Vaad

Prakash Singh is retired IPS officer with an excellent track record of combating terrorism/insurgency in the most turbulent theaters of the country - Nagaland, Assam, Punjab, J&K, and (in the Terai area of) UP. He was Police Chief of two of the largest states of India – Uttar Pradesh and Assam, and also commanded India’s Border Security Force (BSF).  

The Government of India, in recognition of his contribution to national security, awarded him the Padma Shri in 1991. A prolific writer, he has written six books and about 300 articles for the national dailies. Prakash Singh is also the architect of Police Reforms in the country. He was Member, National Security Advisory Board (2013-14). He is also Associate Fellow of the Joint Special Operations University (US).

Dr Rishi Rajpopat was born and brought up in Mumbai and pursued his undergraduate degree in economics at St. Xavier's Mumbai. He earned a masters in oriental studies with a focus on Pāṇini grammar at Oxford before going on to pursue a PhD in the same field at Cambridge.

Vaibhav Singh is founder of Defensive Offence and Co-founder of DO Politics.

Jay Vardhan Singh is currently doing his PhD in Ancient Indian History at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi. His area of interest includes the Ancient and early medieval history of the Indian subcontinent. Follow Jay’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@JayVardhanSingh

Since 1999, Vikas Manhas has been visiting families of soldiers of the Indian Armed Forces who have given ultimate sacrifice for the nation. Every year, he devotes a significant amount of time traveling across the country and visiting and revisiting the families of our immortals. He has visited over 500 families of so far and built long lasting familial relationships with them.

Rohit Pathania is an author, analyst and observer with varied interests in politics, history and environment.

Aashish Chandorkar works as counsellor at the Permanent Mission of India to the World Trade Organization in Geneva. He is a lateral entrant to the government, having spent more than two decades in the management consulting and financial services industries working around the world. He has been writing on public policy in the domestic and international media for several years. His writings have focussed on the positive India stories and the possibilities that lie ahead for the country. His book 'Braving a viral storm: India's Covid-19 vaccine story' is now out.

Vaibhav Singh, founder of Defensive Offence, DO Politics & DO News, and Arihant Pawariya of Vaad interview Pratap Somvanshi, Hindustan Hindi daily newspaper's executive editor who has 32 years of experience in journalism.

Sanjay Kumar is Professor and Co-Director of Lokniti, a Research Programme at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies. His core area of research is Electoral Politics, but using survey method as research tool he has been engaged in conducting research on very wide range of themes-Indian Youth, State of Democracy in South Asia, State of Indian Farmers, Slums of Delhi and Electoral Violence.  

He has published widely, written several books, edited volumes, contributed chapters for several edited volumes, published articles in various national and international research journals. His most recent book is Elections in India: An Overview. His other publications include Post Mandal Politics in Bihar: Changing Electoral Patterns, Changing Electoral Politics in Delhi: From Caste to Class, (with Praveen Rai) Measuring Voting Behaviour in India, Women Voters in Indian Elections: Changing Trends and Emerging Patterns, Youth in India: Aspirations, Attitudes, Anxieties,  Indian Youth and Electoral Politics: An Emerging Engagement, (with Suhas Palshkar and Sanjay Lodha) Electoral Politics in India: Resurgence of the Bhartiya Janata Party, (With Christophe Jaffrelot) Rise of the Plebeians? The Changing Face of Indian Legislative Assemblies and (with Peter R deSouza and Sandeep Shastri) Indian Youth in a Transforming World: Attitudes and Perceptions.  

Besides his academic writing he writes regularly for both national and regional newspapers, both in English and Hindi languages. His articles are published regularly in The Hindu, Indian Express, Asian Age, Deccan Chronicles, Dainik Bhaskar, Rajasthan Patrika and The Mint. He is also a well know face on Indian Television as Psephologist and Political Commentator. He has also been an international election observer in many countries.

Krzysztof Iwanek is a South Asia expert. From 2014 to 2016, he taught Hindi at the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Republic of Korea. He holds two MA degrees: in History and in South Asian Studies, and a PhD in Cultural Studies.  His main area of interest is contemporary Indian politics and political ideologies. He has also co-authored a book titled Indie. Od kolonii do mocarstwa.1857-2013 (“India. From a Colony to a Power. 1857-2013″) with Adam Burakowski.