Culture And Policy Posts

Dhīti is a blog for long form essays, expressions of civilizational voice, cinema and literature review, and more.

Latest Featured Art Essays Bodhas Cinema And Books Cultural Commentary Culture And Policy Dharma Today Essays Event Reports Events Geopolitics History Indian Knowledge Systems Nītisāra Social Commentary

Show all member-only articles

The Curator and the Clerk - Why Indian Public Policy Needs to Rethink Culture

The piece reflects on the gap between how culture is lived and how it is administered, drawing on insights from anthropology, public policy, and personal fieldwork. It builds on thinkers like Akhil Gupta, James Ferguson, Ashis Nandy, Sudipta Kaviraj, and Partha Chatterjee to argue for a more dynamic, responsive, and culturally intelligent approach to policy making.

Dr. Anurag Shukla 7 min read

Culture And Policy

Scenes from a Village That Never Was

From the binaries of post-Independence cinema to the nihilism of contemporary crime dramas, and from the everyday realism of Phulera to its recent slippage into self-conscious performance, the article considers how and why the village continues to be reimagined in TV shows/movies.

Dr. Anurag Shukla 11 min read

Culture And Policy

The NCERT Textbook Renewal - Distortion or Decolonization of Bharatiya History

Sir Jadunath Sarkar & R.C. Majumdar didn't spend lifetimes crafting rigorous Indian historiography just to see it buried under colonial guilt. NCERT's 'Exploring Society - India and Beyond' isn't 'saffronization'—it's honest history that finally serves Bharatiyata over colonial narratives. Real scholarship was never the problem. Shame was.

Sushant Gangoli 18 min read

Culture And Policy

The Dhārmika State - From Philosophy to Governance Practice of Integral Humanism in Modern Indian Policy

This essay revisits Pt. Deendayal Upadhyaya’s vision of integral humanism, and explores the contours of a Dhārmika State grounded in civilizational values.

Cherish Rajpurohit, Sushant Gangoli 25 min read

Culture And Policy

Before the River, After the Flood - Rethinking India’s Water Imaginaries

A reflective piece that traces how our developmental gaze in India has long imagined the river as a fixed line to be mapped, managed, and monumentalized while ignoring the more intimate, seasonal logic of wetness that has traditionally shaped our relationship with water.

Dr. Anurag Shukla 16 min read

Culture And Policy

Reclaiming the Forest - Against the Modernist Myth of Environmentalism in India

The piece offers a civilizational critique of Ramachandra Guha’s recent work Speaking with Nature. It attempts to foreground indigenous, Vaidika, and dhārmika perspectives on environmental ethics as lived ontology deeply embedded in our texts, practices, and lifeworlds rather than modern ideology.

Dr. Anurag Shukla 12 min read

Culture And Policy

Can Machines Teach What They Cannot Feel? Rethinking AI and the Human in Indian Education

Part 2 in a series on AI and education, taking a deeper look at what is often overlooked when AI systems are introduced into learning spaces, particularly in India. A reflection on five aspects of education that AI cannot meaningfully replicate - consciousness and emotion, social interaction, adaptation and learning, physical presence, and decision-making.

Dr. Anurag Shukla 14 min read

Culture And Policy

Rebuttal to The Print’s Article - Sanskrit Didn’t Always Drive Innovation in Ancient India

A rebuttal to The Print's recent article disparaging the value of Sanskrit in driving innovation in ancient and medieval India.

Sai Priya Chodavarapu 10 min read

Culture And Policy

Girl in the White Frock | Nostalgia, Decline, and the Reinvention of Nirma

A reflection that weaves together business history and cultural storytelling, viewing Nirma not just as a brand that once dominated the detergent market but as a metaphor for India’s shifting aspirations and evolving self-image. What happens when a brand becomes iconic but forgets to grow with its audience?

Dr. Anurag Shukla 6 min read

Culture And Policy

Showing 28 to 36 of 65 Articles

LEARN

PROGRAMS

VIEW

READ

FRAMEWORKS

CONSULT

ABOUT

The Curator and the Clerk - Why Indian Public Policy Needs to Rethink Culture

Scenes from a Village That Never Was

The NCERT Textbook Renewal - Distortion or Decolonization of Bharatiya History

The Dhārmika State - From Philosophy to Governance Practice of Integral Humanism in Modern Indian Policy

Before the River, After the Flood - Rethinking India’s Water Imaginaries

Reclaiming the Forest - Against the Modernist Myth of Environmentalism in India

Can Machines Teach What They Cannot Feel? Rethinking AI and the Human in Indian Education

Rebuttal to The Print’s Article - Sanskrit Didn’t Always Drive Innovation in Ancient India

Girl in the White Frock | Nostalgia, Decline, and the Reinvention of Nirma