Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses
मनोहर पर्रिकर रक्षा अध्ययन एवं विश्लेषण संस्थान

Meghna Pradhan

Meghna Pradhan is a Research Analyst at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defense Studies and Analysis, New Delhi.She is currently pursuing her PhD at the Department of East Asian Studies, University of Delhi, with her thesis focused on how emerging technologies such as AI affect political processes. She holds an M.Phil. in Korean Studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University, an M.A. in East Asian Studies from the University of Delhi, and a B.Sc. in Economics from Symbiosis School of Economics.

Her research is focused on impact of emerging technologies such as AI on security and governance domains, and their applications in East Asian contexts. She has presented her work at several conferences, including the AKS Young Scholars’ International Seminar and the Researchers’ Association for the Study of Korea (RASK) International Seminar.

Research Analyst

Publication

The Security Implications of Africa’s Crypto Boom

Africa's rapid adoption of cryptocurrencies and decentralised finance (DeFi) reflects both structural economic pressures and technological opportunity. Driven by currency volatility, inflation, financial exclusion, and a young, mobile-first population, crypto assets, particularly stablecoins have become embedded in everyday transactions, remittances, and value storage across the continent. However, this digital transformation has generated significant security risks. Drawing on recent law-enforcement operations such as INTERPOL-AFRIPOL's Operation Catalyst, this paper examines how cryptocurrencies and DeFi platforms are increasingly exploited by organised crime networks and terrorist groups for money laundering, fraud, extortion, and terror financing. The analysis highlights how pseudo-anonymity, weak regulatory frameworks, peer-to-peer exchanges, and crossborder ease of transfer enable a growing crime-terror nexus in Africa. While crypto technologies offer pathways for financial inclusion and economic resilience, their unregulated expansion threatens to undermine regional security and governance. The paper argues for calibrated regulation, institutional capacity-building, and financial literacy as essential to balancing innovation with security imperatives.

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The Mistaken History of the Korean War: What We Got Wrong Then and Now by Paul M. Edwards

For Koreans, the Korean War was undoubtedly a watershed moment, which cemented the bifurcation of Korean Peninsula that continues more than seventy years after the fact. It is impossible to segregate the Korean War from the history of United States. US had, after all, provided for around 5.7 million personnel in the UN initiative against North Korean ingression into South Korea.

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Meghna Prdhan’s Issue Brief ‘SILENT WINGS OVER VERMILION SKIES: Contextualising SEAD and Loitering Munitions in the 2025 India-Pakistan Conflict’ Published by SSPC

Research Analyst, Manohar Parrikar IDSA, Ms Meghna Prdhan’s Issue Brief ‘SILENT WINGS OVER VERMILION SKIES: Contextualising SEAD and Loitering Munitions in the 2025 India-Pakistan Conflict’ has been published by Society for the Study of Peace and Conflict (SSPC) on 14 May 2025.

The issue brief provides an in-depth analysis of the 2025 India-Pakistan conflict, focusing on the strategic use of loitering munitions and Suppression of Enemy Air Defences (SEAD) in modern warfare.

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