Rohit Chandra

The A.I.-Profits Drought and the Lessons of History Like the steam engine, electricity, and computers, generative artificial intelligence could take longer than expected to transform the economy.

An M.I.T. study found that 95% of companies that had invested in A.I. tools were seeing zero return. It jibes with the emerging idea that generative A.I., “in its current incarnation, simply isn’t all it’s been cracked up to be,” johncassidysays.bsky.social writes.

The FT story we were all waiting for but never expected. Lovely, but tragic piece.

Out this month:

"Between Worlds: The IF Anthology of New Indian SFF" --

scroll.in/article/1084...

The Evolution of Disaster Management in India India's disaster management systems excel in saving lives quickly but are hamstrung in planning for risk mitigation and resilience.

India's disaster management systems excel in saving lives quickly but are hamstrung in planning for risk mitigation and resilience.
www.theindiaforum.in/climate-chan...

The present and deep past of anti-caste speculative fiction IN 1920, the Czech author Karel Čapek wrote a science fiction play called R.U.R. – short for Rossumovi Univerzalni Roboti, or Rossum’s Universal Robots. Credite

‘The Blaft Book of Anti-Caste SF’ demonstrates the power of speculative and science fiction as instruments of the anti-caste struggle in Southasia, and these genres’ connections to the wide traditions of Dalit and Adivasi literature.

Sreyartha Krishna:

India’s Visionary Engineer The career of M. Visvesvaraya, arch-technocrat and statesman, throws much light on how India embraced the idea of modernisation through industrialisation.

The career of M. Visvesvaraya, arch-technocrat and statesman, throws much light on how India embraced the idea of modernisation through industrialisation. Aashique Iqbal reviews Aparajith Ramnath's book
www.theindiaforum.in/book-reviews...

What Katalin Karikó Teaches Us about Perseverance and Success The 2023 Nobel winner’s story reminds us of the power of persistence, and teamwork in science. As science comes under siege in the US, the memoir underscores the need for a more inclusive scientific c...

The 2023 Nobel winner’s story reminds us of the power of persistence, and teamwork in science. As science comes under siege in the US, the memoir underscores the need for a more inclusive scientific community that welcomes talent regardless of background or race.
www.theindiaforum.in/book-reviews...

'Shade is an elite commodity' The Migration Story podcast · Episode

As much of North India melts amidst a heat wave, great podcast with Aditya Pillai from
@sustainablefutures.org by Namrata Raju on The Migration Story. open.spotify.com/episode/2jkU...

Strange Horizons 2026 A free weekly speculative fiction magazine with a global perspective.

Strange Horizons’ annual fund-drive is now live:

www.kickstarter.com/projects/str...

We are entirely community-funded, and this is our main source of income. Help us enter our 26th year?

Sign up for the second Himal Fiction Fest 2025 panel event, "Caste, gender and resistance in Southasian speculative fiction", held in partnership with the Armory Square Prize for South Asian Literature in Translation.

🗓 Monday, 16 June
⌚ 7:30 pm IST

buff.ly/kzL5ZID

📢 HIMAL FICTION FEST 2025: Celebrating Southasian speculative fiction 🔮

Join us this Monday (9th June) for the first panel event! Sign up here: buff.ly/AupIohy

In India’s Coal Belt, a Window into the Challenges Facing Energy Transition India’s reliance on coal is tied to a complex set of economic, social, and energy security factors; any successful energy transition plan will have to address all of them.

A 'Coal in India' explainer for @drilledmedia.bsky.social. Historical roots to nationalisation & back to privatisation, worker issues, Adani & state favour, resistance by Adivasi communities & police action & underground mining. Context: non-existent energy transition
drilled.media/news/india-c...

In India’s Coal Belt, a Window into the Challenges Facing Energy Transition India’s reliance on coal is tied to a complex set of economic, social, and energy security factors; any successful energy transition plan will have to address all of them.

@rishpardikar.bsky.social

In India’s Coal Belt, a Window into the Challenges Facing Energy Transition India’s reliance on coal is tied to a complex set of economic, social, and energy security factors; any successful energy transition plan will have to address all of them.

Great overview piece by Rishika Pardikar on the complexity of India's coal sector and the energy transition. With some valuable insights from the field. drilled.media/news/india-c...

Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: The state of speculative fiction in Southasia - Himal Fiction Fest 2025. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the meeting. Moderator: Gautam Bhatia Panelists: Usman T Malik, Karthika VK and Theena Kumaragurunathan

📢 HIMAL FICTION FEST 2025: Celebrating Southasian speculative fiction ⏳

Join us this Monday (9th June) for the first panel event! Sign up here: buff.ly/AupIohy

How Bangladesh’s pharma revolution succeeded against the odds This story is part of “Pills, Perils, Profits”, a Himal investigative series on Southasian pharmaceutical manufacturing and exports.Reporting for this story was

“The thing that protects you against substandard medicines is a good drug controller. Countries that don’t have that shield are suffering.” Write Vidya Krishnan & Arshu John

Enumerators and the New Private Customised Survey Industry in India In the absence of timely data from official agencies, private organizations and researchers have turned to designing large data surveys, often promoted by global philanthropies. There are questions ab...

In the absence of timely data from official agencies, pvt org & researchers have turned to designing large data surveys, often promoted by global philanthropies. There are questions about the transparency, accountability & working conditions of the enumerators.
www.theindiaforum.in/public-polic...

S4E17: Nathan Nunn, Economic History and Development, University of British Columbia Welcome to the Mixtape with Scott!

Listen to VSE Professor @nathannunn.bsky.social in two recent podcasts, one with @causalinf.bsky.social discussing his career beginnings and how he came to study Economic History and Development... causalinf.substack.com/p/s4e17-nath...
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Fantastic book review combined with broader reflection on the evolution of nationalism over the last century.

State-Owned Enterprises as Institutional Actors in Contemporary Capitalism and Beyond Cambridge Core - Governance - State-Owned Enterprises as Institutional Actors in Contemporary Capitalism and Beyond

Very timely book by @fudaoge.bsky.social et al on contemporary state capitalism. Since it’s coming back into fashion, might as well read all about it www.cambridge.org/core/element...

We stand on the shoulders of giants: Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt, @drrahul.bsky.social , Dietmar Rothermund to name a few.

I hope you enjoy the piece, and as usual, comments and feedback are welcome and appreciated.

We've done our best to summarize things, but perhaps more importantly, our references span some of the most important work which has been done in this space.

Much more work needs to be done on the Indian coal industry, and we hope that this will help the next generation of scholars study the industry a little more easily.

Between the four of us, we have tried to put all this together in one place.

As a graduate student studying the Indian coal industry, it was very difficult to quickly get a full view of the industry since there wasn't one place where the state of the Indian coal industry, existing social science literature, policy debates, and potential future issues were all summarized.

India's Coal Conundrum: Decarbonization Amidst A Developmental Legacy India's coal conundrum: financial dependence, employment, and the complicated dependencies behind a just transition.

Finally, our review article is out and it's open access!

wires.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

About a year and half ago, @sandeeppai.bsky.social , Suravee Nayak, Sree Harica and I started putting together a review article for WIRES Climate Change on India's complicated relationship with its coal industry.

(no title) Visit the post for more.

Chokepoint Capitalism by Rebecca Giblin and Cory Doctorow addresses this point in a slightly different space, the market for creative labour chokepointcapitalism.com

indianexpress.com/article/opin...

This is not creative destruction, it's bad faith extraction of value by loss-making, VC driven platforms.

This piece by Thomas Fenn lays out this point beautifully for restaurants and their relationship with food delivery platforms in India.