Senior Civil Servant · AI Practitioner · Policy Architect · Philosophy & Neuroscience Writer

Bridging Algorithmic
Intelligence with
Indian Governance

A civil servant’s notebook on AI, philosophy of mind, and the art of governing 1.4 billion people.

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23+
Years in Service
5
Union Ministries Served
10M+
Citizens Served
1
State Being Served
Dr. B.V.R.C. Purushottam
Dr. B.V.R.C. Purushottam
IAS · UC Berkeley · Uttarakhand
What I write about

Four Intellectual Territories

AI, ML & DL for Governance

36 essays

Notes on artificial intelligence, machine learning, and information theory — and how these tools can reimagine governance, decision-making, and the architecture of public institutions.

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The Policy Lab

23 essays

Field dispatches and data-driven policy thinking from the departments I currently lead — Animal Husbandry, Dairy, Fisheries, and Elections — plus earlier work across cooperatives and education.

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Philosophy of Mind

12 essays

Eastern wisdom meets cognitive science — from the Gita and the Yoga Sutras to Friston, Feldman Barrett, and Kahneman. The examined life of a decision-maker, written in essays.

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The Proving Ground

0 essays

Projects and field work that made a difference — and mattered personally. Plus an open accountability tracker for the things I am building, running, and walking in real time.

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Selected Essays

Featured Insights

Live from Ghost
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Policy Lab

How to Lie with Statistics, Chapter by Chapter — and How India's Own Data Proves Every Word

How to Lie with Statistics predicted exactly how data can mislead us — and seventy years on, India's own numbers prove every word of it.

Jun 2026Read →
Mind & Machine

The Dopamine of Artificial Intelligence: Why LLMs Are Making Us Hooked to Our Computers

Why does one AI prompt always lead to ten more? I explore the science of AI's strange pull — and how to stay in control. What's your longest AI rabbit hole?

Jun 2026Read →
Policy Lab

What Happens After Intelligence Is Enhanced? The Real Challenge After AI

After AI enhances decision-making at the top, the real bottleneck emerges below: execution. The next challenge is implementation intelligence. Smarter secretariats, same hands. Why the AI age will be won by institutions that redesign execution, not just adopt dashboards.

Jun 2026Read →
Impact in numbers

Two decades of public service, in figures

0+
children admitted under the Right to Education Act
NEP 2020
assisted in finalising the National Education Policy
₹150M+
transferred to farmer accounts via the MoU with ITBP
0+
beneficiary farmers — Goat Valley & Poultry Valley schemes
Kedarnath
Relief Commissioner during the 2013 Himalayan disaster
The arc

A career, briefly

  1. 2001
    Bachelor's in Veterinary Science completed
  2. 2002
    Cleared the Indian Postal Service (IPoS) examination
  3. 2003
    Joined the Indian Police Service (IPS)
  4. 2004
    Joined the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) — AIR 42
  5. 2007–14
    District Magistrate, Government of Uttarakhand
  6. 2014–21
    Senior roles, Government of India
  7. 2021–24
    Secretary-level roles, Government of Uttarakhand
Beyond the Blog

Other work

Book

Your Brain Is Running Old Software

Thirteen principles. Four parts.

Grounded in Karl Friston's Free Energy Principle, prediction processing, embodied cognition, and attention research. Written as a dialogue rather than a lecture — so the underlying neuroscience stays rigorous, the reading stays plain. Each principle is a small upgrade you can run on your own mind, starting today.

Visit upgradeurbrain.com →
Charitable Foundation

Srilan Foundation

A Legacy of Love, Learning, Health and Dignity

Supports meritorious girls from below-poverty-line families with scholarships, learning materials, and mentoring through Classes 8–12. Organises medical camps for early detection of cancers, diabetes, and other chronic illness. Provides care for elderly persons without adequate family support, complementing existing government schemes.

Visit srilan.org →
In their words

Recommendations from eminent voices

Purushottam Basava is an upright career IAS officer, hardworking, honest, and follows processes with absolute due diligence, while at the same time kind, helpful, and humane in approach. He draws his strength from his deep-rooted spiritual moorings.

Shri Anil Sahasrabudhe
Former Chairman AICTE, Chairman of National Educational Technology Forum
Signal from the Frontier

If this resonated — here's where it continues

Essays on AI, governance, decision-making, neuroscience, and reflective thought — by a serving IAS officer. Unsubscribe anytime.

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Views expressed are personal and do not represent the Government of India or the Government of Uttarakhand.