A Charter for Using this Community Effectively
Date: 2nd September 2023 (v3.0)
Author: Pranay Kotasthane
This group is not a "democratic group". Democracy is a procedural aspect specific to governments. Since this group is clearly not a government, we have some rules; members who don't adhere to the rules will be warned once and kicked out on a second infraction. Maintaining the quality of discussion is supremely important to us. We don't and won't police the content of this group, but we will mind the way that content is discussed.
The WhatsApp community is an unofficial group managed by a few Takshashila alumni and employees in their personal capacity. Join the official community on OpenTakshashila for in-depth conversations, courses, and career opportunities.
By being on this community, you adhere to the Takshashila Code of Conduct, i.e. We at Takshashila will,
Uphold the highest levels of integrity in all our work.
Conduct ourselves with civility and decorum in public discourse.
Persevere to elevate the standards of policy debate.
Maintain independence and put India's national interest first.
Make a clear distinction between personal opinion and that of our Institution.
Please know that Takshashila advocates the values of freedom, openness, tolerance, pluralism and responsible citizenship. It doesn't mean that you have to agree with all these values, but it means that the responses of the Takshashila staff will often reflect this bias.
Let's NOT make this another chat group to reaffirm our existing biases. There are plenty of other groups to do that. Think of this as a public policy book club - a community where we come to learn and discuss public policy.
Some prompts for the kinds of discussions you can kick off:
"A few days ago, I was reading X and it struck me that Y..."
"D says X, and I think Y evidence supports it, but I think Z..."
"The Z government's recent proposal P can lead to C consequences.."
"Here's an interesting opportunity you might want to check out.."
Reason out your arguments instead of deferring to authority. So, no arguments of this kind - "Aristotle said so. Hence it must be right"
Maintain confidentiality. Do NOT quote people outside of this group. This is a closed learning group meant for candid conversations.
Do not flood the group. Use your judgment. If you don't see responses related to a particular topic, the norm is to avoid posting on the topic. Before posting, make sure you have budgeted some time to engage with others meaningfully. Don't just post a news item and go away. Feel free to share your own policy writings. We all will learn.
Treat this group with care. Nurture it. We all stand to lose the advantage of network effects if the group doesn't work well. If you are made to feel uncomfortable by any member of this group, reach out directly to Sowmya Prabhakar or Pranay Kotasthane. These two are a part of every group in the community.