What services do urban local bodies in India provide? Where do they get their revenues from? To what extent are these bodies self-reliant? What factors contribute to their financial vulnerability? In this episode of All Things Policy, Sarthak Pradhan and Suman Joshi give an overview of the state of municipal finances in India.

In the past, people had many more children than they do today. There has been a global decline in the fertility rate since 1950. India's fertility rate has been going down steadily from 5.9 in the year 1960 to 2 in 2021. In this episode of All Things Policy, Anushka Saxena, Shreya Ramakrishnan, and Sridhar Krishna discuss this and also the changing social norms and aspirations of women.

The past few weeks saw two key forums being held China, the China Development Forum and the Boao Forum for Asia Conference. These shed light into China’s economic and foreign policy priorities. In this episode, Amit Kumar and Manoj Kewalramani decode the messages that Beijing is sending to the world.

China has issued guidelines for governmental procurement of laptops, PCs, and servers that will gradually replace Intel and AMD processors with homegrown CPUs. Join Rijesh and Satya in this episode of Siliconpolitik as they attempt to decipher China's chipmaking capabilities in the broader context of US sanctions against its semiconductor sector. Recommended reading: https://hightechir.substack.com/p/79-deciphering-chinas-move-against https://www.linkedin.com/in/satyashoovasahu/ https://twitter.com/aytas_too_much

Synthetic or artificially generated data is often an important input for training AI systems. As such systems make important decisions that affect our lives, Bharath Reddy and Shobhankita Reddy explore what it is and how it could impact us.

In the final episode of the special limited series Police Chowki, Javeed Ahmad (former IPS officer & DGP of Uttar Pradesh) and Shrikrishna Upadhyaya take stock of policing in India. They discuss the trajectory of the show and reflect on key takeaways from the conversations had so far, such as, policing as a public good, state capacity in police, social and economic cost of bad policing, and building trust between police and citizens. Find all the previous episodes of Police Chowki here: https://takshashila.org.in/police-chowki-all-things-policy

Is India ready to assume a greater role in global semiconductor value chains? In this edition of SiliconPolitik, Satya Sahu quizzes Stephen Ezell, VP of Global Innovation Policy, ITIF, on their recent report assessing the challenges and opportunities for India in this critical sector.

Pune is one of India's fastest growing cities, but also one that is crying for its transport infrastructure to be transformed, even overhauled. What are the areas of concern, and how can policymakers work with civil society and the government to make this happen? Sachin Kalbag of Takshashila and Pune's leading subject matter expert Sanskriti Menon, Senior Programme Director at the Centre for Environment Education, discuss this vital topic.

It is now clear that the 2024 US presidential election will once again feature a contest between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. Beijing, of course, will be keenly watching the campaign unfold over the next few months. But as things stand today, who would the mandarins in Zhongnanhai prefer as the next occupant of the White House? Listen in as Takshashila’s China watchers debate China’s choice.

India urgently requires substantial investment in climate adaptation efforts to sustain progress on development. Recognizing the criticality of the impact of climate change for development and growth, India has anchored its adaptation approach within the country’s wider development goals. While the government has endeavoured to finance adaptation initiatives, adaptation investment needs at the national level are large and will increase in the future. In this episode of All Things Policy, Rakshith Shetty quizzes Malini Chakravarty and Aanandita Sikka from Climate Policy Initiative, New Delhi, on their recent report titled Financing Adaptation in India. To access the report, click the link - https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/financing-adaptation-in-india/