India Speak: The CPR Podcast

This month on CPR Perspectives — our flagship interview series commemorating the Centre for Policy Research’s 50th anniversary — we bring you a conversation with Mekhala Krishnamurthy, a Senior Fellow at CPR where she built the State Capacity Initiative. Krishnamurthy has spent the last 15 years engaging with questions of how the state interacts with markets and the broader economy, and what the actual lived experiences of those on the frontlines of these intersections can tell policymakers – particularly in the fields of health and agriculture. An alumna of Harvard, Cambridge and University College London, she is also Associate Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at Ashoka University, and taught at Shiv Nadar University prior to that. At CPR, Krishnamurthy set up the State Capacity Initiative, an interdisciplinary research and practice programme that has carried out pioneering research studies on the Indian administrative state, and worked directly with a number of governments on questions of institutional design and capacity. In the first part of the conversation with Krishnamurthy, we spoke about what it means to be an anthropologist in the development world, how she has managed to bridge academic and policy practitioner positions, and her reading of major shifts in India’s policy discourse over the last few decades. In the second part of the conversation, we spoke about her research and writing on mandis and Indian agriculture, the idea behind the State Capacity Initiative, and her advice for younger scholars entering the policy world.

This month on CPR Perspectives — our flagship interview series commemorating the Centre for Policy Research’s 50th anniversary — we bring you a conversation with Arkaja Singh, a Fellow at CPR, who has worked across a whole range of topics broadly converging around the idea of ‘administrative coherence. Having studied at the National Law School and SOAS, Singh spent a decade in development sector consulting and research before joining CPR. She has conducted research across a wide span of topics – from sanitation and manual scavenging to informal settlements and land titling to the framework of the Indian administrative state. The throughline across these different areas is a focus on understanding why government operates in the way it does, and what it would take to alter and reform it, not just in operations but in its international rationale. In the first part of the conversation with Singh, we spoke about her years as a ‘governance consultant’ and how that differs from her time at CPR, what she means by ‘administrative coherence’ and her research into the municipal state. In the second part of the conversation, which you will receive in a fortnight, we spoke Singh’s research on how we cannot understand about access to water without first tackling the state’s approach to land, whether there is sufficient thinking about rationalities and histories within government and what advice she has for young scholars entering the policy space.

We have a particularly special edition of CPR Perspectives – our flagship interview series commemorating the Centre for Policy Research’s 50th anniversary. This month officially marks 50 years since the Centre was founded, back in 1973, as an institution that would work to produce field-defining research and vital policy insights relevant for both the country’s decision-makers as well as an informed public.  To mark the occasion, this edition of CPR Perspectives features a conversation with Yamini Aiyar, President and Chief Executive of the Centre for Policy Research.  As with previous episodes in the series, we touch upon Aiyar’s path to CPR – including how she entered the Indian policy ecosystem with stints at Udyogini, a grassroots NGO, the Ford Foundation and the World Bank. But the bulk of the conversation takes a broader look at the history of CPR, the vital role it has played in key Indian policy debates – from industrial policy and economic liberalisation to foreign policy and climate change – and the challenges it is currently confronting.  Aiyar joined CPR in 2008, when she founded the Accountability Initiative, a research project that oversaw one of India’s largest expenditure tracking surveys for elementary education and brought a deeper, evidence-based understanding of public service delivery to the policy conversation in India. In 2017, Aiyar took charge as President and Chief Executive of the Centre for Policy Research, overseeing the deepening and expansion of the institution's research efforts and a broadening of its engagement with governments, grassroots organisations and the global policy community. She also continued her own research on public welfare, federalism and state capacity, while serving on a number of government and international policy committees.

This month on CPR Perspectives — our flagship interview series commemorating the Centre for Policy Research’s 50th anniversary — we bring you a conversation with Neelanjan Sircar, a Senior Fellow at CPR, who has brought a combination of data analysis and qualitative research to a wide range of subjects including India's political economy, urbanisation and climate change. Following degrees in Applied Mathematics and Economics, Sircar received a PhD in political science from Columbia University and then carried out research at the University of Pennsylvania's Centre for the Advanced Study of India before making his way to CPR. At CPR, Sircar was instrumental in setting up the Politics Initiative, which provides high-quality research of India's political economy from a non-partisan lens, helping us build nuanced models of why voters make their choices and how political parties operate within the broader system. He is also co-editor of Colossus; The Anatomy of Delhi, a volume that seeks to unpack the complexity of India's national capital region, building on a survey of the city that could serve as a model for other sampling efforts across the country. Sircar has also led CPR's project to evaluate the welfare delivery systems of the Andhra Pradesh government. In the first part of the conversation with Sircar, we spoke about making the move from applied mathematics to the policy world, what convinced him to come work in India and why the approach that undergirds CPR's Politics Initiative is important. In the second part of the conversation, which you will receive in a fortnight, we spoke about building frameworks and tools that other researchers can replicate, why scholars can benefit from working with governments and why it is important to look beyond India when considering complex research questions.

This month on CPR Perspectives — our flagship interview series commemorating the Centre for Policy Research’s 50th anniversary — we bring you a conversation with D Shyam Babu, a Senior Fellow at CPR, who has over the years worked on subjects as varied as nuclear non-proliferation and national security as well as socio-economic mobility among Dalits and the societal impacts of liberalisation.  Shyam Babu was first associated with CPR in 1989, after which he spent time as a journalist and then as a fellow at the Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Contemporary Studies, before returning to the Centre in 2011. After working on questions of national security in his initial years in policy, Shyam Babu shifted focus to look at social change, helping conduct a number of key socio-economic surveys that examined the impacts of liberalisation on the Dalit community.  He is the co-author of Defying the Odds, a critically acclaimed book that profiled the rise of Dalit entrepreneurs, as well as co-editor of a number of other books, including The Dalit Question: Reforms and Social Justice and The India Mosaic: Searching for an Identity… More recently, Shyam Babu has been working with CPR to conduct research workshops for scholars from Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities.  In the first part of the conversation with Shyam Babu, we spoke about what it was like to work across two very different policy disciplines, why he thinks an understanding of society is vital for IR scholars and the ideas that led to his research and book on Dalit entrepreneurs.  In the second part of the conversation, which you will receive in a fortnight, we spoke about the need to challenge conventional wisdom on social justice in India, why he has looked more closely at the question of ‘social cognition’ in recent years and what role think tanks like CPR have to play in making the research world more inclusive.

This month on CPR Perspectives — our flagship interview series commemorating the Centre for Policy Research’s 50th anniversary — we bring you a conversation with Mukta Naik, a Fellow at CPR, whose work focuses on informal housing, internal migration and what these subjects can tell us about India's urban transformation. Naik is an architect and urban planner, who works with the Initiative on Cities, Economy & Society at CPR. Prior to joining CPR, she worked with a social enterprise – Micro Home Solutions – on community-based interventions aimed at improving housing in informal settlements. Naik is a graduate of the School of Planning and Architecture, and has a Master's Degree in urban and regional planning from Texas A&M University. In the first part of the conversation with Naik, we spoke about her pathway into the policy space, the importance of 'boundary-crossing' when tackling subjects like migration and urbanisation and her work on the Small City Dreaming project, looking at the aspirations and lives of young Indians beyond the big cities. In the second part of the conversation, which you will receive in two weeks, we spoke about how Covid changed the conversation on migrants in India, whether the learnings from that time are taking root, what it means to look at cities and urbanisation from a Global South perspective and why she advises young scholars not to over-define their career pathways.

This month on CPR Perspectives — our flagship interview series commemorating the Centre for Policy Research’s 50th anniversary — we bring you a conversation with KP Krishnan, an Honorary Research Professor at CPR. Krishnan spent three and a half decades in the IAS, retiring in 2019 as Secretary, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. Over his years in the civil services, he served at positions in the government of Karnataka and the Union Government, as well as a stint at the World Bank, giving him a unique vantage point to observe the changes taking place in Indian economic and development policy following the 1991 liberalization. He has previously held the BoK Visiting Professorship in Regulation in the University of Pennsylvania Law School and served as the IEPF Chair Professor at the National Council of Applied Economic Research, in addition to stints as Visiting Professor of Economics, Public Policy and Regulation at the LBSNAA Mussorie, ISB Hyderabad and Mohali, Ashoka University and IIM Bangalore. In the first part of our conversation, I spoke to Krishnan about choosing a career in the civil services, how policy feedback operated within the IAS especially as the economy opened up and the question of being research-minded vs operational within the Indian bureaucracy. In the second part of the conversation, which you will receive later this month, we spoke about how external research was integrated into government systems, Krishnan's work at CPR looking at how well we understand Indian regulators and what advice he has for young scholars.

This month on CPR Perspectives – our flagship interview series commemorating the Centre for Policy Research’s 50th anniversary – we bring you a conversation with Avani Kapur, a senior fellow at CPR, where she also leads the Accountability Initiative. The Accountability Initiative focuses on conducting cutting-edge research on India’s public service delivery systems and leveraging this information by ensuring it reaches government officials, academics and citizens with the aim of promoting administrative reforms at the frontlines of service delivery. Kapur has been at CPR since 2008, beginning as a Research Associate at the Accountability Initiative and working her way up to leading the research group today. Along the way, she has led process- and fund-tracking surveys on vital social sector schemes as well as anchored an annual budget brief series analysing the performance of the Indian government’s major welfare programmes – including, this year, a major lookback at the past 15 years of welfare spending and outcomes to mark AI’s 15th anniversary. In addition to leading AI, Kapur also set up the PULSE for Development platform in 2020, which brings together more than 90 organisations within the development community dedicated to citizen-centric policies and implementation. Kapur is a Tech4Good Fellow and part of the WICCI Council of Ethic, and is on the editorial board of the Journal of Development Policy and Practice. In the first part of our conversation, I spoke to Kapur about starting at CPR just as the Accountability Initiative was taking shape, the stunning examples of inefficiency she discovered while looking for bottlenecks in public spending in the field and getting positive feedback from the state – including how one government official described AI’s work as being that of ‘physician’ tracking the flow of blood through the body, searching for blockages. In the second part of the conversation, which you will receive later this month, we spoke about why the initiative has moved from talking about accountability to ‘Responsive Governance’, how AI does much more grassroots capacity building work beyond its flagship PAISA public expenditure tracking, and what advice she has for young scholars entering this field. If you prefer audio, this conversation is also available as a podcast here. And if you missed our previous interviews, read our conversations with Partha Mukhopadhyay (Part 1 & 2) and with Navroz Dubash (Part 1 & 2).

This month on CPR Perspectives – our flagship interview series commemorating the Centre for Policy Research’s 50th anniversary – we bring you a conversation with Partha Mukhopadhyay, a senior fellow at CPR, where he also leads the Initiative on Cities, Economy and Society. Mukhopadhyay is one of the foremost experts on urbanisation, although his expertise extends well beyond the subject. He has been at CPR since 2006, after having been on the founding team at the Infrastructure Development Finance Company, and following stints at the Export Import Bank of India and the World Bank in Washington. Over his wide-ranging career, Mukhopadhyay has introduced important concepts like ‘Subaltern Urbanisation’, referring to vibrant smaller settlements that provide a very different picture of urbanisation than the one we get from India’s mega-cities; brought careful scrutiny to India’s Special Economic Zones; studied the all-important question of informal work; and played key roles on a number of important government panels. He was chair of the Working Group on Migration, Government of India and member of the High Level Railway Restructuring Committee, Ministry of Railways and of the Technical Advisory Committee of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation. Previously, he has been associated with the Committee on Allocation of Natural Resources and with the Prime Minister’s Task Force on Infrastructure. In the first part of our conversation, Rohan Venkat spoke to Mukhopadhyay about choosing to work on policy in India, how being at CPR has allowed him to work across a wide range of subjects and why it is important to think about government policies as a combination of safety nets and spring boards. In the second part, which you will receive later this month, we spoke about how India could be an exemplar when it comes to urban policy, why governments ought to stay away from ‘magic bullet solutions’ and why younger scholars should always balance quantitative analysis with a more thoughtful approach to processes and outcomes. If you prefer audio, this conversation is also available as a podcast.

To mark CPR’s 50th anniversary, we are delighted to present a brand new interview series called CPR Perspectives. Every month we plan to bring you a flagship conversation, with Rohan Venkat interviewing a faculty member on their research, policy practice and engagement with the most critical questions of our age. Over the past five decades, the Centre for Policy Research has played a unique role in India’s policy landscape, tackling concerns as varied and vital as climate change and federalism, urbanisation and national security and bringing a genuinely multi-disciplinary approach to the field. Today, with India facing a complex geopolitical landscape and even greater development and climate challenges, the Centre’s faculty continue to produce field-defining research while also working directly with policymakers and stakeholders in government and beyond. In the first interview, Rohan speaks to Navroz Dubash, a professor at CPR where he also runs the Initiative on Climate, Energy and Environment. Dubash is one of the world’s most renowned experts on climate change, having worked on the subject since the 1990s – well before it became a household term. Dubash’s wide-ranging career has featured landmark research papers, agenda-setting edited volumes, two authored books and key roles on a number of official and advisory committees in India and at the global level. He was a Coordinating Lead Author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the United Nations’ panel which publishes landmark reports on the state of climate change research. Dubash’s work led to CPR being the overall anchor institution and technical knowledge partner for the Indian government’s Long Term-Low Emissions and Development Strategy. He has received the TN Khoshoo Memorial Award for his work on Indian and global climate change governance, the Emerging Regions Award by Environmental Research Letters, and the SR Sen Award for Best Book in Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, for his book Tubewell Capitalism. In this conversation, Dubash talks about about working on climate change back in 1990 - well before it was in vogue, whether it is frustrating to still be going over questions of climate change vs development that have been around since then, why the Climate Initiative at CPR turned into the Initiative on Climate, Energy and the Environment, and why it’s important to make academic work accessible for wider audiences. Navroz talks about what it was like to help the Indian government draft its strategy for low-emissions development, why it’s important to not just follow the Western narrative on climate change and what advice Dubash has for younger scholars entering this important field.

In the third episode of Road to COP27, a special series as part of India Speak: The CPR Podcast, Navroz K. Dubash speaks to Rachel Kyte, Dean of The Fletcher School at Tufts University on the geopolitical context for COP27 and its implications. This series will bring leading experts in the lead up to Conference of the Parties (COP) 27, being held from 6-18 November 2022 at Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. They discuss the Inflation Reduction Act, the new climate legislation passed by the United States, and what it could mean for climate diplomacy. The episode also explores questions on climate finance, whether there is a landing zone for negotiations on loss and damage and what that looks like, and delves into questions around carbon markets. About the speakers: Rachel Kyte is the 14th dean of The Fletcher School at Tufts University. Kyte is the first woman to lead the United States' oldest graduate-only school of international affairs, which attracts students from all corners of the world and at all stages of their careers. Prior to joining Fletcher, Kyte served as special representative of the UN secretary-general and chief executive officer of Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL). She previously was the World Bank Group vice president and special envoy for climate change, leading the run-up to the Paris Agreement. She was also vice president at the International Finance Corporation responsible for ESG risk and business advisory services. In her UN role and as CEO of SEforAll, a public-private platform created by the UN and World Bank, Kyte led efforts to promote and finance clean, reliable and affordable energy as part of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. She served as co-chair of UN Energy. In the 2020 UK New Year Honours, Rachel was appointed as CMG for her services to sustainable energy and combating climate change. Kyte is a member of the UN secretary-general’s high-level advisory group on climate action and an advisor to the UK presidency of the UN climate talks. Kyte is co-chair of the Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative (VCMI), and chair of the FONERWA, the Rwanda Green Fund. She serves on the boards of the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG), the Climate Policy Institute and CDP. She advises investors, governments, and not-for-profits on climate, energy, and finance for sustainable development. Navroz K Dubash is a Professor at the Centre for Policy Research, a New Delhi based think-tank and an Adjunct Senior Research Fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, NUS. He has been actively engaged in debates on climate change, air quality, energy and water as a researcher, policy advisor and activist for over 25 years. Navroz has been a Coordinating Lead Author for the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and has advised Indian government policy-making on climate change, energy, and air and water policy over the last decade. In the early 1990s, he helped establish the global Climate Action Network as its first international coordinator.

In the second episode of Road to COP27, a special series as part of India Speak: The CPR Podcast, Navroz K. Dubash speaks to Saleemul Huq, Director of the International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD) in Bangladesh, on the loss and damage debate that is expected to play a substantial role on the agenda. This series will bring leading experts in the lead up to Conference of the Parties (COP) 27, taking place from 6-18 November 2022 at Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. They discuss the growing calls from developing countries for financial support to deal with the impacts of extreme climate events, such as the recent floods in Pakistan, and the possible obstacles that could emerge at the negotiations. The episode also explores the politics of this COP and the symbolism of an African COP. Saleemul Huq is the director of the International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD) in Bangladesh, and is an expert on the links between climate change and sustainable development, particularly from the perspective of developing countries. He was the lead author of the chapter on Adaptation and Sustainable Development in the third assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and was the lead author of the chapter on Adaptation and Mitigation in the IPCC’s fourth assessment report. His current focus is on supporting the engagement of the Least Developed Countries in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. He is researching the least developed countries’ vulnerability to climate change and the impact of adaptation measures. Prior to becoming a senior associate, Saleem was a senior fellow with IIED, and was also previously director of the Climate Change research group. Navroz K Dubash is a Professor at the Centre for Policy Research, a New Delhi based think-tank and an Adjunct Senior Research Fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, NUS. He has been actively engaged in debates on climate change, air quality, energy and water as a researcher, policy advisor and activist for over 25 years. Navroz has been a Coordinating Lead Author for the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and has advised Indian government policy-making on climate change, energy, and air and water policy over the last decade. In the early 1990s, he helped establish the global Climate Action Network as its first international coordinator.

CPR is delighted to launch a new series titled, Road to COP27 as part of India Speak: The CPR Podcast. Hosted by Navroz Dubash (Professor, Initiative on Climate, Energy and Environment, CPR), this series will bring leading experts in the lead up to Conference of the Parties (COP) 27, taking place from 6-18 November 2022 at Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. In the first episode of the series, Dubash speaks to Harald Winkler (Professor in PRISM, School of Economics at the University of Cape Town) on global stocktake of the Paris Agreement (GST) and its importance for climate mitigation and adaptation. They reflect on the conversations at the recently concluded Technical Dialogue, a core activity of the GST process that facilitates meaningful conversations between experts and country representatives, and how gaps in implementation of the Paris Agreement can be bridged. The episode also explores the key focus areas of this year’s COP including the debate on loss and damage. About the speakers: Harald Winkler is a Professor in PRISM, School of Economics at the University of Cape Town (UCT). His research interests are at the intersection of sustainable development and climate change mitigation. His academic publications can be accessed on Scopus. Specific focus areas for future research include equity and inequality between and within countries; just transitions; the global stock-take; and low emission development strategies. Harald is joint Editor-in-Chief of the international journal Climate Policy, a member of the South African and African Academies of Science, a coordinating lead author on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and a member of the SA delegation to the negotiations under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and one of two co-facilitators of the technical dialogue of the Global Stocktake under the Paris Agreement. Navroz K Dubash is a Professor at the Centre for Policy Research, a New Delhi based think-tank and an Adjunct Senior Research Fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, NUS. He has been actively engaged in debates on climate change, air quality, energy and water as a researcher, policy advisor and activist for over 25 years. Navroz has been a Coordinating Lead Author for the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and has advised Indian government policy-making on climate change, energy, and air and water policy over the last decade. In the early 1990s, he helped establish the global Climate Action Network as its first international coordinator.

In the sixth episode of CPR's series titled, Spotlight South Asia, we analyse the developments in Bangladesh. Hosted by Senior Fellow, Sushant Singh, this series features leading experts from India's neighborhood to make sense of the political, economic and social developments in these countries and what they mean for India. Our guest for this episode is Syed Akhtar Mahmood, an economist and former lead Private Sector Specialist in the World Bank Group where he worked on private sector development for three decades. His interests include trade, competitiveness, investment climate, mechanics of policy reforms and political economy. In the 1990s, he worked extensively in the transitional economies of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe on state-owned enterprise reforms and privatization. Akhtar Mahmood and Sushant discuss the economic situation in Bangladesh and the dependence of the country’s economy on textile manufacturing. Akhtar Mahmood speaks about the measures that Bangladesh adopted to cope up with the social indicators like public health and education in the pandemic as well as to mitigate the risks of climate change. What are the big challenges to democracy in the country? What has been the impact of modern technology on Bangladesh society? How are Bangladesh’s economic ties with China and do these ties dominate the overall relationship between the two countries? Akhtar Mahmood and Sushant explore these questions. Finally, they discuss how today’s India looks from Bangladesh.

In the fifth episode of CPR's new series titled, Spotlight South Asia, we analyse the developments in Afghanistan. Hosted by Senior Fellow, Sushant Singh, this series features leading experts from India's neighborhood to make sense of the political, economic and social developments in these countries and what they mean for India. Our guest for this episode is Mirwais Balkhi, a visiting scholar at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Services. From 2018 to 2020, he served as the minister of education of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Earlier, Balkhi served as Afghanistan's Deputy Ambassador to India. Balkhi holds a PhD in international relations with a specialisation in West Asia from Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, India. He has published numerous academic articles both in English and Persian. Mirwais and Sushant discuss the changes in Afghanistan in the past one year, and whether the collapse in the country is economic, social or political. They discuss if the country is facing a humanitarian crisis and the nature of government and politics in Afghanistan. Do Afghans feel let down by the international community? Have the Taliban changed from what they were earlier? What is the big change in Afghan society in the past 10 years? What role can India play in Afghanistan? Mirwais and Sushant explore these questions.

In the fourth episode of CPR's new series titled, Spotlight South Asia, we analyze the developments in Bhutan. Hosted by Senior Fellow, Sushant Singh, this series features leading experts from India's neighborhood to make sense of the political, economic and social developments in these countries and what they mean for India. Our guest for this episode is Tenzing Lamsang, the Editor of The Bhutanese, a private newspaper in Thimphu, Bhutan. He is also the President of the Media Association of Bhutan. Tenzing and Sushant draw a comparison between pre-pandemic and post-pandemic Bhutan. They discuss the economic situation in the country, particularly keeping tourism and hydropower, the two big economic earners for the country, as their focus. Tenzing also shares about the culture in Bhutan, what the customs and traditions are like. How are the social indicators holding up? Has democracy gotten embedded in the country? Has the influx of social media impacted journalism? How does today’s India look from Bhutan? Sushant and Tenzing also explore these questions. Finally, Tenzing comments on whether Bhutan sees China with a sense of fear or opportunity.

In the third episode of CPR's new series titled, Spotlight South Asia, we analyse the developments in Nepal. Hosted by Senior Fellow, Sushant Singh, this series features leading experts from India's neighborhood to make sense of the political, economic and social developments in these countries and what they mean for India. Our guest for this episode is Amish Raj Mulmi, an editor and writer based out of Kathmandu in Nepal. He is the author of the book, “All Roads Lead North: Nepal’s Turn to China”. Amish and Sushant discuss the economic situation in Nepal after two years of pandemic and if it is comparable to other South Asian countries like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan. They talk about the condition of tourism and remittances in the country. Amish explains the two agreements with the US that have become controversial in Nepal and the reasons behind this controversy. He also comments on the Nepal-China relationship in the light of the recent visit of the Nepalese foreign minister to meet his Chinese counterpart. The discussion revolves around various important questions about Nepal and its relationship with other South Asian countries. What is the political situation in Nepal, how are the social indicators in the country holding up? Has the increase in the Nepal army’s strength and its role in the democratic setup changed the political landscape in some manner? Finally, they discuss how today’s India looks from Nepal.

In the second episode of CPR's new series titled, Spotlight South Asia, we analyse the developments in Pakistan. Hosted by Senior Fellow, Sushant Singh, this series features leading experts from India's neighborhood to make sense of the political, economic and social developments in these countries and what they mean for India. Our guest for this episode is Mosharraf Zaidi, a Pakistani public policy professional and the Founder and CEO of Tabadlab, an Islamabad-based policy think-tank. Moshraff and Sushant discuss Pakistani politics and how it has transpired in 2022, including the role of the army and the judiciary. They discuss the troubling economic situation in the country and how the Pakistani economy can be put on a high growth path. They also talk about the social indicators like health and education in the country after the pandemic. Talking about the internal security situation in Pakistan, Moshraff and Sushant focus on the negotiation with Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Area. Finally, they discuss the possibility of a better India-Pakistan relationship and if China will play a major role in it.

CPR is delighted to launch a new series titled Spotlight South Asia as part of its podcast, India Speak. Hosted by Senior Fellow, Sushant Singh, this series features leading experts from India's neighborhood to make sense of the political, economic and social developments in these countries and what they mean for India. In the first episode of this series, we analyse the developments in Sri Lanka. Our guest is Dilrukshi Handunnetti, an international award winning investigative journalist and a lawyer. She has worked extensively across South Asia and her work has appeared in leading platforms like the Guardian, New York Times, Al Jazeera and Mongabay. She works closely with media rights and human rights organizations with a particular focus on gender. She is the Co-Convener of the South Asian Women in Media, Sri Lanka Chapter and functions as the Executive Director of the Colombo-based Center for Investigative Reporting. Dilrukshi and Sushant talk about the current economic situation in Sri Lanka- how and when things went wrong. They discuss the failure of institutional checks and balances and the reasons behind this. Dilrukshi also shares takeaways from the protests and talks about the widespread participation of the people of Sri Lanka. She also shares a Sri Lankan perspective on the India of today. Finally, they discuss how the decline of Sri Lanka is a tragedy for the whole of South Asia and how the country is keeping its hope alive in such a critical and challenging time.

In the final episode of CPR's special series as part of Azaadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav on the Indian Civil Services (ICS), our host, Yamini Aiyar (President and Chief Executive, CPR) speaks with Dr KP Krishnan (Honorary Research Professor, CPR and Former Civil Servant) about the relationship between Indian democracy and the civil services and the changing dynamics between the politician and the civil servant. Aiyar and Krishnan discuss the politicisation of the bureaucracy and how it can be made more accountable. They explore the deepening of democracy and the federal contestation between the Centre and the states. Finally, they discuss how the Centre engages and communicates with the states and districts, and what this means for the fundamental structure of the civil services.

In the third episode of CPR's special series as part of Azaadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav on the Indian Civil Services (ICS), our host, Yamini Aiyar (President and Chief Executive, CPR) is joined by Dr KP Krishnan (Honorary Research Professor, CPR and Former Civil Servant) to discuss the ailing framework of India's steel frame and the implications of economic transitions on the direction of ICS reforms. Aiyar and Krishnan discuss the frame of reference within which the discourse of reform has taken place and the direction that reforms ought to take, the changing role of the state and the nature of the skills required to address this. They also reflect on domain expertise in the civil services, the differences between general administrative governance skills and more substantial subject expertise and the public interest element of the civil services.

In the second episode of CPR's special series as part of Azaadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav on the Indian Civil Services (ICS), our host, Yamini Aiyar (President and Chief Executive, CPR) is joined by Dr KP Krishnan (Honorary Research Professor, CPR and Former Civil Servant) to discuss the shifts in the design of the ICS, whether explicitly through policy changes or implicitly, in adapting to the complex social and political challenges of the country. Aiyar and Krishnan discuss the impact and significance of the changes to the ICS. They discuss the policy of age limits, reservation, promotions, recruitment sizes, cadre allocation and the structural changes that were brought about by the 73rd and 74th Amendments. They also discuss the growing trend to break the IAS monopoly by introducing other parts of the All India Services in response to the growing vacancies in the central cadre.

In a special episode of India Speak: The CPR Podcast, Patha Mukhopadhyay (Senior Fellow, CPR) is joined by Rohan Samarajiva (Chair, LIRNEasia) to discuss the ongoing Sri Lankan economic crisis. Samarajiva sheds light on the current situation and the factors that led to it, shedding light on whether the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict became the last straws in contributing to this crisis. They also discuss the inherent strengths of the Sri Lankan economy and polity and whether these strengths can potentially be leveraged to address the situation. Finally, they discuss the role India has played thus far and what it can potentially do to help resolve the economic crisis.

In a special series of India Speak: The CPR Podcast as part of Azadi ka Amrit Mohtasav, Yamini Aiyar (President and Chief Executive, CPR) is joined by Dr KP Krishnan (Honorary Research Professor, CPR and Former Civil Servant) to discuss the structure of Indian Civil Services (ICS) and its evolution since its inception as a replacement of the Imperial Civil Service, founded by the British empire in the period between 1858-1947. In this episode, Aiyar and Krishnan discuss the structure of the ICS as articulated in the Indian Constitution, the inheritance of the colonial structure from the British and the evolution of its design to support a modern nation. They unpack key design features of the ICS including its all India character, dual control, distinction from the state cadres, political neutrality and more. They also address the federal dynamics of India, the balancing act between accountability and allocation of the state and central governments and the frustrations of the generalist civil servants as they respond to the complexities of 21st-century policymaking.

The evidence from the recently released report by the Working Group III of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is a clear wake-up call for humanity. In this episode of India Speak: The CPR Podcast, Dr Navroz Dubash, Professor, CPR and Coordinating Lead Author for Chapter 13 ('National and sub-national policies and institutions') & Co-author of the Summary of Policymakers speaks to Dr Shonali Pachauri, Senior Research Scholar, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis and Lead Author for Chapter 2 ('Emissions trends and drivers') to understand this report and what it means for the world. Dubash and Pachauri unpack the drafting and approval process of the IPCC Working Group III and delve into the chapters to help us understand what the report signifies. They shed light on the concept of equity and differentiated responsibility of countries, particularly those that are starting at a lower level of development. They also discuss the scope of the recommendations, their hopes from the report and the need to take urgent action to address the climate crisis.

In this episode of India Speak:The CPR Podcast, our host Sushant Singh, Senior Fellow, CPR is joined by Hu Shisheng, Senior Research Fellow and Director, Institute for South Asian Studies, China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR) to understand the Chinese view of India and the Indo-China border crisis. Sharing takeaways from his paper, Shisheng unpacks the drivers behind India's 'tough' policy on China and the perceived shifts in Indian foreign policy. With the border crisis going on for over 23 months, Singh and Shisheng discuss the way forward to resolve this crisis and how China seeks to balance India's concerns in order to begin post-COVID economic relations. Following Chinese Foreign Minister, Wang Yi's visit to South Asia, they also discuss the reasons for this visit, whether it was successful for the Chinese and the regional issues that limit Sino-India ties. Finally, Singh and Shisheng analyse the US factor in these ties and its future if India continues to be a part of the QUAD. Link to the paper, The Behavioural Logic Behind India's Tough Foreign Policy Toward China by Hu Shisheng: http://www.cicir.ac.cn/UpFiles/file/20201103/6373999766705249491072987.pdf

In this episode of CPR's series on China-India relations, our host Sushant Singh (Senior Fellow, CPR) is joined by Col. Zhou Bo (Retired Senior Colonel, Chinese People's Liberation Army and Senior Fellow, Center for International Security and Strategy, Tsinghua University) to share the Chinese perspective of Sino-India ties.  Singh and Bo discuss the primary motivations of Chinese Foreign Minister, Wang Yi's recent visit to India, the statements he made in Pakistan and India's apprehension of China-Pakistan relations and a possible two-front security threat. They also unpack the border conflict at Aksai Chin, the drivers behind the many crises emerging from the region and contentions over the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Bo sheds light on China's concerns over India, the role of the US, the future course of relations between the two neighbours and how a de-escalation at the border could be achieved.

In the latest episode as part of the special series on India-China relations for India Speak: The CPR Podcast, our host, Sushant Singh (Senior Fellow, CPR) is joined by Kanak Mani Dixit (Nepali Publisher, Editor and Writer) to understand India-China ties through China's relationship with Nepal. In this episode, Singh and Dixit discuss Nepal's current relations with China after the recent visit by Chinese Foreign Minister and State Councillor, Wang Yi. They uncover the main drivers of this relationship, how it contrasts with Nepal-India ties and the Nepalese view of the China-India border crisis. Dixit sheds light on the Chinese contentions over the Nepal-US Millennium Challenge Corporation project, his critique of the Nepalese political and bureaucratic class and their 'courting' of the Chinese as a counterweight to India. Finally, they compare the foreign policies of South Asian countries and discuss why the region has failed to take off, particularly with the failure of experiments like SAARC. Find Kanan Mani Dixit's article in the Nepal Times as mentioned in the episode here, https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/fixing-the-broken-parts-in-nepal-china-ties/

In the sixth episode of the special series on India-China ties as part of India Speak: The CPR podcast, our host, Sushant Singh (Senior Fellow, CPR) is joined by Arne Westad, a renowned scholar of Modern, International & Global History and Elihu Professor of History, Yale University to discuss the historical and political aspects of the relationship between the two neighbours. Westad unpacks whether the relationship between the United States (US) and China can be called the new Cold War and whether such a comparison is accurate. Singh and Westad also discuss China's development since the 1970s, the trajectory of economic reforms and the shifts in its foreign policy. They also discuss the evolution and leadership of the People's Liberation Army, the reasons driving the India-China border crisis and the best way for India to deal with it.

In the fifth episode of the our special series on India-China relations as part of India Speak: The CPR Podcast, our host, Sushant Singh (Senior Fellow, CPR) is joined by Cindy Yu (Broadcast Editor, The Spectator) to discuss the socio-cultural and political aspects of India-China ties. Born in Nanjing, China, Yu helps us to understand modern contemporary China from a personal and professional perspective. Together Yu and Singh discuss India's relevance in Chinese households, Chinese education and propaganda and the popularity of Bollywood in the country. They discuss why, despite being physical neighbours, the people of India and China have been distant, the issue of Tibet and the Dalai Lama, Hong Kong and the atrocities in Xinjiang. Finally, Yu sheds light on the shifts in China's foreign policy, President Xi's personality, Han Nationalism and the Great Firewall of China.

In the fourth episode of a special series on China, our host Sushant Singh (Senior Fellow, CPR) is in conversation with Rana Mitter (Author and Professor, History and Politics of Modern China & Director of the University China Centre, University of Oxford) to breakdown the historical and political aspects of China-India relations. Mitter helps us understand China's contemporary policy by looking at its ancient and modern history. They explore China's lingering insecurities of Japan's invasion in 1930-40's, its projection of never having invaded a country and the geopolitical realities of having over 14 international borders and significant maritime exposure. Singh and Mitter discuss China's view of the 1962 border conflict, the driver behind the shift in Chinese foreign policy and how specific factors of this policy would be applied differently for the West. Finally, they debate the significance of the Quad, increased militarisation of the Indian ocean, India's trade restrictions in comparison to China's economic success, and the evolution of India's soft power.

In a fast changing situation in Europe, with Russian aggression into Ukraine, India finds itself walking a tightrope with its values and principles on one hand and interests on the other. India's vote in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has particularly attracted global attention. To decode the complexity of the Russian-Ukraine crisis and its implications for India, Sushant Singh, Senior Fellow, CPR is joined by Shyam Saran, Senior Fellow, CPR and Former Indian Foreign Secretary on this episode of India Speak: The CPR Podcast. Together they unpack India's interests at stake, including the safe evacuation of Indian students, India's relations with Russia, Ukraine, the US and most importantly, the need to keep all the communications channels open. Singh and Saran discuss the new shift in the international balance of the post Cold War/World War II order with NATO and the European Union (EU) undergoing significant changes in response to the current crisis. They also discuss the potential threat of a Pakistan-China-Russia alliance, implications of the UNSC vote on India-US ties, the QUAD and the Indo-Pacific, Russia's place in the international order and the best outcome from this crisis.

In the third episode of our series, hosted by Sushant Singh (Senior Fellow, CPR), featuring leading experts on the various facets of Sino-India relations, we are joined by Taylor Fravel (Arthur and Ruth Sloan Professor of Political Science & Director, Security Studies Program, Massachusetts Institute of Technology) to discuss the strategic aspects of Sino-India relations. Singh and Fravel unpack the relevance of the Chinese strategic guidelines for India and the significance of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) ground forces in a challenge against India. They also discuss the concept of active defence and the current PLA deployment at the Indian border, what could prompt Chinese aggression and its definition of a red line. Fravel also sheds light on China's domestic affairs, the Galwan incident and increase of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) sponsored nationalism. Finally, Singh and Fravel unpack the breakdown of the India-China SOPs that had been held for over three decades, the events in Doklam, China's intentions for the border crisis and what we can expect in the future.

In the second episode of our series, hosted by Sushant Singh (Senior Fellow, CPR), featuring leading experts on the various facets of Sino-India relations, we are joined by Dennis Blasko (Independent Analyst & former Senior Military Fellow, National Defense University, Washington, DC) to discuss the military aspects of Sino-India relations, the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) and what it means for India. Singh and Blasko discuss the origins of the PLA, its role as the defence arm of the Chinese Communist Party, and its modernisation into a professional army. They discuss the critique of the PLA being an untested army that hasn't seen armed combat since the 1979 war and the role of military theaterisations. Further, they discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the PLA in comparison to the armies of the USA and India, including - funding, military size, and reserves. With extensive research into the India-China border crisis of 2020, Blasko unpacks what really happened in Aksai Chin, the significance of the border defence forces, current political direction of the PLA and the likelihood of China and India going to war.

We are delighted to present a brand new series hosted by Sushant Singh (Senior Fellow, CPR), featuring leading experts on the multiple facets of Sino-India relations. In the first episode of the series, we are joined by Arunabh Ghosh (Historian and Associate Professor of Modern Chinese, History Department, Harvard University) to unpack Sino-India relations through a historical lens. Together, Singh and Ghosh uncover the relationship between the two neighbours through documented exchanges in the 1950s involving statistics, mathematics and discussions on transnational institutions and scientific networks. They discuss the decline of these exchanges after the 1962 war, why the inadequate academic scholarship has not improved since and the dangers of intermediation of knowledge through a western prism. With China's economic success creating a sense of envy in India, it is important to acknowledge the history of this success, the role of imperial legacies in the border crisis and the need to understand the nature of the Chinese state and what exactly happened between the two great nations. Arunabh Ghosh website: https://scholar.harvard.edu/arunabh.ghosh Books mentioned: Making it Count: Statistics and Statecraft in the early People's Republic of China, Arunabh Ghosh (2020) Great State: China and the World, Timothy Brook (2019) From Rebel to Ruler: One Hundred Years of the Chinese Communist Party, Tony Saich (2021) The Cowshed: Memories of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, Ji Xianlin (2016) Eight Outcasts: Social and Political Marginalization in China Under Mao, Yang Kuisong (2019) How China Escaped Shock Therapy: The Market Reform Debate, Isabella Weber (2021)

With crucial assembly elections, all eyes are on the states of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur. Why are these elections important? What are the key electoral issues in these states? How will these elections shape the political narrative for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections? In episode 13 of India Speak: The CPR Podcast, Yamini Aiyar (President and Chief Executive, CPR) is joined by Rahul Verma (Fellow, CPR) to determine the current political trends and his outlook for the 2022 assembly elections. With the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Trinamool Congress (TMC) emerging as new actors in the opposition, they discuss what this means for the Congress. They also discuss where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Samajwadi Party (SP) stand in the race. Further, Aiyar and Verma focus on the role of political economic dynamics in the political outcome of any electoral campaign, the long term implications of these polls for national politics and what they signal for 2024.

In this episode of India Speak: The CPR Podcast, Shyam Saran (Senior Fellow, CPR and Former Indian Foreign Secretary) is joined by Asoke Mukerji (Former Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations). With illustrious careers in diplomacy, Saran and Mukerji unpack the future of multilateralism and its potential for cooperation amongst states, particularly as the world confronts cross-cutting global challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic, cyber security, terrorism and climate change. They discuss the potential of multilateralism to help deliver solutions through Agenda 2030, its structure through the UNSC and the 1945 Charter of the United Nations, the decline in US leadership in the UNSC and the calls for a restructuring of the UNSC. Finally, they discuss India's legacy of multilateralism, how it can play a leadership role in international relations, its limitations in resource allocation and capacity building and the importance to maintain its claim on a UNSC seat.

The Centre for Policy Research (CPR) completes 48 years on 2 November 2021. In this special episode of India Speak: The CPR Podcast, Mukta Naik (Fellow, CPR) speaks to Yamini Aiyar (President and Chief Executive, CPR) about her impressions of CPR's journey, her vision for CPR in the years to come, the institute’s research agenda, impact, experiences and more.

In this episode of India Speak, Sushant Singh, Senior Fellow at CPR speaks with Ambassador Gautam Mukhopadhaya, former Ambassador to Afghanistan (2010-13) and Senior Visiting Fellow, CPR.

The second wave of COVID-19 left an already-strained health system crumbling. As one of the initial states hit by the surge of cases, Delhi faced many challenges ensuring adequate oxygen supply to patients. In this episode of India Speak, Yamini Aiyar (President and Chief Executive, CPR) speaks to Shailendra Sharma (Education Advisor, Delhi Government) about his experience of working and supporting the oxygen control room that was set up in response to the crisis by the Delhi Government. Why did the oxygen crisis happen and how was it overcome? What was it like to be a Front Line Worker in this crisis? How did the government react? What were the big challenges during that period?

The slowdown of economic activity experienced due to the lockdowns resulted in a significant impact on the lives of the poorest. In this episode of India Speak, Yamini Aiyar (President and Chief Executive, CPR) speaks to Dr Maitreesh Ghatak (Professor of Economics, London School of Economics) to discuss India's inequality problem. How unequal is India? Are these inequalities because of COVID or merely economic realities that COVID has now exposed? How do we bring India back on a more equitable growth path?

India embarked on its COVID-19 vaccination roll-out in early January prior to the second wave. In this episode of India Speak, Yamini Aiyar (President and Chief Executive, CPR) speaks to Partha Mukhopadhyay (Senior Fellow, CPR) to discuss India's vaccine policy and guide us through the many bottlenecks, confusions, and successes we have encountered in the last few months. Why didn't India start vaccinating earlier? How did the policy evolve once the second wave hit?

The second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic saw rural parts of India get affected as well, unlike the previous year during the first wave. In this episode of India Speak, Yamini Aiyar (President and Chief Executive, CPR) speaks to Anurag Behar (Chief Executive Officer, Azim Premji Foundation) to discuss the impact of COVID-19 in the hinterlands. How are people in those areas responding to the pandemic? What are the economic consequences beyond just the health consequences they face?

Unlike last year during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, the second wave witnessed the virus making inroads into rural areas of India as well. To discuss this and more, Yamini Aiyar (President and Chief Executive, CPR) speaks to Abhijit Chowdhury (Chief Advisor, Liver Foundation, West Bengal) in this episode of India Speak. Chowdhury discusses what the on-ground realities look like in rural India. He sheds light on how the health system in these areas can be prepared to respond to this unfolding crisis. Finally, he discusses what it will take to achieve universal vaccination for all adults in these areas, advocating for a community-based approach to both treatment and vaccination.

The State of Working India 2021 report by the Centre for Sustainable Employment (CSE) at the Azim Premji University finds that the pandemic has further increased informality and led to a severe decline in earnings for the majority of workers resulting in a sudden increase in poverty. In particular, the poor, women and younger workers have disproportionately borne the brunt of the pandemic. To discuss key findings of the report and more, Yamini Aiyar (President and Chief Executive, CPR) speaks to Amit Basole (Associate Professor of Economics and Head, CSE, Azim Premji University) in this episode of India Speak. Basole sheds light on the trends in employment patterns and the dynamics of informality in India’s labour market prior to the pandemic, to make sense of the slow structural transformation in the economy. He discusses the implications of the differentiated gender dynamics, the move to informality and the loss of income for India’s economy. He further highlights what the policy response should be to the immediate crisis and the lessons that can be learned from it.

The second wave of the pandemic saw localised lockdowns across India that brought economic activities to a halt. What has been the impact of this on unemployment and labour force participation? In this episode of India Speak, Yamini Aiyar (President and Chief Executive, CPR) speaks to Mahesh Vyas [Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Centre for Monitoring the Indian Economy (CMIE)]. Through its surveys, CMIE has been closely tracking the health of the Indian economy, particularly the labour market, consumer sentiment and investment patterns. Vyas sheds light on the trends in unemployment and labour participation rates during the peak of the national lockdown, the phase of economic recovery and the second wave. He discusses the impact of increased informality and decreased female labour force participation and the lessons learned from the first wave of COVID-19. Further, he underscores the impact of the second wave on consumer sentiment and what the government must do to revive the economy. Finally, he discusses the need to monitor the economy regularly and ways to strengthen India’s statistical systems. About the Series The second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic poses serious challenges that need immediate attention. The collapse of an already strained health system, vaccine supply shortage, an unprecedented economic crisis and sharpening inequality, are factors that raise crucial concerns. How must India confront this crisis? The Centre for Policy Research (CPR) brings leading experts to discuss what the country’s response should look like in a new podcast series, India and the Pandemic. Listen to other episodes in this series: • Impact of the Second Wave on the Economy featuring Pranjul Bhandari (https://bit.ly/2RXsCPH) For more information on the Centre’s work, follow CPR on Twitter @CPR_India or visit www.cprindia.org.

The Indian economy was going through an unprecedented slowdown that was exacerbated by the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and resultant national lockdown. Just as the economy was showing signs of recovery, the country has been hit by the virulent second wave. With multiple localised lockdowns, a halt on mobility and economic activity and an unprecedented health crisis, this time, the ravages of the pandemic are being felt across the nation, even rural areas. What has been the impact of the second wave on India’s economy and how does it differ from the first wave? In this episode of India Speak, Yamini Aiyar (President and Chief Executive, CPR) speaks to Pranjul Bhandari (Managing Director and Chief India Economist, HSBC). Bhandari sheds light on the state of India’s economy before the second wave hit, the implications of the second wave particularly for the informal sector and why it needs a special focus and what a policy response to the economic crisis from the Centre and states should look like. About the Series The second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic poses serious challenges that need immediate attention. The collapse of an already strained health system, vaccine supply shortage, an unprecedented economic crisis and sharpening inequality, are factors that raise crucial concerns. How must India confront this crisis? The Centre for Policy Research (CPR) brings leading experts to discuss what the country’s response should look like in a new podcast series, India and the Pandemic. For more information on the Centre’s work, follow CPR on Twitter  @CPR_India or visit  www.cprindia.org

Listen to the 50th episode of ThoughtSpace (above) featuring Shibani Ghosh, Santosh Harish and Yamini Aiyar. While air pollution levels are unsafe across the country, all-year round, they spike to dangerously high levels during the winter months in North India. This year, as the country confronts the COVID-19 pandemic, the challenge of air pollution is even more pressing, given increasing evidence of levels and transmission of the infection being exasperated by pollution. How can India solve this public health emergency? In the 50th episode of ThoughtSpace, Yamini Aiyar, President & Chief Executive of CPR, speaks with Shibani Ghosh and Santosh Harish, Fellows at CPR’s Iniitative on Climate, Energy and the Environment. Ghosh and Harish have closely studied and engaged with this crisis in various capacities. They shed light on crop burning and other sources of pollution, the challenges of governance and state capacity, the new Commission set up to manage air quality, and the need to build a larger public discourse around the environment that views this problem as a social justice issue. The recommend a shift from reactive, political quick fixes to more systematic, long-term, institutional solutions. You can follow the Centre’s work on air pollution on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CPR_India or visit www.cprindia.org.

Listen to the forty-ninth episode of ThoughtSpace featuring Mekhala Krishnamurthy, Ajay Vir Jakhar and Yamini Aiyar. The Government of India passed three farm reform bills- The Farmers’ Produce Trade And Commerce (Promotion And Facilitation) Bill, The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, in the Monsoon Session of the Parliament. The passage of these bills has led to widespread protests by farmers across the country. It has also raised critical concerns over the direction in which agricultural reforms should go, the nature of these three bills and the process through which they were passed in Parliament. In this episode, Yamini Aiyar, President & Chief Executive of CPR, speaks with Dr Mekhala Krishnamurthy, Senior Fellow and Director, State Capacity Initiative at CPR and Associate Professor, Ashoka University, and Ajay Vir Jakhar, Chairperson, Bharat Krishak Samaj. Krishnamurthy and Jakhar are India’s most prolific commentators on agriculture and have deeply studied agricultural reforms. They shed light on what the current reforms mean for the Indian farmer and the future of agriculture in the country. In an earlier episode of ThoughtSpace, Dr Mekhala Krishnamurthy discussed how the government could strengthen the mandi system to truly double farmers’ incomes. Listen here: https://bit.ly/3383lF2. For more information on the centre’s work, follow CPR on Twitter @CPR_India or visit www.cprindia.org.

In the 48th episode of ThoughtSpace, Yamini Aiyar, President & Chief Executive of CPR, speaks with Dr KP Krishnan, Professor at the National Council of Applied Economic Research and former IAS officer. As we debate the future of the Indian economy, the issue of regulation has emerged consistently as a crucial fault line. How does India design regulatory systems in ways that are effective, constrains capital where needed, but at the same time builds markets, enables the unleashing of animal spirits, and protects labour and citizens? These are critical roles the state is meant to play, but given India’s complex regulatory system, it has been argued that the only way ahead for India is to rid ourselves of the regulatory cholesterol to unleash animal spirits and build the Indian economy. In such a scenario, what ought to be the role of the state in building regulatory institutions and mediating the relationship between capital and labour? Dr Krishnan sheds light on the difference between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ regulatory cholesterol, shares examples of positive financial regulation by the state, and calls for participatory processes in the design of regulation. For more information on the centre’s work, follow CPR on Twitter @CPR_India or visit www.cprindia.org. You can read more on TeamLease’s work on India’s compliance regime and regulatory cholesterol here: https://bit.ly/31M9xAu and here: https://bit.ly/2PMY1zj.

In the 47th episode of ThoughtSpace, Yamini Aiyar, President & Chief Executive of CPR, speaks with Dr Rukmini Banerji, CEO of Pratham, India’s leading NGO in the space of elementary education. Pratham has been playing an active role during this pandemic to connect with students and communities across the country and partner with governments to support learning. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the closure of schools for over five months, and they are unlikely to reopen any time soon. This not only affects students and parents in the here and now, but is likely to have an impact on students learning levels, psychological development, and social engagement for years to come. To prepare for the post-COVID world, we need to discuss what happens when schools reopen. How should India deal with the challenge of school closures? What does the education system need to do to prepare for the reopening? And how can it ensure that the long gap in schooling is effectively filled to improve children’s’ learning levels and move on in their learning trajectories? Banerji recommends leveraging the pandemic as an opportunity to truly integrate the community and parents in students’ learning, rethinking the curriculum to focus on basics and start where the child is in their learning trajectory. For more information on the centre’s work, follow CPR on Twitter @CPR_India or visit www.cprindia.org.

In the forty sixth episode of ThoughtSpace, Yamini Aiyar, President & Chief Executive of CPR, speaks with Dr Jishnu Das, Senior Visiting Fellow at CPR and professor at Georgetown University. As India begins to unlock, after three months of the world’s strictest lockdown, cases of COVID-19 are increasing in many parts of the country. This has put into question the effectiveness of the lockdown and our ability to flatten the curve. This presents us with important challenges for our public systems, especially the healthcare system, as it now rushes to cope with increased mobility and economic activity, and at the same time, deal with the surge in COVID-19 patients. How should India’s public health system respond as we unlock, and cases increase? What impact has the virus had on other public systems, like education? And what are the big questions we need to think about in the policy sphere as we learn to live with the virus? Das talks about the challenges India’s public health system is likely to face going forward and how to build India’s public infrastructure in a world beyond COVID-19. He calls for building trust, flexibility, and agility in the public healthcare system in order to manage surges. In addition, he stresses on the losses that students are likely to face as a result of schools closing, and a need to rethink how students are taught once schools reopen. For more information on the centre’s work, follow CPR on Twitter @CPR_India or visit www.cprindia.org. This episode draws on findings of the paper, ‘Two Indias: The structure of primary health care markets in rural Indian villages with implications for policy’ authored by Jishnu Das, along with Benjamin Daniels, Monisha Ashok, Eun-Young Shim and Karthik Muralidharan. The paper provides a first-of-its-kind nationwide picture of rural healthcare and can be accessed here: https://bit.ly/3h2XPre .

In this forty-fifth episode of ThoughtSpace, Yamini Aiyar, President & Chief Executive of CPR, speaks with Dr Mekhala Krishnamurthy, Senior Fellow and Director of the new State Capacity Initiative at CPR and Associate Professor at Ashoka University. In the last few weeks, the government of India has made significant announcements on reforming agriculture, particularly the regulatory framework for managing agriculture markets in India. These changes have been described as pathbreaking, long-term changes that will significantly alter the terms of trade in favour of the farmer. What are these reforms, what do they mean in practice, and what impact are they likely to have on the everyday lives of our farmers and markets? Krishnamurthy sheds light on the history of agriculture market reforms in India, the intricacies of the mandi system (wholesale vegetable markets), and where the current reforms fall short on benefitting farmers. She recommends that while they are a step in the right direction, the government must look at expanding and strengthening the mandi system in order to truly double farmers’ incomes. For more information on the centre’s work, follow CPR on Twitter @CPR_India or visit www.cprindia.org.

In episode 44 of ThoughtSpace, Yamini Aiyar, President & Chief Executive of CPR speaks with Shyam Saran, Former Foreign Secretary and Senior Fellow, CPR. In the last few weeks, a crisis has been brewing on our borders between India and China over the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Late last week, in an unprecedented move, top Generals from both countries met to seek a resolution to the crisis. The discussions have opened up the prospects of a second phase of dialogues. Against the backdrop of these dialogues, we explore the dynamics of India-China relations, the nature of this particular border dispute and the immediate and long-term implications this may have on India-China ties. Saran, who is an expert on China, sheds light on the history of border disputes with China despite the LAC, the growing asymmetry of power between the two countries and calls for constraining Chinese aggression by cultivating strong ties with countries like the US. He also highlights that it is important to continue engaging on issues that may be mutually beneficial while at the same time confronting China where Indian interests are being threatened.

In episode 43 of ThoughtSpace, Yamini Aiyar, President & Chief Executive of CPR, speaks with Dr K R Shyam Sundar, one of India's leading researchers on labour laws, and professor at the Xavier Institute of Management, Jamshedpur. In a bid to revive the economy in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, several state governments issued ordinances with respect to labour reforms that have further skewed the dynamics of labour-capital relations in India. These reforms have come under significant scrutiny and some steps have been taken to address the more draconian ones, but these debates have put a spotlight on some of the big questions that need to be addressed around the framing of labour-capital relations. Dr Sundar takes us on a journey of the evolution of labour laws in India, discusses flaws inherent in them and how they fail to protect the most vulnerable of workers, and what the current reforms could mean for the future of labour-capital relations in the country. This is the eleventh episode in a series by the Centre for Policy Research on the unfolding coronavirus pandemic in India. You can follow the Centre’s work on Covid-19 on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CPR_India or visit www.cprindia.org/covid-19. You can listen to all the episodes in the Coronavirus Conversation series here: https://scroll.in/topic/56263/coronavirus-conversations.

In episode 42 of ThoughtSpace, Yamini Aiyar, President & Chief Executive of CPR, speaks with Ambassador Shyam Saran, India’s former foreign secretary and Senior Fellow at CPR. The coronavirus pandemic is a global crisis of an unprecedented nature that is reshaping the global order. Countries are grappling to control the spread of the disease by announcing lockdowns and closing borders. Economies have come to a grinding halt, and many countries, including India, have seen a rise in the narrative around self-reliance and self-sufficiency. With travel within and across countries barred, citizens are turning to technology communicate across borders. Simultaneously, states are using technology to mount surveillance on citizens to track and control the spread of the virus. What do these trends signal for a post-COVID global order? Are we likely to see a shift in the balance of power between the US and China? And where does India stand in the picture? Ambassador Saran discusses the wide-ranging implications of the pandemic on the world, the need for decentralisation in India, and ends on a hopeful note that this period of change will give emerging powers like India more weight in the diplomatic space. This is the tenth episode in a series by the Centre for Policy Research on the unfolding coronavirus pandemic in India. You can follow the Centre’s work on Covid-19 on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CPR_India or visit www.cprindia.org/covid-19. You can listen to all the episodes in the Coronavirus Conversation series here: https://scroll.in/topic/56263/coronavirus-conversations.

In episode 41 of ThoughtSpace, Yamini Aiyar, President & Chief Executive of CPR, speaks with members of the Stranded Workers Action Network (SWAN) initiative on the limitations of India’s social security architecture and the need to rethink what it means to be a welfare state. Our guests include Anindita Adhikari, PhD student at Brown University and a member of the Right to Food and Right to Work movements; Seema Mundoli, faculty member at the Azim Premji University; and Sanjay Sahni from Muzzaffarpur, Bihar, who is part of the Samaj Parivartan Shakti Sangathan and NREGA Watch in Bihar. On March 25th, when the Government of India announced the first lockdown, it brought to light a problem that has remained invisible in the minds of our policymakers and public consciousness – the problem of insuring dignity and rights to the vast majority of India’s workers, most of whom are in the casual and informal sector. Within days of the lockdown, a group of researchers and activists came together to form SWAN to collect data on the experiences and challenges stranded workers were facing. Adhikari, Mundoli, and Sinha shed light on the ground realities of migrant workers’ plight, where government initiatives and relief measures have failed, and what shape future policies measures need to take. This is the ninth episode in a series by the Centre for Policy Research on the unfolding coronavirus pandemic in India. You can follow the Centre’s work on Covid-19 on Twitter or visit www.cprindia.org/covid-19. You can listen to all the episodes in the Coronavirus Conversation series here: https://scroll.in/topic/56263/coronavirus-conversations. You can read the SWAN Report here: https://bit.ly/2T1r307.

In episode 40 of ThoughtSpace, Yamini Aiyar, President & Chief Executive of CPR, speaks with Ananth Padmanabhan, Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Policy Research and Dean of the Daksha Fellowship; and Sahil Deo, co-founder of CPC Analytics and faculty at Daksha Fellowship. Historically, pandemics have been watershed moments in altering citizen-state relations. In the context of COVID-19, data and technology are the underlying vehicles fuelling and powering these changes. States like South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, and Israel have done a stellar job of handling the unfolding coronavirus pandemic by testing, contact tracing, isolating, and quarantining. But underlying this approach is the highly effective deployment of surveillance data as a means by which these states have effectively controlled the pandemic. In India, we have seen debates emerge around the privacy implications of the Aarogya Setu app. What are the legal and privacy implications of these changes? Once the world exits from the immediacy of the coronavirus pandemic, will this new data and technology regime will fundamentally reshape the social contract? Padmanabhan and Deo tell us about the different ways in which data and technology have been used, from controlling the spread of the disease to supporting governments, policymakers, and the public health system. They shed light on legal frameworks required to think through the long-term implications of these technological developments, as well as the likely changes in citizen-market relations. This is the eighth episode in a series by the Centre for Policy Research on the unfolding coronavirus pandemic in India. You can follow the Centre’s work on Covid-19 on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CPR_India or visit www.cprindia.org. You can listen to all the episodes in the Coronavirus Conversation series here: https://scroll.in/topic/56263/coronavirus-conversations.

In episode 39, part 2 of ThoughtSpace, co-hosts Yamini Aiyar, President & Chief Executive of CPR, and Dr Jishnu Das, Professor at Georgetown University and Senior Visiting Fellow at CPR, speak with Dr Madhukar Pai, Professor and Director of McGill Global Health Programs and International TB Centre; Nandita Venkatesan, a journalist, TB survivor and TB disability advocate; and Dr Sarthak Rastogi, consultant pulmonologist at the Holy Family Hospital in Mumbai. In part 1 of the seventh episode of the CPR ThoughtSpace series on coronavirus, our guests, talked to us about how access to medication and new diagnoses of TB patients have come to a near halt because of the coronavirus lockdown. They highlighted that India has the highest TB burden in the world with over 1,000 deaths every day, even without COVID-19. In part 2, we continue the conversation with them to look at what the government needs to do immediately during the lockdown and once it is lifted to help patients who are already on treatment and ensure that new patients continue to get diagnosed and treated. This is part 2 of episode seven in a series of episodes by the Centre for Policy Research on the unfolding coronavirus pandemic in India. You can follow the Centre’s work on Covid-19 on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CPR_India or visit www.cprindia.org. You can listen to all the episodes in the Coronavirus Conversation series here: https://scroll.in/topic/56263/coronavirus-conversations.

In episode 39, part 1 of ThoughtSpace, co-hosts Yamini Aiyar, President & Chief Executive of CPR, and Dr Jishnu Das, Professor at Georgetown University and Senior Visiting Fellow at CPR, speak with Dr Madhukar Pai, Professor and Director of McGill Global Health Programs and International TB Centre; Nandita Venkatesan, a journalist, TB survivor and TB disability advocate; and Dr Sarthak Rastogi, consultant pulmonologist at the Holy Family Hospital in Mumbai. On a regular day, tuberculosis (TB) claims over 1,000 lives in India. This is without the coronavirus pandemic. While the government and health care system’s energies have been focussed on controlling the spread of COVID-19, access to healthcare facilities for other infectious diseases, especially TB, has reduced significantly. How has the lockdown impacted TB patients and how are they coping? As we continue our fight against COVID-19, what must the government do to ensure that we do not slide back on the all progress we have made with TB care over the decades? In part 1, Pai, Venkatesan, and Rastogi lay out the context of TB in India and share first-hand accounts of the disruption in diagnosis and care as a result of the lockdown. They point to the fact that new diagnoses have come to a complete halt and patients on treatment regimens are facing extreme difficulty in accessing their medication. This could have devastating consequences for India’s fight against TB. This is part 1 of episode seven in a series of episodes by the Centre for Policy Research on the unfolding coronavirus pandemic in India. You can follow the Centre’s work on Covid-19 on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CPR_India or visit www.cprindia.org. You can listen to all the episodes in the Coronavirus Conversation series here: https://scroll.in/topic/56263/coronavirus-conversations.

In the 38th episode of ThoughtSpace, Yamini Aiyar, President & Chief Executive of CPR, speaks with Dr Mahesh Vyas, MD and CEO of Centre for Monitoring the Indian Economy. As the economy comes to a grinding halt and businesses close for the duration of the lockdown, the big question we look at in this episode is the impact of the lockdown on unemployment, labour force participation, and the overall income levels of both individuals and business. The economy had not yet recovered from the previous shocks of demonetisation and GST; the lockdown has accentuated concerns around labour force participation and income levels, which have dropped staggeringly. As India thinks about post-lockdown strategies, what must the government do to ensure that households across the country have enough to meet basic requirements? Dr Vyas sheds light on India’s labour force participation and income levels by sharing findings from CMIE’s regular household surveys and what they have revealed since the lockdown was imposed. He points out that unemployment rate shot up from 7-8% to 23-24%, labour force participation rate dropped from 43% to 35.5%, and over 45% households report a reduction in income as compared to a year ago. Vyas recommends better communication from local governments to build confidence among workers and direct income transfers to beneficiaries equivalent to at least two months of salary, despite chances of wastage. This is the sixth in a series of episodes by the Centre for Policy Research on the unfolding coronavirus pandemic in India. You can follow the Centre’s work on Covid-19 on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CPR_India or visit www.cprindia.org. You can listen to all the episodes in the Coronavirus Conversation series here: https://scroll.in/topic/56263/coronavirus-conversations.

In episode 37 of ThoughtSpace, Yamini Aiyar and Dr Jishnu Das speak with Dr Christiana Iyasere, Dr Saumya Das and Dr Nim Pathy. While India goes into lockdown 2.0 and determines the best strategies to stop the spread of COVID-19, countries across the world have adopted myriad approaches to tackle the outbreak. In this episode, we step away from India to look at what is happening across the world, especially in the United States of America. We also delve deeper into understanding epidemiological models – what is required to build sound models and to what extent can they accurately predict the spread of disease. While the episode does not focus on India, we do probe lessons India can learn from what is happening in other parts of the world. In the fifth episode on the Centre for Policy Research’s series on the coronavirus pandemic, co-hosts Yamini Aiyar, President & Chief Executive of CPR, and Dr Jishnu Das, Senior Fellow at CPR and Professor at Georgetown University dive into the medical, testing, and epidemiological aspects of COVID-19. They speak with Dr Christiana Iyasere and Dr Saumya Das, doctors at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and Dr Nim Pathy, an epidemiologist at Imperial College, London. Iyasere, Das and Pathy talk to us about why the disease manifests differently in different people, speculation over aerosol versus droplet transmission, different testing mechanisms, variation in epidemiological model and whether or not comparisons between countries is justified. This is the fifth in a series of episodes by the Centre for Policy Research on the unfolding coronavirus pandemic in India. You can follow the Centre’s work on Covid-19 on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CPR_India or visit www.cprindia.org. You can listen to all the episodes in the Coronavirus Conversation series here: https://bit.ly/3afpv8D.

In episode 36 of ThoughtSpace, Yamini Aiyar, President & Chief Executive of CPR, speaks with Pravesh Sharma, former IAS officer and CEO of Kamatan Farms Pvt. Ltd., and Dr Mekhala Krishnamurthy, Senior Fellow at CPR. The agriculture economy in India came to halt with the 21-day national lockdown. Supply chains have broken down, labour is in short supply and there has been a surge in food prices, leading to a drop in food availability. This comes at a time when farmers were gearing up to harvest the rabi crop and have raised issues about the difficulty anticipated in harvesting and brining the crop to market. What role does agriculture play as we think about the economic consequences of COVID-19, and what can India do to ensure that challenges we’ve experienced in the past 21 days do not extend further? Sharma and Krishnamurthy talk about why food supply chains have broken down, what the lockdown means for the farmer, and what the Indian government should be doing to ensure both farmers and consumers are protected. They recommend a revival of government procurement and the mandi within the next few week so farmers can continue trading, while ensuring that all aspects of the supply chain remodel themselves to the new normal of social distancing. This is the fourth in a series of episodes by the Centre for Policy Research on the unfolding coronavirus pandemic in India. You can follow the Centre’s work on Covid-19 on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CPR_India or visit www.cprindia.org. You can listen to all the episodes in the Coronavirus Conversation series here: https://bit.ly/2JXygcM.

In the 35th episode of ThoughtSpace, Yamini Aiyar, President & Chief Executive of CPR, speaks with Dr Rathin Roy, Director of the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP). The coronavirus pandemic and subsequent 21-day national lockdown have brought the Indian economy to a standstill. This comes at a time when India’s economy and public finances were already under considerable strain. It is with this backdrop that India must think about how it can deal with the current crisis and rebuild its economy once the immediacy of the public health crisis dissipates. How should the government generate finances and design a fiscal package to stimulate the economy? What must the government do to protect all Indians, especially the poor and vulnerable, and ensure they have income and food security? Roy calls for a rethinking of the social contract; increased accountability from the government to ensure that money is spent for the purposes it has been allocated for; and adequate financing to states so that they can take measures to tackle the crisis. This is the third in a series of episodes on the unfolding coronavirus pandemic in India. The first episode looked at how prepared India’s health systems are to deal with the pandemic and the second looked at the crisis of migrant workers. You can find a link to the episode in our show notes (https://soundcloud.com/cpr_india/episode33 and https://soundcloud.com/cpr_india/episode34). Stay tuned for updates on future episodes. For more information on our work on COVID-19, follow us on Twitter @CPR_India or visit our website at www.cprindia.org.

In episode 34 of ThoughtSpace, Yamini Aiyar speaks with Partha Mukhopadhyay and Mukta Naik about the migrant worker crisis unfolding across the country. The lockdown imposed by the Indian government last week has brought the country to a standstill. Simultaneously, it has created panic in the lives of India’s migrant workers and labourers. Videos and images of migrants walking home hundreds of kilometres have etched themselves in our minds. Over 20 migrant workers, including children, have lost their lives since the lockdown due to hunger, exhaustion, or in road accidents on highways. Who are these migrant workers and what is compelling them to make this arduous journey home on foot, in the absence of buses and trains? What are their vulnerabilities and were these taken into consideration when the state announced the lockdown? And are we now doing enough to alleviate their concerns, meet requirements, and ensure that they do not bear the disproportionate brunt of this lockdown? In the second episode on the Centre for Policy Research’s series on the coronavirus pandemic, Yamini Aiyar, President & Chief Executive of CPR, speaks with Partha Mukhopadhyay, Senior Fellow at CPR, and Mukta Naik, Fellow at CPR, on the migrant worker crisis unfolding across the country. Mukhopadhyay and Naik talk about what makes the migrant worker invisible to India’s policymakers, how the state has failed to address their needs repeatedly, and how that has led to an inherent mistrust of the state among migrant workers. They recommend winning back this trust with open and honest communication, abstaining from coercive means of enforcing the lockdown, and ensuring safe passage home for migrants who want to go home. This is the second in a series of episodes on the unfolding coronavirus pandemic in India. The first episode looked at how prepared India’s health systems are to deal with the pandemic. Listen to the first episode here: https://bit.ly/2UARif5 You can read Mukhopadhyay and Naik’s opinion piece on the migrant crisis here: https://bit.ly/2R6E6wp

In the 32nd episode of ThoughtSpace, Yamini Aiyar (President and Chief Executive, CPR) speaks to Sanjoy Hazarika (Director, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative and Honorary Research Professor, CPR) about the implications of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise in Assam. The passage of the CAA was met by a fierce reaction in the northeastern part of the country, particularly in Assam. Assam has also witnessed the National Register of Citizens or the NRC process. What were the reasons behind this process and how did it unfold? Why are the people of Assam protesting against the CAA and are these protests different from that in the rest of India? Are the CAA and NRC linked in any way? MORE RESEARCH ON THE CAA BY CPR SCHOLARS: 1. Unpacking the Citizenship Amendment Act (https://cprindia.org/news/8348). 2. How Democratic Processes Damage Citizenship Rights: The Implications of CAA-NRC (https://cprindia.org/news/8339). 3. Podcast: Citizenship Amendment Act- Protests, Democracy & Politics: Lessons from Latin America (https://cprindia.org/news/8394).

In the 33rd episode of ThoughtSpace, Yamini Aiyar (President and Chief Executive, CPR) speaks with Dr Jishnu Das (Senior Visiting Fellow, CPR and professor at the McCourt School of Public Policy and the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University). As the world grapples with the coronavirus pandemic, the Indian government responded to the threat by imposing an unprecedented 21-day lockdown. The lockdown’s stated objective is to buy time to slow the spread of the disease and ‘flatten the curve’, a phrase that everyone is all too familiar with now. But what does flatten the curve mean for India? Is a complete lockdown the ideal way to go about it? And how can our already strained health systems prepare for a widespread outbreak, if we do experience one in the coming weeks? Dr Jishnu Das’s work focuses on the delivery of basic services, and his in-depth research on India’s health systems makes him the ideal person to talk us through the challenges our health systems face as the Covid-19 outbreak unfolds over the next few months. He recommends the adoption of a well thought out testing strategy along with widespread availability of testing, collaboration to get better data, and preparation of our health systems make it agile and draw on the entire gamut of health infrastructure in India – including informal providers, private doctors, and government doctors. This is the first in a series of episodes we will be doing on the unfolding coronavirus pandemic in India. Stay tuned for updates. You can read more on Jishnu Das’s work here (https://www.cprindia.org/people/jishnu-das).

In the 31st episode of ThoughtSpace, Yamini Aiyar (President and Chief Executive, CPR) speaks to Patrick Heller ( Professor of Sociology and International and Public Affairs, Brown University), about the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). The passage of the CAA led to agitations across the country. Since December 15, thousands of students, activists and ordinary people are out on the streets every day in every city. Latin American countries including Ecuador, Chile, Bolivia and most recently Colombia have experienced turmoil too. What are the parallels we can draw between the two regions? What do these protests say about the state of democracy across the world? And what are some of the lessons we can learn about peoples' movements?

In the 30th episode of CPR's podcast, ThoughtSpace Richa Bansal talks to Mukta Naik, Fellow, CPR and Gregory Randolph, Executive Vice President, JustJobs Network, discussing their research on the role of small cities in shaping youth employment in India and Indonesia. Sharing key findings, Naik and Randolph shed light on the similarities and differences between the two countries and how their research can feed into policy.

In the 29th episode of CPR ThoughtSpace, Richa Bansal talks to Senior Visiting Fellow, Philippe Cullet, about the book, 'Right to Sanitation: Critical Perspectives' co-edited by him, Sujith Koonan and Lovleen Bhullar, published by Oxford University Press. The book represents the first effort to conceptually engage with the right to sanitation and its multiple dimensions in India, as well as its broader international and comparative setting. This episode is in collaboration with the Oxford University Press, a department of University of Oxford that furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. To know more about the book visit oup.co.in.

In the 28th Episode of ThoughtSpace, Richa Bansal talks to Senior Fellow, D Shyam Babu, discussing the Lok Sabha bill that aims to provide 10 percent reservation in government jobs and education to the economically backward section in the general category. Through the amendment of Articles 15 and 16 of the Constitution, the bill seeks to allow states to make ‘special provision for the advancement of any economically weaker sections of citizens’.

In the 27th episode of CPR ThoughtSpace, Richa Bansal talks to Fellow, Rahul Verma, about his new book, ‘Ideology and Identity: The Changing Party Systems of India’, co-authored with Pradeep K Chhibber. The book challenges the contemporary and common view that party politics in India is bereft of ideology and develops a new approach to defining the contours of what constitutes an ideology in multi-ethnic states.

In the twenty sixth episode of CPR ThoughtSpace, Richa Bansal talks to Senior Fellow and former Foreign Secretary Ambassador Shyam Saran, about the recent turmoil in Sri Lanka's politics. Saran sheds light on how India should best approach this crisis and what the future course of action should be, given this has ramifications across South Asia.

In the twenty fifth episode of CPR ThoughtSpace Richa Bansal talks to Senior Fellow, Shubhagato Dasgupta and Fellow, Arkaja Singh, about deaths due to manual scavenging in India. Despite laws that prohibit the act of manual scavenging, the practice is rampant in India. The conversation highlights the lack of proper sanitation infrastructure, poor implementation of laws, and elaborates on the reasons behind the high number of deaths associated with sanitation work. Music: The Jazz Piano - Bensound.com

As the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) completes 4 years on 2nd October, the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, it becomes essential to study and understand the progress the Mission has made so far. In the twenty fourth episode of CPR ThoughtSpace, Richa Bansal talks to Devashish Deshpande, Senior Research Associate at the Accountability Initiative (AI) at CPR about AI's new study on the declaration of Udaipur as ODF (Open Defecation Free). The study found significant gaps in the processes involved in achieving ODF, and resultantly found less than 100% toilet coverage and even lower usage, bringing into question the veracity of the ODF status. Music: The Jazz Piano - Bensound.com

In the twenty third episode of CPR ThoughtSpace, Richa Bansal talks to Bharat Karnad, Research Professor at CPR about his new book 'Staggering Forward: Narendra Modi and India’s Global Ambition'. The book analyses Prime Minister Modi's foreign and military policies in the context of India's evolving socio-political and economic milieu, global power politics featuring other strongmen-alpha male leaders (Trump, Putin, Xi, Erdogan, Shinzo Abe), and of Modi's persona and style of governance, and offers a critical perspective that helps explain why India has not progressed much towards becoming a consequential power. Music: The Jazz Piano - Bensound.com

In the twenty second episode of CPR ThoughtSpace, Richa Bansal talks to Amb G Parthasarathy, Honorary Research Professor at CPR and former Ambassador to Pakistan, to discuss the Pakistan election results. Amb Parthasarathy delves into the role of the army in the governance of Pakistan and the future of India-Pakistan relations with Imran Khan elected as the new Prime Minister of the country. Music: The Jazz Piano - Bensound.com

In the twenty first episode of CPR ThoughtSpace, Richa Bansal talks to Srinath Raghavan, a Senior Fellow at CPR, to discuss his new book 'The Most Dangerous Place'. The book presents a gripping account of America's political and strategic, economic and cultural presence in South Asia since 1776. By illuminating the patterns of the past, this sweeping history also throws light on the challenges of the future. Music: The Jazz Piano - Bensound.com

Small towns have remained an important feature of the Indian urban system. In this episode of CPR's podcast, Richa Bansal speaks to Dr Partha Mukhopadhyay from CPR and Professor Surinder Jodhka from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, drawing on their research in the Madhubani district of Bihar, to understand the various aspects of social and economic transformations taking place in rural areas and small towns of India. Music: The Jazz Piano - Bensound.com

Persis Taraporevala and Ankit Bhardwaj, both research associates at CPR, have conducted extensive research on the Smart Cities Mission across multiple states - both through empirical research of sixty Indian cities combined with intensive fieldwork across four cities. In this episode of CPR’s podcast, Richa Bansal talks to Taraporevala and Bhardwaj as they draw on their research to contextualise and unpack the Mission and what being 'smart' means for different cities.

Corruption is a systemic problem in India and a recently released report categorised states in India by their level of corruption. T R Raghunanadan, an advisor to the Accountability Initiative at CPR, is a pioneer on corruption work and was the programme head of the first website launched to address the issue called ipaidabribe.com. In this episode of CPR's podcast, Richa Bansal talks to Raghunandan to understand corruption systemically; break down the different types of corruption and the various ways in which both the state and citizens can tackle it. Music: The Jazz Piano - Bensound.com

Agnes Deboulet, a Sociology professor at Université Paris-VIII Vincennes Saint-Denis co-authored a book titled 'Rethinking Precarious Neighbourhoods' along with Véronique Dupont, a Senior Visiting Fellow at CPR, and Solomon Benjamin, Associate Professor at IIT, Madras. In this episode of CPR's podcast, Richa Bansal talks to Deboulet to unpack the concept of precarious neighbuorhoods, as studied in the book, and discuss its various dimensions. Music: The Jazz Piano - Bensound.com

Manju Menon, Senior Fellow at CPR, leads research on environmental justice with her team, in collaboration with another organisation called Namati. In this episode of CPR's podcast, Richa Bansal talks to Menon to unpack her research, including the context; how the research is put to action on the ground through training personnel to find solutions; and the impact this action research project has had. Music: The Jazz Piano - Bensound.com

The Land Rights Initiative at CPR recently completed a study of Supreme Court cases on land acquisition in India from 1950 to 2016. This study examines land disputes along various metrics, as well as analyses litigation under the newly enacted Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (LARR Act) for the three year period, 2014 to 2016. In this episode of the podcast Dr Namita Wahi, a Fellow at CPR who heads the Initiative, unpacks the findings of the study, delving particularly into the massive imbalance between the state and land-losers, and highlights possible ways forward. The full report can be accessed here: http://cprindia.org/system/tdf/policy-briefs/Land%20Acquisition%20Report.pdf?file=1&type=node&id=5891 Music: The Jazz Piano - Bensound.com

President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order to promote US energy independence and economic growth, which can potentially damage global efforts to limit climate change. Navroz Dubash, a Senior Fellow at CPR, unpacks the implications of this order further, explaining how it will impact India's strategic interests, as well as the role India can play going forward. Music: The Jazz Piano - Bensound.com

The Brahmaputra is a river of great strategic significance to both China and India at many levels, and therefore contentious, especially given that China is the source country for it. Nimmi Kurian is an Associate Professor at CPR with particular expertise in the India-China water dialogue and transborder governance. In this episode of the podcast, Kurian deconstructs the importance of the Brahmaputra for both countries; sheds light on the reasons for the tensions, and suggest ways forward for effective water management. Music: The Jazz Piano - Bensound.com

The Uttar Pradesh (UP) state elections of 2017 saw the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, script an unprecedented and unexpected landslide victory in the state. In this episode of the podcast CPR researchers Neelanjan Sircar, Bhanu Joshi, and Ashish Ranjan, who spent months conducting intensive field research, draw on their experience and analyse available data to deconstruct BJP's victory, as well as what it means for UP's future, and for the general elections of 2019. Music: The Jazz Piano - Bensound.com

Can the poor in India access quality healthcare? What are the barriers and the potential solutions? In this episode of the podcast, Dr Jishnu Das, a Senior Visiting Fellow at CPR and lead economist in the Development Research Group at The World Bank, draws on 15 years of research and extensive field-work to shed light on these issues. Music: The Jazz Piano - Bensound.com

The place you live in have has a huge impact on your life. Why are some places in the world, and indeed even within the same country, characterised by better social service provision and welfare outcomes than others? Why have Indian states remained worlds apart in their social development, especially if they started at a similar point in history, if their trajectories were to be traced, such as in the case of Kerala and Uttar Pradesh. Drawing on a multi-method study, from the late nineteenth century to the present of the stark variations in educational and health outcomes within a large, federal, multi-ethnic developing country like India, Dr Prerna Singh’s book ‘How Solidarity Works for Welfare: Subnationalism and Social Development in India' develops an argument for the power of collective identity, or subnationalism, as a driver of social welfare. In this podcast Singh explains the central argument of her book, comparing the different states of India in detail, and also comments on how the idea of subnationalism is playing out in the current political scenario. Prerna Singh is Mahatma Gandhi Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Studies and Fellow at the Watson Institute, Brown University. Her book is a winner of the Woodrow Wilson Prize awarded by the American Political Science Association for the best book published in politics and international relations in 2015, and Barrington Moore prize awarded by the American Sociological Association for the best book published in comparative historical sociology in 2015. Music: The Jazz Piano - Bensound.com

The government of India is working to bring out a New Education Policy or NEP to meet the needs of a changing India, ensuring quality, innovation, research to make the country a knowledge hub. The draft NEP, which was formulated under the regime of the previous HRD Minister Smriti Irani now lies in a state of flux since the change of guard, and there is a possibility that it could be revisited completely under a new committee. As India waits for a New Education Policy, which hasn’t been revised for over three decades now, and is critical to address the gaps in the existing public education system, Kiran Bhatty, a Senior Fellow at CPR and one of the experts consulted during the formulation of the first draft, explains where we stand and what needs to be done. Music: The Jazz Piano - Bensound.com

The Parliamentary Committee, which is probing the government’s decision to demonetise high value notes, recently raised a number of questions before the RBI governor Urijit Patel, and has summoned him later this month. Simultaneously, the Supreme Court case challenging the notes ban, including its legality among other issues, is ongoing. Against this backdrop, CPR Fellow Dr Namita Wahi, the in-house legal expert, deconstructs the legality of demonetisation in this podcast, the third in a series on this subject, where the previous episodes explored economic fallouts and shared coping mechanisms of informal workers. Dr Wahi had earlier written about this issue in an article in 'Economic Times'. Music: The Jazz Piano - Bensound.com

The urban team at the Centre for Policy Research carried out intensive field work over two weeks, where the researchers interviewed workers across categories of informal work in Delhi to understand how they have coped with the impact of demonetisation or ‘notebandi’, as it is commonly called. Senior Researchers Mukta Naik and Ashwin Parulkar and Research Associates Eesha Kunduri and Manish unpack their findings on informal workers' strategies of coping with ‘notebandi’ in this podcast. Music: The Jazz Piano - Bensound.com

The India-Pakistan relationship has been at an all-time low since the Uri attack, with India closely watching the change in guard of the Pakistani army chief, the de-facto power centre there. With the replacement of Raheel Sharif with General Qamar Javed Bajwa last week, who is known to be pro-democracy, a new equation is expected to take shape between the two countries, and the larger geopolitical scenario is also likely to be impacted. Ambassador G Parthsarathy, a career diplomat and Honorary Research professor at CPR, who has also been the High Commissioner of India to Pakistan, explains what General Qamar Javed Bajwa's appointment as the new Army Chief of Pakistan means for India and the region at large. Music: The Jazz Piano - Bensound.com

On the night of November 8, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the withdrawal of 500 and 1000 rupee notes from the market, with immediate effect, with the aim of curbing black money. While this move at demonetisation was hailed with great enthusiasm when announced, the euphoria soon gave way to frustration, anger and resentment, as the ‘inconvenience’ faced by people continued to mount with banks and ATMs running out of the new notes. Is the move worth the trouble people are going through? Will the micro overshadow the macro? What are the larger benefits? How are things likely to unfold? Dr Rajiv Kumar, a well-known economist and Senior Fellow at CPR deconstructs this more deeply in this podcast, beyond the binaries. Music: The Jazz Piano - Bensound.com

Relations between India and China have changed considerably over the past decade as China’s growth rate outpaced India’s, placing both countries in unique and different positions in the current global geopolitical context. This has been most evident in recent times with China’s open opposition to India’s NSG membership bid; its blocking India’s move to ban Masood Azhar, among other things, while India has grown increasingly closer to the US, and not shied away from a muscular response to terrorism emanating from Pakistani soil. Add to this Donald Trump’s victory in the recent US elections and what this posits for the future. In this podcast, Shyam Saran, a senior fellow at CPR, a career diplomat, and an expert on China, analyses the evolving India-China relations, and their future trajectory. Music: The Jazz Piano - Bensound.com

On November 8, the American electorate voted in Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States, a phenomenon that the world is trying to deconstruct. Neelanjan Sircar, a Senior Fellow at CPR and an in-house election expert, who was born and raised in the US, unpacks the results of these presidential elections in this podcast. He both contextualises Donald Trump's victory historically and analyses it by interpreting the data available. Music: The Jazz Piano - Bensound.com

India’s bureaucracy has been her Achilles heel, often described as ‘corrupt’, ‘lazy’, ‘ineffective’ and more. And the reason for why the best-intentioned policies do not get implemented successfully on the ground. 70 years after independence, why are we still struggling with a ‘19th century administrative system in the 21st century’, as defined by Prime Minister Modi? In the second episode of CPR’s podcast, ThoughtSpace, Richa Bansal talks to Senior Fellow and Director of Accountability Initiative Yamini Aiyar on what is the root cause of this and unpacks ‘Bureaucracy from the Bureaucrat’s Perspective’, drawing on AI’s research with frontline bureaucracy. All of AI's research outputs on frontline bureaucracy can be accessed at their blog: http://accountabilityindia.in/ub-21-october Music: The Jazz Piano - Bensound.com

In recent times, several instances of violence against Dalits have brought back India’s focus on caste discrimination. Such instances also dent the claims of progress that Dalits have made with regard to their social and economic conditions. How does one reconcile that even in 2016 Dalits are subjected to violence with the fact that the country has implemented myriad programmes and schemes for their betterment? And what about the whole gamut of constitutional provisions that guarantee their basic rights? Where is the disconnect? In the first episode of CPR’s podcast, ThoughtSpace, Richa Bansal talks to Senior Fellow D Shyam Babu on issues ranging from his work celebrating Dalit Entrepreneurs in Defying the Odds (co-authored with Devesh Kapur and Chandra Bhan Prasad) to the current spate of anti-Dalit violence, and the way forward. Music: The Jazz Piano - Bensound.com