Mishik Sharma

Introduction India's innovation narrative is at risk of being hijacked by a single-minded, almost obsessive focus on ramping up R&D spending—chasing elusive GERD-to-GDP targets (still stubbornly stuck around 0.6–0.7% in recent years, with private contribution limping at 36–37%) as if percentages alone will catapult the country to global leadership. This fixation, while well-intentioned, dangerously diverts attention from an equally—if not more—critical imperative: massive, irreversible capacity expansion. In a vast economy like India's, with its demographic scale, infrastructure deficits, and manufacturing ambitions, R&D without corresponding physical capacity is largely performative—ideas without factories, simulations without fabs, breakthroughs without output.  Capacity expansion announcements by large conglomerates in 2025 tell a far more compelling story: Adani Group's record ₹1.5 lakh crore FY26 capex push across renewables, data centres, ports, and more; Reli...

1. Introduction: The Political Problem Beneath the Identity Debate Indian politics has long been analysed through the lens of identity mobilisation—caste, ethnicity, language, religion, etc. While these categories remain socially salient, recent electoral and policy signals show that identity-first politics is losing its monopoly as a source of political legitimacy. Development performance, employment generation, mobility, and entrepreneurship are increasingly central to voter evaluation, even in historically identity-dense states. The critical policy question is no longer whether identity will persist—it will—but whether identity can be reorganised around productive civic capability rather than grievance or exclusion. In this article I argue that emerging state-based civic identities, anchored in economic performance rather than on caste or ethnicity, can be institutionalised through policy, rather than through rhetorical contestation. I also advance a concrete framework to do so. 2. ...

In the crisp Alpine air of Davos, Switzerland, the World Economic Forum's annual summit 2026 (January 19-23) unfolded not merely as a global economic conclave but as a vivid tableau of India's evolving political landscape. India's largest-ever Davos delegation—featuring four Union ministers, the National Security Advisor, chief/senior ministers from at least ten states, and over 100 CEOs—descended upon the Swiss town, transforming the India Pavilion into a bustling arena of bipartisan pitches and billion-dollar MoUs.  This spectacle, far from being incidental, confirms and amplifies a thesis I explored just before the summit: development is no longer a peripheral agenda in Indian politics but a structural competitor to identity-based mobilization. As mass mobility reshapes voter horizons and comparative governance becomes the norm, states are compelled to court private capital with unprecedented zeal. Even those governed by traditionally socialist parties—Kerala, Karnataka,...

After four long months, Uttarakhand finally received rain and snow today. Not the heavy, headline-grabbing kind, but a quiet, steady settling of a white sheet across Uttarakhand's mountains, hills, slopes, and valleys. From my balcony, I saw parked cars' roofs & bikes' seats,  my  neighbour’s garden across the street, the green hills nearby, and the brown rocky mountains afar—all enveloped with a white coating. Daily sights, gently redecorated by the winter. This moment has arrived against the backdrop of an oddly confident media narrative: repeated warnings of a 'snowless' winter in Uttarakhand. The implication was clear—something had already been lost. Yet, watching the snow rest calmly on my neighbourhood and beyond, I feel that this media alarm is misplaced. The Problem with Season-Centric Alarmism Snowfall in the middle Himalayas has never been linear or evenly distributed. It is episodic, governed by western disturbances that arrive in bursts, not on a cal...

At first glance, the announced participation of record ten Indian state governments at the upcoming World Economic Forum (WEF) summit in Davos (19-23 January) would look like a familiar investment-attracting exercise—chief ministers, ministers, and senior bureaucrats; and panels, meetings, and memorandums. Yet this moment deserves closer scrutiny. What makes it analytically significant is not that Indian states are seeking investment abroad, but that even laggard and structurally constrained states like Jharkhand, Kerala, Assam, and Madhya Pradesh now feel compelled to compete openly for capital, jobs, and enterprise. States do not collectively change behaviour unless political incentives change. The Davos rush is therefore not merely an economic phenomenon. It, I argue, is a signal of a deeper transformation underway in India’s political sociology. Beyond Identity Arithmetic in Political Sociology For decades, state-level politics in India has been interpreted primarily through the le...

In the ever-evolving tapestry of India's economy, the textile sector stands out as a vibrant thread connecting tradition with modernity, and agriculture with global trade. As we step into 2026, the Central government's ambitious policies are reshaping this industry, promising innovation, thousands of entrepreneurs, millions of jobs, and export dominance. Let's unravel this story. Minister Giriraj Singh's Vision for a Transformed Textile Sector In his article titled "India’s new global positioning in textiles", published in The Financial Express on December 12, 2025, Minister Singh paints a comprehensive picture of the sector's evolution under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership over the past 11 years. He describes textiles not merely as a manufacturing hub but as a lifeline for millions—from cotton farmers in rural fields to urban entrepreneurs and weavers.  Key reforms highlighted include a staggering 173% surge in cotton procurement by governme...

From Inverters to Innovation: The Micro Storage Revolution India’s energy transition has so far been framed around two poles: grid-scale storage and household rooftop solar. But a new layer is emerging—on-site, micro storage for homes, farms, and SMBs/SMEs. Several companies have recently stepped into this space: - Honda–OMC Power: Repurposing EV batteries into modular storage units for SMEs, schools, and rural enterprises. Backed by Japanese investors, this creates a circular economy model while empowering small institutions with reliable backup power.   - Exide Industries: Long known for inverter batteries, Exide has expanded into solar batteries and mobile energy storage systems (200–400 kWh), designed for SMEs and community-level facilities.   - Jakson Green: Offering Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) integrated with solar and wind hybrids, targeting homes, SMEs, and institutions.   - Ola Electric: Today launched Ola Shakti, a home and SMB battery s...