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:

What it would take for India to become a proper space power
India already has significant ability to use space. But our ability to deny its use to an adversary is, understandably, negligible. | 23rd Jun 2019

India must get over its defeatism on manufacturing
We have trapped ourselves in a self-created "big is bad" and "small is good" narrative that is the root cause of low employment growth. | 9th Jun 2019

New military bases can seed new cities and create jobs
Every new military base can create between 100,000 to 1 million jobs in construction and infrastructure alone. | 26th May 2019

Look Beyond Quotas for Equality
Affirmative action is needed in our deeply iniquitous society but there can be better options than reservations and quotas | 19th May 2019

Relocating state capitals will boost growth and employment
The Union government can create fiscal and other incentives to encourage state governments to shift their capitals to brown- or green-field locations. | 12th May 2019

There is no free trade with China
In this piece I advance the argument that censorship and restrictions on free speech are barriers to free trade, especially in the Information Age. | 26th Apr 2019

Preventing over-tourism
Public policy should invest in creating new destinations to prevent old ones from being destroyed. | 15th Apr 2019

Overzealous regulation of Big Tech firms is unwarranted
In the coming years jealous nation-states will first use economic instruments to contain what they see as political encroachments on their primacy. | 1st Apr 2019

Night-time commerce offers India a growth opportunity
Nighttime economy is not merely bars and restaurants, but an extension of day-time economic activities as well. | 18th Mar 2019

India needs to be wary of China-style social credit ratings
I am concerned that Chinese political ideas will subliminally ride on its venture capital and business models and undermine India's constitutional values. | 19th Feb 2019

Soft Power Is Not Power
Our foreign policy priority is not to be some vishwaguru or get everyone on yoga mats once a year: it is to create the external conditions for economic growth during very challenging times. We should heed Kautilya and focus on harnessing intellectual, economic and military power towards this end. | 1st Jan 2019

Managing the China factor in India’s foreign policy
There are two ways the China factor could influence what we do: it could either cast a shadow on our thought and action, or it could act as a reference point for our own journey. | 1st Jan 2019

China’s Belt & Road Initiatives – Implications for Sea Power
| 15th Oct 2018

Why there is an increasingly global pushback against China…
| 5th Oct 2018

Mahathir rocks! He also rocks Xi’s boat.
| 7th Sep 2018

Keep Aero India in Bangalore
Given the plans to set up a defence industrial corridor in Uttar Pradesh, there might be a case for a big industry event. It just doesn’t have to come at Bengaluru’s expense. | 14th Aug 2018

Punish lynch mobs, not tech platforms
In the absence of any measures of its own to deter and punish violent lynch mobs, the government’s determination to move against WhatsApp could well end up as a wild goose chase. | 20th Jul 2018

The strategic dimension of higher education
| 13th Jul 2018

What Kautilya would have prescribed for the Kashmir problem
The lesson from India’s successful management of insurgencies in Punjab, Assam and Mizoram is that once security forces have reduced violence below a threshold, it is the strengthening of local democratic politics that does the trick. | 28th Jun 2018

Higher education and the role of government
| 24th Jun 2018

Indian foreign policy needs to factor in military power
| 15th Jun 2018

Opening up the steel frame
| 11th Jun 2018

The Prime Minister’s security is not a political football
Security officials must remember that their duty is to protect the prime minister, if necessary, from himself. | 10th Jun 2018



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