Outlook | Dr. Jagdish Chandra Asthana Could Have Been a Good Policy Analyst

In Munnabhai MBBS (2003), the medical college dean, Dr. Jagdish Chandra Asthana (played by Boman Irani), cautions against feeling empathetic towards patients. Empathy, he reasons, can impair the doctor’s ability to provide the best treatment for the patient. In the world of public policy, the doctor is correct. If we’re keen to develop better policies, we must avoid empathy and replace it with compassion as a guide. Here’s why. Read the full article here.

The Diplomat | China’s Energy Intensity and Carbon Intensity Targets Are All But Unachievable

On May 29, China’s State Council released its 2024-2025 action plan for energy conservation and carbon reduction, setting targets to decrease energy intensity (energy consumption per unit of GDP) by 2.5 percent and carbon intensity (carbon emissions per unit of GDP) by 3.9 percent in 2024. However, these goals appear insufficient to meet China’s previous commitments of reducing carbon intensity by 18 percent and energy intensity by 13.5 percent between 2020 and 2025 as part of its international climate pledges.  Read the full article here.

ThePrint | Even if Agnipath is scrapped, India needs tough reforms to cut ballooning defence pensions

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s letter to President Droupadi Murmu on the “discriminatory” Agnipath scheme shows its importance in this Lok Sabha election. The BJP government introduced the scheme in 2022, where soldiers enrolled for four years are christened as Agniveers. Political parties across the spectrum have held differing postures on the scheme.

The Congress’ election manifesto stated that the party would “abolish the Agnipath programme and direct the Armed Forces (Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard) to resume normal recruitment to achieve the full sanctioned strength”. The BJP manifesto, on the other hand, maintains that the four-year enlistment programme will benefit a large section of the young and employable population. It has also stated that it is open to changes in the scheme after a review conducted by the Services. In the psychological framework of the electoral campaign, the issue is dovetailed within the larger issue of significant unemployment at the national level. Read the full article here.

The Diplomat | Zelenskyy Finally Calls out China’s Role in Russia’s War on Ukraine

For far too long, Ukraine has treaded carefully around China’s role in the ongoing war with Russia. Despite mounting evidence of Beijing’s support for Moscow, both materially and diplomatically, Kyiv has been reluctant to criticize China directly. However, during the recent Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy finally broke his silence, openly accusing China of aiding Russia in undermining peace efforts.  Read the full article here.

Mint | The world should take up China's nuclear no-first-use treaty proposal

The world is too distracted with ongoing wars and high-stakes election campaigns to pay attention to a remarkable proposal from China. At the United Nations Conference on Disarmament held in Geneva this February, one of Beijing’s senior officials dealing with nuclear weapons policy declared that “nuclear-weapon states should negotiate and conclude a treaty on no-first-use of nuclear weapons against each other or make a political statement in this regard." Read the full article here.

Takshashila Blog | What did the China-Japan-ROK Summit Achieve?

Earlier this week, a trilateral summit brought together South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, Chinese Premier Li Qiang, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to discuss a range of regional and global issues. Originating from the ASEAN Plus Three (APT) framework, the meeting, slated to be held annually, was held for the first time since 2019.

All three countries sought to revive trade and security dialogues hampered by global tensions. The Chinese premier called it a “new beginning”, calling for promotion of multilateralism and fighting trade protectionism amid rising tensions following the US decision to hike tariffs on specific Chinese goods this month. Li expressed the need for greater “openness and inclusiveness, to gather more momentum for cooperation, in line with principles of non-exclusivity and non-discrimination, with an open attitude and transparent measures.”

Read the full blog here.

The Indian Express | Aadhaar, PAN, Paytm, KYC — how fintech regulation is hurting the consumer

In the evolving landscape of fintech or financial technology, India stands at the crossroads of innovation and regulation. What began as a quest for stability and oversight has devolved into a dystopian odyssey, where good intentions pave the road to chaos, and unintended consequences lurk around every corner.

Our story today commences with a modest trigger — the cautious instructions of the RBI to Kotak Bank, halting new digital customer onboarding and suspending credit card issuances. The regulatory zeal, ostensibly aimed at preempting potential outages, lacks a tangible basis for outage events. It’s reminiscent of the regulatory crackdowns of the past, where rigid checks were imposed without a clear understanding of the underlying issues, like the one on HDFC a few years ago or on Paytm recently. This knee-jerk reaction to largely hypothetical scenarios reflects a systemic failure to distinguish between proactive risk management and reactive overreach.

Read the full article here.

Firstpost | How India is moving fast to becoming semiconductor ‘aatmanirbhar’

The India Semiconductor Mission’s (ISM) ambitious goal to establish a robust domestic chip design and manufacturing ecosystem is gradually achieving fruition. The Union government recently approved three semiconductor units, including India’s first fabrication plant by Tata Electronics Private Limited, in partnership with Taiwan’s Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation in Dholera, Gujarat. Read the full article here.

Takshashila Blog | The Imperative of Open-sourcing Chip Manufacturing Processes

The India Semiconductor Mission’s (ISM) ambitious goal to establish a robust domestic chip design and manufacturing ecosystem is gradually achieving fruition. The Union government recently approved three semiconductor units, including India’s first fabrication plant by Tata Electronics Private Limited, in partnership with Taiwan’s Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation in Dholera, Gujarat.

India’s presence in the chip design stage of the global value chain (GVC) is sizeable and well-established, playing host to global semiconductor design houses such as AMD and Qualcomm. There’s a slight glitch in the matrix, though: despite a large pool of skilled design engineers and a growing domestic market, India has struggled to establish a robust homegrown chip design and product ecosystem.

New Delhi has launched initiatives like the semiconductor Design-Linked Incentive (DLI) and Chips 2 Startup (C2S) schemes, which aim to provide select startups and universities with affordable access to Electronic Design Automation (EDA) software tools essential for designing all modern chips.

However, a key hurdle for startups and academia is the lack of standardised and affordable access to collaborative research facilities, and critical chip design toolkits inextricably linked to the fabrication stage of the supply chain that India is focused on: Process Development Toolkits (PDKs). Read the full article here.

Firstpost | Embracing AI: A strategic shift towards software-centric innovation in India

The Artificial Intelligence (AI) landscape is undergoing a seismic shift, driven by a coalition of tech giants and developers rallying behind an OpenAI-led initiative to build software that facilitates switching between different AI chips. As Nvidia’s dominance in AI hardware faces challenges due to supply shortages and high costs, this initiative aims to democratise AI development by reducing dependence on Nvidia’s proprietary software platform, Cuda. This article contends that India, with its robust software development industry, is uniquely positioned to contribute to this transformative shift, and this strategy plays well to India’s strengths and could assist India from a geopolitical perspective too. Read the full article here.

ISDP Voices | 75 Years of China-Russia Relations: Indeed a ‘No Limits’ Partnership

On May 16, 2024, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping set a new record by concluding their 43rd meeting, marking the 75-year anniversary of China-Russia diplomatic relations. The meeting witnessed affirmation of the ‘comprehensive partnership’ and ‘strategic cooperation’ between the two sides and a reiteration of their mutual contempt for “closed-door military and political alliances” led by the West. Further, Putin and Xi discussed the future trajectory of the relationship – more tourism and better people-to-people ties, enhanced calibration and alignment of international interests, contributing to the “renovation” of global economic governance. Read the full article here.

Deccan Herald | New guidelines could hamper India’s promising space industry

On May 3, space regulator Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) released new guidelines and procedures for space activity. These guidelines may have a detrimental effect on India’s emerging private space sector. Read the full article here.

The Times of India | In the hot seat, under Beijing’s glare

In what can be considered a tragic incident in the history of Taiwanese democracy, on May 17, members of the island nation’s parliament engaged in an intense brawl, leading to the hospitalisation of five lawmakers. This was just a couple of days before Lai Ching-te, the new Taiwanese President, assumed office on May 20. Read the full article here.

Deccan Herald | Time for Structural Reforms

The World Economic Outlook brought out by the IMF in April did not project an optimistic economic scenario for the global economy. The world economy is estimated to grow at 3.2 per cent in 2024 and 2025, which is the same rate as it was in 2023. Read the full article here.

ThePrint | Army caught between religious & constitutional values. Defend secular, apolitical nature

Since Independence, the Indian Armed Forces – particularly the Indian Army – have had to navigate the socio-cultural minefields thrown up by the vagaries of domestic politics and religions. The Constitution provided the beacon that illuminated the path ahead. A beacon designed on the belief that maintaining an apolitical institutional character and secular outlook would sustain and defend India’s integrity. The foundation of this secular outlook was rooted in the embracement of the encultured notion that the military institution had no religion and the equivalent of its holy book was the Constitution. But such an institutional belief was subject to being shaken by the crosswinds of India’s religious diversity. Read the full article here.

The Diplomat | New Energy Competition: It’s Politics First for Both US and China

Both China and the U.S. are looking to tariffs and other trade barriers to protect their clean energy industries. The outcome is likely to be a more protectionist world economy. Read the full article here.

The Hindu | India-China consumption comparison

In 2023, India surpassed China to become the world’s most populous country. The development came against the backdrop of a declining birth rate (6.4 births per 1,000 people) and total fertility rate (~1%) in China. China also recorded a negative population growth rate for the first time in six decades. This means a rising dependency ratio, which is projected to increase over time. In contrast, India’s population, despite reaching replacement levels (total fertility rate of 2.1), is expected to grow and peak around 2060. Read the article here.

Mint | The carbon emissions of war put humanity’s right to exist at risk

The regional head of a well-regarded global philanthropic foundation recently told me that his board had decided to exclusively focus on funding causes concerned with combating climate change. Knowing that it had previously supported work on nuclear disarmament and international security, I asked why those problems were no longer of interest to the foundation. His reply left me bemused. Climate change, he told me, is a long-term existential threat to humanity. Read the full article here.

The Quint | Wealth Tax: The Rich Are Ready To Shell Out. Can the Government Enable Means?

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman recently addressed the concept of "Robinhood Economics", emphasising the importance of wealth creation over redistribution. Her remarks come amidst a broader debate sparked during the Indian election campaign regarding the potential implementation of wealth and inheritance taxes to address economic inequality. In an era marked by widening economic disparities and mounting calls for social justice, the debate over wealth tax and inheritance tax has ignited fervent discourse on the role of taxation in fostering economic equity and bolstering social security. Read the full article here.

Takshashila Blog | Strategic Tides and Regional Dynamics: The China-Bangladesh Military Engagements

In the past decade, China’s military engagements with South Asia, particularly Bangladesh, have increased rapidly and garnered major attention. Beyond economic and infrastructure investments, China has progressively ventured into the realm of arms trade and has established itself as a major player among these states. This analysis explores the significant arms transactions between China and Bangladesh from 2010 to 2022, along with recent developments that illustrate the evolving dynamics of their relationship. It also examines the broader implications of these interactions for China's strategic posture within South Asia. Read the full article here.