When the Chips Are Down: A Deep Dive into a Global Crisis by Pranay Kotasthane & Abhiram Manchi (Bloomsbury) is releasing on November 18, 2023.

To the world at large, technology was synonymous with software. But in 2019, the conversations has changed dramatically. Today, the hardware that runs all software - semiconductors or chips - has become a subject of WhatsApp groups and international politics.

The chip shortage during COVID-19 made governments take notice of this complex supply chain. The US began denying advanced semiconductors to Chinese companies. Worsening China-Taiwan relations further intensified the debate. By 2022, China, the US, India, the EU, and Japan had released plans worth billions of dollars for setting up new semiconductor facilities.

This book is a comprehensive overview of this “meta-critical” technology. How are semiconductors important from a geopolitical perspective? Why did the US and Taiwan become powerhouses in this domain while Russia and India fell behind? Is China's semiconductor sector a threat to the world? What are the future trends to watch out for? These are the questions that this book answers.

By Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu S. Jaitley

In India, public policies are all around us. Despite this pervasiveness, yeh public sab nahin jaanti hai (the public doesn't know it all). Questions are rarely asked of the Indian State-the institution that makes rules, bends them and punishes others for breaking the laws it creates. The privileged can afford not to think about the State because we have given up on it. The not-so-privileged have resigned themselves to a State that provides short-term benefits. Either way, we seldom pause to reflect on why the Indian State works the way it does.

Missing in Action aims to change such perceptions through sketches from everyday experiences to illustrate India's tryst with public policymaking. It acquaints the reader with some fundamental concepts of the public policy discipline. It explains the logic (or the lack of it!) of the Indian State's actions, shortcomings, constraints, and workings.

Jargon-free and accessibly written, the book achieves the difficult task of both entertaining and educating.

By Nitin Pai

In the distant land of Gandhara, there once was a janapada called Chakrapuri. Its elders were a worried lot. Their children were uninterested in the welfare and upkeep of the janapada. Most of them were consumed by self-interest and avarice, seeking personal gains, even at the cost of their fellow citizens. Realizing that the young must learn the arts and crafts of citizenship, the Sabha of Chakrapuri decided to employ Nitina of Takshashila, whose wisdom was said to be unparalleled, to teach their children. So it came to pass that the unconventional scholar was entrusted with the charge of these boys and girls for the next ninety days.

Thus begins the Nitopadesha. A labyrinth of stories in the style of the Panchatantra and the Jataka tales, this is a book about good citizenship and citizen-craft that will speak to the modern reader. Covering aspects such as what citizenship means, the ethical dilemmas one faces as a citizen and how one can deal with social issues, Nitin Pai's absorbing translation is an essential read for conscientious citizens of all ages.

By Lt. Gen. Prakash Menon and Aditya Ramanathan

After a brief interlude following the Cold War, nuclear weapons have regained their prominent place in world affairs. Yet our current nuclear age will not be a replay of the Cold War. New technologies, changing political contexts and the death of old arms-control agreements mean that today's nuclear strategists have to navigate unchartered waters filled with fresh perils. Unfortunately, the consequences of failure in the nuclear world can be catastrophic. The immediate imperative today is to lower the possibility of nuclear weapons use during a crisis or conflict involving nuclear powers. While deliberate or pre-emptive nuclear use is less likely, the rising danger of our time is that nuclear weapons will be employed due to some combination of miscommunication, misjudgment, misperception and sheer accident.

The Sheathed Sword: From Nuclear Brink to No First Use is a collection of essays by leading scholars and practitioners on the role of nuclear weapons in global security. The contributors examine how individual states view nuclear weapons, the devastating effects of nuclear war on the world's climate and the issues around nuclear no first use. They also debate the feasibility and desirability of a global no-first-use (GNFU) agreement.

By M. Govinda Rao

Studies in Indian Public Finance is a comprehensive analytical study of Indian public finance evaluated in the background of theories and best practice approaches. It is a comprehensive analysis of the nature and composition of public spending and its financing. Beginning with normative questions on the role of the State, the book argues that public expenditure policies in India are dominated by political economy considerations.

Low revenue productivity of the tax system has constrained the ability of the government to adequately finance physical and social infrastructure at required levels causing elevated levels of large deficits and debt threatening stability, and sustainability. The book also analyses the trends and issues in Indian fiscal federalism and evaluates the effectiveness of intergovernmental transfers in a country marked with wide inter-regional disparities. The analysis also extends to the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on Indian public finances. The book will be useful to students of economics, scholars working on the subject, and policy makers.

By Manoj Kewalramani

In January 2020, the COVID-19 outbreak in China was viewed as a black swan event, threatening the Communist Party’s rule. Two short months later, however, China appeared to have controlled the virus, while the rest of the world struggled to respond. As country after country imposed lockdowns of varying strictness and the human cost began to rise, geopolitical frictions flared up over the origins of the virus, along with Beijing’s early failures, diplomacy and discourse.

Smokeless War: China’s Quest for Global Primacy offers a gripping account of the Communist Party of China’s political, diplomatic and narrative responses during the pandemic. Drawing on the latest academic research and Chinese language sources, the book discusses the Party-State’s efforts to achieve greater discourse power and political primacy, as it sought to convert a potentially existential crisis into a historic opportunity. In doing so, the author provides an insightful account of the Chinese Communist Party’s approaches to cultivating sources of strength and exercise of power.

Edited by Pranay Kotasthane, Anirudh Kanisetti and Nitin Pai

To say that COVID-19 has changed the world is merely stating the obvious at this point. Deep-seated trends in the world order have been accelerated by the pandemic. As the US's star-spangled banner fades, China's red-gold stars once seemed to be dawning over Asia - a hegemony now questioned by many. An unprecedented global reorganisation of capital, labour, and supply chains is in the making. And India needs to be ready.

India's Marathon is an anthology of fifteen essays from some of the world's brightest public intellectuals to help India understand what needs to be done - and answer some of the pressing questions that are sure to arise in the years to come. How can India manage its relationships with China and the US? How can it turn its enormous population into a driver of economic growth? How can it reform its taxation systems and institutions of governance to be prepared for unprecedented challenges? Most importantly, how can India shape the post-pandemic world to suit its interests while dealing with its own complicated problems?

India's Marathon has answers to all this - and more. Unlike most other books that aim to forecast the future, India's Marathon is unabashedly India-centric, written with Indian interests and ideas front and centre. This is an Indian vision of what the world will look like and what India needs to do, for the policy professional and lay reader alike.

By Lt. Gen. Prakash Menon

India’s emergence as a nuclear weapon state gave birth to the concept of limited war and therefore, the feasibility of conventional war under the nuclear shadow informs India’s military preparations. But is achievement of substantial political objectives possible through war? What are the dangers of escalation caused by what Clausewitz described as the friction and fog of war?

In the context of Indo-Pak conflict, can force application by India provide an answer to resolving the contentious issue of Pakistan supported terrorism? Or would it only lead to a temporary change of status quo? This incisive analysis, made by one of the most distinguished military thinkers of India, doesn't just raise these pertinent questions but also brings great clarity to the strategic options available to India.

For the Indian military, the author recommends a doctrinal shift from capture of territory to stand off destruction with a concurrent rebalance from west to north which must be accompanied by political leadership understanding that alerting nuclear weapons is a red line which once crossed, has potential for conflict to spiral beyond their control. Nuclear deterrence stands on the loose sands of nuclear strategy that has not been able to answer the query, ‘What happens when nuclear deterrence fails?’. A must read not just for defense professionals, strategists and political decision-makers across the globe, this illuminating book would be of great value even to the students of statecraft and the uninitiated.

By Narayan Ramachandran

A Visible Hand is a collection of essays from Narayan Ramachandran on the intersection of Economics, Politics, and Society. They offer a fresh perspective and original take on many aspects of emerging India - from the political economy to new-age industries, from financial inclusion to running a space programme. Written with depth and his trademark incisiveness, these essays reflect Narayan’s love of words and the English language. They are sure to inform and entertain anyone curious about contemporary India.

India is not New Delhi and New Delhi is not India, though sometimes this gets forgotten. Distance from Delhi is a collection of essays and articles that reflect on India’s national interest – on economic reforms, international relations, public policy, national security and social transformation. The authors of this book are pioneers at the Takshashila Institution and have helped make it an innovative institution that brings together insights from various disciplines to the pubilc policy discourse in India. Takshashila engages in policy research, education and public persuasion to strengthen the intellectual foundations of an India with global interests. Removed from Delhi’s corridors of power and circles of influence, this book compiles fresh thinking and bold perspectives on India and its dynamic relationship with the world.