU Trade and Tech Council agreement, this agreement will have the clouds of technology regulation hanging over it. Both partners view the process of regulating technology from a different perspective. The differences in the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and India’s proposed Personal Data Protection Bill highlights the change in approach taken by both parties. Finding a common ground to important questions like these is imperative if the signed agreement can actually result in deliverables. It is indeed a welcome surprise that the India-EU Trade and Technology Council has been initiated considering the indecisiveness that existed in finalising the FTA. This offers a great opportunity for both countries to tap into each other’s strengths and overcome their weaknesses in the technology sector through consistent cross-border trade and flow of labour, capital and IP.Antariksh Matters #2: ISRO’s Annual Report Looks at Both Hits and Misses— Pranav R. SatyanathThe Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) released its annual report last month, which highlights the organisation’s major activities in the past year and plans for future missions and satellite launches. Main highlights of the report are as follows:ISRO’s accomplishments in developing indigenous navigation capability: The Navigation Indian Constellation (NavIC) consists of a constellation of eight satellites which provide standard positioning services for civilian use and restricted services for the government and military services. According the the report, ISRO has worked towards enabling NavIC services on mobile devices, and integrated the Second Generation Distress Alert Transmission (SG-DAT) to provide services such as the broadcasting distress alerts in remote locations.Advancements in indigenous launch capabilities According the ISRO’s annual report, there have been two major improvements in the development of indigenous launch capabilities, First, the development of the three-stage solid-fueled Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) which can launch small satellites weighing upto 500 kg into Low Earth Orbit (LEO). Second, the development of the Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) is currently under initial ground-testing stage using a demonstration vehicle.Development of the Gaganyaan Human Space Flight missionThe 2021-2022 annual report provides a greater level of detail into the Gaganyaan Programme in comparison to last year’s year’s report. Information regarding the design of the orbital module, crew module and the parameters of testing along with the results of the initial testing of the service module propulsion systems have been provided. Although an initial date for the launch is yet to be confirmed, it is likely that the first unmanned launch will occur some time in 2023.Other highlights include ISRO’s steps in building space situational awareness (SSA) capabilities. The report highlights the  use of the  radars and electro-optical telescope for tracking objects up to 10cam or higher in LEO, and tracking objects 40cm or higher in Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO). In March 2022, ISRO released its first report on Space Situational Assessment, which goes into greater detail regarding India’s debris mitigation activities. During the recent US-India 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue, India and the US signed a Memorandum of Understanding on SSA cooperation. The US currently operates the world’s largest SSA network, called the United States Space Surveillance Network and provides open-access data of all indexed objects in space.Although ISRO’s annual report highlights several developments in the past year, it is also a reminder of some of the key shortcomings that India faces in the space sector. The most prominent of which is the lag in the number of launches. India conducted just one launch of the PSLV between 2021 and 2022. Further, ISRO also faced a major setback when the GSLV F10 failed to launch due to low pressure in the cryogenic upper stage of the rocket. At a time when the world has witnessed a record number of space launches, India’s lack of sustainable launch capability is a reminder that India must build capacity  — in both state-owned and private space industry.Antariksh Matters #3: Developing an Indian Augmentation for GPS— Aditya RamanathanLast week, ISRO and Airports Authority of India (AAI) made significant progress on the path to operationalizing the homegrown satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS) called GAGAN.On 28 April, an IndiGO ATR 72 aircraft landed at Kishangarh airport near Ajmer, Rajasthan, using GAGAN-based Localiser Performance with Vertical Guidance or LPV. LPVs are similar in concept to the more conventional Instrument Landing System (ILS) used in larger airports, which enables aircraft to land in less-than-ideal conditions. The key difference is that while ILS requires the airport to have the requisite antennae and transmitters, LPV uses satellite signals from an SBAS. In effect, LPVs allow aircraft to land at smaller airports that lack ILS, even when there’s poor visibility or bad weather. The SBAS PromiseGAGAN is a relatively new entrant in the SBAS club. The American Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), which covers North America, was a pioneer. Other systems include the European Union’s EGNOS and Japan’s MSAS. China is developing an SBAS of its own based on its BeiDou constellation of navigation satellites. South Korea, Australia, Russia are among other states either operating or developing their own SBAS. The primary use of SBAS is for aviation, and any operational SBAS must be reliable and accurate enough for such “safety of life” uses. Besides aviation, SBASs can also be used by ships maneuvering in narrow canals or by public road and traffic management services. GAGAN is short for GPS Aided GEO Augmented Navigation. Like all other augmentation systems, it uses a combination of ground stations and satellite-based transmitters. On Earth, 15 reference stations receive GPS signals, which are then collated at two master control centres, which correct them for ionospheric distortion, orbit errors, and timing errors on the atomic clocks that navigation satellites use. Three geostationary satellites (GSAT-8, GSAT-10 and GSAT-15) then broadcast the corrected signal back to Earth. Adopting GAGANIndia’s aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has already made it compulsory for all aircraft registered in the country after July 2021 to have GAGAN receivers onboard. However, for adoption to really take off, SBAS around the world will have to ensure seamless interoperability. India is part of an Interoperability Working Group with representatives from GAGAN, WAAS, EGNOS, and MSAS. But the task of interoperability is only likely to get more complicated in the future, as SBASs begin to rely on multiple satellite navigation constellations and transmit in multiple frequencies. This newsletter will keenly track these developments.Our Reading Menu[Opinion] How should India respond to the US's unilateral ASAT test ban? by Pranav R. Satyanath who is also a contributor to this newsletter[Article] How military technology reaches Russia in breach of U.S. export controls by David Gauthier-Villars, Steve Stecklow and John Shiffman[Article] Data as a weapon: Psychological Operations in the age of irregular information threats by Jon Reisher, Charity Jacobs and John Beasley[Blog] On space barons and global poverty by Harun Onder This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hightechir.substack.com

Discussions were on to unite opposition parties against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the RSS: Rahul Gandhi, Parliament can prevent NGOs from receiving foreign donations: Supreme Court, the Union government directed five states to report a slight surge of Covid-19 cases and other top news in this bulletin.

The Union Government of India (GoI) has changed rule for appointment of members of the Bhakhra Beas Management Board (BBMB). New rules, reportedly notified on 23 February 2022 has removed the condition of appointing BBMB member (power) from the state of Punjab. Now the appointment can be from any state.  In this podcast, Sikh Siyasat editor Parmjeet Singh has discussed this issue. This News/Article Center's Move to Steal Punjab's Representation in BBMB appeared first on Sikh Siyasat News.

Cyberpolitik #1: Wanted - Greater scrutiny of content takedown orders— Prateek WaghreLast week, reports suggested that the Union Government of India had issued an order to ban 54 apps. This would constitute the fifth such instance since June 2020 (when TikTok and 58 other apps were blocked), three of which have been accompanied by press releases.June 2020: 59 apps (accompanied by a press release)July 2020: 47 (not accompanied by a press release)September 2020: 118 apps aka PUBG ban (accompanied by a press release)November 2020: 43 apps (accompanied by a press release)At the time of writing, this latest instance has not been accompanied by a press release. In response to queries from the press, Google has indicated that it received orders to remove apps from the Play Store. In a video discussion, Sarvesh Mathi of Medianama noted the potential existence of a pattern - in that the July 2020 instance (which did not come with a press release) mainly covered cloned/renamed apps. That appears to be the case here too. A senior official from the ministry was quoted as saying:“Many of the apps from the stable of Tencent and Alibaba, have changed hands to hide ownership. They are also being hosted out of countries like Hong Kong or Singapore, but the data was ultimately going to servers in Chinese destinations,” said a senior official while pointing out that “even apps such as ByteDance-owned TikTok and Tencent’s WeChat were available for download through alternative means such as APK files, and the government has taken cognizance of it.” These orders have been passed under Section 69A of India's IT Act.There have been other recent instances where content takedown orders were accompanied by press releases too.In December 2021: 20 YouTube channels and 2 websites operated by groups from Pakistan as per a press release.In January 2022: 35 YouTube channels and 2 websites operated by groups from Pakistan as per a press release.These orders have been issued under the emergency rules included in the IT Rules and Digital Media Ethics 2021 (Rule 16).Transparent when convenientThe Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking for Access of Information by Public) Rules, 2009, which specify the procedure to be used when restricting access to information, include a clause for confidentiality. There have been instances in the past when the fact that blocking orders were issued were only discovered because one of the companies that received them voluntarily disclosed them via the Lumen Database. In my opinion, when such orders are accompanied by press releases or information is provided by unnamed sources to the press, one should assume it happens because it is convenient to do so. This is perhaps why Google’s suggested “win-win for both sides” in a meeting between officials from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and representatives from Google, Facebook, and Twitter, as reported by Reuters, was not viewed as one.Executives from Google told the I&B officials that one way to resolve that was for the ministry to avoid making takedown decisions public. The firms could work with the government and act on the alleged fake content, which could be a win-win for both sides, Google said, according to one of the sources.The idea was summarily rejected by the government officials, who said the takedowns also publicise how the companies weren't doing enough to tackle fake news on their own, the person said.The proverbial house, as they say, always wins.A higher burden of proof and greater scrutinyAs Raman Chima points out, such orders are escaping scrutiny. And while it is not the intention of this author to bat for TikTok in any way whatsoever - the charges against it do not seem to have been substantiated. And while much of the cheerleading surrounding the move played up the economic impact it would have, TikTok has since surpassed 1 billion active users - while creators from India appear to have been denied a global audience.The two emergency takedown orders issued in December 2021 and January 2022 also present an interesting case study. While both press releases indicate aggregate view counts and membership numbers across the YouTube channels listed - they do not explain what portion of those views were from India - as YouTube view counts do not break down viewership numbers by country. In attempting to highlight the impact of these 'digital strikes', the 2 press releases also include a 'combined subscriber base'. However, these numbers appear to be just a total of the subscriber numbers across the listed channels, without accounting for the (highly likely) possibility that one account is subscribed to more than one channel - meaning that the number overstates the real 'combined subscriber base' and the impact. These are the kind of elementary questions that would be asked if such orders were being subjected to basic levels of scrutiny. Matsyanyaaya: Understanding China’s High-Tech Espionage Efforts— Arjun GargeyasAn interesting aspect of the November 2021 Department of Defense (DOD) report on China’s military was the focus on Beijing’s industrial espionage efforts on certain advanced technologies which the government thinks holds the key to enhancing the quality of their military systems. There are four main areas that the PLA is targeting and it is imperative to understand how these technologies can help develop advanced military systems. First, the report mentions specialised integrated circuits (ICs) specifically meant for military use as one of China’s targets. This includes radiation-hardened ICs and monolithic microwave ICs, which are tailor-made for withstanding military-grade conditions. These specialised electronic components consume very little power and need enhanced fabrication processing to immunise the system against any kind of latch-up when exposed to extreme radiation or temperature. Their applications can range from nuclear warheads to any weapons or platforms that might be subject to radiation effects from nuclear attacks. Due to the complex method of manufacturing these components, the technology remains concentrated with certain players only which makes it a lucrative target for China.Second, the focus on memory chipsets in the report has raised eyebrows on China’s potential military plans. The growth of non-volatile (NV) memory, which are memory chips that can retain the data stored in it even after the removal of power supply, has created interest in the possibility of using such components in military vehicles. The two key factors of retention ability and endurance remain on the higher side for these kinds of chipsets. Military electronics manufacturers now advocate the use of NV memory chips (like NVSRAMs) in military equipment due to their faster read and write speeds, long-term data storage, and high reliability. An application where these chips are in massive demand is in the development of autonomous weapon systems. High-grade memory chips being a potential target of Chinese espionage efforts opens up a possibility of new weapon systems being developed by their forces for modernising the existing military systems.Third, the use of sensors to develop tools like accelerometers and gyroscopes is on China’s radar. These components are used for adequate measurements and sensing especially in building tactical weapon systems. Gyroscopes, especially, have been crucial in the transition of low to high-grade precision and navigation systems. They have been used in long-range missiles for precision guidance as well as in improving the accuracy of the armed forces’ navigation systems. China’s interest in these devices validates that tracking, detection, and accurate sensing remains absolutely critical during warfare. New technologies have also improved the quality of devices like accelerometers that are now used by uncrewed military vehicles. The sensors in the accelerometers help in providing precise data on additional parameters like wind speed, temperature, and physical strain movement for improving the lifespan of the vehicle. It would be a major development if China manages to acquire such technology that would significantly improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their forces.Finally, there are mentions of advanced communication systems specialising in electronic warfare being one of China’s foremost high-tech espionage targets. A specific area of these systems that the Chinese are looking to develop technical expertise is in military communication jamming equipment. When deployed, these jamming systems help defence forces in gaining a crucial advantage in the electronic warfare domain by preventing any wireless communications from taking place on the battlefield. It is no surprise that China is looking to focus on jamming systems as a way to disrupt any sort of communication between the opponent’s control towers and the ground. The possession of modern electronic warfare systems has become one of China’s priorities in its pursuit of military technologisation which can be severely detrimental to its foes.China’s recent border skirmishes with India have brought technology and its importance in building robust and secure military systems into the limelight. The DOD report has clearly outlined what the Chinese might be going after when looking to build a stronger and better force. It is essential that counter intelligence and intellectual property protection remain India’s and other technologically advanced states’ priority to ensure that these critical technologies stay out of the hands of the Chinese military.Cyberpolitik #2: An Indian perspective on Online Harms on DCNs— Sapni G KThe land of technology regulation is one that never stops giving. Every edition of this newsletter has enough thought on policy and regulatory measures to leave observers amused. Newer ideas (sometimes beneficial, often not) have had a sustained presence here. In the land of cyberpolitik, the hue and cry for "regulation of the internet" has been a political moot point for over a year now, thanks to Jan 6, 2021 incident in the US Capitol. Yet, the claims of the internet and its most prominent avatar - social media - being the "wild west" is insincere. It is a sentiment that has caught the attention and sympathies of regulators and the public alike, across the globe. Readers would recollect our inquiries into this space, as has been detailed earlier here and here. Our inquiries into the governance of Digital Communication Networks (DCNs) previously looked at harms and benefits. We defined DCNs as composite entities which had the components of capability, operator, and networks. This time around, I looked at the current legal framework on online harms on DCNs in India. I define online harms as a set of actions that can occur on DCNs that can cause legal injuries to users, whether individuals or groups of individuals. This is distinct from the approaches taken by Australia and the UK, where proposals attempt to regulate the entirety of the internet from the perspective of addressing harms. The framing of the debate on online harms on DCNs often ignores available remedies that can adequately address many legal injuries that occur on DCNs, paving the way for censorship. In an attempt to exhaustively study these remedies, I categorised identifiable online harms as clearly defined by the law and harms having a less clear definition. Claims that certain legal injuries are not actionable simply because there are no laws governing them appear insincere. The document identifies that many incidents could still be remedied by the law currently in place. An innovative interpretation of the law can be useful in cases where ambiguity persists to help victims get speedy justice for legal injuries that occur on DCNs. The big picture shows that these long-established provisions have their fair share of drawbacks that need to be remedied. However, these have been moulded for the better through judicial interpretation and practical implementation over the years. The conversation about changing the regulatory landscape around DCNs is progressing in India. At this juncture, it is critical to take note of the system that is currently in place. As a frontier for the exercise of the freedom of speech and expression, any change in the framework regulating this space should be wary of the risks of overregulation and censorship.  Read the full issue paper as a PDF here. This is a work in progress, as part of our investigations into the ecosystem of DCNs. If you have thoughts/comments on the same, do reach out via Twitter DMs (@SapniGK) or email me ( AT takshashila.org.in).Our Reading Menu[Blog] How Cambodia’s Internet gateway will harm the Internet by Adrian Wan and Charles Mok, Internet Society[Opinion] Regulators are Playing a Dangerous Game on the Internet by Carey Lening[Article] A recent spy case shows how China has been able to pull off its whirlwind military modernization by Stavros Atlamazoglou[Blog] DoD's 2021 China Military Power Report: How Advances in AI and Emerging Technologies Will Shape China’s Military by Adam Segal This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hightechir.substack.com

Last week, reports suggested that the Union Government had issued orders to block an additional 54 apps from China, making it the fifth time such action was taken since June 2020. Prateek Waghre and Sapni GK join Rohan Seth to unpack the app bans, related developments surrounding the use of emergency powers under the 2021 IT Rules, and the need for a higher burden of proof on the Union Government to demonstrate their claims.Follow Prateek on Twitter: https://twitter.com/prateekwaghreFollow Rohan on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thesethistFollow Sapni on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sapnigk Links mentioned in the episode:1. Economic Times report regarding the order to ban apps2. Medianama video referenced while discussing Press Releases issued3. December 2021 Press Release regarding YouTube channels4. January 2022 Press Release regarding YouTube channels5. Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking for Access of Information by Public) Rules, 2009Check out Takshashila's courses: https://school.takshashila.org.in/You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/iosYou can check out our website at https://www.ivmpodcasts.com

A version of this essay was published by swarajyamag.com at https://swarajyamag.com/politics/was-it-a-plot-to-assassinate-the-prime-ministerThe events on January 5th were shocking: the PM’s motorcade was stopped for 15 to 20 minutes on a highway overpass, blocked by a group of ‘protesters’. His car, the only black car in the row of white cars, was completely exposed to a possible drone attack, a Stinger missile, a rocket-propelled grenade, or even an IED that could have demolished the structure. The enormity of this situation, and the implications for India’s national security, are astonishing. Here was the Prime Minister of the country with the world’s 5th largest economy and 3rd largest armed forces, a sitting duck, at a location only a few miles away from the Pakistani border. Thank you for reading Shadow Warrior. This post is public so feel free to share it.It cannot be seen as an attack on Narendra Modi, the man, but on the institution of the Prime Minister, and by extension on the Government of India. This, in a country where two Prime Ministers were earlier assassinated. It is almost an existential question. What would happen if Modi were to be killed? I hasten to add that I am certainly not advocating it, as he is the PM, and I have been a fan of his for long. But we have to think of what happens in that eventuality. The same question was asked earlier: what would happen if Modi were to lose the elections? Well, not much. Modi would take his small suitcase, and, as in the famous painting, alight from the train in his hometown in Gujarat and walk home alone, in the rain, with his umbrella. It is not "Après moi, le déluge" as in the Nehruvian vanity: somebody will rule. But the nation will be the loser, just when it is at the cusp of inflection.There have been other dramatic moments in Indian history where one man made a difference. The stray arrow that pierced the eye of Hemachandra Vikramaditya at the second battle of Panipat doomed North India to centuries of Gurkaniya Timurid rule. The beheading of Rama Raya of Vijayanagar by his own renegade troops at the battle of Talikota caused the disastrous end of that bulwark that had protected South India against invaders from the North. It may not be that bad this time if there were to be, in Karan Thapar’s immortal words in 2007, “the sudden removal of Modi”. There are others that could step in. But surely, momentum will be lost, and all those malign forces urging ‘regime change’, especially the Deep State and China and their psy-warfare organs, such as the New York Times and Global Times, will smell blood.Thanks for reading Shadow Warrior! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.I also personally do not think it was an assassination attempt. If it were, it would have succeeded because there was nothing to prevent it. It was more a signal to Narendra Modi that if he dared enter Punjab again, he would be executed. The real question is, what will happen next?We have seen this movie before. In West Bengal, there was massive election-related violence and the wanton killing of BJP and RSS people by TMC cadres. In Kerala, there have been dozens of murders of BJP/RSS people by Communists or Islamists. There were at least two earlier attempts on Modi himself: the first when Ishrat Jehan, Javed (born Pranesh Pillai) and a Pakistani were intercepted driving to Gujarat to eliminate him. The second was the bomb that went off minutes before Modi was to speak in Bihar during election campaigning some time ago. If I were to extrapolate, the federal structure of the Indian Union is itself under strain: opposition-ruled states are acting as little personal fiefdoms that are, in effect, independent nations with only a tenuous link to the Union Government. For instance, just last week, the President of India was apparently humiliated when he had to cool his heels in the Kerala Raj Bhavan after an honorary D Litt to him was denied, allegedly under pressure from the state government (which, however, cleared D Litts for an actress, Shobhana, and a musician, T M Krishna). Opposition-ruled states also did not reduce excise taxes on petrol and diesel, while at the same time opposing bringing those under GST. In Bengal, a Chief Secretary was removed by the GoI, but was re-hired by the state government. In Punjab, the DGP was just installed, hand-picked by an Indian National Congress leader. There are many more instances that we all know of.So there are under-currents of anarchy being implemented nationwide. The bottom line is that a lot of people do not want the BJP to be in power: among them, the urban chatterati who keep pointing out that the BJP only got some 36% of the total vote, while quietly omitting the fact that the sainted Jawaharlal also did not get a clear majority, only a plurality, of the vote while ruling like an arbitrary, absolute monarch for 17 long years. There are several groups hurt by various measures taken by the GoI. Among them is the ‘Chandigarh Lobby’, a group of ex-military middlemen whose handsome commissions earned from foreign arms merchants have evaporated. This explains their schadenfreude when General Bipin Rawat was killed last month, and some of the very same group showed their dismissive contempt for the PM as well.Then of course there are the arhatiyas, or middlemen, who have profited from the aftermath of the Green Revolution. Let us ignore the fact that excessive rice cultivation has led to water tables falling precipitously and groundwater poisoning through pesticide and fertilizer runoff. This is not sustainable: I am reminded of Californians cultivating rice in the desert (see my old column “Water Wars: Cauvery, Chinatown, and Cadillac Desert”). Presumably, these were the ‘protesters’ who stopped the PM’s motorcade. So exactly what are they protesting against? Their demand has already been conceded: the farm bills are withdrawn. No, they have become protesters-for-rent; they are now determined to cause trouble.Proximate, preponderant and root causesAnd that is the proximate cause of the problem. The Indian State, various anarchists have concluded, is a soft state, and they can keep escalating their demands without consequences. These ‘farmer’ protesters (including during their Republic Day 2021 shenanigans), and earlier the Shaheen Bagh protesters, realized that they could, with impunity, hold the GoI hostage. And so they will. What can be done? Clearly, large-scale force against them would boomerang. But doesn’t the GoI know who the street thugs are, as well as their shadowy handlers in India and elsewhere? If the GoI doesn’t know, why doesn’t it know? Where is the humint as well as the reams of surveillance camera video? How about tracking their bank accounts, money transactions and vehicle movements via Aadhar, PAN, UPI and Fastag? Savitri Mumukshu quoted Chanakya on twitter: “A nation has 4 threats. First, from external enemies. Next, from internal enemies helped by foreigners. Third, from external enemies helped by insiders. But most dangerous is when internal enemies are helped by internal spies, like a hidden snake lurking in the home.” As usual, he was right.The intelligence agencies, assuming they are not riddled with moles, must identify, track, and then pick off the ring-leaders one by one, quietly. You know, the 2am knock on the door. Enough already with the kadi ninda! The State must show it will impose discipline: it has a monopoly on violence. A little bit of “iron fist in the velvet glove” is salutary and a deterrent.The preponderant cause, though, is the ridiculous fact that there are elections all the time in India. Yes, ALL THE GODDAMN TIME! This is a serious distraction from the job of governing the country, and politicians must figure out what will win elections, not what is good for the country. It is high time that elections were rationalized, perhaps as follows: every five years there are national elections to Parliament. Half the states must synchronize their elections with these. In between, 2.5 years later there will be elections to the other half of the states (so that their legislatures also have a life of 5 years). If there are problems in any state and the legislatures are dismissed for some reason, President’s Rule will be imposed until the next time their elections are due. In other words, no unnecessary and frequent elections, but only to a timetable. The root cause of the problem, however, is the Indian Constitution, which has mandated the current system of continuous elections. In general, not only for this but for other reasons as well, the Constitution needs to be rewritten because it is a prolix document, largely a cut and paste of the imperial Government of India Act of 1935, with tidbits thrown in from the US and Irish constitutions. Both the constitution and the increasingly bizarre interpretations of it, especially of Articles 25-30 that render Hindus second-class citizens, are problems. A Constituent Assembly should be set up and work should begin on a simple, 10-page document rather than a 500+ page behemoth. It will be the job of the Supreme Court to handle nothing but constitutional cases, which requires judicial reforms, with Regional Courts of Appeal set up to hear inter-state disputes and non-constitutional matters elevated from High Courts. And the National Judicial Appointments Commission needs to be revived as well, with a clear mandate for the legislature to approve the appointment of judges. So there are larger problems that need to be solved. But at the moment, the attack on the Prime Minister needs to be taken as an affront to the dignity of the Indian Union, and whoever instigated or participated in it needs to be taught a lesson. Some heads must roll. Otherwise the impression that India is a Soft State, especially after the mysterious death of the Chief of Defense Staff, will gain currency. We simply cannot afford that. 1600 words, 6 Jan 2022 This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rajeevsrinivasan.substack.com

So far we have looked at the side fighting against 377. But what were they up against? Apart from the Union Government who was required to be there, a few other individuals joined the defense of their own volition. In this episode we take a look at the other side. Journalist Shivam Vij recounts his meeting with Mr. BP Singhal, a hindutva writer and with Joint Action Council, Kannur founder, Purushottaman Mulloli. We also get to see how poorly those views translate into actual court proceedings. The result is a resounding victory for the gay community—homosexuality is decriminalised. The judges also introduce an important legal concept: constitutional morality. What role can the constitution play in progressing the views of the wider public? How key is it in preventing the oppression of a minority? Show Notes All clips and voices used in this podcast are owned by the original creators. The following guests appeared in this episode: AP Shah, former Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court Shivam Vij, journalist Jyoti Puri Madhu Mehra Anand Grover Sunita Kujur, Senior Director of CREA Arvind Narrain Tarunabh Khaitan, professor of law References Interview with Chief Justice AP Shah, from This Alien Legacy courtesy of Envisioning Global LGBT Human Rights at York University, Canada, directed by Dr Nancy Nicol Shivam Vij's writings about meeting with BP Singhal Courtroom transcripts courtesy of Orinam

In this episode, find out why Merchandise trade deficit fell in June, why today's Oil is headed for the biggest weekly decline since mid March Business Term of the Day: Balance sheet

The country Covid vaccination drive seems to be proceeding despite the debates. But the concerns related to the availability of the vaccines cease to end. In order speed up the process, the Centre Government had granted permission to the States to procure the vaccines directly from the vaccine makers. But, now pharma companies have said that they would only work with the Union Government and not with individual states, putting the vaccination process is jeopardy. Also, these producers have already committed to supplying vaccines to other countries. This has been rather stressful as fear about the infection continues to mount. But, one State leader had suggested a few ways to resolve the problem. Listen to the podcast. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/business-line/message

Whatsapp and Facebook have filed a petition against the Union Government challenging the traceability requirements in the Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code notified on February 25, 2021. Suchir Kalra and Atish Padhy join Prateek Waghre to discuss the possible outcomes and their consequences on the market.Link to the document: (https://takshashila.org.in/economic-implications-of-whatsapps-lawsuit-against-the-government-of-india/)Follow Prateek on Twitter: (https://twitter.com/prateekwaghre)Follow Atish on Twitter: (https://twitter.com/socratishh)Follow Suchir on Twitter: (https://twitter.com/PixelatedSuchir)You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcasts app on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios, or any other podcast app

India's wheat production is on course for record production, despite some farmers, especially in Madhya Pradesh, reporting lower yield. The Union Government has projected a record crop of 109.24 million tonnes. In this episode of Field Notes, T R Vivek and Subramani Ra Mancombu discuss the reasons behind this surplus wheat crop and whether a move by Punjab and Haryana government to directly credit MSP payments to farmers will work --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/business-line/message

The Union Government has failed us spectacularly with Narendra Modi and Amit Shah focusing on the election campaign in West Bengal rather than the health and economic crisis we are facing. It’s the common citizens who have stepped up to help. From awareness drives to finding hospital beds and oxygen to preparing meals for the afflicted and doing the grocery shopping for the aged, it’s ordinary folks who are saving the day. Please listen to the latest episode of All Indians Matter.

Facts The Petitioner questioned the decision taken by the various States and Union Territories to affix posters outside the residences of persons who have been tested Covid-19 positive and are required to undergo home isolation. Many arguments in this regard were advanced by the Petitioner. It was prayed by the Petitioner inter alia to issue directions to stop publishing the names of Covid-19 Positive persons/patients by the officials of the States and the Union Territories. It was further prayed to stop freely circulating their names in welfare associations of colonies and apartment complexes as the same constitutes serious violation of fundamental rights, right to privacy and dignity. Important Observations After hearing all the parties, the Court observed that the Union of India has not issued any guidelines for pasting or affixing of posters or other signage outside the residence of Covid-19 Positive persons. It was also observed that the guidelines pertaining to Covid-19 are referable to exercise of powers by the authority under the Disaster Management, 2005 and the same do not contain any requirement of pasting of posters against the houses of Covid-19 patients. Final Observations and Held In view of the above, it was finally observed by the Court that “no State or Union Territory is required to paste posters outside the residence of Covid-19 positive persons, as of now.” It was further held in unequivocal terms by the Court that the State Governments and Union Territories can resort to the exercise of posting posters against the houses of Covid-19 patients only when any direction is issued in this regard under the Disaster Management Act, 2005. Analysis The final observations of the Court are quite interesting. On the one hand, the Court made it amply clear that currently, there is no requirement of pasting posters against the houses of the Covid-19 patients and on the other hand, the Court did not close that option or did not held the pasting of posters to be a violation of fundamental rights or illegal per se. Thus, the question whether posters would be required to be affixed against the houses of Covid-19 patients or not in the future has been left wide open by the Court and in a way, the Court refused to venture into this question since in the considered opinion of the Court, it is the job of the authorities under the Disaster Management Act, 2005. Concluding Remarks The Disaster Management Act, 2005 is the main law under which the Union Government has been making endeavours to manage the Covid-19 pandemic. Everything relating to management of the Covid-19 pandemic is being handled by the Union Government under the Disaster Management Act, 2005. I concur with the methodology of the Court that when something is not required currently (pasting of posters against the houses of Covid-19 patients), then it is not necessary to venture into the question of its legality or illegality. At the present moment, it is an academic question at best. But the Court did not stop here since it very well understands the hazards of a pandemic like Covid-19. By giving this judgment, the Court acknowledged that it is not an expert on Covid-19 pandemic, and it left its manner of management to be decided by the experts and competent authorities.

This newsletter is really a weekly public policy thought-letter. While excellent newsletters on specific themes within public policy already exist, this thought-letter is about frameworks, mental models, and key ideas that will hopefully help you think about any public policy problem in imaginative ways. It seeks to answer just one question: how do I think about a particular public policy problem/solution?PS: If you enjoy listening instead of reading, we have this edition available as an audio narration courtesy the good folks at Ad-Auris. If you have any feedback, please send it to us.PolicyWTF: One Nation, One ElectionThis section looks at egregious public policies. Policies that make you go: WTF, Did that really happen?— Pranay KotasthaneThe series “One Nation, One X”, like another sitcom Tarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah, doesn’t seem to end. The latest season of the series is titled One nation, One election (ONOE). PM Narendra Modi has batted for this idea on many occasions before. In his latest pitch, he said:Elections are held at different places every few months, the impact it has on development works is known to all. Therefore, it is a must to have deep study and deliberation on ‘One Nation, One Election’.This speech apart, the most robust defence of ONOE comes from a NITI Aayog discussion paper by Bibek Debroy and Kishore Desai. They cite four reasons. Let us investigate the top two.Reason #1: Imposition of Model Code of Conduct by the Election Commission derails development programs and governanceAccording to this view, political parties, once in power, are brimming with development ideas but are not able to do so, that too for considerable periods, because of repeated elections. This view is shared by many people outside the government as well.The discussion paper tries to estimate the development time lost because of elections. Based on a projection that at least two states go to elections in India every year the authors conclude:“Assuming the average period of operation of Model Code of Conduct as 2 months during election to a State Assembly, development projects and programs (that of State Governments going to polls and of Union Government in those states) may potentially get hit every year and that too for about one-third (four months) of the entire time available for implementing such projects and programs. Such a situation is completely undesirable and needs serious deliberations and appropriate corrective measures.”Sounds quite serious. But hang on. There are several problems with this assessment.One, if the Model Code of Conduct is the problem, it can be changed either by shortening the length of the moratorium or by relaxing the kinds of developmental activities permitted during the election season. Even in its current form, the government can consult the Election Commission about the developmental works it plans to undertake and if they are deemed to not have electoral implications, they are allowed to continue. I’m in favour of removing these restrictions altogether. If a government wants to use developmental activities to lure its voters, it’s more than welcome to do so. If the government is promising freebies to distort voter choices, it can do so even today, just before the Model Code of Conduct comes into place. Two, the claim that developmental activities get stalled for four months a year is misleading. That’s because the code of conduct applies only to the state where elections are to be held. There’s no reason why developmental activities need to stall in all other states. Moreover, it’s useful to see the development period lost over a five year period. Assuming that one Lok Sabha election gets held between two state assembly elections over five years, the total “developmental time lost” in the state is six months. That’s an average one-tenth of a year, not one-third.Three, this “developmental time lost” argument sounds a lot like the dog ate my homework excuse. For one, governments know when the next elections are due and can reasonably plan their developmental works taking this ex-ante information into consideration. Secondly, and this is the bigger issue, this view relegates elections to a begrudgingly necessary event; a mere obstacle blocking the grand developmental vision of the party or the leader in power. Reason #2: Frequent elections lead to massive expenditures by governments and other stakeholdersThe NITI Aayog paper claims:Elections lead to huge expenditures by various stakeholders. Every year, the Government of India and/or respective State Governments bear expenditures on account of conduct, control and supervision of elections. Besides the Government, candidates contesting elections and political parties also incur huge expenditures. The candidates normally incur expenditures on account of various necessary aspects such as travel to constituencies, general publicity, organizing outreach events for electorates etc. while the political parties incur expenditures to run the party’s electoral machinery during elections, campaigning by star leaders and so on.While this is true, “massive” expenditures need to be unpacked. The first component is the government expenditure in conducting elections. The 2014 Lok Sabha elections cost 3870 crores i.e. an expense of 0.03 per cent of India’s 2014 GDP once every five years. State elections for a large state like Bihar cost a tenth of this amount i.e. 0.003 per cent of India’s 2014 GDP every five years. Even if we assume all states require the same amount as Bihar did, India would be spending 0.12 per cent of India’s 2014 GDP over a period of five years, all state assemblies and Lok Sabha elections combined. Clearly, this number is not unaffordable. It can’t be the primary motivation for undertaking a constitutional amendment exercise fraught with unintended consequences. The other component of the cost is spending by political parties and candidates. While the latter is capped to laughably low numbers (Rs 70 lakh for Lok Sabha and Rs 28 lakhs for state assembly elections), there’s no cap on the former. The paper claims that taken together, this component amounted to Rs 30,000 crores for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. This is indeed a worrying number, more so because the expenditure is often in the form of freebies and vote for cash exchanges. But, arguing that conducting simultaneous elections will fix this problem is an admission by political parties that they will not change their ways; it’s just that they will engage in this simultaneous corruption once every five years. Fixing election expenditure requires many urgent solutions but a simultaneous election is not one of them. Besides these two reasons, there are other counterarguments that I haven’t considered at all. For example, there is a correlation between a higher percentage of electoral wins for national parties as against regional parties when Lok Sabha and state assembly elections are held together. There are also severe repercussions on India’s federal structures as state governments falling before completion of the five year period might have to be placed under the charge of caretaker governments or state governors. Regardless, what this limited analysis shows is that even the two reasons given in favour of simultaneous elections don’t hold water. We don’t need One Nation, One Election. India Policy Watch #1: RBI And Banking Licenses— RSJThe Internal Working Group (IWG) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) last week came out with draft report that recommended a calibrated entry of industrial houses into the banking sector and for conversion of large NBFCs into banks. The usual brouhaha followed. But hidden in the brouhaha is an important lesson about the interplay between political and economic institutions. We will come to it later. First, the brouhaha.  Always A Bad IdeaThe camp against the idea of entry of corporates into Banking was led by the formidable duo of Raghuram Rajan and Viral Acharya. In a LinkedIn post titled – “Do we really need Indian corporations in banking?” – they laid out their reservations in no uncertain terms including an innuendo here and a wink there. It covered the usual grounds – risks of connected lending where a corporate house will raise cheap deposits from ordinary citizens and finance their businesses without due diligence; further concentration of economic power among few corporates in a country that’s fast turning oligopolistic and the need for the government to find more bidders when it begins privatisation of PSU banks that it can’t fund any longer.“First, industrial houses need financing, and they can get it easily, with no questions asked, if they have an in-house bank. The history of such connected lending is invariably disastrous – how can the bank make good loans when it is owned by the borrower? Even an independent committed regulator, with all the information in the world, finds it difficult to be in every nook and corner of the financial system to stop poor lending.”“The second reason to prohibit corporate entry into banking is that it will further exacerbate the concentration of economic (and political) power in certain business houses. Even if banking licenses are allotted fairly, it will give undue advantage to large business houses that already have the initial capital that has to be put up. Moreover, highly indebted and politically connected business houses will have the greatest incentive and ability to push for licenses.”“One possibility is that the government wants to expand the set of bidders when it finally turns to privatizing some of our public sector banks. It would be a mistake, as we have said in an earlier paper, to sell a public sector bank to an untested industrial house.”Do We Need More Banks?The short answer is yes. Look at India’s ambitions. A 5 trillion economy by 2025 that’s a global economic powerhouse. Keep your dose of realism aside for a moment. If India has to even make a fist of this ambition, it needs a robust, deep and competitive banking sector. What do we have today? A total of maybe six and a half large banks that have the capital, management strength and the ambition to support this vision.   India is still severely underbanked. Credit to GDP is about 56 per cent which is woefully short of what a fast-growing economy needs. PSU banks that fanned out into the interiors hardly built a deposit base or managed to support enterprise at scale outside of urban centres. Despite such modest achievements, almost every PSU bank has drained taxpayers’ money with very little to show for. Turning PSUs around is nigh impossible. It is easy to recommend professionalising the management but there’s no easy way to achieve it. The government has mixed up its role of being a regulator, shareholder and the management. All sorts of conflicts of interest follow. The benefits of running PSU banks are concentrated among bureaucrats, employee unions and politicians who use them to pump prime the economy when it is politically expedient. The costs are diffused among millions of taxpayers. No wonder the market cap of all PSU banks put together is smaller than the biggest private sector bank.  Is there really an alternative to big businesses or large NBFCs (many of whom have corporate houses as promoters) to support India’s ambitions? Who else has the ability to bring in patient capital and support a bank for a period of time in future?Fait Accompli?So, does this mean we will soon have corporate houses being issued bank licenses? In my opinion that’s unlikely unless government really nudges the RBI in that direction. I have my reasons:In the current dispensation itself, many NBFCs could have applied for banking license over the last five years. But they haven’t. Why? The capital requirements needed to run a bank are very different from that of an NBFC. That apart, the NBFCs face far relaxed regulatory oversight than banks. No wonder none of the NBFCs have touched it with a barge pole over the years.RBI will have to change the Banking Act, 1949 through a bill passed in the Parliament. Following that there will be a ‘fit and proper’ filter that will be with the RBI to decide on who to give the license. The IWG report suggests some of these will be made more onerous for the applicants.This is still a political hot potato. There are many voices within the government who might not be comfortable with this. The pressure group of unions, bureaucrats and opinion makers still wield significant power to block the entry of corporate houses.RBI will continue to make it very difficult for anyone applying the bank licenseSo, what’s happening here? Why is RBI coming out with a paper for allowing corporates in Banks while simultaneously making the criteria impossible to achieve. A Balancing ActRBI as an economic institution understands the need for more banks in India. But it does not believe the political institutions in India will be able to manage the conflict of interest inherent in having large corporates as banks. So on one hand it wants to show the political leadership it is supporting their aspirations in ambitions by re-looking at the guidelines for new licenses while making the conditions of the guidelines so onerous that it will make the license unattractive for an industrial house.For nations to succeed (like Acemoglu and Robinson have argued), its institutions have to be strong. In my view, a nation has to have its political and economic institutions in sync with another. It is difficult for it to have its political institutions extractive, exclusionary and rent-seeking while its economic institutions are liberal and inclusive; and yet succeed in the long run. Having an extractive and exclusionary political institution while continuing to work with economic institutions that are free and inclusive is an unstable equilibrium. Sooner or later, the extractive nature of one type of institutions casts its long shadow on everything. The post-independent history of India speaks to this phenomenon. Following Independence, India chose a model where its political institutions were by design inclusive and liberal while its economic institutions came to be dominated by the state. In the late 60s, Indira Gandhi found it expedient to double down on the state control of economy in order to consolidate herself politically. This led to the nationalisation of various sectors including that of banks. As this domination and undermining of economic institutions turned complete, the political institutions couldn’t stay beyond it. The judiciary became subservient, roles like governors of state turned into rubber stamps, Article 356 was liberally used to dismiss state governments at slightest of pretexts and most independent institutions were packed with sycophants. No surprise then this culminated into the emergency of 1975. The crisis of having both political and economic institutions that were extractive reached a point of no return by 1991. That’s when we decided to take a sharp turn away on how we’d like to manage our financial situation. The state reduced its control on factors of production, multiple independent regulators were born and a relativity free market came in to play. The feedback loop of the liberalisation of economic institutions soon started coming up against the extractive nature of political institutions. Through some fortunate circumstances of coalition politics, enlightened leadership and favourable global conditions, the political institutions began to change in the image of the liberal economic institutions. This was reflected in a more active election commission, laws like RTI being passed and the courts actively preserving the liberties of the citizenry. However, over the last decade or so, the political institutions in India have turned the clock back on being extractive. Electoral victories on the back of a strong leader, a decimated opposition and the power of majoritarian politics have meant we have reversed the gains we made post-liberalisation on making our political institutions freer. As the feedback loops in, the economic institutions are starting to corrode. This is where RBI finds itself today. It still is a free and liberal institution that’s walking the tightrope between a democratic mandate (that the government represents) and its own independent thinking. The draft IWG report in that sense is its stand. It will play ball yet not play it at the same time. It is anyone’s guess how long it can continue to do so. The right solution of course is to go back to the path of strong, free and inclusive political AND economic institutions. But that doesn’t look likely anytime soon. It is a lost opportunity.   India Policy Watch #2: Farmers’ ProtestsInsights on burning policy issues in India— Pranay KotasthaneWe warned in edition #70:Any reform that is even remotely seen to impact the MSP gravy train is bound to face opposition from a host of incumbent beneficiaries. One, the farmers growing the 22 crops backed by the MSP. Two, the traders getting a percentage of the MSP. And three, the state governments making money by charging hefty commissions for the sale of produce at APMCs. None of this is surprising.That apart, we mentioned two critiques merit serious attention: one, the timing of these reforms amidst the worst economic crisis in decades meant that the government needed to align the cognitive maps of those losing out. Two, the government fostered suspicions because the three farm laws said nothing about the impact on the existing procurement price mechanisms.Unfortunately, the anticipated unintended consequences have played out according to the script above. Farmers in Punjab and Haryana are agitating while the government has not come out with a reconciliatory offer yet. As usual, Pratap Bhanu Mehta’s article takes the long view. He writes:“Given the far-reaching changes we need in agriculture in Punjab, it is important that the trust between the state and the farmer remains. A good faith dialogue that gives the farmers reasonable assurances and a face-saver is necessary. It is easy for the government to win. But how many times in Indian politics have we won short-term victories that create long-term political precariousness?”Just like the GST compensation cess issue, the union government has pushed through a big change without getting other political parties or state governments onboard. These specific reforms might still go through but future negotiations will become even more difficult. Parties to the table will come with ossified positions. That’s a precursor to policy paralysis. We have seen this movie before.In the crisis situation we find ourselves in, it is all the more important that the union government’s reform agenda should factor in distributional consequences of those losing out. The government needs to build bridges. Politics, after all, is the art of the possible, as Bismarck said.HomeWorkReading and listening recommendations on public policy matters[Podcast]: Acemoglu talks with Russ Roberts on why institutions matter.[Article]: Jagdeep Chokkar and Sanjay Kumar make a solid case against simultaneous polls.[Podcast]: In the second Puliyabaazi episode on Indian banking history, Amol Agrawal shares fascinating insights on princely state banking, the feud with the State Bank of Pakistan, priority sector lending, and lots more.[Article]: Mohammad Taqi in TheWire writes how “Pakistan’s Islamisation started almost a decade before its birth, and long before any army dictator or adventurist general came along.” Even Pakistan didn’t become Pakistan all of a sudden. Something for us to reflect on in India. If you like the kind of things this newsletter talks about, consider taking up the Takshashila Institution’s Post Graduate Programme in Public Policy (PGP) course. It’s a 48-week in-depth online course meant for working professionals. Applications for the Jan 2021 cohort are now open. For more details, check here. Get on the email list at publicpolicy.substack.com

Dr Mantosh Kumar, the Senior Consultant Psychiatrist at Sukoon Health, joins Divya on this episode. This year's World Mental Health Day, on 10 October, comes at a time when our daily lives have changed considerably as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The goal of this year's World Mental Health Day WHO campaign is increased investment in mental health and will also be the main focus of the podcast. They discuss: Q. What is Sukoon doing to bring about a change in mental healthcare? Q. The mental health expenditure by the Union Government is less than 0.5% of its total health budget, which itself is marginally above 1% of India's Gross Domestic Product. In India, approximately 13.7 % of the population suffers from mental disorders according to NIMHANS study, and these funds are certainly not enough. What are your thoughts on this? What should the govt be doing to increase investment in this space? Q. What about private investment in mental healthcare? Q. Is the investment we are seeing in mental health space just a COVID-19 assisted boom? Q. Is tech playing a crucial role in aiding mental health in India currently? AI chatbots & wellness apps? Any other tech that can help Sukoon? Are we far behind western counterparts when it comes to innovation in mental health? Q. What is the state of mental health care in India? Have things been made worse due to COVID-19, how are experts like you combatting and dealing with this? Q. How can we as clients identify and approach the need for either psychologists or psychiatrists? Does the distinction exist in India? Is there a trend for psychiatrists doing psychologists jobs in India? Q. During COVID-19, we are all stuck indoors, and within our family units more than ever. How can we aim to create a more healthy relationship with our family and speak openly about mental health? Q. How can Indian family units better exercise vulnerability with each other? Follow the Dialogue Room IG page to become smarter https://www.instagram.com/dialogueroom/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/dialogue-room/message

1. Coronavirus update: Assam records 77% recovery rate; eight more discharged - Assam, on Sunday, discharged eight more Coronavirus patients from hospitals taking the tally of recovered persons from the deadly disease to 27. Of the eight, four each were from the Golaghat Civil Hospital and the Mahendra Mohan Choudhury Hospital at Pan Bazar. Seven more COVID patients currently undergoing treatment are expected to be discharged before April 30. Thereby the state has recorded 77% coronavirus recovery rate, said Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. 2. Tezpur Central Jail releases 7 declared foreigners as per Supreme Court order - Coronavirus has compelled the State authorities concerned to free 224 declared foreign nationals from the different detention centres, from April 18-23, 2020; and that too at much reduced sureties. Meanwhile, as per an order of the Supreme Court, the Tezpur Central jail released seven declared foreigners on Sunday. They had completed two years in the detention centre, informed Mrinmoy Dawka, Superintendent of the Jail. 3. Union Minister Nitin Gadkari blames it on delay in land acquisition by State - Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari has blamed the Assam Government for delay of the construction of 4-lane roads in the state. In his reply to a letter from former Tezpur MP RP Sarmah, Nitin Gadkari has admitted to the delay in the execution of four-laning works of NH-37, NH-37A and NH 15 from the end of Nagaon bypass to Holongi (166 km) under Tezpur Parliamentary Constituency. He has, however, squarely blamed it on the district authorities in Assam for their delay in land acquisition that has led to the delay in the execution of these works. 4. Rural land connectivity works under PMGSY affects badly due to lockdown - Owing to lockdown, rural land connectivity works under PMGSY (Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana) have suffered badly. Implemented in the State by the PWD (Public Works Department), the fund is released by the Ministry of Rural Development. Department sources informed The Sentinel that such road and bridge construction works of approximately Rs 3,000 crore were in full swing prior to the lockdown. 5. ‘Haphazard construction of more artificial highlands in KNP may be harmful' - Four conservation biologists and wildlife conservationists of Assam, Dr Anupam Sarma who is the Coordinator of WWF-India North Bank Landscape, Dr Bibhab Talukdar — secretary general and CEO of Aaranyak, Dr Rathin Barman, Joint Director of Wildlife Trust of India, and Kaushik Barua, CEO of Assam Elephant Foundation, have expressed their opinions as to why haphazard construction of more artificial highlands in KNP may be harmful. The joint statement by the four conservation biologists and wildlife conservationists was issued after the Union Government asked the State Forest Department to develop more highlands for wild animals to take shelter in the time of floods in the KNP. 6. Northeast vigilant over Coronavirus threats from across borders - Even as four of the eight north-eastern States are free from novel coronavirus and its spread tamed in other four states, authorities have kept a tight vigil on India's borders in the region as threat of the disease spilling over from Bangladesh and Myanmar looms large. Eight north-eastern States share India's around 5,500 km borders with five countries, including China, but the northeastern region's main worry lies over 1,880 km borders with Bangladesh and 1,643 km with Myanmar. 7. Assam Police SBHQ Cyber Dome enlisted Uber cabs for emergency needs - The Assam Police SBHQ Cyber Dome has enlisted 25 Uber Taxi operators for providing service in the city to patients and people having other emergency needs. To avail of the services, people can contact ASP Papari Chetia at her number -919864012060.

1. Nizamuddin Markaz Participants: Report for test or face action, warns Assam Police - The Assam Police, on Monday, appealed to those who either attended the religious congregation at Nizamuddin Markaz in West Delhi or visited a State or country affected by novel, to immediately report at the nearest hospital or Primary Health Centre (PHC) by 6 am on Tuesday (April 7). 2. State Government Release Rs 4.70 crore As initial relief for agriculture farmers - The State government will release an initial amount of Rs 4.70 crore for the agriculture farmers affected during the lockdown so that they can go for small-scale farming at least on their respective household farming patches. 3. Non-Hotspot Areas: PM Narendra Modi for graded plan to slowly open departments - Prime Minister Narendra Modi has at hinted at partial lifting of on-going nationwide lockdown, imposed to contain the novel coronavirus pandemic, after April 14,2020. He said on Monday that a graded plan to slowly open departments should be made where hotspots do not exist. Addressing a meeting of the Council of Ministers, PM Modi indicated that a graded opening up of the lockdown will be initiated. 4. Union Cabinet: 30% salary cut for MPs; MPLADS suspended - The Union Cabinet on Monday approved an ordinance amending the Salary, Allowances and Pension of Members of Parliament Act, 1954 to reduce allowances and pension by 30% with effect from April 1, for a year, apparently to tackle the economic crisis due to the lockdown, imposed by the Union Government to check the spread of novel coronavirus pandemic. 5. Coronavirus: One more tests positive in Assam, total reaches 27 - One more people has tested positive for coronavirus in Assam, reaching the state's total to 27 so far. Announcing this Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has said on Tuesday the latest case is detected in Dhubri. 6. State level committee constituted to take care of vegetable supply in Assam: Ag Minister Atul Bora - State level committee constituted to take care of vegetable supply and essential food in Assam due to the on-going nationwide lockdown. Agriculture Minister Atul Bora in a press conference said this, on Monday. He added, “Rs 4,70,00,000 has already been given for the benefit of farmers.” 7. Entry passes for stranded people: Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma - Thousands of people from Assam are stranded in other States. When the lockdown will be withdrawn, such people will rush to the State in hordes. Since every such person has to be quarantined for 14 days, the available arrangements for quarantine in the State may be out of sync with the rush of people. To avoid such a situation, the State government is going to issue entry date-specific temporary documents in line with ILP (Inner Line Permits) to such people after the lockdown is withdrawn. 8. Assam Gramin Vikash Bank donates Rs. 10 lakh to Assam Arogya Nidhi - Assam Gramin Vikash Bank donated Rs. 10 lakhs to the Assam Arogya Nidhi on Monday as its commitment to stand by the people of Assam in their fight against novel coronavirus pandemic. The cheque of the said amount was handed over to Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma, Assam Minister for Finance, Health and Family Welfare, PWD, Education, etc, by the Chairman of the Bank, Upendra Sabar at the office of National Health Mission, Guwahati. 9. Dispur committed to check Assam fake news about Coronavirus - Assam Government is gearing up for checking fake news about the novel coronavirus pandemic. As a part of it Media Advisor to the Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, Hrishikesh Goswami on Monday reviewed steps and measures taken by the Directorate of Information and Public Relations, Assam to check fake news.

The Union Government has called upon the Supreme Court to to review an order it passed last year with regard to reservations. In particular, it asserted that the creamy layer concept, which distinguishes between the affluent among disadvantaged sections, not be applied to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes when determining who is not eligible for the benefits of reservations. Over the years the Supreme Court, in successive judgments, has refined the rules regarding the implementation of reservation. Could the current request to review lead to another landmark ruling in the history of affirmative action jurisprudence in India? Guest: K Venkataramanan, Associate Editor, The Hindu

The RBI recently transferred its excess reserves to the Union Government amounting to 1.76 lakh crores. Anupam Manur, Harsh Vora and Pranay Kotasthane dicsuss the sources of revenue for the RBI , its utilisation and the long term consequences of such a transfer. Puliyabaazi episode (Hindi) with Harsh Vora: https://ivmpodcasts.com/puliyabaazi-episode-list/2019/6/27/ep-40- RBI balance sheet 2017-18: https://rbidocs.rbi.org.in/rdocs/AnnualReport/PDFs/12XIITHERESERVED8D9E3082FF445EE8EE5C45EF8ABCA92.PDF