All Things Policy

Former police officers S. Ramakrishnan and Javeed Ahmad discuss the historical and modern-day role of mounted police in India, including crowd control, anti-dacoity operations, and participation in equestrian games. They mention the strategic advantages of mounted police in crowd management, navigating through bottlenecks, and reaching inaccessible places. The episode also explores the impact of technological advancements on mounted police, their training, and their role in ceremonial functions. They discuss the similarities and differences in mounted police units across countries and acknowledge the role of animals, including camels used by the BSF on the Indo-Pakistan border.

Could the average citizen become more involved in the process of developing solutions to problems that affect them? Yes! But well before that, maybe we need to do a better job of understanding the nuances of these problems and articulating them to policy decision makers. In this episode of ATP, join Kripa Koshy (Programme Manager, Takshashila) and Anirudh Dinesh (Research Fellow, Burnes Centre for Social Change and GovLab affiliated with Northeastern University) as they discuss old and new ways of citizen-engagement for more effective governance and policy making.

In the wake of the ongoing conflict, Israel is looking to address a major labor shortage by recruiting tens of thousands of Indians at a time when Palestinians who have long played a crucial role in Israeli construction and other sectors are being barred from the country. In this episode of All Things Policy, Carl Jaison speaks to Karishma Mehrotra, South Asia correspondent for The Washington Post on the factors accentuating this development. Link to Karishma’s article in the Washington Post: http://tinyurl.com/3xtshp35 Follow Karishma here: https://twitter.com/karishma__m__ Link to Karishma’s article on rural Indian women engaged in data annotation work: https://fiftytwo.in/story/human-touch/

Every country should have the ability to tell its story to the world. However, a nation's narrative should be based on facts and rise and fall on its own merits. China employs a variety of deceptive and coercive methods as it attempts to influence the global information environment. In this episode, Dr Sriparna and Rakshith discuss various instances of Chinese disinformation campaigns.

Deepfakes. Everyone has seen a deepfake by now, whether consciously or unconsciously. They’ve taken the digital world by storm and their rapid spread on social media is out of control. The latest victims that have fallen prey to deepfakes include A-listers like Taylor Swift, Joe Biden and Sachin Tendulkar. World leaders everywhere have been racking their brains trying to draft deepfake legislation that would curb the spread of disinformation. In the meantime, there are other pressing questions that warrant a discussion. Does the prohibition of deepfakes mean a clampdown on free expression? Also, will stricter legislation of deepfakes discourage innovation in the space of AI? For more on this, tune in with Rohan Pai and Bharath Reddy as they dive into the exciting, yet alarming, world of deepfakes and analyse the various legislative approaches designed to combat them on this episode of All Things Policy

The interim budget for 2024-25 was presented by the Finance Minister on Thursday,1 Feb 2024. What are some of the key takeaways? How will this impact us ? Sarthak and Anupam discuss in this episode.

China's comprehensive research and survey vessel, the Xiang Yang Hong 03, is expected to make a port call in Malé, Maldives, sometime soon. The vessel's dual-use capabilities, and the potential of the research collected to be used for military purposes by China, have sparked concerns in India and other littoral states in the IOR. In this episode, Amit Kumar and Anushka Saxena discuss details of the Xiang Yang Hong's military potential, with the larger geopolitical context of the India-China-Maldives relations in mind.

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.

Tomorrow, the Union Finance Minister is set to present the Budget. In this episode, Sarthak talks to Suman, highlighting key aspects to pay attention to when reviewing the Union Budget. Link to the Union Budget -https://www.indiabudget.gov.in/

In this episode of ATP, Saurabh Todi and Shambhavi Naik discuss the recent developments related to GM Mustard and controversy around GMOs