This is Nitin Pai's cyberspace.
The Acorn
Estd 2003
Recent posts:
Where I get an important thing spectacularly wrong
I had argued that India is unlikely to see a major second wave of Covid-19. | 19th Jan 2021
America’s strategic rivalry with China won’t change under Biden
We should expect some easing of tensions between the two countries this year, starting with a change in language, style and ambience. The underlying divergences, though, won’t go away. | 17th Jan 2021
Covaxin was approved for extra-scientific reasons
India’s healthcare and pharmaceutical industry has the potential to realise the numerous opportunities in a post-pandemic, less China-reliant world. To capture these opportunities, it is more important for the healthcare governance system to be — and be seen as — professional, honest, and transparent. | 5th Jan 2021
The big convergence challenge that we face in this new decade
Our opportunities and risks lie in how technology intersects with health, society and geopolitics | 3rd Jan 2021
Blocking Sci-Hub will hurt the public interest
Protecting copyright in the academic publishing space is tantamount to protecting the rent-seeking business model of publishers. Public policy should have little patience for business models that restrict knowledge. | 29th Dec 2020
India needs two maritime theatre commands
The Arabian Sea, the Persian Gulf, the Bay of Bengal and the Straits of Malacca are all connected to the Indian Ocean, but have distinct names for reasons of history, geography and the resulting politics. Strategy should recognise this reality. | 22nd Dec 2020
Social trust is essential for cyber security
Information-sharing among various stakeholders under a clear set of rules is vital for the country to stave off cyber threats | 20th Dec 2020
The real problem is that we have too little republic
A democracy decides on issues based on popularity, often according to the will of the majority. A republic qualifies majority decisions by forcing them to be consistent with a set of principles that even majorities cannot violate. | 15th Dec 2020
India needs a revival of republicanism
In a country where there are thousands of interest groups, with millions of grievances, the dissolution of constitutional constraints is a recipe for turmoil. | 15th Dec 2020
India’s slide into constitutional grey zone
We must recognise that our political culture has swung too much towards populism, and that constitutional methods and the promise of justice are not only nice principles but also crucial to holding this country together. | 8th Dec 2020
Intelligence agencies must track ecological threats and epidemics
Covid-19 has brought home the fact that India must have independent means of acquiring information that has a vital bearing on our health, economy and security. | 6th Dec 2020
Parliament is not an optional accessory
The Narendra Modi government could have avoided farmer unrest and protests had it adopted a broad-based social consultation process and taken its time to put the farm bills through the parliamentary process. | 1st Dec 2020
Nations are hurting themselves in their big fight with Big Tech
In trying to see off the challenge from transnational tech platforms, nation-states are not only compromising their values, but also undermining their interests. | 22nd Nov 2020
A sensible policy towards firecrackers is possible
An abrupt nationwide ban on firecrackers is a bad idea. It creates noise, smoke and fire, not light. There is a better way. | 17th Nov 2020
On Manisha Kadagathur’s “Tell it like it is” podcast
On the Takshashila journey and the emergence of public policy as a rewarding career in India | 12th Nov 2020
Out-station voters should be allowed to vote without having to travel home
I observed the parliamentary elections in the Maldives as a member of an international mission. It was striking how citizens from anywhere in the Maldives could vote in their home constituency election from anywhere else, provided they had previously registered. | 10th Nov 2020
India should create bubbles of trust with its geopolitical allies
New Delhi will have to focus on four areas: Strengthen geopolitical convergences, increase faith in each other’s judicial systems, deepen economic ties, and boost other countries’ trust in one’s citizens. All four are necessary to create bubbles of trust. | 8th Nov 2020
The case for a rapid, publicly-financed, universal vaccination
India should aim to vaccinate 80 per cent of the population by 31 December 2021 at a cost of Rs 50,000-250,000 crore. India can not only afford such a programme, it can’t afford not to. | 3rd Nov 2020
A coalition to counter China will take some time to operationalize
To shape the agenda of this partnership with the United States, and of the Quad, India needs to regain its economic growth story. | 30th Oct 2020
Politicisation of Covid vaccination is a good thing
Any vaccine policy will be politicised is because public health is a political matter. The political dimension cannot be wished away | 27th Oct 2020
A front-footed approach to the world calls for a strong economy
Those crafting India’s strategy in an uncertain world will do well to look for answers in the right places in the great epic. | 25th Oct 2020
India needs more general medical practitioners and nurses
We have a lot of specialists, but too few “doctors”. The shortage of general practitioners or family physicians has become one of the weakest links in India’s medical system: there are too few of them both in urban and rural areas, although for different reasons. | 20th Oct 2020
Local governments must raise their own revenues
The post-pandemic fiscal crunch should cause municipalities, gram panchayats and state governments to start thinking about generating revenues from under-used public assets. | 11th Oct 2020
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