All Things Policy

What is 'Open RAN', and why have countries and groupings rushed to advocate for its deployment within the telecom industry? In this episode of All Things Policy, Bharat Sharma speaks with Bharath Reddy on what has made Open RAN attractive, how technology interacts with geopolitics, and current obstacles in Open RAN deployment.

In a significant decision this week, the Supreme Court of India held that there is no fundamental right to marriage and refused to grant legal recognition to same-sex couples. In this episode, Shrikrishna Upadhyaya speaks to Saurabh Todi about the failure of the court to recognise marriage or civil union of same-sex couples, the remedies granted by the court, and the implications of the decision for queer rights in the future. Reading: Plea for Marriage Equality: Judgement Matrix - Supreme Court Observer

Growth in global trade has helped reduce abject poverty around the world very significantly. Rising protectionism since 2008 has led to a drop in global trade as a percentage of global GDP and threatens efforts in poverty alleviation. Growing tensions in Europe and the Middle East are not helping. The potential for growth in trade in services is a silver lining. Despite 63% of global GDP comprising of services, only 21% of global trade is in services. Can services trade be the answer to economic growth and progress across the world and what specific lessons do this hold for India? Shrikrishna Upadhyaya deliberates all this with Sridhar Krishna.

The National Statistical Office recently released India's GDP data for the first quarter of 2023-24, and this release prompted debate around the veracity of the data. In this episode, Sarthak Pradhan and Suman Joshi try to make sense of the controversy around India's GDP numbers.

In this episode of All Things Policy, Amit Kumar quizzes Anushka Saxena on her latest book review on Paul Scharre's 'Four Battlegrounds: Power in the Age of Artificial Intelligence'. The two discuss data, talent, computing, and institutions as the key pillars of the geopolitical quest for technological supremacy in AI.

Last weekend, the Chinese Communist Party concluded a two-day National Ideological and Cultural Work Conference. The big outcome of this was the establishment of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture. In this episode, Anushka Saxena and Manoj Kewalramani discuss why the canonisation of such ideas as thoughts matters in Chinese politics and what are the implications of this new thought.

With India achieving its biggest haul ever of 107 medals at the Hangzhou 2023 Asiad games that just concluded, it is important to look at some of the good policies that had been put into place many years prior to make this happen. As a nation, India has a lot of potential and its athletes were able to capitalise on some of the government initiatives. Can the Indian society, markets, and government now work together to take sports to the next level? Malathi Renati, who heads the policy school at Takshashila Institution and has played hockey, baseball, and softball at the national level is in conversation with Carl Jaison, program development manager as they look into some of the success factors behind India breaching the 100 medal mark.

In this episode of All Things Policy, Shambhavi Naik and Saurabh Todi discuss the recent announcement by the European Union to conduct a risk assessment of critical and emerging technologies and how emerging technologies are increasingly being seen through the prism of national and economic security.

On October 7, 2022, the United States Department of Commerce implemented controls related to semiconductor manufacturing in China in order “to protect U.S. national security and foreign policy interests”. The recent announcement of Huawei’s 7nm Kirin 9000s chip has raised concerns that the kerfuffle created by the sanctions has all been for nothing and China apparently has next to leading-edge fabrication facilities. So, have the sanctions failed to achieve their objectives and will the US double down with additional measures? In this episode of All Things Policy join Aditya Ramanathan and Satya Sahu as they attempt to gauge the effects of the US ChIp sanctions a year later.

Author Shoba Narayan discusses her book 'Namma Bangalore: The Soul of a Metropolis' with Sowmya Nandan. They explore the layers of food, language, art, start-up ecosystem, citizen-led movements & homes in Bangalore. Traffic and the city's unique texture as a source of idea generation are also highlighted.