The Takshashila Podcast

What happens when Amazon enters or leaves an Indian city? In this episode, Manoj Kewalramani talks to Anupam Manur and Rohan Seth about how Amazon's new fulfillment centres impact everything from local employment to public health. You can listen to...

What does the Personal Data Protection Bill say about linking Aadhar to social media? What exactly will the proposed Data Protection Authority even do? Prateek Waghre and Utkarsh Narain discuss with Rohan Seth. You can listen to this show and other...

What role do institutions of the state play in shaping government policy, and how do these institutions affect policy when in peril? In this edition of Reading the Economist, Anirudh Kanisetti, Pranav RS and Sarthak Pradhan discuss this with examples...

China’s fertility rate is down to just 1.6. The workforce is shrinking while the population of the elderly grows. At the same time, the now abandoned one-child policy has resulted in a skewed sex ratio. Given all this, could demography be a rising...

The term “cyber warfare” has come into vogue in recent times, but nobody seems to know what it actually is. In this episode, Anirudh Kanisetti sits down with Prateek Waghre, Pranav RS and Shibani Mehta to talk about cyberwarfare and what countries...

After last week's annual summit, cracks seem to be appearing in NATO over Russia, Turkey, and even the USA. Is this anti-Soviet alliance finally on its last legs, 70 years after it was formed? Anirudh Kanisetti and Sankalp Gurjar discuss with Manoj...

In this week's Reading the Economist, Apurva Kumar and Suyash Desai join Anirudh Kanisetti to discuss global inequality and how bad policies are holding us back from tackling climate change. You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the...

Anirudh Kanisetti and Suyash Desai join Manoj Kewalramani to further unpack our report to India's Parliament on China's rise. This is part 2 of 2, exploring how China has impacted India's economy and geopolitics - and what India needs to do about it....

Takshashila researchers Manoj Kewalramani, Anirudh Kanisetti and Shibani Mehta unpack our latest research: a report to India's Parliament about China's rise. This is part 1 of 2, exploring the sources of China's power and global influence and how they...

The Transgender Persons Bill that has been passed by Parliament has been widely decried by activists, but met with societal and political indifference. Dr Shambhavi Naik and Anirudh Kanisetti join Manoj Kewalramani to discuss some of the issues that...

Are new developments eroding the credibility of India’s no first use policy? Is North Korea going to spark a crisis in the new year? In this episode, Aditya Ramanathan and Pranav R.S. talk to Vipin Narang, Associate Professor at MIT about India's...

Annual stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana is a major cause of pollution in North India and a serious public health crisis. While the problem is well known, the solutions are not. In this episode, Anupam Manur and Pranay Kotasthane use an economic...

Do hi-tech industries create regionally unbalanced development? If so, is it a problem governments can address? In this episode, Pranay Kotasthane and Anupam Manur debate the challenges, pitfalls and paradoxes of industrial policies. You can listen to...

The post-Soviet military of Russia has evolved into a fighting force for the 21st century. How has Russia achieved this and how do the Russians spend their money on weapons? To discuss a new report talking about these issues, Aditya Ramanathan sits...

What do dolphins, artificial intelligence, and brain-machine interfaces have to tell us about the future of war? Manoj Kewalramani, Anirudh Kanisetti, and Aditya Ramanathan debate and criticise the ideas presented in the latest issue of MIT Technology...

How does China plan to use its expanding submarine fleet? And what does it mean for India? Aditya Ramanathan, Pranav RS and Suyash Desai dive into the murky world of military competition that lurks beneath the waves. Aditya Ramanathan -  Suyash...

The US-South Korea alliance is on shaky ground. China is looking to expand its nuclear arsenal. The parallels between Sri Lankan and Indian politics. And are tech companies ignoring women when designing products? Utkarsh Narain and Pranav RS join...

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar’s Ramnath Goenka Lecture last week was hailed by some as a landmark speech. But did it really lay out a new vision for Indian foreign policy? Sankalp Gurjar and Suyash Desai join Manoj Kewalramani to discuss....

Since the first mushroom cloud erupted over Hiroshima, there’s been a strong belief that nukes have fundamentally changed international politics. But is this true? In this special episode, political scientists Keir Lieber and Daryl Press talk to...

A New York Times report based on leaked internal Chinese documents sheds fresh light on the unprecedented crackdown on ethnic minorities in Xinjiang. Suyash Desai, Sankalp Gurjar and Manoj Kewalramani discuss the report and the global reaction to...