Category: Policy
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THE THORIUM BET: How India is Betting Its Energy Future
India possesses one of the world’s largest identified thorium resource bases but thorium cannot simply be loaded into a reactor and burned. This article examines India’s seven-decade three-stage nuclear programme, the role of the PFBR at Kalpakkam, the uranium-233 fuel cycle, and the engineering challenges standing between India’s thorium reserves and large-scale nuclear power.
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Why Negotiation From Weakness Sometimes Wins | The Underdog Playbook of Statecraft
The article discusses strategies utilized by weaker powers to effectively negotiate and prevail against stronger adversaries throughout history. It outlines techniques such as imposing costs on stronger sides, forming strategic alliances, and leveraging broader legitimacy to enhance their positions. The core principle emphasizes that stakes often outweigh raw strength in determining outcomes.
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Kautilya’s Mandala Theory Explained
Kautilya’s Mandala Theory, rooted in ancient Indian political thought, presents a framework for understanding relationships among states based on geography. Defined in the Arthashastra around the fourth century BCE, it suggests that neighboring rulers are natural enemies (Ari), while distant rulers can be natural allies (Mitra). This theory facilitates predictions about alliances and hostilities, emphasizing…
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Chanakya’s Spycraft
Kautilya, known as Chanakya, established the first formal intelligence service in ancient India through his treatise, the Arthashastra. It outlined a comprehensive espionage system consisting of nine types of spies, loyalty tests, and covert operations. His methods emphasized systematic information gathering and verification, influencing modern intelligence strategies.
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Not Only Hindu, Not Only Indian: Caste and Caste-Like Hierarchy Across Religions and Continents
The discussion of caste in India is often framed as an exclusively Hindu theological phenomenon. However, a deeper look at the comparative record reveals that hereditary status hierarchies -complete with endogamy, occupational stigma, and social exclusion – persist independently among South Asian Muslims and Christians, whose founding doctrines explicitly reject them. From the Pasmanda movements…
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The School Room They Didn’t Tell You About: Caste and Colonial-Era Indigenous Education
Was pre-colonial Indian education really a Brahmin monopoly? The popular claim crumbles against the evidence. William Adam’s 1835-38 surveys and the Madras Presidency’s district returns reveal something far more complicated: in early 19th-century Bengal, Bihar, and the Madras Presidency, non-Brahmin and Shudra students frequently formed the outright majority in vernacular schools. Yet higher learning remained…
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The Architecture of Belonging : India’s Demographic Convergence
In three swift moves – a demographic commission, a legitimised voter-roll purge, and the ghost of a national register – India’s government is constructing something far larger than any single policy. It is building the infrastructure of citizenship itself.