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

Uttam Kumar Sinha

Uttam Kumar Sinha is a leading scholar and commentator on transboundary rivers, climate change and the Arctic. He was Co-Chair of the Think-20 Task Force on ‘Accelerating SDGs: Exploring New Pathways to the 2030 Agenda’ during India’s G20 Presidency. After a brief stint in the print media and a doctoral degree from Jawaharlal Nehru University, he joined the MP-IDSA in 2001, where he coordinates the Non-Traditional Security Centre and is the Managing Editor of Strategic Analysis published by Routledge, the institute’s flagship journal. He is a recipient of many fellowships and leadership programmes including senior fellow at the Prime Ministers Museum and Library (2018-2020); Academic Visitor at the Harvard Kennedy School (2015); Chevening ‘Gurukul’ leadership at the London School of Economics and Political Science (2008) and a visiting fellow at the Peace Research Institute Oslo (2006). His recently published work is Trial By Water: Indus Basin and India-Pakistan Relations (Penguin 2025); BBIN Sub-Region: Perspectives on Climate-water-Energy Nexus (Pentagon Press, 2023), Indus Basin Interrupted: A History of Territory and Politics from Alexander to Nehru (Penguin, 2021). His other works include the Riverine Neighbourhood: Hydro-politics in South Asia (Pentagon Press, 2016) and Climate Change Narratives: Reading the Arctic (2014). His edited and co-edited volumes include Modi: Energising a Green Future (Pentagon, 2023); Modi: Shaping a Global Order in Flux (Wisdom Tree, 2023); MODI 2.0: A Resolve To Secure India (Pentagon Press, 2021); The Modi Doctrine: New Paradigms in India’s Foreign Policy (Wisdom Tree, 2016); Non-Traditional Security Challenges in Asia: Approaches and Responses (Routledge, 2015); Arctic: Commerce, Governance and Policy (Routledge, 2015) and Emerging Strategic Trends in Asia (Pentagon Press, 2015).
Senior Fellow

Publication

Uttam Sinha’s Opinion Piece ‘Atal Bihari Vajpayee at 101: The making of a Parliamentarian’ Published in The Pioneer

Senior Fellow, Manohar Parrikar IDSA, Dr Uttam Sinha’s opinion piece ‘Atal Bihari Vajpayee at 101: The making of a Parliamentarian’ was published in ‘The Pioneer’ on 25 December 2025.

Revisiting Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s early parliamentary years offers instructive insights. Long before he became a consensual prime minister, he was shaped by debate, dissent, and dialogue. At a time when Parliament often appears diminished, his example affirms an enduring truth. Democracy is strengthened not by power alone, but by persuasion exercised through words, writes Dr Sinha.

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Disclaimer: The views expressed by the author are personal and do not in any way reflect the views of MP-IDSA or the Government of India.

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Uttam Sinha’s Op-ed ‘Between Washington and Moscow, India chooses itself’ Published in The Pioneer

Senior Fellow, Manohar Parrikar IDSA, Dr Uttam Sinha’s Op-ed 'Between Washington and Moscow, India chooses itself' has been published in ‘The Pioneer’ on 04 December 2025. The India-Russia strategic partnership signals something larger than the renewal of an old friendship; it tells the world that New Delhi will shape its foreign policy by its own interests, not by inherited loyalties, ideological nostalgia or external pressure, says Dr Sinha. Read Complete Article [+] Disclaimer: The views expressed by the author are personal and do not in any way reflect the views of MP-IDSA or the Government of India.

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Uttam Sinha’s Opinion Piece ‘Russia has shown economic resilience’ Published in The Indian Express

Senior Fellow, Manohar Parrikar IDSA, Dr Uttam Sinha’s opinion piece 'Russia has shown economic resilience' was published in ‘The Indian Express’ on 04 December 2025.

The Russian economy today is a hybrid of Soviet-era endurance and post-Soviet capitalism, writes Dr Sinha.

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Disclaimer: The views expressed by the author are personal and do not in any way reflect the views of MP-IDSA or the Government of India.

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strategic-analysis

Institutions, Journals and Discourse: Legacy of Strategic Analysis

Strategic thought has long found its sharpest expression in the in-house journals of leading policy institutions. These publications serve as repositories of insights, platforms for debate, and at times, instruments of influence. Strategic Analysis, the flagship journal of the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA), is a notable example, charting the trajectory of strategic scholarship in India.

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Trial by Water: Indus Basin and India-Pakistan Relations

  • Publisher: Penguin Random House India
In 1947, the Indian subcontinent was partitioned, and Pakistan was born. A shared heritage, a composite culture and centuries-old bonds between people, all seemed to vanish overnight. Nowhere was this rupture more profound than in the Indus Basin—once a unified lifeline of the region, now fragmented by sovereign borders, its rivers flowing through two nations immediately at odds with each other. The Indus Waters Treaty was signed in 1960, proving that even bitter adversaries could cooperate over shared resources. Yet, it never brought lasting peace. The treaty was suspended by India in April 2025 as a punitive measure in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack, and its future remains shrouded in uncertainty. Can it still endure and adapt? Perhaps the time has come for a new arrangement—one that is not just inevitable but essential. This book traces the turbulent history of the Indus Basin and examines how the Indus Waters Treaty has been shaped by the region’s ever-evolving political dynamics. It explores the role of key leaders on both sides, as well as external pressures, in shaping and reshaping one of the world’s most critical transboundary water agreements. The Indus Basin has been a witness to conflict, compromise and survival. And if you seek to understand the true nature of India–Pakistan relations, start with the rivers that bind them. Trial by Water leads us in that direction.
  • ISBN: 9780143471028,
  • Price: ₹ 599/-
  • E-copy available

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Uttam Sinha’s Book ‘Trial By Water: Indus Basin and India-Pakistan Relations’ Published by Penguin Random House

Senior Fellow, Manohar Parrikar IDSA, Dr Uttam Sinha's book ‘Trial By Water: Indus Basin and India-Pakistan Relations’ has been published by Penguin Random House. The book traces the turbulent history of the Indus Basin and examines how the Indus Waters Treaty has been shaped by the region’s ever-evolving political dynamics. It explores the role of key leaders on both sides, as well as external pressures, in shaping and reshaping one of the world’s most critical transboundary water agreements. Read Complete Article [+]

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Uttam Sinha’s Article ‘Who’s The Big River Daddy? Published in Times of India

Senior Fellow, Manohar Parrikar IDSA, Dr Uttam Sinha’s article ‘Who’s The Big River Daddy? was published in Times of India on 10 July 2025. India’s not at the kind of hydrological disadvantage in Brahmaputra’s case as Pakistan is in Indus’s. China’s real upstream strength is data. India’s downstream defences have to be science-backed, says Dr Sinha. Read Complete Article [+] Disclaimer: The views expressed by the author are personal and do not in any way reflect the views of MP-IDSA or the Government of India.

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