Dr Y Nithiyanandam

Two Indian-flagged LPG tanker vessels, Pine Gas and Jag Vasant, crossed the Strait of Hormuz by passing between Larak and Hormuz Islands—the route under Iranian control. Both vessels are likely to reach their destination in the next five days. 20 more vessels to go!

India's dependence on imported LPG runs deep — over 60% of its cooking gas travels thousands of nautical miles through some of the world's most contested maritime chokepoints. In this Issue Brief, Narayan Ramachandran and Dr Y Nithiyanandam (@prof_nithiya) map India's LPG supply routes, analyse vulnerabilities at key straits like Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb, and lay out short and long-term strategies to build energy resilience. The paper offers a sharp look at how geography, geopolitics, and household energy intersect for over 33 crore Indian homes. Read the full Issue Brief: shorturl.at/lZmnX

Why is Kharg key to Iran? A. It is Iran’s main offshore export terminal, handling the majority of its crude and condensate loadings. B. Storage, pipelines and loading berths are heavily concentrated there, so the island is a single point of failure for seaborne exports.

GEOINT Enthusiast – Watch out for a major inflection: the US is edging toward a ground grab of Iran’s Kharg Island to break the Hormuz blockade.

Geopolitics of LPG Supply in India India’s LPG supply depends on fragile global chokepoints. When they are disrupted, the impact is immediate. Here’s how that risk plays out. Read @TakshashilaInst's latest issue brief here: shorturl.at/Ru1u4 Spoiler: Check out the interesting recommendations from Narayan Ramachandran and the maps from my kitty!

Joined @BDUTT on @themojostory to discuss the #PersianGulf crisis. My 3 Key Takeaways: 1️⃣ Data Gap: Restricted satellite imagery is hampering real-time crisis assessment. 2️⃣ Spoofing: GPS interference is a growing threat to 20k+ trapped seafarers. 3️⃣ Resilience: India must rethink its energy chokepoint dependencies. Watch here: youtube.com/live/i1X0s4SqZ… #Geopolitics #MaritimeSecurity #Takshashila #Hormuz @TakshashilaInst

Early summer seems on. Are we prepared for another harsh season? Heat mitigation strategies seem familiar, but effective heat action plans must reflect urban complexity and spatial diversity. 🎧 Detailed audio podcast (~40 min): my colleague @sowmyanandan and I discussed the topic. Listen here: shorturl.at/60kTf 🎥 Quick video explainer (attached) if you have only ~6 minutes. #Allthingspolicy @TakshashilaInst

New Delhi should indicate its disapproval of the Iranian firing of a missile into the southern Indian Ocean; just as it should have after the US navy sank IRIS Dena. It’s not too late. Do it now. Doesn’t matter if people say it’s one-sided.

🚨 WEST ASIA WAR UPDATE — Mar 21, 9AM IST WHAT CHANGED OVERNIGHT? 1. Trump says "winding down" and "close to objectives" --then deploys 2,200 MORE Marines & 3 warships. Make it make sense. 2. The US removes sanctions on 140M barrels of Iranian oil to cool prices. Goldman Sachs warns: high prices could last till 2027. 3. FIRST: A US F-35 was hit by Iranian fire and made an emergency landing at a Middle East base. First successful Iranian hit on a US aircraft in this war. 4. Iran strikes Kuwait's Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery AGAIN and the Haifa refinery in Israel. IEA urges WFH and avoiding air travel globally. 5. The NATO Mission in Iraq fully evacuated to Europe. 300 Iranian attack waves on Israel in total. The UN is negotiating a humanitarian corridor for 20,000 stranded seafarers. 6. 20 nations (UK, France, Japan, Germany & more) condemn Hormuz closure. Markets closed today (Eid + weekend). 📊 Track everything → nithiyageo.github.io/india-risk-das… Dashboard: market update every 4 hrs | Analytics: 2-3x/day ⚠️ Pilot project -- still being debugged & monitored. For awareness only, not for real analysis or decisions. Use your own judgement!

Trump threatened to “massively blow up” Iran’s South Pars gas field following Iran’s retaliation against Israeli strikes on the resource-rich region. Qatar’s North Field and Iran’s South Pars are the same gas field underground (geologically) If Trump blows up one, he blows up both. India runs on that gas. Literally. Three weeks of LPG stocks. What could be Plan B?

@Arun_Golaya Thanks, sir. To get a clear picture of vessels and boats on water, people need to think beyond AIS, and also an ancillary system to compensate SAR’s limitations.

A well researched article with lots of facts & figures…

@WebprogrPRO For which more clean energy needs to be tapped.

There are now petrol and diesel stoves available New Entrepreneurs can develop smart stoves also That and electric must replace all these LPGs this year itself No reason why not Who uses LPG world wide for cooking other than stupid us?

How the Iran war is impacting India — track it with this by @prof_nithiya @TakshashilaInst nithiyageo.github.io/india-risk-das…

West Asia War --> What changed today? Check out our tracker, updated thrice daily: shorturl.at/8A4Oj

Uncomfortable truth: cities aren’t just victims of heat—we’re creating it. Urban design, buildings, and energy use are generating waste heat. I discuss this (and solutions) with my colleague @sowmyanandan The full conversation is available here: shorturl.at/aI0rV #UrbanHeat #Climate #Indiasummer #mitigation #HeatActionPlan @TakshashilaInst

BeiDou: 50+ satellites. In 2024, 140 countries are expected to generate ¥575.8 billion in navigation output. Pakistan's military runs entirely on BeiDou. India's answer must be NavIC, which is fully funded, urgently replenished, and indigenously clocked. Read the full article here: shorturl.at/QJfVY @TakshashilaInst #NavIC #ISRO #IndiaGeospatial #StrategicAutonomy

Four things NavIC urgently needs: 1️⃣ Stabilise the current 3-sat constellation NOW 2️⃣ Fast-track NVS replacement pipeline 3️⃣ Scale indigenous atomic clocks (NVS-01 showed it's possible) 4️⃣ Better ground infra, anti-jamming, signal processing Not aspirations. Execution.

My thoughts on NavIC's current state for the @timesofindia editorial today. India's navigation system NavIC is down to just 3 working satellites. For reliable positioning, you need at least four. With 3, you only get 2D coordinates. No altitude. No precision. A dead atomic clock only made the situation worse. 🧵