Rajgir: Nalanda University will host the eighth edition of the India Think Tank Forum this week, bringing together policy researchers and institutional leaders from across the country for two days of discussions on India’s place in a shifting global order.
The forum, organised in collaboration with the Observer Research Foundation, will be held on January 12 and 13 at the Nalanda University campus in Rajgir. It is expected to draw more than 80 participants representing 75 think tanks, reflecting the breadth of India’s expanding policy research ecosystem.
The India Think Tank Forum is ORF’s flagship annual initiative and is designed as a platform for cross-sectoral dialogue, collaboration and knowledge exchange among scholars, policy analysts and institutional heads. ORF is best known for its non-partisan public policy research and for convening the Raisina Dialogue, India’s high-profile conference on geopolitics and geo-economics.
Holding the forum at Nalanda University, one of the world’s earliest centres of learning, is intended to signal a shared emphasis on regional diversity and intellectual decentralisation. Organisers say the choice of venue reflects a belief that national policy debates should be rooted in diverse regions and intellectual traditions, rather than concentrated in a few metropolitan centres.
This year’s forum has been framed as an “intellectual gym” and is themed “India in a Changing World: Building Inner Resilience”. Discussions will focus on how India can respond to shifting global dynamics by strengthening domestic institutions and policy frameworks, with an emphasis on moving from analysis to actionable ideas.
Across thematic sessions on geopolitics, the economy, sustainability, technology and social transformation, participants will assess the preparedness of India’s policy ecosystem for the coming decade, explore the links between domestic capacity and global change, and consider how think tanks can collaborate more effectively as engines of strategic foresight and policy innovation.
Speakers are expected to include senior figures from leading research institutions and universities, among them Samir Saran, president of ORF, and Sachin Chaturvedi, vice-chancellor of Nalanda University, alongside representatives from think tanks working on security, economics, public policy and social development.
