Beyond the Indus

In this episode of Beyond the Indus , Carlos Frederico Pereira da Silva Gama, founder of Brazil's BRICS Policy Center and an international relations scholar at the Shiv Nadar Institution of Eminence, joins host Tushar Shetty to examine the future of BRICS as the postwar order fractures in the wake of the Iran war.  They discuss the priorities and divergences of India’s BRICS presidency ahead o...

Dr. Pramod Varma, chief architect of Aadhaar, UPI, and the India Stack, and co-founder of Networks for Humanity, joins host Tushar Shetty to discuss the design philosophy and the next stages of India's Digital Public Infrastructure. We discuss the core principles that distinguish the India Stack from platform models like Alipay and PayPal, the Account Aggregator framework's consent archite...

Khurram Husain, one of Pakistan’s most widely read business and economy journalists and a columnist at Dawn, joins host Tushar Shetty to examine whether Pakistan’s recent diplomatic gains are translating into meaningful economic progress.  They discuss the tangible but limited economic benefits of Pakistan's geopolitical revival, the impact of the Iran conflict and Hormuz blockade on Pakistan&...

In this episode of Beyond the Indus, Dr. Anil Kakodkar, former chairman of India's Atomic Energy Commission and one of the principal architects of India’s civilian nuclear program, joins us to discuss the history and future of India’s three-stage nuclear program in the wake of this year’s landmark breakthrough at Kalpakkam.  We discuss the strategic logic behind Homi Bhabha’s 1950s vision for...

In this episode of Beyond the Indus, host Tushar Shetty sits down with Colonel Ajai Shukla – a former Indian Army officer, war correspondent, and strategic affairs editor at Business Standard – to examine the structural challenges facing India's military and what it will take to prepare for the wars ahead. Drawing on decades of experience in both uniform and journalism, Col. Shukla assesses Op...

In this episode of Beyond the Indus, host Tushar Shetty sits down with Vice Admiral R.B. Pandit, former Commander-in-Chief of India's Strategic Forces Command and a veteran flag officer of the Indian Navy, to assess the maritime consequences of the Iran conflict and the long-term shifts reshaping the Indian Ocean's strategic order. Drawing on four decades of operational and strategic exper...

In this episode of Beyond the Indus, host Tushar Shetty sits down with Adi Imsirovic, a veteran oil trader with over 35 years of experience in global energy markets and former Global Head of Oil at Gazprom Marketing and Trading, to assess the impact of the Iran war’s impact on global oil and gas markets. Drawing on decades of front-line trading experience, Imsirovic explains why the current disrup...

In this episode of Beyond the Indus, host Tushar Shetty sits down with Siddhant Kishore, a national security and foreign policy analyst based in Washington, D.C. and former open-source intelligence analyst at the Institute for the Study of War, to examine the impact of the Iran conflict on South Asia.  Drawing on his expertise in Middle Eastern security and Iran's axis of resistance, Kishore o...

On March 5, Nepal will head to the polls for the first election since Gen Z protests toppled the government of former Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli. Beyond the Indus host Tushar Shetty sits down with BiswasBaral, editor of the Kathmandu Post and a columnist for The Diplomat, to discuss the Gen Z Revolution, the new crop of favorites – headed by Kathmandu Mayor Balendra Shah – and the fate of the...

Beyond the Indus host Tushar Shetty is joined by Dr. Smruti Pattanaik and Dr. Mubashar Hasan to discuss Bangladesh’s February 12 election.  They explore the competing electoral alliances and election manifestos, issues surrounding mob violence and its impact on electoral legitimacy, the long shadow of the Awami League and its future in Bangladesh, the challenges that the new government will face,...

Host Tushar Shetty sat down with Dr. Tobias Scholz, South Asia researcher at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) in Berlin, to examine the rise of India-EU relations and the significance of their soon-to-be-signed FTA and Security & Defense partnership.  They discuss how both U.S. partners, facing President Trump’s hostile and erratic foreign policy actions, accel...

Beyond the Indus host Tushar Shetty sits down with Michael Kugelman, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and South Asia analyst, to discuss his outlook for South Asia in 2026.  We review the major developments in the region in 2025, the upcoming elections in Bangladesh and Nepal, the India-Pakistan conflict and the reinvigoration of Pakistan’s diplomatic strategy, the downturn in the India-U.S....

In this episode of Beyond the Indus, leading Pakistan security expert Dr. Christine Fair, a professor at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, joins host Tushar Shetty to explore Pakistan's failing Afghanistan strategy and the escalating TTP crisis.  We discuss the historical roots of Pakistan’s “strategic depth” doctrine and its decades-long support for the Taliban, the struc...

In this episode of Beyond the Indus, Meera Gopal, an international legal scholar and policy professional specializing in climate law and diplomacy, joins host Tushar Shetty to examine the outcomes of COP30 in Belém, Brazil and the implications for South Asia We discuss the mixed results of COP30, the impact of U.S. absence on climate negotiations, the concept of the "Just Transition" mechanism and...

In this episode of Beyond the Indus, Ambassador Talmiz Ahmad and John Calabrese from the Middle East Institute join host Tushar Shetty to examine India's evolving strategy in the Middle East. We discuss the region's critical importance to India as a source of energy and trade, India's expanding security presence from the Bab al-Mandeb Strait to Afghanistan, and the country's ambiti...