Some of my ideas

Archimedes did not have a smartphone.

Here are ten that came to my mind when I thought I should share some of my original ideas. Presented in no particular order.

Twainism

The word I coined for the feeling you get the moment you realise what you thought was your brilliant original idea was already expressed by some smart person (usually Mark Twain) in the past. If Archimedes had a twainism he would jump right back into the tub after banging his head against the wall. I am awaiting the moment when I find out that Mark Twain had already coined a word for the same feeling.

Afaik the ideas are original.

I have written about these ideas in on my blog, in my columns, journal papers and book chapters. Each link takes you to an indicative article, not necessarily the first, the latest or the most authoritative. You will find more thoughts-in-progress in the Notes section.

It is easier to start networked than to network an existing organisation.

A networked think tank: It is more effective to connect to smart people wherever they are than to try and put them in one single building. Takshashila was founded in 2010 on this idea. Ten years later, the Covid-19 pandemic forced every organisation to attempt this model.
Information warfare: Cognitive security as an aspect of national security; and cognitive autonomy as a fundamental right.

I had argued this in 2009-10. Since then China’s actions have driven India onto the United States’ side.

India as a Swing Power: In a world where the United States and China are engaged in a contest for primacy India’s interests are best served by aligning selectively issue-by-issue.
Global No First Use Treaty: Non-proliferation has failed. Nuclear risks can be better managed by a Global No First Use Treaty.

India has moved in this direction since I first argued this in 2009. Not enough though.

Balancing China: To manage China’s power in India’s neighbourhood, New Delhi must use maritime power in the South China Sea
Space Power Doctrine: India must build a minimum credible deterrent in space in the form of co-orbital anti-satellite capability. Takshashila has published a draft doctrine
Radically Networked Societies: With pervasive internet and social media, people will form trans-border imagined communities that will interact with nation-states in novel ways.
Nukes are the New Himalayas: Nuclear deterrence forms the new strategic barrier between India and China playing the role that mountains once did.
Our foreign policy is economic growth: High growth creates the conditions for India to promote its interests with both allies and adversaries.

This is India’s biggest policy challenge: no one acknowledges its scale

20 million jobs per year: From fixing agriculture to promoting high-tech, the answer to most of India’s economic problems is the creation of millions of jobs.
Dynamic river water sharing: Current mechanisms of sharing river water are administrative and dysfunctional. A better way for sustainable water usage and livelihood protection of river-dependent communities.
Multi-contributor social security: Technology now enables India to construct a really social social security system for the twenty-first century.
Pakistan’s military-jihadi complex: It helps to see Pakistan as not one geopolitical entity, but two: and the military establishment and its eco-system presides over real power.
Pakistan has a second nuclear arsenal.

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