01 · Economy
Test the headline against the street.
He distrusts growth and budget claims until they are checked against what reaches households. In downturns he argues for public investment over austerity, defends public-sector companies, and asks of every measure who actually gains: farmers, the unemployed, salaried workers or the states.
- Compares revised estimates with actual spending, and nominal increases with inflation.
- Separates one-off items from genuine increases before accepting a claimed rise.
- Has argued that the southern states contribute more than they receive, and that new cesses shrink the pool the states share. Hans India
- Judges reforms on merit: he has said he would support bringing fuel under GST.
“fiscally conservative budget that refuses to give any fillip to public investment”
How it moved: the method has held steady from his 2016 book to 2026; the focus has widened from domestic reform debates (GST, Make in India) to global risks and the gap between headline growth and household reality. ProfessorN.in, 2026
02 · Democracy
Dissent is part of the design.
He treats the opposition, protest and debate as working parts of democracy. He has criticised defections that hollow out the opposition, curbs on protest made in the name of public order, and the role of money in elections, setting against it what he called low-budget politics, run by volunteers.
- Faults the conduct of every side first, then says where the greater weight of blame falls.
- Argues that a sensation-chasing media rewards disruption in legislatures.
- Sees a second chamber as a place for considered scrutiny of law, not for rehabilitating defeated politicians. TNM
“Dissent is integral to democracy.”
How it moved: his claim to independence has been constant since 2007. In 2026 his platform turned to the accountability of the Election Commission and when courts should step in. his X feed
03 · Constitution
The Constitution is the yardstick.
He builds arguments on Articles, the Constituent Assembly debates and named Supreme Court judgments. In his 2016 book he traces secularism through Kesavananda Bharati and S.R. Bommai to the basic structure, and distinguishes it from irreligion: belief is free, within the limits of public order.
“secularism remains and shall remain the bedrock of Indian constitutional democracy”
04 · Federalism
A fair deal for the states.
Writing in the Economic & Political Weekly as Andhra Pradesh was divided, he held that Article 3 gives Parliament clear power to reorganise states and the state legislature a consultative role, treating objections as political rather than constitutional. Later he argued for fiscal fairness to the southern states and against cesses that bypass the states' share. EPW
05 · Education
Knowledge is a public good.
India's education pyramid, he argues, is weak at both the base and the top. He sets out policy as a set of tensions to be balanced (access and equity, expansion and standards, skills and knowledge, the public good and the market) and comes down for strong public universities that remain places for ideas, not only for training.
- Reads enrolment ratios by state, gender and social group before drawing a conclusion.
- Backs skilling, while warning against turning universities into mere polytechnics.
- Welcomes foreign universities only with safeguards on quality.
“The private sector can at best supplement but not supplant the public sector effort”
06 · Media
Look beyond the headline.
He asks more of journalism than speed. His own site promises the why and what behind the news, publishes who owns and funds it, keeps a corrections policy, reads articles aloud and lets readers change the text size. His 2016 book was offered as a guide to writing editorials and analysing news.
“I am an analyst, and I try to analyse objectively.”
His lecture for Osmania's Centre for Indian Philosophy took on the same subject: media and democracy, their challenges and opportunities. Osmania
07 · Telugu states
Close to home, fair to both states.
He writes on both Telugu states with the same tools: the law of bifurcation, Andhra Pradesh's search for a capital, Telangana's politics, and Hyderabad's governance. In 2024, as the city demolished encroachments on its lakes, he put ten questions to the agency, asking that the same rules apply to the powerful as to poor buyers, and that officials who cleared the buildings answer too.
“Will HYDRAA be able to pull down the buildings of powerful politicians?”
08 · Science, the world, and life
From the scramjet to the art of living.
His 2016 book gives whole sections to India's space programme, climate diplomacy, disaster preparedness and foreign policy, from neighbours to the reform of global institutions. His 2017 book turns inward: his own move from Telugu-medium to English-medium schooling, the Panchatantra's warning against haste, and lessons from psychology and decision science, each chapter closing on a moral. contents
“Life devoid of a challenge is dry and lifeless.”
