Event Report | Takshashila Ideas Shala 2023
The Takshashila Institution conducted Ideas Shala 2023 on Saturday & Sunday, January 8 & 9, 2023 at Discovery Village, Nandi Hills. It was attended by 30+ alumni from GCPP and PGP programmes and staff of Takshashila. The two-days intensive Shala involved learning new frameworks to approach public policy problems, spontaneous order discussions on various burning issues, keynote talk by Ms. Suhasini Haidar, Diplomatic Affairs Editor at The Hindu, and a round of Nagara - The Democracy game created by Takshashila.
Ideas to Action (I2A) - Complex Adaptive Systems Approach to Policy
Nitin Pai, Director, Takshashila Institution introduced the participants to a new framework to understanding and solving public policy problems drawn from complexity studies. The Ideas to Action (I2A) sessions involved participants working in groups to apply the framework to create stakeholder and issues maps and identify relevant nodes and leverage points in any given policy problem.
The final session involved the participants presenting their findings on diverse issues such as how to increase India's female labour force participation rate, how will India emerge as an alternative to China in manufacturing, and what are the alternative policy options to prohibition to alcohol prohibition. The presentations focused on the leverage points of effecting change.
Talk by Ms. Suhashini Haider
Ms. Haider spoke on 'Winds of Change - India and Global Shifts in the Next Decade' and outlined broad global trends in foreign policy which will shape geopolitics in the coming years, followed by an enriching discussion on India's foreign policy.
Takshashila’s Alumni Outreach
Pranay Kotasthane, Deputy Director at Takshashila, briefed the audience on the cutting edge research undertaken by our think tank in specialised areas such as biology and policy, China & the Indo-Pacific, strategic studies, high tech geopolitics and economic policy. We are open to collaboration with our alumni on our research activities.
Sowmya Nandan spoke on Takshashila’s alumni outreach initiatives including our exclusive social network Kalpa, alumni meet-ups being planned in different cities in the coming days, and career opportunities we offer.
Nagara - The Democracy Game
The Ideas Shala concluded with a fun-filled evening of playing the Nagara game among the participants. The game, which simulates a real-world policy problem, involves role-playing by participants to identify and achieve their often competing objectives and interests within a democratic set-up.
