The mission
The Polity is a colloquy on the idea of India - the journey of the nation, the evolution of the republic and the metamorphoses of its people as a socio-political union.
As a unique journalistic venture, The Polity will strive to unveil a narrative or a dialectical journey that pits history against the contemporary, interweaving the social, political, economic and cultural elements that shaped this nation, its history, its episodes of nationhood, its statecraft, its standing in the comity of nations, its ideological identities and their discursive structures, and much more of the saga that defines its journey through the passage of time. There are no limits, no bounds and no constraints when we explore this saga - of We THE PEOPLE!
As for the form, we prefer to follow the model of Slow Journalism - a movement that is reshaping the paradigms of journalism globally.
Who we are
The Polity and its audio-visual platforms are owned by the Vud Media India Foundation, a Section 8 (non-profit) company.
Editorial Director
Professor Swaran Singh taught and researched for over 32 years on Indo-Pacific affairs, Multilateralism, China's foreign and security policies and India's nuclear and defence policies. Having taught disarmament and diplomacy at the Centre for International Politics, Organisation & Disarmament (CIPOD), School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi since 2001, Professor Singh retired from JNU in September 2026.
Professor Singh was also a Visiting Professor at the University of British Columbia (Vancouver, Canada) in 2022-23 and at the School of International Studies, Beijing University. He has been a member of many advisory bodies and editorial boards in various research and academic institutions and publications.
A keen observer of China, Professor Singh has been an Asia Fellow (2001-2002) and has held several visiting professorships in China, UPEACE and other universities.
Professor Singh's detailed profile and body of academic work and scholarship are available at: https://www.swaransingh.in/
He can be contacted at drswaransingh@gmail.com
Editor-in-Chief (responsible for news selection)
A. Vinod Kumar, an acclaimed strategic analyst and journalist, is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Polity. He is also a columnist at the Business Standard Blueprint.
Kumar was a journalist in his early professional years, having served in leading media houses across India. He was also a first-generation online journalist and a broadcaster, and was part of some pioneering mass media initiatives in the 1990s and 2000s. Kumar was also the Executive Editor of South Asia Monitor in its early years.
As a strategic analyst, Kumar is internationally acclaimed for his scholarship on foreign and national security policies, and in particular, his expertise on nuclear issues. His first book, India and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Regime: A Perennial Outlier, was published by the Cambridge University Press in 2014. The book, one of the first international university press books from Indian think tanks at the time of its launch, was also nominated for the American Political Science Association Award in 2015.
Kumar's second book on missile defence was published by Vij Books in 2019. His third book on missile defence and nuclear deterrence is currently headed to the press. He is currently working on his fourth book, which deals with the history of India's nuclear decision-making.
Besides extensively publishing on international platforms like Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and The National Interest, Kumar's testimony on nuclear policy was published by the UK House of Lords in 2019.
Kumar is also a movie buff and is currently working on multiple screenplays.
Executive Editor
A Delhi-based journalist with over 25 years of experience in national and international media, Pradeep Kaimal is a co-founder and the Executive Editor of The Polity.
Kaimal has had a rewarding journalistic career with stints at The Observer of Business and Politics, The Times Group and Down to Earth. Kaimal was South Asia Correspondent for IHS Markit for many years. He also edits Indoen, a platform dedicated to energy and the environment.
Besides his journalistic engagements, Kaimal was a legal editor at the Reed Elsevier-owned LexisNexis India’s Halsbury’s Laws of India project. He also worked at The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and the National Institute of Labour Economics Research and Development. He was also part of the Centre of Science and Environment's prestigious State of India’s Environment project.
Kaimal has also been a political commentator and writes regularly for prominent media platforms.
He can be reached at: pradeep.kaimal@hotmail.com
Stig Toft Madsen is a Copenhagen-based anthropologist and sociologist who also closely observes South Asian politics and has travelled extensively across India and the subcontinent. He has been associated with the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies (NIAS) at the University of Copenhagen and various Nordic universities. Starting from his first visit in 1969-70 or the hippie era, he returned to India many times later - for field studies, work, as a tour guide, and as a tourist. During his visits, Madsen has extensively chronicled the Indian ways of life, its society, politics, economy, and culture. Madsen is an avid bird watcher.
He can be reached at: stigtm49@gmail.com
Here is a listing of his publications:
Dr Stephen Burgess was Professor at the Department of International Security, US Air War College, Maxwell AFB, Alabama, and has been in its faculty since 1999. He is currently Professor Emeritus at the University of Florida. Dr Burgess earlier worked at Hofstra University, New York, Vanderbilt University and the University of Zambia. He was also associated with the US Air Force Counterproliferation Centre, University of Zimbabwe, Michigan State University and James Madison College.
Dr Burgess has taught, researched and written extensively on international security and US security policies, besides his research expertise in African and Asian strategic dynamics. His book on South Africa’s Weapons of Mass Destruction was published by the Indiana University Press in 2005.
Dr Burgess can be reached at: stvburgess0@gmail.com.
Jayaprabha Ravindran is one of India's foremost archivists and was Assistant Director at the National Archives of India (NAI), and earlier worked at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML).
During a career spanning nearly three decades, she has been closely associated with various core activities of the National Archives of India, such as acquisition and accession of records (public and private), maintenance of records, facilitating access to the records and library, digital preservation of records and training programmes for archives professionals and outreach programmes like seminars/workshops and exhibitions.
In addition to heading the major Divisions of the National Archives of India, she has been a resource person in various Workshops on Records Management and archival sources organised by various Government Departments, Ministries, Universities and research centres. She has served as a Member, Committee for ‘Study on Archives’, Government of Kerala (2017-19).
Following her retirement from NAI, she co-founded the Milli Archives Foundation, a non-profit network of archives and archivists dedicated to building, nurturing and sustaining archives across India.
Jayaprabha Ravindran can be reached: jaya.ravindran61@gmail.com
P Sasidharan, a.k.a. Sasi Piravanthoor, is a veteran journalist who served as a long-time news editor and senior editor in Kerala Kaumudi and Kala Kaumudi. He co-authored the book Sivagirikku Mukalil Theemaghengal (Clouds of Fire over Sivagiri) with M. S. Mani, the long-time editor-in-chief of Kerala Kaumudi and Kala Kaumudi.
He can be reached at: piravanthoorsasi@gmail.com
Prasad Nair, based in Delhi, has over two decades of experience in journalism and publishing. A postgraduate of the University of Delhi, Nair has worked for various publications in Dubai before returning to India. Over his two-decade career, he has worked with mainstream newspapers and startups, and across the non-government and government sectors. At The Polity, he contributes columns on film and sports.
Technical Consultant
Vineeth is a seasoned web developer with over 14 years of experience in full-stack development and UI design. Serving as Technical Consultant for The Polity, he advises on web infrastructure, performance optimization, and platform stability.
