Bloody hell. The world has changed, society looks different, and men and women have to find new ways of relating to each other. We’re not equipped for this. Sanjana Ramachandran and Samarth Bansal join Amit Varma in episode 401 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss how meeting and mating are both easier and, well, harder.
Episode 80: India in the Nuclear Age
India as a nuclear power is a different force from what it was before we went nuclear. Lt Gen Prakash Menon joins Amit Varma in episode 80 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe how War and Statecraft have been redefined by nuclear weapons.
Episode 78: Crowd Violence in India
More and more, across this country, violent crowds are taking the law into their own hands. What’s going on? Legal experts Madhav Chandavarkar and Alok Prasanna Kumar share their insights with Amit Varma in episode 78 of The Seen and the Unseen.
Episode 77: Education in India
According to education scholar and activist Amit Chandra, education in India is a fraud committed on the people of this country by the state. He joins Amit Varma in episode 77 of The Seen and the Unseen to explain why.
Episode 76: Claiming Your Space
Misogyny is ubiquitous. Women begin life with the odds stacked against them. Aditi Mittal joins Amit Varma in episode 76 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss how hard it was for her to claim her space. Guest appearance: Swati Bakshi.
Episode 75: Stand-Up Comedy in India
“Comedy is tragedy plus time.” Aditi Mittal joins Amit Varma to elaborate on this in Episode 75 of The Seen and the Unseen. Abbas Momin sits in as well, as the conversation spins from the evolution of stand-up in India to the challenges it faces.
Episode 74: The Bad and Complex Tax
GST was supposed to be a Good and Simple Tax, but has ended up as just the opposite. This is hurting the poor the most. Economist Shruti Rajagopalan joins Amit Varma in episode 74 of The Seen and the Unseen to suggest a way out.
Episode 73: Trade Deficits (and Trumpism)
The US has a trade deficit with China. Trump is worried. Trump is nuts. Vivek Kaul explains why to Amit Varma in episode 73 of The Seen and the Unseen.
Episode 72: The GDPR
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has just been passed in Europe. What are its Unseen Effects? What can India learn from it? Legal expert Manasa Venkataraman joins Amit Varma in episode 72 of The Seen and the Unseen to demystify this subject.
Episode 71: Data and the Government
The Indian government has a disturbing tendency to cherry-pick data. Vivek Kaul joins Amit Varma in episode 71 of The Seen and the Unseen to catch them with their pants down.
Episode 70: Online Conversations
The internet was supposed to bring us all together — but instead, is it driving us apart? Reddit moderator Nikhil X joins Amit Varma in episode 70 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss the changing shape of online conversations — and society.
Episode 69: Immigration and Outsourcing
Donald Trump had two simple answers to everyone who complained about jobs in America. One: Immigrants are taking your jobs. Two: Your jobs are being shipped overseas. Trump was bullshitting. Gaurav Sabnis joins Amit Varma in episode 69 of The Seen and the Unseen to explain why.
Episode 68: Online Content Regulation
The government of India recently broached the possibility of regulating online content — even more than it already does. What does this mean for our freedoms. Nikhil Pahwa joins Amit Varma in episode 68 of The Seen and the Unseen.
Episode 67: Ask Me Anything
This is an AMA (Ask Me Anything) episode, in which host Amit Varma answers questions from both in-studio guests and Twitter and Facebook users.
Episode 66: The State of the Economy 2
What does our economy look like today? Vivek Kaul joins Amit Varma in episode 66 of The Seen and the Unseen, as they talk about Air India, cash shortages, the jobs crisis and other such miscellanea.
Episode 65: The Future of the Internet
The internet has empowered us all beyond belief — but is there a flip side to this? Does it need to be regulated? Nikhil Pahwa and Amit Doshi have a lively conversation with Amit Varma in episode 65 of The Seen and the Unseen.
Episode 64: Libertarianism
What does it mean to be free? What is the basis of individual rights? Episode 64 of The Seen and the Unseen is a rerun of an old episode of The Pragati Podcast, as Amit Varma tells Pavan Srinath what it means to be a libertarian, and why it all boils down to one word: Consent.
Episode 63: Foreign Policy
We all have our own guidelines for how individuals should treat each other. But how should nations behave with other nations? Foreign Policy Realist Nitin Pai joins Libertarian Amit Varma to explain the evolution of foreign policy through the ages, and its imperatives today.
Episode 62: Judicial Reforms
India’s judicial system is broken. How can we fix it? Legal expert Alok Prasanna Kumar joins Amit Varma in episode 62 of The Seen and the Unseen.
Episode 61: Aadhaar
According to media commentator Nikhil Pahwa, Aadhaar is a subject on which “what we do will impact generations.” Nikhil joins host Amit Varma on episode 61 of The Seen and the Unseen to explain how Aadhaar threatens our freedoms, and why we need to take it seriously.
Episode 60: India’s Water Crisis
We take water for granted, but India might be entering a full-blown water crisis. Water evangelist Vishwanath S joins Amit Varma in episode 60 of The Seen and the Unseen to shed light on this.
Episode 59: Protectionism
Protectionism is on the rise across the world, which is bewildering, given how harmful it is. Economist Anupam Manur joins Amit Varma in episode 59 of The Seen and the Unseen to bust eight common myths about protectionism
Episode 58: Misogyny and our Legal System
As three recent cases show, misogyny exist not just in our outdated laws, but also in the minds of our lawmakers and the judiciary. Legal expert Madhav Chandavarkar and feminist Hamsini Hariharan join Amit Varma in episode 58 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss Triple Talaq, Hadiya and the Mahmood Farooqui case.
Episode 57: India’s Maldives Dilemma
There is turmoil in the Maldives, as a tyrant unfriendly to India cozies up to China. Do we need to intervene? Foreign policy expert Pranay Kotasthane joins Amit Varma to give his point of view in episode 57 of The Seen and the Unseen.
Episode 56: Easy Money
The turbulence in the world economy today is enabled by the same phenomenon that caused the 2008 financial crisis, and was perversely also a response to that crisis: Easy Money. Vivek Kaul, author of the Easy Money trilogy, joins Amit Varma in episode 56 of The Seen and the Unseen to explain the damage irresponsible governments can do to the economy.
Episode 55: Defending the Indefensible
It is important to always question received wisdom. In episode 55 of The Seen and the Unseen, libertarian thinker Yazad Jal joins Amit Varma to challenge the commonly held view on five subjects. Listen in and see if you agree with him.
Episode 54: Budget 2018 Quick Takes
The Budget presented by the government of India is an annual ritual that millions of people tune in to. What was the 2018 budget like? Pavan Srinath and Pranay Kotasthane, staff writers of Pragati, join Amit Varma to offer their quick analysis, and to supplement the budget coverage at Pragati.
Episode 53: Pakodanomics
Narendra Modi famously invoked a pakoda seller last week when he spoke about job creation in India. How apt is that invocation? Columnist Vivek Kaul, who coined the term ‘Pakodanomics’, and economist Shruti Rajagopalan join Amit Varma in episode 53 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss the prime minister, the pakoda seller and India’s job problem.
Episode 52: Caste in Modern India
Modern India’s greatest shame is that even after 70 years of Independence, we still haven’t solved the problem of caste. Shruti Rajagopalan joins Amit Varma in episode 52 of the Seen and the Unseen to shed light on some of the ways in which we have messed up at an institutional level.
Episode 51: Alpha Zero
The chess program Alpha Zero made waves recently when it taught itself chess in four hours — and then thrashed the strongest chess engine in the world, Stockfish. This illustrated a dramatic advance in Artificial Intelligence. Devangshu Datta joins host Amit Varma in episode 51 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about its impact for both chess and AI.
Episode 50: The State of Indian Politics
Indian politics is complex to the point of being almost unfathomable. JP Narayan, that rare public intellectual who also embraced electoral politics, joins Amit Varma in episode 50 of The Seen and the Unseen to share his learnings.
Episode 49: Political Discourse
Social media has enabled everyone to have a voice — but no one listens any more. In episode 49 of The Seen and the Unseen, Amit Varma examines why our political discourse is so polarised. One particular bugbear of his is the tendency to shift the focus from the argument to the person, and he outlines a few different ways in which people personalise arguments.
Episode 48: Reforming Urban Governance
For almost two decades, V Ravichandar has been “a civic evangelist and a patron saint of lost causes” fighting to reform local government in our cities. He joins Amit Varma in episode 48 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about the lessons he has learnt, and what keeps him going.
Episode 47: Poker and Stock Markets
Poker and stock markets are very similar — and both holds lessons for life. Ace investor Mohit Satyanand joins former poker pro Amit Varma in episode 47 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss how both disciplines reveal the flawed machinery of the human brain.
Episode 46: The State of the Media
We live in times when media is fragmented and there is no consensus on the truth any more. Journalism has become a race to give people what they want to believe. What are we to do? Prem Panicker joins Amit Varma in episode 46 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss the State of the Media.
Episode 45: The BJP’s Magic Formula
Over the last few years, the BJP has built the most formidable election machine in human history. Prashant Jha, author of the book ‘How the BJP wins’, joins Amit Varma in episode 45 of The Seen and the Unseen to break down the elements behind their success.
Episode 44: The Delhi Smog
It is well known that the key cause of Delhi’s smog is the ‘stubble’ burnt every year by Punjab’s farmers. Vivek Kaul joins Amit Varma to discuss the bad incentives in play, how government sops might have caused this problem, and what can be done about it.
Episode 43: Parenthood
Natasha Badhwar, the author of a celebrated parenting column, recently released her moving book, ‘My Daughter’s Mum.’ In episode 43 of The Seen and the Unseen, she joins Amit Varma to discuss the process of parenting, writing about it, and the Seen and Unseen Effects of Parenthood.
Episode 42: Behavioral Economics
To celebrate Richard Thaler’s Nobel Prize, behavioural econ geek Nidhi Gupta joins Amit Varma in episode 42 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss key concepts from the field — all of which explain many of the Unseen Effects of our actions, and the way we’re wired.
Episode 41: Money in Cricket
Cricket has been transformed in the last four decades, first because of Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket, and then recently by the IPL. Noted cricket writers Gideon Haigh and Prem Panicker join Amit Varma in episode 41 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss the enormous impact of this commercialisation.