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Reposted by Rohit Chandra

The New Yorker @newyorker.com · Aug 25

An M.I.T. study found that 95% of companies that had invested in A.I. tools were seeing zero return. It jibes with the emerging idea that generative A.I., “in its current incarnation, simply isn’t all it’s been cracked up to be,” johncassidysays.bsky.social writes.

The A.I.-Profits Drought and the Lessons of History

Like the steam engine, electricity, and computers, generative artificial intelligence could take longer than expected to transform the economy.

www.newyorker.com

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Rohit Chandra @rohitreads.bsky.social · Aug 3

The FT story we were all waiting for but never expected. Lovely, but tragic piece.

igrim @kaspartamsalu.bsky.social · Aug 2

Little fires everywhere; the Financial Times writes about Disco, ZA/UM, and all the offshoots.

www.ft.com/content/5ae5...

Screenshot of the headline of a Financial Times article: The curse of ‘Disco Elysium’, the greatest RPG ever made. Underneath the title there is an illustration by the artist Anton Vill depictin a bespectacled man’s face that has split open to reveal piles of bodies

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Gautam Bhatia @gautambhatia88.bsky.social · Aug 3

Out this month:

"Between Worlds: The IF Anthology of New Indian SFF" --

scroll.in/article/1084...

August fiction: From speculative to literary fiction, six new books to look forward to this month

An anthology of new speculative fiction writing, a crime fiction novel, a collection of Hindi short stories in translation, and more.

scroll.in

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The India Forum @theindiaforum.bsky.social · Jul 16

India's disaster management systems excel in saving lives quickly but are hamstrung in planning for risk mitigation and resilience.
www.theindiaforum.in/climate-chan...

The Evolution of Disaster Management in India

India's disaster management systems excel in saving lives quickly but are hamstrung in planning for risk mitigation and resilience.

www.theindiaforum.in

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Himal Southasian @himalmag.bsky.social · Jul 15

‘The Blaft Book of Anti-Caste SF’ demonstrates the power of speculative and science fiction as instruments of the anti-caste struggle in Southasia, and these genres’ connections to the wide traditions of Dalit and Adivasi literature.

Sreyartha Krishna:

The present and deep past of anti-caste speculative fiction

IN 1920, the Czech author Karel Čapek wrote a science fiction play called R.U.R. – short for Rossumovi Univerzalni Roboti, or Rossum’s Universal Robots. Credite

buff.ly

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The India Forum @theindiaforum.bsky.social · Jul 1

The career of M. Visvesvaraya, arch-technocrat and statesman, throws much light on how India embraced the idea of modernisation through industrialisation. Aashique Iqbal reviews Aparajith Ramnath's book
www.theindiaforum.in/book-reviews...

India’s Visionary Engineer

The career of M. Visvesvaraya, arch-technocrat and statesman, throws much light on how India embraced the idea of modernisation through industrialisation.

www.theindiaforum.in

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The India Forum @theindiaforum.bsky.social · Jun 23

The 2023 Nobel winner’s story reminds us of the power of persistence, and teamwork in science. As science comes under siege in the US, the memoir underscores the need for a more inclusive scientific community that welcomes talent regardless of background or race.
www.theindiaforum.in/book-reviews...

What Katalin Karikó Teaches Us about Perseverance and Success

The 2023 Nobel winner’s story reminds us of the power of persistence, and teamwork in science. As science comes under siege in the US, the memoir underscores the need for a more inclusive scientific c...

www.theindiaforum.in

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Rohit Chandra @rohitreads.bsky.social · Jun 16

As much of North India melts amidst a heat wave, great podcast with Aditya Pillai from
@sustainablefutures.org by Namrata Raju on The Migration Story. open.spotify.com/episode/2jkU...

'Shade is an elite commodity'

The Migration Story podcast · Episode

open.spotify.com

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Gautam Bhatia @gautambhatia88.bsky.social · Jun 8

Strange Horizons’ annual fund-drive is now live:

www.kickstarter.com/projects/str...

We are entirely community-funded, and this is our main source of income. Help us enter our 26th year?

Strange Horizons 2026

A free weekly speculative fiction magazine with a global perspective.

www.kickstarter.com

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Himal Southasian @himalmag.bsky.social · Jun 12

Sign up for the second Himal Fiction Fest 2025 panel event, "Caste, gender and resistance in Southasian speculative fiction", held in partnership with the Armory Square Prize for South Asian Literature in Translation.

🗓 Monday, 16 June
⌚ 7:30 pm IST

buff.ly/kzL5ZID

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Himal Southasian @himalmag.bsky.social · Jun 6

📢 HIMAL FICTION FEST 2025: Celebrating Southasian speculative fiction 🔮

Join us this Monday (9th June) for the first panel event! Sign up here: buff.ly/AupIohy

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Rishika Pardikar @rishpardikar.bsky.social · May 23

A 'Coal in India' explainer for @drilledmedia.bsky.social. Historical roots to nationalisation & back to privatisation, worker issues, Adani & state favour, resistance by Adivasi communities & police action & underground mining. Context: non-existent energy transition
drilled.media/news/india-c...

In India’s Coal Belt, a Window into the Challenges Facing Energy Transition

India’s reliance on coal is tied to a complex set of economic, social, and energy security factors; any successful energy transition plan will have to address all of them.

drilled.media

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Rohit Chandra @rohitreads.bsky.social · Jun 6

@rishpardikar.bsky.social

In India’s Coal Belt, a Window into the Challenges Facing Energy Transition

India’s reliance on coal is tied to a complex set of economic, social, and energy security factors; any successful energy transition plan will have to address all of them.

drilled.media

Rohit Chandra @rohitreads.bsky.social · Jun 6

Great overview piece by Rishika Pardikar on the complexity of India's coal sector and the energy transition. With some valuable insights from the field. drilled.media/news/india-c...

In India’s Coal Belt, a Window into the Challenges Facing Energy Transition

India’s reliance on coal is tied to a complex set of economic, social, and energy security factors; any successful energy transition plan will have to address all of them.

drilled.media

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Himal Southasian @himalmag.bsky.social · Jun 4

📢 HIMAL FICTION FEST 2025: Celebrating Southasian speculative fiction ⏳

Join us this Monday (9th June) for the first panel event! Sign up here: buff.ly/AupIohy

Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: The state of speculative fiction in Southasia - Himal Fiction Fest 2025. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the meeting.

Moderator: Gautam Bhatia Panelists: Usman T Malik, Karthika VK and Theena Kumaragurunathan

buff.ly

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Himal Southasian @himalmag.bsky.social · Apr 3

“The thing that protects you against substandard medicines is a good drug controller. Countries that don’t have that shield are suffering.” Write Vidya Krishnan & Arshu John

How Bangladesh’s pharma revolution succeeded against the odds

This story is part of “Pills, Perils, Profits”, a Himal investigative series on Southasian pharmaceutical manufacturing and exports.Reporting for this story was

www.himalmag.com

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The India Forum @theindiaforum.bsky.social · Mar 21

In the absence of timely data from official agencies, pvt org & researchers have turned to designing large data surveys, often promoted by global philanthropies. There are questions about the transparency, accountability & working conditions of the enumerators.
www.theindiaforum.in/public-polic...

Enumerators and the New Private Customised Survey Industry in India

In the absence of timely data from official agencies, private organizations and researchers have turned to designing large data surveys, often promoted by global philanthropies. There are questions ab...

www.theindiaforum.in

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UBC Economics @ubcvse.bsky.social · Mar 13

Listen to VSE Professor @nathannunn.bsky.social in two recent podcasts, one with @causalinf.bsky.social discussing his career beginnings and how he came to study Economic History and Development... causalinf.substack.com/p/s4e17-nath...
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S4E17: Nathan Nunn, Economic History and Development, University of British Columbia

Welcome to the Mixtape with Scott!

causalinf.substack.com

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Rohit Chandra @rohitreads.bsky.social · Feb 26

Fantastic book review combined with broader reflection on the evolution of nationalism over the last century.

Eric Storm @ericstorm.bsky.social · Feb 25

Long review essay of my book in Foreign Affairs by Pratap Bhanu Mehta: "impressive and erudite" ... "Storm’s rich and engaging account traces how nationalism became inescapable in almost every part of the world".
www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/indi...

Indispensable Nations

The fall and rise of nationalism.

www.foreignaffairs.com

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Victor Shih @vicshih.bsky.social · Feb 19

Very timely book by @fudaoge.bsky.social et al on contemporary state capitalism. Since it’s coming back into fashion, might as well read all about it www.cambridge.org/core/element...

State-Owned Enterprises as Institutional Actors in Contemporary Capitalism and Beyond

Cambridge Core - Governance - State-Owned Enterprises as Institutional Actors in Contemporary Capitalism and Beyond

www.cambridge.org

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Rohit Chandra @rohitreads.bsky.social · Feb 4

We stand on the shoulders of giants: Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt, @drrahul.bsky.social , Dietmar Rothermund to name a few.

I hope you enjoy the piece, and as usual, comments and feedback are welcome and appreciated.

Rohit Chandra @rohitreads.bsky.social · Feb 4

We've done our best to summarize things, but perhaps more importantly, our references span some of the most important work which has been done in this space.

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Rohit Chandra @rohitreads.bsky.social · Feb 4

Much more work needs to be done on the Indian coal industry, and we hope that this will help the next generation of scholars study the industry a little more easily.

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Rohit Chandra @rohitreads.bsky.social · Feb 4

Between the four of us, we have tried to put all this together in one place.

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Rohit Chandra @rohitreads.bsky.social · Feb 4

As a graduate student studying the Indian coal industry, it was very difficult to quickly get a full view of the industry since there wasn't one place where the state of the Indian coal industry, existing social science literature, policy debates, and potential future issues were all summarized.

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