Brahma Chellaney is a geostrategist and the author of nine books, including the award-winning Water, Peace, and War : Confronting the Global Water Crisis

MJ Akbar is an MP and the author of, among other titles, Tinderbox: The Past and Future of Pakistan

Mehr Tarar is a well-known Pakistani columnist and author

Nanditha Krishna is a historian, author and environmentalist, and director of the CPR Institute of Indological Research in Chennai

Makarand R Paranjape, director, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla, is the author of the forthcoming book Swami Vivekananda: Hinduism and India’s Road to Modernity. Views are personal