Vaad

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

Tilak Devasher retired as Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat Government of India in 2014. He is currently a member of the National Security Advisory Board (NSAB) and also a Consultant with the Vivekananda International Foundation.  

During his professional career Tilak served in J&K, Delhi and abroad. He specialized in security issues, especially pertaining to India’s neighbourhood. Post retirement, he has continued to take a keen interest in such issues with special focus on Pakistan.  

He is the author of four widely acclaimed books on Pakistan. His book ‘Pakistan: Courting the Abyss’ (December 2016) was termed ‘easily the best book on Pakistan’ by a noted Pakistani commentator – Khaled Ahmed.  

His latest book is titled 'The Pashtuns: A Contested History' (https://www.amazon.in/Pashtuns-Contested-History-Tilak-Devasher/dp/9394407634)

Jaideep A. Prabhu is a scholar of diplomatic history and nuclear policy though he has a wide range of scholarly interests from the Classics, ethics, history, law, literature, political philosophy, religion, and security. His regional interests, however, are limited to Western Europe and the Greater Levant. Prabhu has three Masters’ degrees in the humanities despite an engineering background, and has written for several periodicals as well as appeared on national television as an expert commentator.  

Presently, Prabhu is based in Israel and conducting research at Ben Gurion Research Institute (BGRI) on religion, secularism, and nationalism, making Israel’s early state-building and foreign policy a case study. The research also touches upon a brief comparative analysis of Zionism and the idea of a Jewish state on the one hand with Hindutva and India on the other.  

Prabhu spends his spare time engaged in martial arts, cooking, flamenco, travelling, and scuba diving; he is also an avid fan of football and tennis.

Jaideep A. Prabhu is a scholar of diplomatic history and nuclear policy though he has a wide range of scholarly interests from the Classics, ethics, history, law, literature, political philosophy, religion, and security. His regional interests, however, are limited to Western Europe and the Greater Levant. Prabhu has three Masters’ degrees in the humanities despite an engineering background, and has written for several periodicals as well as appeared on national television as an expert commentator.  

Presently, Prabhu is based in Israel and conducting research at Ben Gurion Research Institute (BGRI) on religion, secularism, and nationalism, making Israel’s early state-building and foreign policy a case study. The research also touches upon a brief comparative analysis of Zionism and the idea of a Jewish state on the one hand with Hindutva and India on the other.  

Prabhu spends his spare time engaged in martial arts, cooking, flamenco, travelling, and scuba diving; he is also an avid fan of football and tennis.

Dr Prasanna Tantri is an Associate Professor in the Finance area and Executive Director of the Centre for Analytical Finance at ISB. His research areas include- banking, financial inclusion, financial contagion, regulation, and the relationship between politics and finance. He teaches a course on Indian financial systems.

Ananth Krishna is lawyer, author and commentator. He has a deep interest in constitutional law and follows the politics and culture of Kerala closely. Ananth is on Twitter @Ananth_Krishna_

Hukmdev Narayan Yadav is a politician from Bihar, who has been Union Minister of State. He is the recipient of Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian award. He represented the Madhubani constituency of Bihar in 1977, 1999, 2009, and 2014. He was with Socialist Party in 1960s and various faces of Janata Dal and its off-shoots in 1980s, but later he joined Bharatiya Janata Party.  

Yadav is known for his fiery speeches in the parliament. In August 2018, Yadav was recipient of Outstanding Parliamentarian Award for 2014-2017 period and was felicitated at an event at the central hall of Parliament.

Radhavallabh Tripathi is one of the senior-most professors of Sanskrit in the country.  Widely acclaimed for his original contributions to the study of Natyashastra and Sahityashastra, he has published 129 books, 187 research papers and critical essays as well as translations of more than 30 Sanskrit plays and some classics from Sanskrit into Hindi.

He has received more than 25 national and international awards and honours for his literary contributions.   He has been authoritatively referred in various research journals on Indology. Some literary journals have published special numbers dedicated to his life and writings.

J. Sai Deepak is an engineer-turned-litigator, practising as an arguing counsel primarily before the Supreme Court of India and the High Court of Delhi. he has been part of several landmark matters, such as the ones relating to the Sabarimala Ayyappa Temple, the Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple and Basmati Geographical Indications.  

India, That Is Bharat, his first book in a comprehensive trilogy, explores the influence of European 'colonial consciousness' (or 'coloniality'), in particular its religious and racial roots, on Bharat as the successor state to the Indic civilisation and the origins of the Indian Constitution. You can order your copy here: https://www.amazon.in/India-that-Bharat-Civilisation-Constitution/dp/9354352499

Sai's second book of the Bharat trilogy 'India, Bharat and Pakistan: The Constitutional Journey of Sandwiched Civilisation' is releasing on 23rd August. Order your copy here: https://www.amazon.in/India-Bharat-Pakistan-Constitutional-Civilisation/dp/9354353010

Pankaj Saxena is Co-Founder, Bṛhat and Director, Cultural Research, Bṛhat. He is an author who writes on Hindu temples, Indian art, literature, history and culture. He is also deeply interested in cultural anthropology, evolutionary biology and ecology. He has visited more than 600 ancient Hindu temples on his temple trails.