Skip to content
Melo Podcasts Home
CategoriesLanguagesFollowing

Season 1, Episode 1937 · All Things Policy

Why Swimming Is A Policy Issue

20 Aug 2026 · 43 min

Play episode WhatsApp Download

Episode notes

India recorded 38,503 drowning deaths in 2022, 9.1% of all accidental deaths in the country (source: NCRB). Yet swimming is still treated as a summer hobby for the urban few, not the public-health and sporting priority the numbers demand. On this episode of All Things Policy, Malathi Renati is in conversation with Hakimuddin Habibulla OLY, 2000 Sydney Olympian and founder of Swimming Matters, about the importatance of swimming: why water safety has no real home in Indian policy, why the sport with the most Olympic golds on offer stays under-resourced, and whether India's swimming pool market…

Podcast

All Things Policy

Takshashila Institution · News · English

Ever wondered how automation will change the world? Maybe you puzzle over what India could do to ease traffic congestion, or how China's aircraft carriers will transform Indian Ocean geopolitics?

More from All Things Policy All episodes →

  1. S1 · E1942 · 27 Aug 2026 · 33 min

    The Great Indian Tournament

    In this episode, 'The Great Indian Tournament' — Only a few "win" India's white-collar job market while millions compete for a shrinking number of prizes. Sowmya Prabhakar & Shobhankita Reddy use tournament theory to figure out why India's middle class is hitting a breaking point. It points to real openings in the semiconductor design and entrepreneurship sectors where prizes are going unclaimed for want of the right people. However, this means the old rulebook- study hard, get a degree, get a job, retire safely needs rewriting for individuals and for policy alike. All Things Policy is a…

  2. S1 · E1941 · 26 Aug 2026 · 34 min

    The State of Fiscal Decentralisation in Karnataka

    Karnataka has long been seen as a leader in fiscal decentralisation, giving local governments both responsibilities and resources to deliver public services. But as the state urbanises rapidly, is this changing? In this episode of All Things Policy, Sarthak Pradhan speaks with Manisha Marulasiddappa from Janaagraha, co-author of the report A Slow Reversal of Karnataka’s Fiscal Decentralisation, to unpack what is happening to fiscal decentralisation in Karnataka. Manisha discusses the role of State Finance Commissions, the growing gap between Karnataka’s urbanisation and its fiscal transfers…

  3. S1 · E1940 · 25 Aug 2026 · 26 min

    Pakistan in the Middle: Mediating West Asia

    Pakistan has emerged as an unlikely mediator in the conflict in West Asia, balancing its relationships with Iran, Saudi Arabia, the US and China. In this episode of All Things Policy, Suman Joshi speaks with Aishwaria Sonavane about what has enabled Pakistan to play this role, the limits of its diplomatic leverage, and what its growing relevance could mean for India. This is based on Aishwaria's recent paper titled: SWOT Analysis of Pakistan’s Mediation in West Asia - takshashila.org.in/content/publications/20260811-swot-analysis-of-pakistans-mediation-in-west.html All Things Policy is a…

  4. S1 · E1939 · 24 Aug 2026 · 35 min

    State Equity In AI Companies

    In August, Sam Altman floated the idea of handing the US government about five per cent of OpenAI, dressed up as a sovereign wealth fund for ordinary Americans. Around the same time, and with far less noise, the Indian government moved towards taking a one to two per cent share in Sarvam, the Bengaluru startup building foundation models, in exchange for a compute subsidy under the IndiaAI mission. While the sums are small, what these arrangements set up needs to be analysed for its unintended consequences. MeitY writes the rules for AI in India. It also runs the mission that decides who gets…

  5. S1 · E1938 · 21 Aug 2026 · 1 hr 36 min

    Risk and Resilience: Built in Peacetime

    Sooner or later, every country gets hit — a pandemic, a war, a shipping lane that closes, a bank that fails. And there is a comfortable belief in Indian public life that crisis is when things finally get fixed. 1991 is the proof, we tell ourselves. The fashionable verdict is that a crisis is an opportunity, and a terrible thing to waste. Is it? In this episode of Turbulence, Anupam Manur is joined by Ajay Shah — co-founder of the XKDR Forum, formerly of the Ministry of Finance and NIPFP, and co-author with Vijay Kelkar of In Service of the Republic — who calls that idea drawing-room chatter.…

  6. S1 · E1936 · 19 Aug 2026 · 1 hr 6 min

    India’s Sovereign AI Stack: Beyond the GPU Race

    India’s AI ambitions are often framed around chips, GPUs, and the race for cutting-edge models. But AI is much more than hardware. In this episode, Gopal Tomar and Dr Dheeraj Dwarakanath examine India’s AI stack from the ground up — from electricity, data centres, and semiconductor manufacturing to models, applications, languages, and digital public infrastructure. The discussion explores what “sovereign AI” should mean for India, where India’s actual strengths and constraints lie, and whether the country should try to compete with the US and China on their terms or build an AI ecosystem…

  7. E1935 · 18 Aug 2026 · 31 min

    Navigating India's Subsea Cable Governance

    Subsea cables are the fibre-optic networks laid across the ocean floor that carry approximately 95% of all intercontinental digital communications, serving as the essential, yet often invisible, backbone of the modern global internet. In India, the subsea cable ecosystem is constrained by regulatory gaps, procurement hurdles, and structural commercial barriers, resulting in significant vulnerabilities in the nation’s digital connectivity. In this episode of All Things Policy, Anisree Suresh and Anwesha Sen explore these vulnerabilities and discuss ways to mitigate the same. Check out our…

  8. S1 · E1934 · 17 Aug 2026 · 18 min

    FCRA: A Potential US-India Irritant?

    In this episode of the All Things Policy podcast, Kavya Rai and Abhishek Kadiyala examine India's 2026 amendments to the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act and why a domestic funding law has drawn attention in Washington. The conversation frames the issue as a collision between Indian regulatory sovereignty and the rising force of religious-freedom politics in the United States. It traces the money at stake, from American donors to Indian recipients, and situates the debate within USCIRF hearings, Congressional interest, and the evangelical turn in US politics. The episode argues that while…

  9. S1 · E1933 · 14 Aug 2026 · 1 hr 48 min

    China: Weaker at Home, Stronger Abroad?

    China's population is shrinking. Its property sector has collapsed, and taken local government finances down with it. Prices at the factory gate have been falling for years. By most conventional measures, the Chinese economy is in real trouble. And yet, last October, China made a change to its rare-earth export licensing, which sent countries scampering to think about economic statecraft. How does a weakening economy end up with more leverage than ever? In this episode of Turbulence, Anupam Manur is joined by Manoj Kewalramani, who chairs the Indo-Pacific Studies Programme at the Takshashila…

  10. S1 · E1932 · 13 Aug 2026 · 35 min

    "We Feel Free" — India's Geospatial Sector Since the 2022 Policy

    Companies now tell Srikant Sastri that their chains have been removed. Dr Y. Nithiyanandam speaks with the GDPDC Chairman about whether that feeling amounts to an inflection point, what Operation Dronagiri proved in its pilot districts, where geospatial data pays off in agriculture, logistics and infrastructure; whether India can build sovereign capability in GeoAI and hardware; what students should learn now; and why this industry resists measurement entirely. All Things Policy is a daily podcast on public policy brought to you by the Takshashila Institution,…

Take it with you

The Melo app keeps playing with the screen off, works in the car and on your watch, wakes you to your station, and browses the whole catalogue offline. Free, no ads, no account.

Get it on Google Play