The Khyat InstituteIndia does not lack commentary. It lacks memory.
The Khyat Institute publishes on Indian governance, political economy and the questions that bear on Indian civilisation, wherever they arise. It is long-horizon work: we are not interested in the news cycle except as evidence of something slower, and we expect to be held to what we wrote the last time.
How we work
We state the opposing case in full. Every paper sets out the strongest version of the argument against it, in that argument's own terms, before responding. If we cannot make the other side persuasive, the paper is not finished.
We source everything. Every figure carries a primary source and a date. We do not use a number whose origin we have not read. Where the data does not exist, we say so rather than reason around the gap.
We correct in public. Errors are amended in place, with a dated note, and logged permanently. An institution that appears never to be wrong is not being read closely enough, including by itself.
Recent
Commentary
A qualia-centric approach to Ayurveda and Hindu knowledge systems can address modern science’s blind spot
Chetavani 004
Ticked, Not Seen: How Indian Tourism Stopped Asking Questions
Indians now travel more than ever. We are not learning more than ever.
Chetavani 003
Artha Before Moksha: Why India Cannot Skip the Rung of Prosperity
From Chanakya to Vivekananda, the tradition put wealth beneath dharma, not in place of it. We turned the ladder upside down.
Chetavani 002
The decisive word is 'only'
India's civilisational settlement rests on a plurality of paths, not a plurality of gods — and on one line that pluralism does not erase.
Chetavani 001
The UPI levy arrives at a threshold proposed in 1999
A 0.4% charge above ₹2,000 is not a tax. Who receives it, and what it makes cheaper to attempt, are the questions worth asking.