“Trump's shadow looms large over BRICS as Modi hosts Putin and Xi in Delhi.” The BBC ran this headline on September 11, just a day before the summit officially opened in New Delhi. Before the declaration was signed, before the leaders sat down to negotiate a consensus, Washington had already entered the story without being invited. BRICS leaders unanimously adopted the New Delhi Declaration on the first day of the summit. Illustration by The Geostrata Within days, Russia was

India is the world’s second-largest sugar producer and has a sizeable presence in the global sugar trade. India has been exporting millions of tonnes of sugar in surplus year after year. The sharp rise in sugar prices in August 2026 is an interesting development that deserves closer analysis, particularly given India’s history of managing surplus sugar production. Illustration by The Geostrata Such a sudden shift raises questions about what drove the increase and how factors

Strolling through the campuses of Harvard, Yale, or Stanford, you will find buildings named in honor of alumni, research funded by graduates, and scholarship funds that generally pay tuition for those who would otherwise never access these facilities. Contrasting this with IIT or Delhi University, you rarely find even a similar equivalent. Buildings generally end up being named after politicians or bureaucrats instead, and scholarships almost always only come from the governm

In the last few years, especially after COVID-19, the world order has been fragmented with strategic uncertainty and gradual erosion of persisting traditional security arrangements. The post-Cold War liberal international order, which often relied on stable alliances, multilateralism, and most importantly of all, predictable, responsible leadership by major powers, is being transformed into a more contested landscape. Cover by The Geostrata Amid such global flux, countries an

The apparel industry, which includes ready-made garments such as shirts, trousers, dresses, jackets and other clothing, is one of the world’s largest sources of employment and international trade. It is especially important for developing countries because it creates millions of jobs, requires relatively low investment to start manufacturing, and provides opportunities for women and small businesses. Illustration by The Geostrata As global demand for clothing continues to gro

At the stroke of the midnight hour on August 15, 1947, India, which represents the unbroken chain of a civilisation that had once been denied the right to determine its destiny, reclaimed that right. Illustration by The Geostrata Our first Prime Minister, Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru called it a moment when India would “awake to life and freedom.” Hidden later in the same speech was perhaps a more important idea: the achievement of independence was only “a step, an opening of opportu

The growing ties between India and Vietnam have always been traditionally viewed in the context of hard power realpolitik in the Indo-Pacific geopolitical landscape. Activities such as joint naval exercises, defense lines of credit, and strategic alignments in the South China Sea are cited as classic examples of pursuing a balance of power. Yet framing this partnership solely as a reactive response to security pressures overlooks its deepest foundation, which is a shared civi

The partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947 did not merely divide territory but set in motion a prolonged geopolitical contest over the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. Although the Instrument of Accession legally integrated Jammu and Kashmir into the Indian Union, Pakistan’s invasion and continued occupation of parts of the erstwhile state gave rise to what are now referred to as Pakistan-Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (PoJK) and Gilgit Baltistan, and since then, two cont

India's Gen Z and Gen Alpha are shaping the future of our democracy, public policy, and civic engagement. But what issues do they want the government to prioritize? And how do they believe citizens should communicate to bring about meaningful change? Scan to take the survey The Geostrata invites young Indians to participate in "Young India Speaks": a national survey exploring the priorities, concerns, and civic communication preferences of India's youth. 🗳️ Your responses wi

In contrast to most economies that industrialised, which moved from agriculture to manufacturing, then to services, becoming the dominant part of output, India has taken on the middle, manufacturing-intensive, stage of development. Services today account for 50-55 percent of GDP (the Economic Survey 2025-26 puts the share of services in GDP in H1 FY26 at 53.6 percent of the gross value added), but manufacturing has stubbornly remained at 15-17 percent of GDP for three decades

"Starvation is the characteristic of some people not having enough food to eat. It is not the characteristic of there being not enough food to eat." — Amartya Sen, Poverty and Famines (1981) Food is no longer viewed merely as an agricultural commodity and has evolved far beyond its conventional role. It increasingly represents political legitimacy, economic resilience, and national security in an era marked by growing geopolitical rivalries, climate-induced production shocks,

In July 2025, construction formally began on what will become the largest hydropower project in human history. Located at the great bend of the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibet, the Medog hydropower station is planned to generate 60,000 megawatts of electricity once operational, roughly three times the installed capacity of China's Three Gorges Dam and approximately equal to the entire annual power output of the United Kingdom. Illustration by The Geostrata The projected annual gener

The partition severed a continent from the Indian perspective. Every direct land route India could have used to reach Central Asia in historic arteries through Peshawar, Kandahar, and Khyber fell on the hostile side of the frontier. For years after independence, India’s Central Asia policy has rested more on a wish than a plan. There is indirect hope that Pakistan would permit transit or that Afghanistan stabilises enough as a worthy substitute. Illustration by The Geostrata

In April of 2025, terrorists linked to the Pakistani organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) perpetrated one of the heinous acts of terror against innocent civilians in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, in India. In the aftermath of the attack, India took many strategic, military and diplomatic steps to secure its national interest. One such step was the decision to place the Indus Water Treaty, 1960, in abeyance. Infographic by Eurasian Meridian For more than six decades, the Indus Wa

In 2023, India crossed the historic milestone of having the greatest population, as it exceeded China's, and now, in 2026, the number has gone up to 1.47 billion, with headlines shouting the phrase “overpopulation.” The old colonial slurs about India’s people “breeding like rats” have started to echo, however faintly, in modern conversation nowadays. Illustration by The Geostrata With an overwhelming increase in public discomfort, an important question starts to emerge: Is In

For years, world energy politics had been centred around crude oil and the actions of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). But in recent decades, as the world shifts from fossil fuel to cleaner energy, the geopolitical balance is shifting from the oil wells to the mineral mines. And the most severe geopolitical tug-of-war is now taking place over key metals such as lithium, cobalt and nickel, which play a vital role in electric vehicle (EV) battery pr

Trade finance is the financial instruments and services used to facilitate global trade in order to fill the gap between the dispatch of goods and the receipt of payment. It mitigates the risks associated with exports and imports through techniques like export credit, guarantees, insurance, and letters of credit, while facilitating cross-border trade. Illustration by The Geostrata Ports, highways, and manufacturing facilities receive policy attention, but for firms to compete

India produces some of the world’s most talented and capable engineers. Its universities file patents at a pace that would make most countries envious. IIT Madras alone generated more than one patent a day in the year ending March 2025. India is home to over 100 unicorns and ranks as the world's largest startup ecosystem. Some of the most successful technology companies in the world are run by Indian origin engineers. And yet somewhere along the way India lags behind. Illust

India is pursuing two policy objectives that are at odds with each other. The first is the construction of deep, subsidised, protected domestic manufacturing capacity. This has been extensively expressed through the PLI (Productivity-linked scheme) across 14 sectors and quality control orders on steel, aluminium, chemicals, and electronics. Along with this, high tariffs to protect sectors till they are competitive, in addition to the strong push for self-reliance demonstrated

Beijing has witnessed two high-stakes summits. U.S. President Donald Trump’s state visit from the 13th to the 15th of May, 2026, which resulted in a transactional framework of "constructive strategic stability,” stood in stark contrast to the arrival of the Russian President Vladimir Putin on the 19th of May to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Sino-Russian Treaty of Friendship. Illustration by The Geostrata By hosting these rival leaders in rapid succession, China dem