All Things Policy

The roots of China’s space ambitions go back to 1957 when the Soviet Union successfully launched the world’s first artificial satellite, Sputnik-1, into space. That year, Chairman Mao Zedong declared China would also launch its own satellite. With the help of Soviet technology and scientists such as Qian Xuesen, who studied and initially worked in the United States but was deported for allegedly being a communist sympathiser, the country established its space programme. In July 1964, China took its first official step into space, launching and recovering an experimental biological rocket carrying white mice. In this episode of All Things Policy, Rakshith Shetty quizzes Dr Gunjan Singh on China's Space Program. From its historical roots to future ambitions, join us for expert insights and analysis on one of the most exciting frontiers of modern exploration.

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

What does India’s Agni-5 test really mean for its competition with China? What exactly are MIRVs and how do they affect the nuclear balance? Saurabh Todi and Aditya Ramanathan delve into the politics of atomic catastrophe.

A recent advisory by MeitY about the deployment of AI models which has caused a lot of angst and pushback from industry. Satya Sahoo and Bharath Reddy discuss why its hard to put guardrails on gen AI and some of the consequences from the advisory.

Between March 5 and 11, the 'Two Sessions', which is an annual meeting of the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, has been underway. The 14th NPC and CPPCC have met to discuss the economy, foreign policy, national defence, domestic politics, and more. In this episode of All Things Policy, Anushka Saxena quizzes Manoj Kewalramani on the key deliberations that took place at the 'Two Sessions', and what China's growth agenda looks like for 2024.

As January drew to a close, the users of X were greeted with a startling announcement by the owner, Elon Musk. His company 'Neuralink' had successfully implanted its brain chip prototype in a human being for the first time, and the patient in question could manoeuvre a computer mouse using only their thoughts. But what about the risks? What helps a quadriplegic express their thoughts today may translate into a gross violation of human rights tomorrow. Does India require comprehensive legislation on neuro rights or the right to privacy of one's own thoughts?

The data on Monthly Per capita Consumption Expenditure was released last week. How should we read this data?  How can it inform policy making at various levels? Sarthak and Suman discuss in this episode of All Things Policy.

In this episode of All Things Policy, Carl Jaison speaks to Sudhanshu Kaushik, author of “The Future is Ours: The Political Promise of India’s Youth”. Sudhanshu is an international youth activist and the founder of Young India Foundation (YIF). With a focus on youth empowerment, the highlights of his work at YIF included initiatives registering over 2.5 million youth voters, lobbying with over 200 sitting MPs and five state governments to decrease the age to contest elections as an MP/MLA and building the Centre for Youth Policy. With a focus on youth rights and representation, Sudhanshu’s book is at its very heart a passionate call to lower the age of candidacy from 25 to 21 — a campaign that covers all sides of the political spectrum and, if successful, will bring a huge number of India’s young directly into the democratic process.

In this episode of ATP, Saurabh Todi and Shambhavi Naik discuss the state of research and development funding in India, what ails it and what can be done to improve the situation.

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.