So what else is new? Pakistan claims India’s intelligence agency R&AW is involved in terrorism in Pakistan. Pakistan’s news media outlets — described often as “vibrant” and “independent” — have very dutifully carried stories of R&AW’s alleged involvement, without asking...
Unionisation of the IT workforce can potentially cause the Indian IT sector to fall behind other emerging markets – Varun Ramachandra and Gopal Devanahalli In December 2014, Tata Consulting Services, India’s largest Information Technology (IT) services company, laid off 3,000...
Lant Pritchett urges analysts to ask four basic questions when evaluating policies There is a growing practice of conducting intense policy impact assessments in OECD countries, one which developing countries are trying to emulate. For example, in the EU, every...
I was asked to speak at a panel titled “Engaging Policymakers, Journalists and the Public” last week at a conference of think tanks in New Delhi. I primarily spoke about how Takshashila engages the public, especially via blogs, op-eds and social media....
My fellow blogger Karthik Shashidhar (and his wife Priyanka Bharadwaj) started an interesting conversation on his personal blog on the grand old market in India: arranged marriage. They assert that the arranged marriage market has become increasingly illiquid, and hence unattractive. Both Priyanka and Karthik...
Pakistan needs tangible numbers that prove the existence of its citizens. The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics has recently approved a timeline to hold the population and housing census in Pakistan, in March 2016. The preliminary data will be completed by June 2016,...
There is still a long way to go for holistic reforms within the Juvenile Justice setup. The Cabinet recently cleared the Amendment to the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of children) Act 2000. This Act is the primary act for all cases...
Policies fail when they try to optimise for several objectives, ultimately creating a system that fulfils none of them. by Pranay Kotasthane (@pranaykotas) Multi-objective optimisation is that step in any design process which tries to make a system suitable for several objectives at...
The Indian media is awash with news about technology startups and the rise of entrepreneurial activity. However, the hallmark of successful startup ecosystem is the number of other successful startups that spawn out of the existing ones. Individuals who work...
Why the judgment of the Bombay High Court in the Aseem Trivedi PIL might provide the way forward on sedition By Madhav Chandavarkar and Sambit Dash Sedition is an extremely controversial law in any country as the need to preserve...
