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Uttam Kumar Sinha is a leading scholar and commentator on transboundary rivers, climate change and the Arctic. 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 heads 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 Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (2018-2020); US-South Asia Leader Engagement Programme 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 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 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).
India's Arctic Approach: Not so far and away anymore
Research Fellow, Manohar Parrikar IDSA, Dr. Uttam Sinha’s opinion piece ‘India's Arctic Approach: Not so far and away anymore’ has been published in ‘The Nationalist’, a bi-monthly journal of the Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation.
India’s Arctic approach needs to be well rounded and comprehensive, considering the convergence of the three geos: the geo-physical, the geo-economic and the geo-strategic, writes Dr. Sinha.
India and China Water Issues
Research Fellow, Manohar Parrikar IDSA, Dr. Uttam Sinha's chapter ‘India and China Water Issues’ has been published in Rajiv Narayanan and Qin Yonghui (eds.) ‘India and China Building Strategic Trust’, USI, New Delhi.
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Indus Basin Uninterrupted: A History of Territory and Politics from Alexander to Nehru
Research Fellow, Manohar Parrikar IDSA, Dr. Uttam Sinha’s book ‘Indus Basin Uninterrupted’ is published by the Penguin Random House, 2021.
Indus Basin Uninterrupted: A History of Territory and Politics from Alexander to Nehru
तेल आयात को चाहिए और विकल्प
Research Fellow, Manohar Parrikar IDSA, Dr. Uttam Sinha’s opinion piece ‘Oil Import needs more options’ has been published in Hindi daily ‘Prabhat Khabar’ on December 4, 2020.
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Indus Water Treaty at 60: why there is a need to give it a fresh look
Research Fellow, Manohar Parrikar IDSA, Dr. Uttam Sinha’s article ‘Indus Water Treaty at 60: Why there is a need to give it a fresh look’ has been published in ‘The Indian Express’ on September 19, 2020.
The role of India as a responsible upper riparian abiding by the provisions of the treaty has been remarkable, but the country, of late, is under pressure to rethink the extent to which it can remain committed to the provisions, as its overall political relations with Pakistan becomes intractable, writes Dr. Sinha.
The Nehruvian imprint on Indus Waters Treaty
Research Fellow, Manohar Parrikar IDSA, Dr. Uttam Sinha’s article ‘The Nehruvian imprint on Indus Waters Treaty’ has been published in ‘The Hindustan Times’ on September 19, 2020. The Indus Waters Treaty may have prevented “another Korea”, as the World Bank had anxiously observed, but it did not fundamentally change Pakistan’s lower riparian angst nor in its perception of the upper riparian dominance of India, writes Dr. Sinha.
India in the Arctic: Civilization Connect and Contemporary Policy
Research Fellow Manohar Parrikar IDSA, Dr. Uttam Sinha’s chapter ‘India in the Arctic Civilization Connect and Contemporary Policies’ has been published in the Volume ‘Observing the Arctic: Asia in the Arctic Council and Beyond’ by Chih Yuan Woon and Klaus Dodds, Edward Elgar Publication, UK, 2020.
Rebalancing Foreign Policy and Non-Traditional Security Issues
Manohar Parrikar IDSA scholars, Dr. Uttam Sinha’s chapter ‘Rebalancing Foreign Policy and Non-Traditional Security Issues’ and Dr. Ashok Behuria’ chapter ‘Domestic Drivers in India's Neighbourhood Policy’ have been published in the Volume ‘India's Foreign Policy: Surviving in a Turbulent World’, edited by Arvind Gupta and Anil Wadhwa, Sage Publication, 2020.
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 on cultural-historical geography, evident in study of the Vedas, was an important intervention when geographical determinism was gaining dominance, writes Dr. Sinha.
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