I. Context and Background

• The editorial addresses a fundamental concern: Why does India not occupy a deeper space in the intellectual and institutional imagination of the West, particularly the United States?
  
  
• The immediate trigger is the absence of a ‘Schwarzman Scholars’-like program for India, modeled after China’s initiative to shape future global leadership aligned with its strategic worldview.
  
  
• The article explores the historical, psychological, and policy-level reasons behind India’s peripheral position in Western academia and proposes a roadmap for changing that.

II. Key Issues Raised

1. Schwarzman Scholars Programme – A Chinese Soft Power Tool

• Established in 2016 at Beijing’s Tsinghua University, modeled on the Rhodes Scholarship, to develop future global leaders familiar with China’s governance, political philosophy, and strategic outlook.
  
  
• It symbolizes China’s decades-long investment in building intellectual capital and shaping global elite perception.
  
  
• India has no such globally prestigious program that nurtures India-focused strategic understanding.
  
  

Implication: China’s narrative has been normalized in elite Western institutions; India lacks similar depth or presence.

2. Why India Remains Peripheral in Western Thought

• American elite consciousness continues to carry colonial-era filters about India—viewing it through lenses of:
  
  
  • Poverty, mysticism, religion, spiritualism
    
    
  • Anthropology and exoticism, rather than modern strategic or technological dynamism
    
    
• India is often misunderstood or oversimplified, especially when compared with China, which is viewed as a strong, focused, and future-facing global power.
  
  
• Even within academia, India-focused research is fragmented, often marginalized to South Asian studies or cultural studies, with little emphasis on India’s role in global economics or security frameworks.
  
  

3. Institutional and Strategic Vacuum

• India has not invested sufficiently in:
  
  
  • Global think tanks
    
    
  • Policy research institutions
    
    
  • Academic diplomacy
    
    
  • Narrative-building programs
    
    
• Chinese institutions like Tsinghua are heavily state-backed, while India’s premier institutes (IITs, IIMs, Ashoka, Krea) have not yet developed globally competitive programs with strategic branding.
  
  
• India’s democratic and pluralistic credentials remain undervalued due to weak institutional projection.
  
  

III. Core Argument and Author’s Perspective

• Nirupama Rao argues that to correct strategic asymmetry in perception, India must:
  
  
  • Capture intellectual space in the West
    
    
  • Develop its own elite programs that cultivate India-literate global leaders
    
    
  • Stop relying on reactionary or defensive diplomacy
    
    
• India must project itself as a modern civilization—not just a developing country or cultural hub—and align academic strategy with foreign policy goals.
  
  

IV. Strategic Implications for India

1. Soft Power Diplomacy
    India needs to institutionalize cultural and intellectual diplomacy, similar to how China, France, and even Japan have done through academic chairs, cultural institutes, and think-tank partnerships.
   
   
2. Narrative Ownership
    India must own and tell its story—not be defined by colonial or Western templates. That requires:
   
   

• Strategic storytelling
  
  
• Investing in public diplomacy
  
  
• Engaging scholars, writers, and universities abroad
  
  

1. Leadership in Thought and Action
    India should stop appearing as a silent or risk-averse power, and instead embrace vision-led, values-driven leadership, backed by intellectual credibility.
   
   
2. Creating India-Centric Global Institutions
    India must invest in creating India-themed scholarships, research centres, and leadership fellowships—offering alternative academic hubs for global students interested in India.

V. Conclusion

India’s global stature will not be complete without a corresponding intellectual presence. To be understood on its own terms—as a strategic, pluralistic, and modern civilization—India must shape elite global narratives that influence perception and policy. The road ahead lies in building knowledge-based partnerships, fostering academic diplomacy, and investing in mindspace as much as military or market space.