Beyond the Indus

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 a thorium-based path to energy independence, the science and engineering challenges of fast breeder reactor technology, India’s decades of nuclear isolation, the safety record of nuclear power and how public perceptions have been shaped by Chernobyl and Fukushima, and the role of nuclear energy as a complement to renewables in the global push for net zero. Dr. Kakodkar also makes the case that India’s thorium fuel cycle represents a proliferation-resistant model for meeting the world's long-term energy needs.

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 Operation Sindoor and the lessons India should be drawing from Ukraine on the evolving role of armor, drones, and counter-drone technology on the modern battlefield. They discuss the manpower-versus-modernization dilemma at the heart of India’s defense budget, the Agnipath scheme’s merits and limits as a response to it, and why India remains one of the few major powers without a published national security strategy or integrated joint theater commands.Shukla also examines India’s dependency on Russian arms in the wake of the Ukraine conflict, the credibility of the Atmanirbhar Bharat indigenization agenda, and how India must rebalance its force posture along the Line of Actual Control to meet the growing challenge from China’s rapidly modernizing military.

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 experience, Vice Admiral Pandit examines why the Hormuz crisis represents a watershed moment for global naval doctrine. They discuss the legal and strategic implications of the sinking of IRIS Dena and why the horizontal escalation of the conflict into the Indian Ocean sets a dangerous precedent for the rules-based maritime order. Pandit also examines India's evolution as a resident security guarantor of the Indian Ocean, the challenge of underwater domain awareness in an era of covert infrastructure attacks, and how India's MAHASAGAR initiative positions itself as a cooperative alternative to China's Belt and Road strategy across the Indian Ocean littoral.

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 disruption to the Strait of Hormuz represents the gravest energy shock of his career, surpassing even the Gulf Wars of the 1980s. We discuss the mechanics of P&I insurance, why futures markets are fundamentally misreading the crisis, and how Iran and Russia have long used shadow fleets to circumvent Western sanctions. Imsirovic also examines Russia's unexpected financial windfall, South Asia’s energy vulnerability and the erosion of dollar dominance in global energy trade.

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 offers a wide-ranging assessment that covers India's strategic pivot away from Tehran, the shifting objectives of the Israeli-U.S. military campaign, the credibility of Iran's nuclear threshold as a casus belli, the controversial sinking of the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena in the Indian Ocean, and the spillover risks facing Afghanistan and Pakistan – from refugee crises and foreign fighter flows to the exploitation of sectarian unrest by groups like the Baloch Liberation Army and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). 

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 old political forces.Whoever wins, Baral says, “The new government cannot escape the underlying reasons why the Gen Z uprising happened in the first place: corruption, lack of jobs, unresponsive governance, poor service delivery.”

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, and the future of the Bangladesh-India relationship.

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, accelerated their long-awaited FTA, the reexamination within Europe about its dependence on the United States and its role in the world, and how India and the EU handled tricky negotiations and overcame mutual disagreements to sign “the Mother of all Deals.”To find out more about the upcoming ISA-SAWP Conference, you can reach out to [email protected] or go to https://www.isanet.org/Conferences/SAWP-Colombo-2026/Call

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. relationship and how the shifting global security and economic landscape will impact South Asia in 2026. 

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 structure and origins of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and its relationship with the Afghan Taliban, and Pakistan's broader reliance on militant proxies as a tool of foreign policy. Dr. Fair also examines India's role in Afghanistan, the Pashtun perspective on the conflict, and why Pakistan's current approach offers no viable path forward.

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 AsiaWe discuss the mixed results of COP30, the impact of U.S. absence on climate negotiations, the concept of the "Just Transition" mechanism and what it means for developing countries, South Asia's climate vulnerabilities, and the critical challenges of regional climate cooperation in South Asia amid fractured political relations.

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 ambitious infrastructure initiatives including the India-Middle East-Europe Corridor (IMEC). The conversation also explores how India is responding to growing Chinese economic influence and the emerging Saudi Arabia-Pakistan alliance, and whether IMEC can realistically compete with China's Belt and Road Initiative as a transformative regional project.For more in-depth analysis on South Asia, subscribe to the Beyond the Indus podcast.