At GNP India, we are excited to share a brief, witty rendezvous with one of India's most unconventional political analysts- Mr Abhijit Iyer-Mitra.

Q) Why did you go for defence studies?

Abhijit: Ever since I was a kid, I travelled a lot, so the whole idea of looking at different things appealed to me. The second thing is that I was very much into Asterix and Obelix, and into Egyptian history, even when I was barely 3–4 years old. Gradually, I developed an interest in military history, particularly the Roman Legions and the Egyptian Military. So, when you concoct the three- a lot of travel history, interest in the military history, and interest in ancient historical soldering & technology, education in defence seemed like a natural extension that I pursued eventually.


Q) What is your dating interest? What is your ideal version of a society? Do you think that can be achieved in India?

Abhijit: “I am gay, and I like smart people, I guess. Well, I don’t have a type so yeah…” Moreover, I think that there is no ideal society; there never have or never will be a perfect society- it is an anthropological impossibility!! Even the richest nations have undergone serious social problems; for example, Switzerland has the highest gunshot suicide rate globally! This very notion of an ideal policy for an ideal society of ideal behaviour — exists only in the imagination!! Unless you devolve into atomic forms, however, there is a lot of instability even in nuclear structures. So, no, I don’t think that it can be achieved in India.

Q) Anyone incident that might have ever affected your mental health or a taboo-breaking incident that you personally experienced?

Abhijit: Usually, I get over things very quickly; however, I have been through a severe depression, due to which I had to be treated with medication for the same. There has never been an exact trigger for it, but the lockdown made it worse for me. Perhaps I am extremely social; wherein, I love to meet new people and collect new information regularly.

Q) How do you manage your schedule while being on top of almost all the relevant discussions?

Abhijit: I don’t get into micro details except on few things and mostly rely on brilliant micro specialists and my friends. However, I don’t make friends unless I think there is something that I need to learn from them; therefore, most of them are essentially my gurus and intellectual superiors in that sense. Also, I don’t mean in terms of study. For instance: somebody could be a wonderful human being and teach me a lot about being a better human being.

Q) Do you think Indian administrative services are hyped in the country?

Abhijit: “Indian Administrative services are overly hyped- YES, that is because they are obsolete!! We are essentially looking at a bullock cart in a formula one race”. These services were created during the period when the problem-sets and our understanding of economics and global issues was extremely limited. Moreover, the training that your IAS gets is woefully inadequate; its size is woefully inadequate; the accountability of failure is woefully insufficient; the intake examination itself is woefully inadequate.

Q) What specific qualities do you think that the Indian diplomats lack compared to the foreign diplomats?

Abhijit: “The most striking aspect of the IFS VS foreign diplomats is that of human investment”. Once upon a time, most of our foreign diplomats belonged from the extremely wealthy families, for instance, most of them were sons of the Maharajas etc. -so, they had their share of the worldly-wise travel. Since 1991 the IAS & IAF became much more democratized; thereby, India’s intake became much more representative. The problem is that the training's initial model was designed for the candidates who already possessed a high level of human investment.

Due to the quality of intake, India is suffering- as most of the candidates do not have a higher level of human investment. Moreover, most of them don’t know social mores, don’t know how to socialize, can’t blend into societies, and can’t travel perhaps, due to the lack of resources. However, this drawback can be resolved through career training, hand-holding, social training. Think of this as “Pygmalion”, that later was made into a movie “My fair lady”. You desperately need it!

Q) Do you think it can be improved? If yes, then would you please like to share a few tips?

Abhijit: India must expand the service, and India needs to start focusing on hyper-specialization and eradicating the typical Indian mentality- that if you join the civil services, then it is a job for life or that you will become an ambassador later!! That is not the way it works! “Some people suitable for a tactical profile; some people are suitable for strategic, moving the tactical people to strategic is never a good idea.”

Q) Do you think practical experience is more necessary or academic to ensure smooth functioning of the government?

Abhijit: “Academic is about understanding the shades of grey & practical is the art of converting shades of grey in either black or white. Formulating a policy is not a shade of grey; that is why bringing academics into policy can be a recipe for disaster”.If you want to stay at the university, stay academic, but you can’t afford to be that academic if you need practical experience. You have to shed the academic training and start doing instant cost-benefit analysis or opportunity cost-benefit analysis to convert things into either black or white.

Q) A few tips for political writers or writers in general?

Abhijit: For writers– be very succinct. Say what you mean and mean what you say. Try to make it as short as possible, don’t use too much jargon and write in very simple English. It should be understandable even to a 10 -year-old child and the first paragraph- should summarize the rest of the article. Always tie the last section to the first paragraph. Make your arguments clearly, don’t confuse people, and ensure that it has a natural flow.

Q) Top 3 must-reads that you would like to recommend? Besides politics, what are your other interest?

Abhijit: Top 3 must-reads- Ian Morris “Why the west rules for now”, “War what is it good for?”, and “The measure Of All Things. Besides politics & defence, I am interested in flying, travelling, diving, reading (Non- Fiction), and eating.

Q) How can a newcomer strengthen their networking amongst the influential circle in the country?

Abhijit: Basically, to strengthen your networking amongst the influential people, don’t do what I do which is be very smart, as what you will need are the “social skills” instead of “brain skills”. Lie low, don’t be very precocious or else people will dislike you. Also, be an excellent “brown-noser”, and practice extensive “Chamchagirify” in this country. Unfortunately, that is also the way the “west” is going at the moment. You have to virtue signal or be a part of the mob, or else you can’t make it.

Q) Which candidate according to you might have the potential of being the next leader in India?

Abhijit: “Never believe in an individual candidate but the system that your preferred politician represents”. As individuals do not bring a change, but the system does. For instance, as we have seen with Khomeini or Modi, the problem is people who make huge promises but don’t live up to it. So, never believe in an individual but the system on which they are relying. Analyse on whom the candidate will depend for his work — that is something you can trust. Therefore, look out for the individual who he/she brings along with him or her. Is it a good ecosystem? Is it full of first-graders and people who will achieve or resonate with you, or is it just one person shining through with nothing around them? As that is never a good investment to make.