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Jahnab Bharadwaj and Prakriti Kar started The Reasoning Commons as an independent educational initiative. They fund it themselves and run it voluntarily. Both are alumni of the Delhi School of Economics, and partners in life. Their working lives have taken them through science, technology, public policy, international development, public health and research. Jahnab has worked with the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, the Indian Institute of Science, the DST Centre for Policy Research, the IUCN Species Survival Commission and the Data Security Council of India. Prakriti has worked with the Partnership for Economic Policy, the Centre for Policy Research, Urban Ethnographers and the Azim Premji Foundation. Much of that work has meant engaging closely with research, evidence and policy questions, and then explaining them clearly to policymakers, researchers, practitioners and the public.

The initiative grew out of a long-standing interest in the philosophy of science, science communication and public reasoning, and especially in how knowledge gets made, tested and shared. What it hopes to build is a habit of curiosity and careful doubt. In practice that means asking better questions, looking hard at claims, and proportioning belief to the evidence.

The first edition of the competition was held in Sonitpur district, Assam. We chose to begin there because we believe anything meant to last should start in the community it hopes to serve. The essay competition is where the initiative begins. Its wider aim is to encourage critical thinking, open inquiry and scientific temper through education.