The Takshashila Podcast

US President Donald Trump is set to land in Ahmedabad on February 24 on his first trip to India. But will his visit amount to anything more than hype? Manoj Kewalramani and Pranay Kotasthane join Aditya Ramanathan to discuss the future of the India-US r

The 15th Finance Commission has come out with a slew of recommendations. Which states stand to gain and which ones stand to lose? Anupam Manur and Pranay Kotasthane examine some of the implications of the commission's interim report.

In this week’s Reading the Economist, Aditya Ramanathan is joined by Anirudh Kanisetti and Suyash Desai to discuss the failure of UN peacemaking, arms sales in the Middle East, and the politics of Ireland, the Phillippines, and Kazakhstan.

Is China now playing nice after years of assertiveness? Does India's policy of "evasive balancing" make any sense? Manoj Kewalramani and Suyash Desai join Aditya Ramanathan to debate new ideas about the politics of the Indo-Pacific.

As the coronavirus continues to take a lethal toll across the world, Manoj Kewalramani and Shambhavi Naik take stock of recent developments and try to make a better sense of China's response.

After hundreds of years of caste endogamy, one would think that Indian society would be far more open to intercaste marriages than it actually is. Shambhavi Naik and Sarthak Pradhan unpack the science and political economy of intercaste marriage

Facebook recently stated that a doctored video of U.S. congresswoman Nancy Pelosi did not violate community guidelines. So what constitutes fake news? And what are the big social media companies doing about it? Anirudh Kanisetti talks to Prateek

In this week’s Reading the Economist, Aditya Ramanathan, Anirudh Kanisetti, and Sarthak Pradhan explore everything from the consequences of the Atlantic Slave Trade to Britain’s nuclea

Nearly six months after the internet shutdown in J&K, the Union government's decision to partially lift the shutdown has been riddled with controversy. Why is this judgement so controversial? In this special episode, Rohan Seth first talks to Apar

The coronavirus continues to spread across China and beyond. The WHO has declared a global health emergency, and governments across the world are rushing to contain it. But it’s a challenge that the world is well-equipped to tackle. Anirudh Kanisetti, Ma

India's Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat announced that the armed forces would transition to theatre commands in the next three years. Why does India need theatre commands and what should they look like? Lt General Prakash Menon joins Aditya

Union Budgets are an annual ritual marked by pageantry and breathless commentary. But how important are they? In this episode, Anupam Manur and Pranay Kotasthane discuss how the budget really impacts the economy and our daily lives.

How big a threat is a nuclear terrorism? How did the AQ Khan network really work? And is arms control dead? In this special episode, Matthew Bunn, Professor of Practice at th

China's has an ambitious plan to use artificial intelligence to transform its armed forces. But how would such changes affect nuclear stability? Lora Saalman, a leading expert on the subject joins Manoj Kewalramani, Pranav RS and Aditya Ramanath

Medieval India is far more complicated than we give it credit for - it’s full of wily merchants, pragmatic rulers, and complex interactions. Anirudh Kanisetti and Aditya Ramanathan dive into 13th century Gujarat, discussing a fascinating inscription f

Takshashila's policy proposal, 'The New Space Policy 2020' proposes a clear governance structure that paves the way for the growth of the nascent private space sector in India. T

Tech researchers Rohini Lakshané and Prateek Waghre join Anirudh Kanisetti to discuss the whitelist of 301 sites that have been made accessible in Jammu & Kashmir. T

West Asia is notorious today for its geopolitical instability - but has that always been the case? What do the premodern states of the region tell us about today's shifting dynamics? Aditya Ramanathan, Anirudh Kanisetti and Manoj Kewalramani trace out its

The Wuhan virus is already spreading across the world and taking a deadly toll. But what is the virus anyway and how does it spread? In this episode, Rohan Seth talks to Manoj Kewalramani and Shambhavi Naik to put these developments in context and

Indian media coverage of China often tends to be dominated by issues like national security and border frictions. There’s little original reportage around social issues, attitudes towards technology and women’s rights. In this episode