India is a diverse country with diversity within both the federal level and the state level. I have listed a subset of sources I and friends of mine from Indian policy backgrounds (IAS, IPS, MHA, etc) tended to trust. This is not a complete list, and shows my own regional biases.

Feel free to AMA me or discuss additional recommendations in this thread. I don't get much of an opportunity to discuss Social Sciences since I switched careers to the Tech world.

edit:

I will not dignify any flame-bait conversations. I will chat with people from any political camp, but only if they chat in a non-combative manner.

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General Journalism:

Most newspapers and news media channels in India are owned by Oligarchs supporting one party or the other.

The only Indian newspaper I've personally trusted is The Tribune (https://www.tribuneindia.com/) due to it's being owned by a non-profit foundation with a perpetual endowment created by a banking magnate back in the late 19th century.

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Long Form Journalism:

The Caravan - https://caravanmagazine.in/

Has a bit of a center-left and progressive leaning, but pretty well investigated and written articles.

The Print - https://theprint.in/

Has a bit of a center-right leaning, but strong informed articles on Indian Defence Policy and Developmental News (I think they have some ex-MoD and IAS beats).

The Wire - https://thewire.in/

Has a center-left leaning, but a good source for articles on the negative ground realities that exist in various different regions of South Asia. Also surprisingly strong at Indian Foreign Policy (I think they have some ex-MEA beats)

Himal Magazine - https://www.himalmag.com/

Has a center-left and progressive leaning, but a strong source on the anthropological and sociological aspects of South Asian studies.

Swarajya - https://swarajyamag.com/

Has a center-right to far right leaning, but a strong source to understand BJP and Hinduvta politics from their perspective.

Outlook India - https://www.outlookindia.com/

Good long form journalism and analysis. Haven't noticed much bias one way or the other as they tend to publish ideologues from all spectrums of Indian politics.

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Public Policy Think Tanks and Journals:

Observer Research Foundation - https://www.orfonline.org/

Amazing articles and papers on South Asian Foreign Policy and Developmental Economics. Centrist/Institutionalist bias as it is staffed by ex-IAS and policymaker types

Carnegie India Foundation - https://carnegieindia.org/

Similar as ORF, but with a stronger bias towards IR.

Economic and Political Weekly - https://www.epw.in/

One of the premier Indian Social Sciences journals. Very strong articles on South Asian social sciences in general.

Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy - https://vidhilegalpolicy.in/

Amazing organization working on legal policy analysis in India. Very easy to read for those who are not from a legal background

Centre de Sciences Humaines Delhi - https://www.csh-delhi.com/

Strong research on developmental economics and regional socio-political dynamics in South Asia.

The Diplomat - https://thediplomat.com/

Probably the best foreign policy magazine in the APAC region. Well researched and a diverse amount of voices from all sides of the political spectrum

Lowy Institute - https://www.lowyinstitute.org/

Probably the best APAC foreign policy think tank. It's essentially Brookings Level