Podcast
All Things Policy
Hosted by Takshashila Institution · EN
Ever wondered how automation will change the world? Maybe you puzzle over what India could do to ease traffic congestion, or how China's aircraft carriers will transform Indian Ocean geopolitics? All Things Policy, a daily podcast brought to you by the Takshashila Institution, brings you all the answers. Every weekday, our researchers break down complex economic and geopolitical ideas through the lens of current events. For everyone from the busy executive to the curious student, All Things Policy is all you'll need to understand the world (and appreciate your breakfast) better.
118episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
The New Phase of Conflict in West Asia
2w ago00:33:06Tap to summarizeIn this episode of All Things Policy, Aishwaria Sonavane speaks with Raja Karthikeya about the second phase of the US–Iran military conflict and its wider implications. The conversation examines India’s role, the opening of a new front involving the Houthis and Saudi Arabia, and the future of the US military presence in the Gulf.All Things Policy is a daily podcast on public policy brought to you by the Takshashila Institution, Bengaluru.Find out more on our research and other work here: https://takshashila.org.in/research-areasCheck out our public policy courses here: https://school.takshashila.org.in
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The Future of Money
3w ago01:03:22Tap to summarizeThe US dollar sits at the centre of almost everything from the reserves of central banks, the pricing of oil to the settlement of cross-border debt. Lately that centre looks less solid: central banks are stockpiling gold, countries are settling trade in their own currencies, digital money is spreading, and there's open talk of payment systems built to bypass the dollar altogether. Is the dollar's reign ending and why?In this episode of Turbulence, Anupam Manur is joined by Barry Eichengreen, the Berkeley economist and historian of how global currencies rise and fall, author of Exorbitant Privilege and the new Money Beyond Borders, who thinks the age of dollar dominance really is drawing to a close, and that this time is different. What's wearing the dollar down is the United States itself: mounting debt, threats to the Federal Reserve's independence, eroding institutional strength, and a growing readiness to turn the currency into a weapon. The conversation runs from the renminbi's ceiling to stablecoins and digital money, asks whether a BRICS-style currency could ever work, and weighs where India fits into all of this.All Things Policy is a daily podcast on public policy brought to you by the Takshashila Institution, Bengaluru.Find out more on our research and other work here: https://takshashila.org.in/research-areasCheck out our public policy courses here: https://school.takshashila.org.in
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Win-Win Energy Policy
3w ago00:44:33Tap to summarizePublic conversation about energy and climate tends to default to a sense of unavoidable trade-offs, where every gain is assumed to carry an equal and offsetting loss. India's own record complicates that pessimism. Fly ash, once a disposal problem piling up in ash ponds beside thermal plants, now moves into cement, bricks, and roads. Clean cooking gas has reached households that had never had a connection. None of these was costless, and none was free of design flaws, but each shows that well-constructed policy can improve health, the environment, and the economy at the same time.Join Srinivasan Iyengar and Arindam Goswami as this episode of All Things Policy uses the ethanol debate as an entry point to a wider question: how India can keep designing pragmatic energy policy that treats electrification, biofuels, coal-bed methane, coal-to-methanol, and green ammonia as complements rather than rivals. The organising idea is not loyalty to any one fuel, but rigorous cost-benefit thinking anchored in scientific evidence, the country's resource endowment, and its developmental priorities.All Things Policy is a daily podcast on public policy brought to you by the Takshashila Institution, Bengaluru.Find out more on our research and other work here: https://takshashila.org.in/research-areasCheck out our public policy courses here: https://school.takshashila.org.in
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MilTech and the Governance of Future Wars
3w ago00:39:37Tap to summarizeAs the wars in Ukraine and Iran have evolved, military technologies ranging from drones and lethal autonomous weapons are becoming a matter of great debate across global platforms. In this episode of 'All Things Policy', Manoj Harjani from RSIS, Singapore, sheds light on how military technologies are shaping procurement policies and how global governance debates on LAWS and military AI are attempting to establish norms and best practices. He also discusses Singaporean lessons and perspectives on defence procurement. Read his latest paper on these debates here: https://rsis.edu.sg/rsis-publication/idss/ip26076-framing-expectations-for-the-fourth-reaim-summit/.All Things Policy is a daily podcast on public policy brought to you by the Takshashila Institution, Bengaluru.Find out more on our research and other work here: https://takshashila.org.in/research-areasCheck out our public policy courses here: https://school.takshashila.org.in
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Tech Sovereignty, Geopolitics, and Open Source
3w ago00:53:48Tap to summarizeIn this episode, Shobhankita Reddy, research analyst at the Takshashila Institution, and Sai Rahul Poruri, CEO of the FOSS United Foundation, sit down to unpack the nuances of tech sovereignty, arguing that it is not about absolute self-sufficiency, but rather about having the freedom to choose and avoiding proprietary vendor lock-in. They discuss ways in which the open source ecosystem can help secure a nation's long-term technological resilience.This discussion was recorded during Takshashila’s Academic Conference (June 2026) for the 44th cohort of the Graduate Certificate in Public Policy. Applications for the September cohort are now open. Join us to participate in such conversations at the next iteration of the Academic Conference!All Things Policy is a daily podcast on public policy brought to you by the Takshashila Institution, Bengaluru.Find out more on our research and other work here: https://takshashila.org.in/research-areasCheck out our public policy courses here: https://school.takshashila.org.in
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NGO Service Delivery And Civic Society Partnerships
3w ago00:32:24Tap to summarizeHost Malathi Renati sits down with Ankita J Chakkraborty (Trustee & Treasurer, Avant Welfare Foundation) to unpack how NGOs actually deliver services on the ground and what real partnership with government looks like, beyond the funding buzzwords.We cover the fragmented NGO landscape (3M+ registered NGOs, one of the largest non-profit ecosystems globally), the compliance runway for young NGOs seeking CSR recognition, PPP models in public health like Karuna Trust's PHC management, and whether CSR money is built for sustained infrastructure work or just visibility.All Things Policy is a daily podcast on public policy brought to you by the Takshashila Institution, Bengaluru.Find out more on our research and other work here: https://takshashila.org.in/research-areasCheck out our public policy courses here: https://school.takshashila.org.in
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Tariffs and Trade Disruption — Trump and Beyond
4w ago01:27:08Tap to summarizeTariffs are back, industrial policy is fashionable again, and over the past year the United States, the country that helped build and maintain the open trading system, has spent its energy tearing holes in it, taxing allies and rivals alike. The popular verdict in India is grim: a global trade war is on, the rules-based order is finished, and we are caught in the crossfire. But is that really what's happening?In this episode of Turbulence, Anupam Manur is joined by Devashish Mitra — Professor of Economics at Syracuse University's Maxwell School, and the economist who has written extensively on the political economy of trade policy. His answer is bracing on two counts. Tariffs, he argues, can't do what they promise: trade balances are governed by macroeconomics, not trade policy, and the cost of a tariff falls largely on the country that imposes it. And for India, the more uncomfortable truth is that the binding constraint was never Washington, but it's India's own protectionism. The conversation runs from Trump's tariffs to the wider drift toward industrial policy and "friend-shoring," to what the future of trade might look like and what India should actually do about it.All Things Policy is a daily podcast on public policy brought to you by the Takshashila Institution, Bengaluru.Find out more on our research and other work here: https://takshashila.org.in/research-areasCheck out our public policy courses here: https://school.takshashila.org.in
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India's Water Troubles
4w ago00:38:43Tap to summarizeFrom the Indus Waters Treaty to the Brahmaputra's origins on the Tibetan Plateau, India's water security sits at the intersection of climate stress, outdated irrigation infrastructure, and some of the most contested river systems in the world. In this episode of All Things Policy, Adya Madhavan sits down with Maj Gen Akash Kaushik, author of India's Water Security: Threats, Strategies and Solutions, about what's really driving the crisis, and who India needs to worry about most.All Things Policy is a daily podcast on public policy brought to you by the Takshashila Institution, Bengaluru.Find out more on our research and other work here: https://takshashila.org.in/research-areasCheck out our public policy courses here: https://school.takshashila.org.in
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Fuel For Thought
4w ago00:32:49Tap to summarizeIn this episode of All Things Policy, Anisree Suresh and Bhumika Sevkani critically examine the Ethanol Blending Programme as India’s long-term strategy. They unpack the complexities of the entire supply chain, from the impact of Fair and Remunerative Prices (FRP) to stifled innovation in agriculture on the ethanol supply chain. To read more about this, please visit and subscribe https://thebiologic.substack.com/p/4-the-two-sides-of-ethanol-blending?r=3tc8daAll Things Policy is a daily podcast on public policy brought to you by the Takshashila Institution, Bengaluru.Find out more on our research and other work here: https://takshashila.org.in/research-areasCheck out our public policy courses here: https://school.takshashila.org.in
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Geospatial Intelligence for Disaster Resilience
4w ago00:32:24Tap to summarizeIndia experiences a cycle of disasters throughout the year—from scorching heatwaves and droughts to floods, landslides, cyclones, and glacial hazards. Can technology help us anticipate these risks before they become catastrophes? In this episode of All Things Policy, Kavya Rai speaks with Prof. Y. Nithiyanandam about how satellites, GIS, remote sensing, and geospatial intelligence are reshaping disaster preparedness, response, and recovery. The discussion explores why disasters are fundamentally spatial challenges and how India can build a more proactive, data-driven disaster management system for a changing climate.All Things Policy is a daily podcast on public policy brought to you by the Takshashila Institution, Bengaluru.Find out more on our research and other work here: https://takshashila.org.in/research-areasCheck out our public policy courses here: https://school.takshashila.org.in
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