This is Nitin Pai's cyberspace.

What I’m up to now: pursuits, talks, engagements.
Contact: @acorn.

I’m interested in coffee, philosophy, sharp objects, public policy, tech and stationery.

You are in the structured section of my domain where I have my blog posts, newspaper columns, updates on my teaching and research, and other things you had always been warned about.

▸ Check out my book: The Nitopadesha: Moral Tales for Good Citizens.⭐

▸ I have recently been writing about: ☼ information agehyperdiversityliberal democracyeconomicsCovid-19philosophy and everything else

▸ In these columns: ☼ MintDebates with my DaughtersThe PrintThe HinduPragatiPax IndicaSakal

The Acorn
Estd 2003
Recent posts:

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

Heed Napoleon’s words as China fancies its odds of taking Taiwan
New Delhi should not distract China from getting into an energy-sapping quagmire over Taiwan. | 27th Sep 2020

It is time India gave its policy on Tibet some strategic coherence
Unless backed by purposeful policy and substantive actions, symbolism alone is dangerous and can be counterproductive. The time has come for India to review its approach towards Tibet. | 13th Sep 2020

The US-China tech war is being fought across a bamboo curtain
For India, the correct answer is some form of interdependence with both the US and China that ground realties and interests permit. | 30th Aug 2020

A retreat from global trade will hurt India’s geopolitical stature
India must resist the forces of de-globalization and lead the charge for a new, more balanced international economic order. The openness that we seek in the global economy must start at home. | 16th Aug 2020

Macabre thought experiments and moral compasses
I decided to put the trolley problem to the kids. All three readily said that they would let one person die if it saved two or more lives. But it got more complicated after that. | 9th Aug 2020

Opinion | A national vaccination campaign ought to be run like an election
A national vaccination programme is like a general election, but at much lower temperatures. | 2nd Aug 2020

Is the United Nations of any use?
I got mildly worried a couple of weeks ago when Airy became extremely knowledgeable about the Republic of Kazakhstan. | 10th Jul 2020

The opening up of India’s space sector is a big reform
Liberalizing India’s space sector is a necessary condition for the country to achieve greater self-reliance not just in space, but in the broader high technology domain. | 5th Jul 2020

India can resist China by acting in concert with its adversaries
This is the last of a three-part series on how India could deal with China. | 25th Jun 2020

The global upheaval caused by China’s premature power games
This is the second of a three-part series on how India and the world could deal with China. | 24th Jun 2020

Power is the only currency that will work in dealing with China
This is the first of a three-part series on how India could deal with China. | 23rd Jun 2020

Indian unpredictability could make China rethink its game
New Delhi must also expand the canvas on which the relationship with China plays out. | 18th Jun 2020

Pluralism is often an early casualty in a pandemic
The radical uncertainty created by an epidemic becomes a justification for expressions of hatred, discrimination and violence. | 15th Jun 2020



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