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. 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

Bal Gangadhar Tilak and the Arctic

Research Fellow, Manohar Parrikar IDSA, Dr. Uttam Sinha’s article ‘Bal Gangadhar Tilak and the Arctic; has been published in The Indian Express on August 01, 2020. Bal Gangadhar Tilak's emphasis...

India and the Arctic

Research Fellow, IDSA, presently on Lien to Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, Dr Uttam Sinha’s article on ‘India and the Arctic’ has been published in the Journal of International Relations,...

Regionalism the New Realism

Research Fellow, IDSA, presently on Lien to Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, Dr Uttam Sinha’s chapter ‘Regionalism the New Realism’ was published in the Volume ‘Making of New India: Transformation...