Think Tank challenging India’s national security playbook

By Rohan Dutta

Far from Delhi’s power corridors, in a modest office at Hyderabad’s Dr. MCR HRD Institute in Jubilee Hills, a bold experiment is quietly rewriting India’s national security playbook.

The Centre for Human Security Studies (CHSS), led by Ramesh Kanneganti, is bringing national security discussions to regions often left out of the conversation. Unlike Delhi’s top-down approach, this Hyderabad-based think tank champions a bottom-up model, arguing that true national security must begin with food, water, health and education, not just military strength.

“CHSS is the first think tank from South India to influence national security strategy, pushing to decentralise policymaking and bring regional perspectives into focus,” says Mr.Kanneganti.

With key defence, IT, biotech and industrial sectors, as well as cultural diversity, the city serves as a natural hub for security thought leadership. CHSS advocates conflict prevention through dialogue, education and opportunity. Its model addresses poverty, unemployment and exclusion that fuel unrest.

CHSS’ work spans four areas: research, capacity building, internships and blending academic insight with field practice. The think tank has conducted AI-Smart Policing workshops for senior IPS, IAS and State police officers in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

Its Mission E3 (Educate, Empower, Employ) internship initiative has trained over 15,000 students in the last decade, helping more young women pursue education and careers over early marriage.

This grassroots focus also guides its deradicalisation and youth outreach efforts, especially in vulnerable regions. The aim is to widen young people’s sense of belonging in India’s strategic future rather than limit them to short-term jobs or schemes.

One of its major projects, Mission Panchamukhi, conducted India’s largest coastal security review across nine States and four Union Territories. CHSS worked with fishermen, port authorities and security agencies to create AI and IoT-driven port security solutions tailored to local needs.

CHSS created a seaport security syllabus for the Indian Maritime University and contributed to Telangana’s upcoming BA Honours course in Defence and Security Studies. Nationally, Mr.Kanneganti is also part of a UGC-approved National Security MOOC on the Swayam platform.

Globally, Stanford University and the Australian War College have engaged with CHSS’s human-first model. But Mr.Kanneganti notes Indian universities are still under-involved in shaping security policy.

(The writer is interning with The Hindu-Hyderabad)