India is a complex country. The last few decades have been full of tumult. How does one make sense of it all? Raghu Sanjaylal Jaitley joins Amit Varma in episode 214 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about the many frames he uses to look at our politics, economics, culture and Dilip Kumar.
Episode 34: Uber Surge Pricing
Isn’t surge pricing exploitative? Shouldn’t it be banned? Karthik Shashidhar joins Amit Varma to speak about the Unseen Effects of price caps. He also describes how Uber turned an illiquid market into a liquid one.
Episode 33: Football Transfers
How does the football transfer market work? Why do some players command insanely high transfer fees while others get nothing? Karthik Shashidhar joins Amit Varma to demystify this particular market.
Episode 32: Non-Performing Assets (NPAs)
Indian public sector banks have a notorious problem of non-performing assets, or NPAs. Vivek Kaul and Kumar Anand join Amit Varma to discuss the causes of this problem, and what can be done about it.
Episode 31: Urban Governance in India
Our cities are in a mess. They are not in such bad shape because of corrupt individuals or apathetic citizens, but because our structures of governance are all messed up. Shruti Rajagopalan joins Amit Varma to explain why.
Episode 30: Real Estate Prices
Why do real estate prices in India not fall when demand goes down and inventory stops moving? Vivek Kaul plays economic detective to help Amit Varma solve this mystery.
Episode 29: Drug Price Controls
The government of India often fixes the prices of medicine in India so that poor people can afford them. Pavan Srinath joins Amit Varma to discuss the Unseen Effects of this, and how they can be ameliorated.
Episode 28: GST Revisited
In Episode 3 of The Seen and the Unseen, we had discussed GST — the Goods and Services Tax. Now that it’s actually been implemented, Vivek Kaul joins Amit Varma to discuss its Seen and Unseen Effects.
Episode 27: Television Price Controls
Indian television is appalling, and the reasons for that go beyond culture. Renowned journalist Ashok Malik joins Amit Varma in episode 27 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe how government regulation has played its part.
Episode 26: The Right to Property
The Right to Property is the underpinning of all our rights — and yet, the Indian constitution does not consider it a Fundamental Right, though it once did. Constitutional expert Shruti Rajagopalan joins Amit Varma to discuss why this right is important, and the consequences of its being weakened in India.
Episode 25: Farm Loan Waivers
In episode 25 of The Seen and the Unseen, Kumar Anand and Vivek Kaul join Amit Varma to talk about the part farm-loan waivers play in keeping farmers in PPP: Perpetually Planned Poverty.
Episode 24: Prostitution
For all practical purposes, prostitution is banned in India, and looked down upon by society. Manasa Venkataraman joins Amit Varma to discuss the legal, moral and economic aspects of criminalising sex work.
Episode 23: Public Sector Banks
In 1969, Indira Gandhi carried out a wave of bank nationalisations with some excellent stated intentions. But what were the Unseen Effects? Mumbai-based economist Kumar Anand joins Amit Varma to discuss the structural flaws in the very concept of public sector banks.
Episode 22: China’s Influence in South Asia
China has become an influential force in India’s neighbourhood recently. Is this something India should be worried about? Foreign policy expert Pranay Kotasthane joins Amit Varma to allay these fears.
Episode 21: Slums
Slums in India have been both demonized and deified. Some say they are an eyesore to the city; others say they are hotbeds of entrepreneurship. Pavan Srinath joins Amit Varma to take a deeper look at the role slums play in our society.
Episode 20: The Coming Jobs Crisis
Many of the terrible policies followed by our government over the decades have one common unseen effect: a lack of jobs. India is headed for a jobs crisis, and Vivek Kaul joins Amit Varma to discuss why it has come about and what we can do to stop the slide.
Episode 19: RTE (The Right to Education Act)
The Right to Education Act sounds noble, but has caused devastation in schooling across the country. Vivek Kaul joins Amit Varma to discuss its Unseen Effects.
Episode 18: Restaurant Regulations
If you want to see the many ways in which the government resembles a hafta-extorting mafia, look no further than restaurant regulations. They come about with a noble stated intent, but end up harming both consumers and restaurants. Madhu Menon joins Amit Varma to talk about the intended consequences of restaurant regulations.
Episode 17: Centrally Sponsored Government Schemes
Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna. All these are centrally sponsored government schemes with good intentions at their heart. But are good intentions enough? Pranay Kotasthane joins Amit Varma to discuss the Unseen Effects of Centrally Sponsored Government Schemes.
Episode 16: Artificial Intelligence
Like all technology, Artificial Intelligence (AI) will make humanity better off in the long run. But in the short run, it will cause much disruption, including mammoth job losses in India’s services industry. Futurist Ramez Naam and policy wonk Pavan Srinath join Amit Varma to talk about the Unseen effects of AI.
Episode 15: Kannada Dubbing Ban
For decades, there has been a stricture in Karnataka that non-Kannada films cannot be dubbed into Kannada. The idea behind this was to protect the local film industry — but were the unintended consequences just the opposite? Pavan Srinath joins Amit Varma to discuss the Unseen effects of this ban on Kannada dubbing.