Ashish Bharadwaj is the Pro Vice Chancellor & Dean of Academics at World Peace University (WPU), Goa, and a Distinguished Fellow for Law and Education at Gateway House. He previously served as Professor and Founding Dean at OP Jindal Global University in Sonipat and BITS Law School, at BITS Pilani’s youngest campus in Mumbai. He writes on tech law, industrial innovation, and patent policy. He is currently helping some universities reimagine their strategy and realise their vision. Bharadwaj writes a fortnightly column in the Hindustan Times that demystifies topical constitutional law issues using socio-political history. Bharadwaj has a Ph.D. from LMU and the Max Planck Institute for Innovation & Competition Law in Munich; an LL.M. from Erasmus University Rotterdam; and an M.Sc. in Economics from Anna University’s College of Engineering Guindy.
Ashish Bharadwaj, Distinguished Fellow for Law and Education, Gateway House, was the chief guest at the 70th birthday and 80th Independence Day celebration at Udayachal High School, Mumbai. He spoke about the heroes of the independence movement, young and old, and connected the lessons of India's history to the country's youth.
India’s transition from Digital Public Infrastructure to indigenous AI is not simply an effort to make more data available for AI development. It is to see how data associated with public digital systems can be brought into new technological uses without weakening the legal and institutional safeguards that govern its collection, access and use. That balance creates sustained innovation alongside privacy, participation and public accountability.
The global steering wheel has come loose, replaced by more fluid, pragmatic, and regional frameworks. The Emerging Middle Powers Report 2026 illuminates the shifting postures and throws up some surprises: trust in the U.S. is receding, non-alignment is increasing, regionalism is more important, and divergences from the mainstream are clear. Can Middle Powers be more than just bridges to overcome differences?
India’s sovereign AI strategy prioritises chips, compute, data, models, and talent, but overlooks a critical pillar: energy security. As AI-driven electricity demand surges globally and the IndiaAI Mission rapidly expands computing capacity, reliable power is becoming a defining constraint on AI ambitions. Energy security must therefore be recognised as a core pillar of India’s sovereign AI strategy, not merely as supporting infrastructure.
India is moving from “digital adoption” to “digital swaraj,” a demand for technological self-reliance. The national discourse is shifting from data sovereignty to broader technological sovereignty. India’s goal is a hybrid model where global innovation meets local control and digital services that align with domestic needs. If successful, this model could offer the Global South an alternative to both U.S. private-led and Chinese state-led digital systems.
The transformation of higher education and research in Iran over the last twenty years is a cautionary tale in cultural sociology and political economy. Iran has transitioned from a global colleague with high rates of international collaboration to an isolated, ideologically purged state that has pivoted its innovation engine toward survival. The outward migration of talented Iranians is a terminal threat to the nation’s long-term prosperity.
India and Indonesia are bound by history, culture, trade, and shared values. Their relationship must now add a new dimension — higher education and research. Both nations have long relied on outdated Western models. With a tech-savvy generation and receding colonial memory, the two largest democracies must build research bridges and empower students to become the leaders, innovators and humanitarians of tomorrow.
Courtesy:
Courtesy: Gateway House
Courtesy: Gateway House
Courtesy: Gateway House
Courtesy: Gateway House
Courtesy: Iran Front Page
Courtesy: Gateway House