Vision
The Kautilya Council brings together young & emerging leaders from India and across the world while encouraging them to engage with contemporary global issues as well as on matters of strategic importance. In doing so, the Council convenes platforms where they can learn more about one another and from some of the most preeminent minds in the fields of foreign policy, governance, development, industry, academia, media and culture.
Headquartered in New Delhi, India, the Council aspires to further relationships between India and other nations at the level of young minds while getting them to reflect on the rise of India and the Asian continent as a key stakeholder in geopolitical & geoeconomic equations.
As such, the notion of knowledge diplomacy is at the very core of each of the Council’s initiatives which will collectively aim at advancing a strategic culture at the level of global thinkers & leaders of the future.
Narrative
The Council is named after Kautilya, an Indian statesman, thinker and academician often referred to as Chanakya, c. 350-275 BCE. His legacy as a pioneer in diplomacy and government administration is epitomized in ‘The Arthashastra’, an ancient Indian treatise on statecraft which he authored over two millennia ago.
It was Kautilya who identified the leadership potential of a young Chandragupta and guided him from his early days as a student at the renowned Takshashila University to his ascendancy as the first ruler of the Mauryan Empire.
Kautilya’s teachings have significant relevance even today as they reflect a realist approach to politics, economics, society and diplomacy. More importantly, the Council has adopted Kautilya’s practice of identifying promising young individuals and developing their potential as future leaders in government, business and civil society who possess a “strategic temper”.
Initiatives
The Council primarily focuses on convening platforms where young & emerging leaders from India and overseas can be brought together so that they learn about as well as engage & collaborate with one another on contemporary global issues and matters of strategic importance.
Currently, the Council’s flagship program is the International Summer School (ISS) – an intensive, six-week academic program that brings together students from across the world over the course of a summer in New Delhi, India’s capital.
The ISS is convened annually under the banner of the Government’s acclaimed Incredible Indiacampaign, in affiliation with the Department of Political Science at Jamia Millia Islamia - A Central Universityand with regular support from the Ministry of External Affairsas well as associated entities over the years.
