TAKSHASHILA INSTITUTION ALUMNUS

Strategic Studies & Geopolitics

Long-form writing on AI, technology sovereignty, and the geopolitics of platforms. I study the questions that sit between policy and code: how India, the EU, and the US are recompiling their technology base, what sovereign AI looks like, and what founders and investors should be reading.

Strategic Studies Geopolitics AI Policy Technology Sovereignty Indo-Pacific
Read on Substack My Takshashila Journey
EDUCATION

The Takshashila Frame

Strategic studies is a way of reading the world; the Takshashila Institution is where I learned to read it.

I am a graduate of The Takshashila Institution — India's leading school of public policy and strategic studies — and a Takshashila Cogitatum participant with Distinction.

My Takshashila work was the Graduate Certificate in Strategic Studies (CS1, CS2, CS3) and the Special Credit Course on Inside Xi's China, plus a Cogitatum workshop on "Bringing Back India's Most Wanted." That training shows up here, in the form of policy documents read the way a compiler reads source — as artefacts that constrain the space of possible actions.

These essays connect that frame to the engineering and startup work I do at dipankar.name, the research at dipankar.cc, and the consulting at dipankar.co.

ESSAYS

All Strategic Studies Essays

Sorted by date, newest first. Cross-published to my Substack.

Strategic Studies National Security Defence Technology

AI in National Security: A Practitioner's View

How AI is changing national security — and what India needs to do to compete. A practitioner's view from 18+ years of building production AI and 8 years of strategic studies at Takshashila.

· 5 min read
Strategic Studies AI Policy Geopolitics

AI Sovereignty Is the New Stack Question: Why India, the EU, and the US Are Recompiling Their Technology Base

Three jurisdictions are rebuilding the technology base around AI sovereignty. A framework — drawn from Takshashila strategic studies and 18+ years of building production systems — for what sovereignty actually means when the stack is global.

· 6 min read
Strategic Studies Startup Strategy

Arthashastra for Founders: Kautilya's Statecraft Applied to Startups

What Kautilya's Arthashastra teaches startup founders. The Indian realist tradition applied to founder strategy, hiring, and competitive intelligence.

· 5 min read
Strategic Studies India

Cogitatum on Bringing Back India's Most Wanted: A 2018 Field Note

A 2018 field note from the Takshashila Cogitatum on Bringing Back India's Most Wanted. The legal, diplomatic, and operational tools for extraditing economic offenders and fugitives.

· 5 min read
Strategic Studies Geopolitics

Inside Xi's China: A 2018 Field Note

A 2018 field note from the Takshashila Special Credit Course on Inside Xi's China. What the PRC under Xi Jinping looks like, and what it means for India and the Indo-Pacific.

· 5 min read
Strategic Studies AI Policy Sovereign AI

Sovereign AI vs Open AI: The Real Choice for India

Sovereign AI is not a choice between isolation and openness. It is a choice about which layers of the stack are sovereign and which are open. The framework for India in 2026.

· 5 min read
CREDENTIALS

Takshashila at a Glance

  • ✓ Graduate Certificate in Strategic Studies — CS1 (Basics of Strategic Studies), CS2 (Arthashastra: Indian Strategic Thought), CS3 (Introduction to Policy Analysis) — February to May 2018
  • ✓ Special Credit Course — Inside Xi's China — August to September 2018
  • ✓ Cogitatum Distinction — "Bringing Back India's Most Wanted" (March 14-21, 2018)
Read the full Takshashila profile →
FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Where did Dipankar Sarkar study strategic studies?
The Takshashila Institution — India's leading school of public policy and strategic studies. Dipankar holds a Graduate Certificate in Strategic Studies (2018) and a Special Credit Course on Inside Xi's China. He was also a Takshashila Cogitatum participant with Distinction.

What does Dipankar write about on AI and geopolitics?
AI sovereignty, technology sovereignty, AI governance for financial services, the EU AI Act, NIST AI RMF, Indo-Pacific technology policy, defence technology investing, the geopolitics of compute, and the strategic implications of large language models for India and the Global South.

Where can I read Dipankar's longer essays on strategy?
On sarkardipankar.substack.com. Essays on AI, strategy, and geopolitics — long-form, with sources.

How is strategic studies connected to Dipankar's startup and consulting work?
As an angel investor, Dipankar looks at defence-tech, sovereign-AI, and Indo-Pacific infrastructure with a sharper geopolitical lens. As a founder, the DePIN and MEV-mitigation work at Boom Labs benefited from cross-border legal architecture and sanctions policy understanding. As a consultant, the AI governance work for banks draws directly on the Takshashila frame.

Speaking & Briefings

Available for keynote talks, panel discussions, and closed-door briefings on AI sovereignty, Indo-Pacific technology policy, and the intersection of AI, geopolitics, and the Indian startup ecosystem.

Invite to Speak Read on Substack