Ep 313: The Long Road From Neeyat to Neeti
The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma
Is the State the Agent of Change?
I think there are fault lines because we have chosen state to be the agent of change. And then there are some things that only the state can do, especially if you want to bring in some sense a revolution. The idea that it is good for the state to intervene often is an elite idea. Individuals have lived most of their lives even before the colonial sort of, you know, coming into India. So I think there are areas where people resent it. Once people started having private sector jobs and didn't really depend on state, they were first ones to start opposing state. That actually is one of the large basis of political parties who use that discontent to get electoral gains.
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. (For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.) 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 Seen and the Unseen w Pranay Kotasthane: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. 8. The Art and Science of Economic Policy — Episode 154 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah). 9. In Service of the Republic — Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah. 10. Angus Maddison's chart on GDP through the ages. 11. Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad — Episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen. 12. What Have We Done With Our Independence? — Episode 186 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pratap Bhanu Mehta). 13. The Gentle Wisdom of Pratap Bhanu Mehta — Episode 300 of The Seen and the Unseen. 14. Bhaktamal -- Nabha Dass. 15. The Three Languages of Politics — Arnold Kling. 16. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 17. The Forgotten Greatness of PV Narasimha Rao — Episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 18. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen. 19. The Overton Window. 20. India’s Problem is Poverty, Not Inequality — Amit Varma. 21. Where Did Development Economics Go Wrong? -- Shruti Rajagopalan speaks to Lant Pritchett on the Ideas of India podcast. 22. Government's End: Why Washington Stopped Working -- Jonathan Rauch. 23. Public Opinion — Walter Lippmann. 24. Democracy in America — Alexis De Tocqueville. 25. Yeh Jo Public Hai Sab Janti Hai -- Song from Roti. 26. Price Controls Lead to Shortages and Harm the Poor -- Amit Varma. 27. Amit Varma’s prescient 2017 tweet on the price caps on stents. 28. Varun Grover Is in the House — Episode 292 of The Seen and the Unseen. 29. Tu Kisi Rail Si — Lyrics by Varun Grover. 30. Gyan Prakash on the Emergency — Episode 103 of The Seen and the Unseen. 31. The Moral Arc: How Science Makes Us Better People -- Michael Shermer. 32. History of European Morals — WEH Lecky. 33. The Expanding Circle: Ethics, Evolution, and Moral Progress — Peter Singer. 34. State Building: Governance and World Order in the 21st Century — Francis Fukuyama. 35. The Origins of Political Order — Francis Fukuyama. 36. Political Order and Political Decay — Francis Fukuyama. 37. The Right to Property -- Episode 26 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 38. The Baptist, the Bootlegger and the Dead Man Walking — Amit Varma. 39. Bootleggers and Baptists-The Education of a Regulatory Economist — Bruce Yandle. 40. Zanjeer (Prakash Mehra) and Gol Maal (Hrishikesh Mukherjee). 41. A People’s Constitution— Rohit De. 42. Laws Against Victimless Crimes Should Be Scrapped -- Amit Varma. 43. We All Gamble. Make It Legal -- Devangshu Datta. 44. Yes We Cannabis! -- Devangshu Datta. 45. Prohibition doesn’t work. Tax Alcohol Instead -- Devangshu Datta. 46. Legalise Prostitution to Fight Trafficking -- Amit Varma. 47. Sea of Poppies -- Amitav Ghosh. 48. Elite Imitation in Public Policy — Episode 180 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Alex Tabarrok). 49. Rent Control — Ep 14 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Alex Tabarrok). 50. A Theory of Justice — John Rawls. 51. Anarchy, State and Utopia — Robert Nozick. 52. Politics and Money -- Amit Varma's limerick. 53. The Great Redistribution — Amit Varma. 54. Power and Prosperity — Mancur Olson. 55. Swaminathan S Aiyar at Times of India, Amazon and his own website. 56. The Lost Decade — Puja Mehra. 57. India’s Lost Decade — Episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra). 58. Episode of The Seen and the Unseen on GST: 1, 2, 3. 59. DeMon, Morality and the Predatory Indian State — Episode 85 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 60. The Tragedy of Our Farm Bills — Episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 61. A Game Theory Problem: Who Will Bell The Congress Cat? — Amit Varma. 62. Kashi Ka Assi — Kashinath Singh. 63. A Beast Called Government (2007) -- Amit Varma. 64. We Are Fighting Two Disasters: Covid-19 and the Indian State -- Amit Varma. 65. Policy Paradox – The Art of Political Decision Making — Deborah Stone. 66. Bara -- UR Ananthamurthy 67. Sookha -- MS Sathyu's film based on Bara, 68. Russia, Ukraine, Foreign Policy -- Episode 268 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane and Nitin Pai). 69. Nuclear Power Can Save the World — Joshua S Goldstein, Staffan A Qvist and Steven Pinker. 70. The Third Pillar -- Raghuram Rajan. 71. Samaaj, Sarkaar, Bazaar : A citizen-first approach -- Rohini Nilekani. 72. The Double ‘Thank-You’ Moment — John Stossel. 73. Every Act of Government Is an Act of Violence -- Amit Varma. 74. Frédéric Bastiat’s writings at Bastiat.org and Amazon. 75. The Use of Knowledge in Society — Friedrich Hayek. 76. ये लिबरल आख़िर है कौन? — Episode 37 of Puliyabaazi (w Amit Varma, on Hayek). 77. Econ Talk — Russ Roberts’s podcast. 78. Conversation and Society — Episode 182 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Russ Roberts). 79. The Economist as Scapegoat -- Russ Roberts. 80. Bollywood's New Capitalist Hero (2007) -- Amit Varma. 81. Mohan Joshi Hazir Ho! -- Saaed Mirza. 82. Scam 1992 -- Hansal Mehta. 83. Bharat Ane Nenu -- Koratal Siva. 84. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 85. Education in India — Episode 77 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Amit Chandra). 86. Our Unlucky Children (2008) — Amit Varma. 87. Fund Schooling, Not Schools (2007) — Amit Varma. 88. Participatory Democracy — Episode 160 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashwin Mahesh). 89. Cities and Citizens — Episode 198 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashwin Mahesh). 90. Helping Others in the Fog of Pandemic — Episode 226 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashwin Mahesh). 91. Population Is Not a Problem, but Our Greatest Strength — Amit Varma. 92. Profit = Philanthropy — Amit Varma. 93. The Solution -- Bertolt Brecht. 94. Abby Philips Fights for Science and Medicine -- Episode 310 of The Seen and the Unseen. 95. Who Broke Our Republic? — Episode 163 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Kapil Komireddi). 96. The Multitudes of Our Maharajahs -- Episode 244 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manu Pillai). 97. What is Libertarianism? — Episode 117 of The Seen and the Unseen (w David Boaz). 98. Sansar Se Bhage Phirte Ho -- Song from Chitralekha with lyrics by Sahir Ludhianvi. 99. Crimemaster Gogo in the house! Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘Graveyard of Good Intentions’ by Simahina.
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