M Mukundan is a Malayalam novelist and a native of Mahe. His books include By the Banks of River Mayyazhi

Ajantha Subramanian is Professor of Social Anthropology at Harvard University

Ajay Vir Jakhar is chairman of Bharat Krishak Samaj, an association of farmers

Richard Bourke is Professor in the History of Political Thought at Queen Mary University of London. He has previously written on enlightenment political ideas and violence in modern Ireland. His Empire and Revolution: The Political Life of Edmund Burke ($45; 1,032 pages) will be published by Princeton University Press on 30 September 2015

Anantanand Rambachan is a professor of Religion, Philosophy and Asian Studies at Saint Olaf College, Minnesota, US