Episode 233: Pranay Kotasthane Talks Public Policy

Public policy may seem like a dull subject fit only for wonks, but it matters: our lives are deeply affected by what our governments do. Pranay Kotasthane joins Amit Varma in episode 233 of The Seen and the Unseen to chat about his intellectual journey, his private beach and why public policy can be so stimulating. He also answers racy questions from the Twitterverse.

If you share Pranay’s interest in public policy, you should check out Takshashila’s Graduate Certificate in Public Policy (GCPP).

Also check out:
1. Anticipating the Unintended — Pranay Kotasthane’s newsletter (with RSJ).
2. Puliyabaazi — Pranay Kotasthane’s podcast (with Saurabh Chandra).
3. Foreign Policy is a Big Deal — Episode 170 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane & Manoj Kewalramani).
4. Radically Networked Societies — Episode 158 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane).
5. Older…

Episode 268: Russia, Ukraine, Foreign Policy

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is not just a seminal moment in world history, but a teachable one. Pranay Kotasthane and Nitin Pai join Amit Varma in episode 268 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss concepts and frameworks of foreign policy that can help us make sense of this turmoil.

If this subject interests you, consider signing up for Takashshila’s GCPP: Defence & Foreign Affairs course. Registration is open for the May Cohort.

Also check out:
1. Pranay Kotasthane Talks Public Policy — Episode 233 of The Seen and the Unseen.
2. Foreign Policy is a Big Deal — Episode 170 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane & Manoj Kewalramani).
3. Radically Networked Societies — Episode 158 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane).
4. Democracy in Pakistan — Episode 79 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay

Episode 358: The Semiconductor Wars

Semiconductors power much of modern technology — and thus, our lives and our politics. Pranay Kotasthane and Abhiram Manchi join Amit Varma in episode 358 of The Seen and the Unseen to shed light on how so much geopolitics today centres around chips — and why its such a big deal.

Also check out
1. Pranay Kotasthane on Twitter, LinkedIn, Amazon and the Takshashila Institution.
2. Abhiram Manchi on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and the Takshashila Institution.
3. When the Chips Are Down: A Deep Dive into a Global Crisis — Pranay Kotasthane & Abhiram Manchi.
4. Puliyabaazi — Pranay Kotasthane’s podcast (co-hosted with Saurabh Chandra).
5. Missing In Action: Why You Should Care About Public Policy — Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu S Jaitley.
6. The Long Road From Neeyat to Neeti — Episode 313 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane & Raghu S…

Episode 374: Making Policy Fun with Khyati Pathak and Friends

…(co-hosted with Saurabh Chandra).
6. Anticipating the Unintended — Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu Sanjaylal Jaitley’s newsletter.
7. Missing In Action: Why You Should Care About Public Policy — Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu S Jaitley.
8. The Long Road From Neeyat to Neeti — Episode 313 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane & Raghu S Jaitley).
9. Pranay Kotasthane Talks Public Policy — Episode 233 of The Seen and the Unseen.
10. The Semiconductor Wars — Episode 358 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane & Abhiram Manchi).
11. Older episodes of The Seen and the Unseen w Pranay Kotasthane: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.
12. Protectionism — Episode 59 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Anupam Manur).
13. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee — Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen.
14. Toan Truong’s Twitter thread on learning…

Episode 170: Foreign Policy is a Big Deal

…Asia — Episode 22 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane)
5. Democracy in Pakistan — Episode 79 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane and Hamsini Hariharan)
6. India’s Maldives Dilemma — Episode 57 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane)
7. Radically Networked Societies — Episode 158 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane)
8. The Geopolitics of the Bangladesh War — Episode 113 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan)
9. Libertarianism — Episode 64 of The Seen and the Unseen
10. Foreign Policy: Time to Be a Major Player — Pranay Kotasthane
11. We Live in Multiple Neighbourhoods — Pranay Kotasthane
12. All That’s Not New in Naya Pakistan — Pranay Kotasthane
13. Ingredients of a New World Order — Pranay Kotasthane
14. Pranay Kotasthane’s newsletter, Anticipating the Unintended.
15. Manoj Kewalramani’s newsletter, Eye on China….

Episode 313: The Long Road From Neeyat to Neeti

Public policy may seem arcane and complicated, a field only for geeks. But all our lives are shaped by it. Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu S Jaitley join Amit Varma in episode 313 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe their efforts to make policy great again.

Also check out:
1. Missing In Action: Why You Should Care About Public Policy — Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu S Jaitley.
2. Anticipating the Unintended — Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu Sanjaylal Jaitley’s newsletter.
3. Puliyabaazi — Pranay Kotasthane’s podcast (with Saurabh Chandra).
4. Raghu Sanjaylal Jaitley’s Father’s Scooter — Episode 214 of The Seen and the Unseen.
5. Pranay Kotasthane Talks Public Policy — Episode 233 of The Seen and the Unseen.
6. Foreign Policy is a Big Deal — Episode 170 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane & Manoj Kewalramani).
7. Older episodes of The…

Episode 158: Radically Networked Societies

…with a networked society? Pranay Kotasthane shares his insights with Amit Varma in episode 158 of The Seen and the Unseen.

Also check out: 1. Individual Liberty vs Public Security in a Radically Networked Society — Nitin Pai and Pranay Kotasthane.
2. Networked Societies and Hierarchical States: The Emerging Challenge to Political Order — Nitin Pai and Sneha Shankar
3. Twitter and Tear Gas — Zeynep Tufekci
4. Serdar Akinan’s picture of the procession of coffins
5. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen featuring Pranay Kotasthane
6. Protesters Are United by Something Other Than Politics — Tyler Cowen
7. Films, Feminism, Paromita — Episode 155 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Paromita Vohra)
8. Fighting Fake News — Episode 133 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pratik Sinha)
9. The Facts Do Not Matter — Amit Varma
10. Pranay Kotasthane’s newsletter.

Episode 181: The Dragon and the Elephant

…(w Srinath Raghavan).
6. The India-Pakistan Conflict — Episode 111 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan).
7. War and Peace in Modern India — Srinath Raghavan.
8. China’s Influence in South Asia — Episode 22 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane).
9. India’s Maldives Dilemma — Episode 57 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane).
10. India’s China War — Neville Maxwell.
11. China’s Indian War — Bertil Lintner.
12. Strong Borders, Secure Nation — M Taylor Fravel.
13. From Frontier Policy to Foreign Policy — Matthew Mosca.
14. Watershed 1967 — Prabal Dasgupta.
15. Making it Count — Arunabh Ghosh.
16. The Stories Behind the Numbers — Episode 52 of States of Anarchy.
17. A Tale of Two Kingdoms — Episode 32 of States of Anarchy.
18. China Through Indian Eyes — Episode 361 of All Things Policy.
19. China’s Ambitions…

Episode 163: Who Broke Our Republic?

…Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul.
7. India’s Founding Moment — Madhav Khosla.
8. Where Have All the Leaders Gone? — Amit Varma.
9. Democracy in Pakistan — Episode 79 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane & Hamsini Hariharan).
10. The 2019 Elections — Episode 122 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sadanand Dhume).
11. Radically Networked Societies — Episode 158 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane).
12. The Emergency — Episode 103 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gyan Prakash).
13. Taking Stock of Our Republic — Episode 157 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha).
14. A Game Theory Problem: Who Will Bell The Congress Cat? — Amit Varma.
15. An Area of Darkness — VS Naipaul.
16. India: A Wounded Civilization — VS Naipaul.
17. The Discovery of India — Jawaharlal Nehru….

Episode 214: Raghu Sanjaylal Jaitley’s Father’s Scooter

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.

Also check out:
1. Anticipating the Unintended — Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu Sanjaylal Jaitley’s newsletter.
2. Dil Hai Ki Manta Nahin, featuring Raghu Jaitley.
3. Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar, featuring Sanjay Lal.
4. It Happened One Night.
5. Persuasion — Yascha Mounk’s newsletter.
6. The Coddling of the American Mind — Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt.
7. A Meditation on Form — Amit Varma.
8. Public Opinion — Walter Lippman.
9. The World Outside and the Pictures in our Heads — Walter Lippman.
10. A Venture Capitalist Looks at the World…

Episode 219: Keeping India Safe

…Against India — Sushant Singh.
36. India Can’t Say It Wants U.S. Help Against China — Sushant Singh.
37. India’s China Challenge — Ananth Krishnan.
38. The Dragon and the Elephant — Episode 181 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Hamsini Hariharam & Shibani Mehta).
39. What Does China Want? — Episode 143 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manoj Kewalramani).
40. Foreign Policy is a Big Deal — Episode 170 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane & Manoj Kewalramani).
41. Understanding Foreign Policy — Episode 63 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nitin Pai).
42. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy — Douglas Adams.
43. China’s Influence in South Asia — Episode 22 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane).

Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.

And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!…

Episode 318: The Liberal Nationalism of Nitin Pai

…real problem is that we have too little republic — Nitin Pai.
11. The operating system of liberal democracy needs a major upgrade — Nitin Pai.
12. Social harmony is a matter of national interest — Nitin Pai.
13. Liberal democracies must protect their citizens’ minds from being hacked — Nitin Pai.
14. Understanding Foreign Policy — Episode 63 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nitin Pai).
15. Russia, Ukraine, Foreign Policy — Episode 268 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane and Nitin Pai).
16. The City and the City — China Miéville.
17. The State of Our Economy — Episode 252 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra and Mohit Satyanand).
18. The Tragedy of Our Farm Bills — Episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah).
19. Who We Are and How We Got Here — David Reich.
20….

Episode 341: The Steady Determination of Yamini Aiyar

…a Problem, but Our Greatest Strength — Amit Varma.
29. Is the Singularity Near? — Episode 2 of Everything is Everything.
30. My Hero, Oppenheimer — Episode 5 of Everything is Everything.
31. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ramachandra Guha: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
32. What Have We Done With Our Independence? — Episode 186 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pratap Bhanu Mehta).
33. The Gentle Wisdom of Pratap Bhanu Mehta — Episode 300 of The Seen and the Unseen.
34. In Service of the Republic — Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah.
35. The Art and Science of Economic Policy — Episode 154 of The Seen and the Unseen.
36. Missing In Action: Why You Should Care About Public Policy — Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu S Jaitley.
37. The Long Road From Neeyat to Neeti — Episode 313 of The Seen and the Unseen…

Episode 6: Surgical Strikes

On September 18, 2016, a group of terrorists attacked an Indian army brigade headquarters near the town of Uri in J&K. Nineteen people died, and there was immense pressure on the Indian government to retaliate. The prime minister, Narendra Modi, eventually launched what he described as ‘surgical strikes’, meant to be a show of strength and resolve. Defence analyst Pranay Kotasthane joins Amit Varma to discuss the Seen and Unseen effects of these surgical strikes.

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 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 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 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 79: Democracy in Pakistan

Is there really democracy in Pakistan? What were these elections all about? Pranay Kotasthane and Hamsini Hariharan join Amit Varma in episode 79 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss the two Pakistans, and what lies ahead.

Episode 160: Participatory Democracy

In India, we have government of the people and for the people, but not by the people. How can we fix this? Polymath thinker Ashwin Mahesh joins Amit Varma in episode 160 of The Seen and the Unseen to chat about participatory democracy, India Against Corruption, the Aam Aadmi Party and what makes a Good Indian.

Also check out:
1. Ashwin Mahesh’s homepage.
2. With the Government, Within the Government, As the Government — Ashwin Mahesh
3. The State of our Farmers — Episode 86 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gunvant Patil)
4. A Life in Indian Politics — Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w JP Narayan)
5. Radically Networked Societies — Episode 158 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane)
6. Education in India — Episode 77 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Amit Chandra)
7. The Anti-Defection Law — Episode 13 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Barun Mitra)

Episode 185: Fixing Indian Education

…and Famines — Amartya Sen.
16. India’s Problem is Poverty, Not Inequality — Amit Varma.
17. On Inequality — Harry Frankfurt.
18. A Theory of Justice — John Rawls.
19. Anarchy, State and Utopia — Robert Nozick.
20. Arguments for Liberty — Aaron Ross Powell and Grant Babcock.
21. Saving Capitalism From the Capitalists — Raghuram Rajan.
22. Out-Arnabing Arnab — Episode 8 of Econ Central.
23. Parkinson’s Law — Cyril Northkote Parkinson.
24. Myths of Official Measurement — Abhijeet Singh.
25. Centrally Sponsored Government Schemes — Episode 17 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane).
26. The Aggregate Effect of School Choice — Karthik Muralidharan and Venkatesh Sundararaman.
27. The Private Schooling Phenomenon in India: A Review — Geeta G Kingdon.
28. Extending access to low-cost private schools through vouchers: an alternative interpretation — James Tooley.Also, do check out Amit’s writing course, The Art of Clear Writing.

Episode 200: The Hunter Becomes the Hunted

The tables are turned in episode 200 of The Seen and the Unseen. Host Amit Varma is in the firing line, replying to questions from 22 of his past guests and fans as Shruti Rajagopalan plays proctor. They talk about poker, podcasting, politics, policy and the personal.

Show Notes
1. Select episodes of The Seen and the Unseen featuring Shruti Rajagopalan (1, 2, 3, 4, 5), Manu Pillai (98, 127, 156), VK Karthika, Rajat Ubhaykar, Chinmay Tumbe, Prem Panicker (41, 46), Joy Bhattacharjya, Akshaya Mukul, Ira Mukhoty, Parvati Sharma, Manimugdha Sharma, Supriya Gandhi, Harsha Bhogle, Karthik Muralidharan, Srinath Raghavan (1, 2, 3, 4, 5), Pranay Kotasthane (1, 2), Hamsini Hariharan (1, 2, 3, 4), Russ Roberts, Arvind Subramanian, Ram Guha (1, 2, 3), Pratap Bhanu Mehta, Narayani Basu, Amardeep Singh, Aakar Patel, Rahul Verma, Ashok Malik, Barun Mitra+Kumar Anand, Matt Ridley, Neelesh Misra, Puja Mehra, Rajeswari…

Episode 216: Being Muslim in India

…Schwartz.
16. India Wins Freedom — Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.
17. A Life in Indian Politics — Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w JP Narayan).
18. Hum Dekhenge — Written by Faiz Ahmad Faiz and sung by Iqbal Bano.
19. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty — James Thurber.
20. The Citizenship Battles — Episode 152 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan).
21. Radically Networked Societies — Episode 158 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane).
22. The BJP Before Modi — Episode 202 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati).

This episode is sponsored by The Great Courses Plus. Check out their course, The Joy of Mathematics. For free unlimited access for a month, click here.

Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free!

And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing….

Episode 231: The China Dude Is in the House

Bollywood lost him, journalism wasted him, and thank goodness for that. Manoj Kewalramani, the foreign policy analyst also known as The China Dude, joins Amit Varma in episode 231 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss his brilliant new book on post-Covid China, Smokeless War. Also discussed: Lokhandwala Cafes and the art of building narratives.

Also check out:
1. Smokeless War: China’s Quest for Geopolitical Dominance — Manoj Kewalramani.
2. Eye on China — Manoj Kewalramani’s newsletter. (+ older archives at Pragati.)
3. The Takshashila Institution.
4. What Does China Want? — Episode 143 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manoj Kewalramani).
5. Chinese Foreign Policy — Episode 81 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manoj Kewalramani).
6. Foreign Policy is a Big Deal — Episode 170 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane & Manoj Kewalramani).
7. The Dragon and…

Episode 237: The Importance of the 1991 Reforms

…Shah).
6. The Tragedy of Our Farm Bills — Episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah).
7. Other episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ajay Shah: 1, 2, 3.
8. In Service of the Republic — Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah
9. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen w Shruti Rajagopalan, in reverse chronological order: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16.
10. Population Is Not a Problem, but Our Greatest Strength — Amit Varma.
11. Raghu Sanjaylal Jaitley’s Father’s Scooter — Episode 214 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Raghu Sanjaylal Jaitley).
12. Anticipating the Unintended — Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu Sanjaylal Jaitley’s newsletter.
13. The Dark Side of the Moon — Pink Floyd.
14. Wish You Were Here — Pink Floyd.
15. Free to Choose — Milton Friedman and Rose Friedman.

Episode 239: Roshan Abbas and the Creator Economy

…Episode 158 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane).
21. Kavitha Rao and Our Lady Doctors — Episode 235 of The Seen and the Unseen.
22. A Meditation on Form — Amit Varma.
23. Biology – A Functional Approach — MBV Roberts.
24. Confluence of Cultures — Saiyed Anwer Abbas.
25. Amit Varma on the Getting Meta podcast, hosted by Deepak Gopalakrishnan.
26. An Adman Reflects on Society & the Self — Episode 199 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ambi Parameswaran).
27. Eat Pray Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything — Elizabeth Gilbert.
28. The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity — Julia Cameron.
29. All You Who Sleep Tonight — Vikram Seth.
30. Everybody Hurts — REM.
31. The Hunter Becomes the Hunted — Episode 200 of The Seen and the Unseen, in which Amit Varma talks about his own creator journey.

Episode 264: Barun Mitra, Philosopher and Practitioner

…— Bjorn Lomborg.
24. The Better Angels of Our Nature — Steven Pinker.
25. The Three Languages of Politics — Arnold Kling.
26. How Social Media Threatens Society — Episode 8 of Brave New World (Vasant Dhar in conversation with Jonathan Haidt).
27. Online Disinhibition Effect.
28. Memories and Things — Episode 195 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aanchal Malhotra).
29. Think Again — Adam Grant.
30. Democracy in Pakistan — Episode 79 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane and Hamsini Hariharan).
31. The Use of Knowledge in Society — Friedrich Hayek.
32. The Trees — Philip Larkin.
33. The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi.
34. The Mahatma and the Poet — The letters between Gandhi and Tagore, compiled by Sabyasachi Bhattacharya.
35. Gora — Rabindranath Tagore.
36. The Home and the World — Rabindranath Tagore.
37. The Miracle of Calcutta — Manubehn Gandhi.
38….

Episode 269: The Life and Times of Nirupama Rao

…Unseen.
8. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande — Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen.
9. The Glass Cliff.
10. Philip Tetlock on the Art of Forecasting — Episode 31 of Brave New World (hosted by Vasant Dhar).
11. The Confidence Gap — Katty Kay and Claire Shipman.
12. Democracy in Pakistan — Episode 79 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane & Hamsini Hariharan.)
13. The Business of Winning Elections — Episode 247 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shivam Shankar Singh).
14. Nehru: The Debates that Defined India — Tripurdaman Singh and Adeel Hussain.
15. Nehru’s Debates — Episode 262 of The Seen and the Unseen (with Tripurdaman Singh & Adeel Hussain.)
16. Talking South Asia: Can Identity Be Crafted Through the Medium of Music? — A conversation between Nirupama Rao and Ali Sethi.
17. The Tirukkural — Tiruvalluvar.
18. Collected Poems…

Episode 281: From Cairo to Delhi With Max Rodenbeck

…38. India’s Lost Decade — Episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra).
39. The Generation of Rage in Kashmir — David Devadas.
40. Radically Networked Societies — Episode 158 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane).
41. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on agriculture (in reverse chronological order): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
42. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan).
43. Education in India — Episode 77 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Amit Chandra).
44. Njáls saga.
45. Honoré de Balzac on Amazon.
46. The Pleasures and Pains of Coffee — Honoré de Balzac.
47. Michael Pollan on how coffee enabled the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution.
48. The Lives of Others — Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck.
49. Yol — Şerif Gören and Yılmaz Güney.
50. Baden Powell…

Episode 290: Karthik Muralidharan Examines the Indian State

…59. Urban Governance in India — Episode 31 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan).
60. The Life and Times of Abhinandan Sekhri — Episode 254 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Abhinandan Sekhri).
61. The Tiebout Model.
62. Every Act of Government Is an Act of Violence — Amit Varma.
63. Taxes Should Be Used for Governance, Not Politics — Amit Varma.
64. The Effects of Democratization on Public Goods and Redistribution: Evidence from China — Nancy Qian, Gerard Padró i Miquel, Monica Martinez-Bravo and Yang Yao.
65. Sneaky Artist Sees the World — Episode 260 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nishant Jain).
66. Science and Covid-19 — Episode 221 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Anirban Mahapatra).
66. Centrally Sponsored Government Schemes — Episode 17 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane.).
67. India’s states can be laboratories for policy…

Episode 315: Arshia Sattar and the Complex Search for Dharma

…India through Its Languages — Peggy Mohan.
21. Early Indians — Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tony Joseph).
22. Early Indians — Tony Joseph.
23. Who We Are and How We Got Here — David Reich.
24. Nissim Ezekiel on Amazon, Wikipedia and All Poetry.
25. The Seven Basic Plots — Christopher Booker.
26. The Long Road From Neeyat to Neeti — Episode 313 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu S Jaitley).
27. Sansar Se Bhage Phirte Ho — Song from Chitralekha with lyrics by Sahir Ludhianvi.
28. Episodes of the Seen and the Unseen on Mughal history with Ira Mukhoty, Parvati Sharma, Rana Safvi and Manimugdha Sharma.
29. Tales from the Kathasaritsagara — Somadeva (translated by Arshia Sattar).
30. The Second Game of Dice — Amit Varma.
31. Range Rover — The archives of Amit Varma’s column on poker for…

Episode 317: Rohini Nilekani Pays It Forward

…Episode 313 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu S Jaitley).
11. Sansar Se Bhage Phirte Ho — Song from Chitralekha with lyrics by Sahir Ludhianvi.
12. Profit = Philanthropy — Amit Varma.
13. Arshia Sattar and the Complex Search for Dharma — Episode 315 of The Seen and the Unseen.
14. Germaine Greer, Nancy Friday and Betty Friedan on Amazon.
15. The Life and Times of Urvashi Butalia — Episode 287 of The Seen and the Unseen.
16. Select episodes on The Seen and the Unseen that touched on feminism & gender with Paromita Vohra, Kavita Krishnan, Mrinal Pande, Kavitha Rao, Namita Bhandare, Shrayana Bhattacharya, Mukulika Banerjee, Manjima Bhattacharjya, Nilanjana Roy, Urvashi Butalia, Mahima Vashisht, Alice Evans, Ashwini Deshpande, Natasha Badhwar, Shanta Gokhale and Arshia Sattar.
17. The Loneliness of the Indian Man — Episode 303 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Taneja).

Episode 320: South India Would Like to Have a Word

…Episode 180 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Alex Tabarrok).
47. Centrally Sponsored Government Schemes — Episode 17 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane).
48. Population Is Not a Problem, but Our Greatest Strength — Amit Varma.
49. Arrow’s Impossibility Theorem.
50. Athenian Democracy and Socrates.
51. Plato (or Why Philosophy Matters) — Episode 109 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rebecca Goldstein).
52. Our Parliament and Our Democracy — Episode 253 of The Seen and the Unseen (w MR Madhavan).
53. The Anti-Defection Law — Episode 13 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Barun Mitra)..
54. Urban Governance in India — Episode 31 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan).
55. Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Mahadev Govind Ranade and Gopal Ganesh Agarkar.
56. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on the creator ecosystem with Roshan Abbas, Varun Duggirala,…

Episode 321: Josh Felman Tries to Make Sense of the World

…16. Pandemonium in India’s Banks — Episode 212 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tamal Bandyopadhyay.)
17. The State of Our Economy (Nov 2021) — Episode 252 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra and Mohit Satyanand.)
18. Taking Stock of Our Economy (May 2021) — Episode 227 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ila Patnaik).
19. The Indian Economy in 2019 — Episode 153 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vivek Kaul).
20. Two Economic Crises (2008 & 2019) — Episode 135 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mohit Satynanand).
21. The Long Road From Neeyat to Neeti — Episode 313 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu S Jaitley).
22. Rukmini Sees India’s Multitudes — Episode 261 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S).
23. The Importance of Data Journalism — Episode 196 of The Seen…

Episode 323: SVB, Banking and the State of the Economy

…of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen.
14. The Long Road From Neeyat to Neeti — Episode 313 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu S Jaitley).
15. Elite Imitation in Public Policy — Episode 180 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Alex Tabarrok).
16. Premature Imitation and India’s Flailing State — Shruti Rajagopalan & Alexander Tabarrok.
17. Public Opinion — Walter Lippman.
18. The World Outside and the Pictures in our Heads — Walter Lippman.
19. Watching the Wheels — John Lennon. (Amit also loves Chris Cornell’s version.)
20. You’re Missing — Bruce Springsteen.
21. The End of Silicon Valley (Bank) — Ben Thompson on Stratechery.
22. This Banking Crisis Won’t Wreck the Economy — Tyler Cowen.
23. SVB Took the Wrong Risks — Matt Levine.
24. Lombard Street: A Description of the Money Market…

Episode 329: Murali Neelakantan Looks at the World

…Neeti — Episode 313 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu S Jaitley).
49. Narendra Shenoy and Mr Narendra Shenoy — Episode 250 of The Seen and the Unseen.
50. Restaurant Regulations in India — Episode 18 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhu Menon).
51. The Wealth of Nations — Adam Smith.
52. The Theory of Moral Sentiments — Adam Smith.
53. Humesha Der Kar Deta Hoon Main — Muneer Niazi.
54. The Economics and Politics of Vaccines — Episode 223 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah).
55. Rustom — Tinu Suresh Desai on the Nanavati case.
56. Natasha Badhwar Lives the Examined Life — Episode 301 of The Seen and the Unseen.
57. The Nurture Assumption — Judith Rich Harris.
58. Mohit Satyanand on Twitter and Substack.
59. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Mohit Satyanand: 1, 2,…

Episode 335: A Deep Dive Into Ukraine vs Russia

The war in Ukraine may seem distant — but it affects us all in a million unseen ways. Ajay Shah joins Amit Varma in episode 335 of The Seen and the Unseen to deliver an in-depth masterclass on exactly what is going on.

Also check out:
1. Ajay Shah on Twitter and Substack.
2. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ajay Shah: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.
3. In Service of the Republic — Vijay Kelkar and Ajay Shah.
4. Rising to the China Challenge — Gautam Bambawale, Vijay Kelkar, Raghunath Mashelkar, Ganesh Natarajan, Ajit Ranade and Ajay Shah.
5. Russia, Ukraine, Foreign Policy — Episode 268 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane and Nitin Pai).
6. Conflict in Ukraine: A timeline (2014 – present) — Nigel Walker for House of Commons Library.
7. RUSI’s commentary…

Episode 336: Shruti Rajagopalan Dives Into Delimitation

In a democracy, every vote should be equal. But in India, that’s not the case. Shruti Rajagopalan joins Amit Varma in episode 336 of The Seen and the Unseen to give a detailed primer into the complex issue of Delimitation — and to suggest her own radical solution.

Also check out:
1. Shruti Rajagopalan on Twitter, Substack, Instagram and her podcast, Ideas of India.
2. Demography, Delimitation, and Democracy — Shruti Rajagopalan’s detailed post on Delimitation.
3. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen w Shruti Rajagopalan, in reverse chronological order: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17.
4. India’s Emerging Crisis of Representation — Milan Vaishnav and Jamie Hintson.
5. Of Openings and Possibilities — Pranay Kotasthane on Delimitation.
6. South India Would Like to Have a Word — Episode 320 of The Seen and…

Episode 353: Apar Gupta Fights the Good Fight

…world – and happy Independence Day! (2016) — Apar Gupta.
45. IFF on Reddit.
46. Twitter and Tear Gas — Zeynep Tufekci.
47. Radically Networked Societies — Episode 158 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane).
48. Anushka Jain’s thread on SRK and digital rights.
49. IFF’s Aarogya Setu Infographic.
50. The AgriStack: A Primer — Rohin Garg.
51. Naushad Forbes Wants to Fix India — Episode 282 of The Seen and the Unseen.
52. The Struggle And The Promise — Naushad Forbes.
53. Shruti Rajagopalan on our constitutional amendments.
54. The Right to Property — Episode 26 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan).
55. The Ideas of Our Constitution — Episode 164 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhav Khosla).
56. Emergency Chronicles — Gyan Prakash.
57. Gyan Prakash on the Emergency — Episode 103 of The Seen and the Unseen.
58. The…

Episode 361: Pritika Hingorani Wants to Fix Our Cities

…Bombay: The Cities Within — Sharada Dwiwedi and Rahul Mehrotra.
7. Order without Design: How Markets Shape Cities — Alain Bertaud.
8. The Death and Life of Great American Cities — Jane Jacobs.
9. Norwegian Wood — Haruki Murakami.
10. Absolutely on Music — Haruki Murakami and Seiji Ozawa.
11. Haruki Murakami and Ryu Murakami on Amazon.
12. Piercing — Ryu Murakami.
13. Pranay Kotasthane Talks Public Policy — Episode 233 of The Seen and the Unseen.
14. Population Is Not a Problem, but Our Greatest Strength — Amit Varma.
15. Miniature early episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on FSI and Rent Control with Alex Tabarrok, and Slums with Pavan Srinath.
16. The Mystery of Capital — Hernando De Soto.
17. The Incredible Insights of Timur Kuran — Episode 349 of The Seen and the Unseen.
18. The Power Broker — Robert Caro.
19. Urban expansion: theory, evidence…