Rohan Venkat

INDIA IN TRANSITION:
Now Available in HINDI, BANGLA, and TAMIL

"CASI Reading List: MGNREGA, Employment Guarantees, and the Indian Welfare State" with @rohanvenkat.bsky.social in conversation with Yamini Aiyar (Brown University).

(Links Below)

So glad to share this interview about Coolie Migrants, Indian Diplomacy, coinciding with the US publication of the book with @academic.oup.com

Many thanks to @rohanvenkat.bsky.social for this thoughtful conversation and for his close and generous reading of my book.

INDIA IN TRANSITION:
"CASI Reading List: MGNREGA, Employment Guarantees, and the Indian Welfare State" with @rohanvenkat.bsky.social in conversation with Yamini Aiyar (Brown University) casi.sas.upenn.edu/iit/casi-rea...

INDIA IN TRANSITION:
In this CASI Deep Dive IiT Interview, Managing Editor @rohanvenkat.bsky.social speaks to Rohit De & Ornit Shani about their new co-authored book on "'Re-assembling' India’s Constitutional History" casi.sas.upenn.edu/iit/casi-dee...

What to read on the India-EU 'mother of all deals' trade agreement 3 notes on the big India-EU deal, and lots of links.

Back to writing India Inside Out after a longer-than-expected paternity break.

On this edition, three notes on the 'mother of all deals' signed between India and the EU, plus links to lots of interesting analysis on the FTA & beyond.

rohanvenkat.substack.com/p/what-to-re...

Happy to announce the 1st ever @isanet.bsky.social conference in South Asia in August 2026. Hosted in Colombo, Sri Lanka, we welcome proposals from scholars based in and/or studying South Asian politics & international relations, but also broader global themes ofc www.isanet.org/Conferences/...

The first piece looks at six key demographic milestones – and their enormous significance:

*Largest population
*Fertility rate below replacement
*Declining child population
*Demographic window closing
*The 'epidemiological transition'
*Rising mortality

India may be the world's most populous country, but major shifts in its underlying demographics – and their massive implications – have gone unnoticed.

On @casipenn.bsky.social's India In Transition, we present a new series on India's Demographic Dilemmas, by Rukmini S, of @dataforindia.bsky.social

In this CASI Deep Dive IiT Interview, Managing Editor @rohanvenkat.bsky.social speaks to @louisetillin.bsky.social (King's College London) about "'Freebie Politics' and the History of India’s Distinctive Welfare State." casi.sas.upenn.edu/iit/casi-dee...

The Political Cycle: You Don't Mess With the Zohran* *Our producer wrote this episode name so credit or blame him. Anyway, this is on NYC's mayoral election.

For our last @politicalcycle.bsky.social before summer break, @rohanvenkat.bsky.social and I talked Mamdani's win, what it does and doesn't mean, Israel and antisemitism discourse, and how the news is being greeted in India. Listen here or wherever you pod
emilyctamkin.substack.com/p/the-politi...

In this CASI Deep Dive IiT Interview, Managing Editor @rohanvenkat.bsky.social speaks to author Swapna Kona Nayudu (Yale-NUS College) about "Non-Alignment as Civil Disobedience and Nehru’s Blind Spots" casi.sas.upenn.edu/iit/casi-dee...

Keep going back to these paras from @abuaardvark.bsky.social right around the Gulf trip, when it seemed there was a spat with Bibi, w/ Trump decrying "the interventionalists... intervening in complex societies that they did not even understand themselves." abuaardvarkghost.ghost.io/what-does-tr...

The Iran/Israel Conflict: where does India stand? | The Political Cycle

Thanks to @rohanvenkat.bsky.social for inviting me on his great podcast, the political cycle, to discuss India's stance on the Israel-Iran conflict. Many moving parts and complex webs to decipher shows.acast.com/the-election...

Arvind Panagariya, chairman of 16th Finance Commission, said that *22-23* of India’s 28 states had made a case for increasing their share in the divisible pool from 41% to 50%.

But... the Commission is likely to keep states’ tax share unchanged
www.livemint.com/economy/sixt...

How Vulnerable Is India to Chinese Economic Coercion? While India has taken a strong security stance against China, its economic posture has been cooperative. But India's reliance on Chinese imports may undermine its role as a counterbalance to China. Th...

"In 2005, India exported $10 billion worth of goods to China, which has only increased to $14.9 billion in 2024, while imports from China have grown tenfold from $10 billion to over $100 billion during the same period."

www.usip.org/publications...

Why did the BJP take the 'all-party' route on Op Sindoor delegations? Is this a shift in political tactics or a maneuver to blunt domestic criticism?

The BJP has always been more than willing to describe its political opponents as 'anti-national.'

So what then explains its decision to rely on a cross-party effort to make India's case abroad, following Operation Sindoor?

On India Inside Out this week:

rohanvenkat.substack.com/p/what-promp...

For @casipenn.bsky.social's India in Transition, I spoke to Tariq Thachil about his tenure as director through a complex time, the role of 'India Centers' in US academia, the disconnect in how India is studied in the US and why it's important to build academic bridges.

The Election Tricycle: Deal or No Deal: what should the world make of Trump's deal brokering? It’s now been more than a 100 days for Trump’s administration. The self proclaimed master of dealmaking has made international waves, with tariffs that have shaken (and confused) the world. Bu...

Trump the dealmaker: is the President's aggressive trade policy paying off? @rohanvenkat.bsky.social and @emilyctamkin.bsky.social discuss on this week's episode. Listen now.
pod.fo/e/2d5dd6

Re-hyphenation? Excellent pc from @rohanvenkat.bsky.social for India Inside out & Scroll

On India Inside Out:

"In some ways, the fallout of the Pahalgam attack has meant that the hyphen is once again hovering over India. If Operation Sindoor does indeed establish the deterrence India has long sought, then it may well be shot down."

rohanvenkat.substack.com/p/the-hyphen...

The Election Tricycle: Kashmir in Crisis: how dangerous is the conflict between India and Pakistan? This week, India launched retaliatory attacks on Pakistani territory following last month's terror attacks that left 26 people dead in the tourist town of Pahalgam in Kashmir. That was the worst at...

Can I recommend this episode of The Political Cycle as an aid to understanding the broader context of what's happening in Kashmir?
@emilyctamkin.bsky.social talks to @rohanvenkat.bsky.social about the dangerous situation between India and Pakistan.

I love this story so much. We leave our marks on the world, even when they try to erase us.

The Political Cycle: Is Mark Carney the model 'anti-Trump'? Plus, links on the caste census, Pahalgam and more.

On India Inside Out:

This week's @politicalcycle.bsky.social pod in where we spoke to @cfhorgan.bsky.social about Canada and whether Mark Carney is now the 'model' for anti-Trump politics.

Plus links to important pieces on caste census, Pahalgam & more.

rohanvenkat.substack.com/p/the-politi...

India Inside Out: What is driving demands for a 'caste census' ahead of the 2024 elections? Plus, two other notes on counting Indians.

I wrote this a couple of years ago about the demands for a 'caste census' in India, which the Modi government – following much reluctance – has now approved.

Read this for a backgrounder:

rohanvenkat.substack.com/p/india-insi...

Out in the US and UK in less than six months! Pre-order here, pretty please — it makes a world of a difference to sales. And please RT / spread the word!

www.amazon.co.uk/Web-Beneath-...

If you're interested in writing for India in Transition, where we carry analytical pieces from across the social sciences on contemporary India, see our guidelines here casi.sas.upenn.edu/iit/submissi... and get in touch!

While Western AI discourse tends to focus on the mirage of AGI, in India it is sold as a quick fix that will bring 'development' to the masses.

For @casipenn.bsky.social's India in Transition, @bulletprooflama.bsky.social examines the Indian flavour of AI hype: casi.sas.upenn.edu/iit/mila-t-s...

The Political Cycle: DOGE, Modi and the 'fetish' for government efficiency A conversation with Yamini Aiyar.

What is the overlap between Elon Musk's DOGE and Modi's India? A (misguided) fetish for government efficiency above all else.

This week on the Political Cycle, I speak to Yamini Aiyar, co-author with @danhonig.bsky.social of a recent piece on the subject.

rohanvenkat.substack.com/p/the-politi...

The Last Dragoners of Bowbazar eBook Subterranean Press creates readable art, publishing limited editions and groundbreaking original works of science fiction, fantasy, and horror.

My books (and many of my stories) have all been fed to Meta's (& other) genAI without consent or compensation to feed tech's anti-art crusade, so I'd appreciate if a few more humans bought/read my books. ICYMI, I've a mythic realist novella out about extradimensional refugees living in Calcutta:

For @casipenn.bsky.social's India in Transition, I spoke to @paliwalavi.bsky.social about India's Near East, why he chose to the 'near east' framing – mixing domestic and international – and how history is 'rhyming' in Bangladesh:

casi.sas.upenn.edu/iit/rohan-ve...