Policy pointers

New Delhi-based think tank Carnegie India has been supported by the Tata Trusts in its effort to demystify geopolitics, regulation and technology

Talent can come from anywhere; it is not just the preserve of urban denizens. But what usually happens in India is that professionals from towns and smaller cities often get overlooked by recruiters scouting for employees. They inevitably have to move to metros to find fulfilling jobs.

It’s even harder if your heart is set on public policy and global affairs and you are based far away from the nearest seat of government. In 2023, the New Delhi-based think tank Carnegie India set about helping fix this with its ‘young ambassadors program’ (YAP), which is aimed at finding and fostering the country’s next generation of policymakers.

The program invites applicants from beyond India’s metropolitan areas — tier 2 and tier 3 cities that may be disconnected from the national and international economic network — to join Carnegie India and be trained in the policymaking vocation. Carnegie India got going with the initiative after receiving a second grant from the Tata Trusts, a partner since 2016.

“We thought the best use of the grant from the Tata Trusts would be to build capacity for a wider public policy community outside Carnegie India,” says the organisation’s director, Rudra Chaudhuri. “That’s how our young ambassadors program came about.”

Mr Chaudhuri feels not enough attention is given to public policy training in India, though the need for it has grown exponentially in the last decade given the country’s growing significance in global politics.

Different from the traditional government affairs space, public policymaking needs more people who understand technology and regulation as well as societal and government concerns. Importantly, it can serve as a bridge between one entity and another, the government and industry, for instance.

Carnegie India felt that it was time to broaden the scope of the traditional talent pool and specifically keep a lookout for qualified individuals in towns and smaller cities.

Fresh perspectives are crucial for the work that Carnegie India does, which is about providing independent analyses of the country’s pressing challenges and the rising role of India in the world. This is seen through the lens of three specific and interrelated areas: technology and society, the political economy, and security studies.

As a report by the organisation states, “Led by Indian experts with decades of policy experience, Carnegie India engages with governments, policymakers, academics, students, industries, practitioners, and civil society to provide insightful and fresh analysis” on the challenges facing India as it navigates its place in the world order.

Founded in 2016, Carnegie India has three inter-operable teams. The political economy team focuses on industrial policy, trade, and other issues related to economic growth.

The security studies team looks at, among other things, the various aspects of Indo-China relations: the border question, the line of control between the two countries and the action taken there, and how to prevent flashpoints on either side. Carnegie India has incorporated its research on the India-Pakistan border into an open-source dashboard that its stakeholders can draw upon.

Another area that the security studies team researches is military indigenisation. Specifically, this relates to dual-use technologies that various startups and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have invested in that can have civilian and military applications.

Deep-tech bent

The largest team at Carnegie India focuses on deep technology, including work on data, biotechnology, artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductors, space, export controls, digital public infrastructure, etc. “We’ve got a variety of verticals because we felt that there was a real need for policies — and serious thinking — about deep technology issues,” adds Mr Chaudhuri.

Although Carnegie India is a part of the global Carnegie Endowment for International Peace network, it operates on its own, legally and financially, in India. Most of the research it generates by way of studies, papers and the like is circulated at global conferences and roundtables.

Carnegie India has a lean and diversely experienced team of 25 individuals and there are a further 170 scholars from the global network who contribute in different ways. Its cohort of nonresident scholars includes former foreign secretaries, ambassadors, entrepreneurs and industry leaders who work on particular projects.

Then there is a large network of experts from around the world that Carnegie India can draw upon. These are collaborators who pitch in with expertise in areas outside the realm of its in-house researchers and among them are civil servants and business leaders who can share policy-relevant insights as part of Carnegie India’s ‘practitioner series’ of papers and articles.

“We are often asked who Carnegie India’s audience is,” says Surya Valliappan Krishna, associate director, projects and operations. “The answer is: everyone. To qualify that further, we are about informing policymakers of the policy choices available to them.”

Of all its projects, Carnegie India’s work in three spheres has been impactful: digital public infrastructure (DPI); the initiative on critical and emerging technology (iCET), which falls within the larger ambit of Indian-American technology cooperation; and artificial intelligence.

DPI refers to the digital systems and services provided by the public sector to facilitate and enhance the functioning of a digital economy. In India it includes the creation of digital identity systems, payment programmes, public services and information offered on e-governance portals, infrastructure to store and manage data securely, and broadband connectivity.

“We have convened different meetings on DPI and digital public goods since 2016,” says Mr Chaudhuri, who leads the work in this space. “The biggest is the Global Technology Summit, of which eight have been held, all co-hosted with [India’s] Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).”

The iCET combo

With iCET, a bit of background. In May 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and then American President Joe Biden announced iCET. Co-led by India’s National Security Council Secretariat and the US National Security Council, the idea was to bring together stakeholders on both sides, and from different domains, to ascertain areas of technology cooperation between the two countries.

Carnegie India was invited to shape the agenda for iCET. “At that point, the nodal agency was trying to look at things from both the Indian and American sides and approached us to ideate on what a possible agenda could be,” says Konark Bhandari, a fellow in the technology and society programme.

A few weeks later, Carnegie India brought together a diverse set of stakeholders — government representatives, academics, venture capitalists, companies and startups — for discussions on the pain points, and prospects, for India’s cooperation with the US.

Carnegie India has traditionally worked on data governance and privacy, primarily relating to cross-border data flows and the issues around that. Adds Mr Bhandari: “We’re looking increasingly at strategic tech, which includes semiconductors, and industrial policy around that; space policy, export controls and emerging tech, which relates to biosafety, and security practices to shape the AI regulatory landscape.”

While the use of AI has become commonplace, policies and a regulatory framework to govern it are still getting firmed up. More than anything, the risks associated with the use of AI need to be identified and mitigated, and that’s where Carnegie India has played a significant role.

“We hold brainstorming sessions with key players [in the AI space] that are private, closed-door discussions where the objective is to garner ideas from the ecosystem,” says Shatakratu Sahu, a senior research analyst and program manager with the technology and society program who co-leads the AI vertical at Carnegie India.

With the Indian government allocating 100 billion (10,000 crore) for its AI mission, there is an imperative to understand what this is all about. Mr Sahu says that at a meeting in the Carnegie India office on compute AI, which comprises about half the mission budget, the attendees realised they had to first demystify the concept.

Collaborative research is at the heart of Carnegie India’s efforts in specialised areas such as AI. If matters are beyond the capability of its in-house scholars, the think tank seeks out domain experts. Discussions usually cover the transformative power of AI and its evolution, guardrails for developing responsible use, regulatory approaches, the impact of the technology on skilling and employment, and its military applications.

The Carnegie India team has published a paper on AI regulation and plans to do more research in the field. For instance, a recent article on ‘AI safety institutes’ was much appreciated by the Indian government, which is looking to set up a safety body and may draw on the organisation’s findings.