Dr Arvind Gupta is the Director of the Vivekananda International Foundation, New Delhi. His interests are in strategic affairs including India’s foreign policy, national security, science and technology, India’s strategic thought and Indian civilisation.  He was the Deputy National Security Adviser and Secretary, National Security Council, Government of India during 2014-17. He has also served as Director-General of the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, Ministry of Defence. A former career diplomat, he has served in the Ministry of External Affairs and Indian missions abroad.

A career diplomat, Satish Chandra served as India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Offices in Geneva and later as High Commissioner to Pakistan. He, subsequently, in 1999 set up the National Security Council Secretariat which he headed till his demission from office in February 2005. He was Deputy National Security Advisor from February 2002 to February 2005.

Kiran Bedi is the first woman to have joined the officer ranks of the Indian Police Service. She was the 24th Lt Governor of Puducherry.  She served the United Nations as Civilian Police Advisor in Peacekeeping Operations. She is PHD from IIT Delhi with a post-doctoral Nehru fellowship. She is also an author of several books. She has been an Asian tennis champion, winner of gallantry award, winner of Magsaysay Award.

Gautam Desiraju has been in the Solid State and Structural Chemistry Unit of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India since 2009 and since 2023 has been a Distinguished Visiting Professor in UPES, Dehradun. Prior to this, he was in the University of Hyderabad for 30 years. He is one of the most highly cited Indian scientists with roughly 500 papers, more than 75,000 citations, and an H-index well over 105.

Vikram Sood is the former head of the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), India’s foreign intelligence service. In this interview, he answered questions from the Indian Century Roundtable’s Vikram Malkani about his own background and about the major security challenges faced by India today. Here’s what he had to say.

Sanjeev Sanyal is a member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister and one of India’s best known writers. In this interview, he answered questions from the Indian Century Roundtable’s Vikram Malkani about his experiences growing up and his confidence in India’s future. Here’s what he had to say.