Ep 355: The Life and Times of KP Krishnan
The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma
Motivations and Power in the Indian Civil Service
This chapter explores the motivations of individuals joining the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and the power dynamics within the service. It discusses how young IAS officers are given significant power and the need for humility and reframing perspectives.
India has travelled a long way in the last few decades -- and one man had an inside view of the whole process, shaping policy and trying to fix the nation. KP Krishnan joins Amit Varma in episode 355 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his extraordinary life and learnings. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. KP Krishnan at Centre for Policy Research.. 2. KP Krishnan interviewed in CPR Perspectives by Rohan Venkat: Part 1, Part 2. 3. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ajay Shah: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13. 4. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 5. India’s Lost Decade — Episode 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra). 6. The Forgotten Greatness of PV Narasimha Rao — Episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 7. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen. 8. India’s Massive Pensions Crisis -- Episode 347 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah & Renuka Sane). 9. Taking Stock of Our Economy (May 2021) — Episode 227 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ila Patnaik). 10. What a Long Strange Trip It’s Been — Episode 188 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Arvind Subramanian). 11. Josh Felman Tries to Make Sense of the World -- Episode 321 of The Seen and the Unseen. 12. The Tragedy of Our Farm Bills — Episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 13. The Art and Science of Economic Policy — Episode 154 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah). 14. In Service of the Republic — Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah. 15. The Steady Determination of Yamini Aiyar — Episode 341 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. The Lost Decade -- Puja Mehra. 17. Why Freedom Matters — Episode 10 of Everything is Everything, hosted by Amit Varma and Ajay Shah. 18. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ramachandra Guha: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 19. Ivan Menezes (1959-2023): A personal recollection of his journey -- Arvind Subramanian. 20. College pedigree, daddy’s name, BBC accent no longer golden ticket. India has a growing new elite -- Shekhar Gupta. 21. Memoirs of a Maverick -- Mani Shankar Aiyar. 22. Why Talent Comes in Clusters -- Episode 8 of Everything is Everything, hosted by Amit Varma and Ajay Shah. 23. KM Nanavati v. State of Maharashtra. 24. Rustom -- Tinu Suresh Desai. 25. Kesavananda Bharati v. The State of Kerala Who Wins? -- PK Tripathi. 26. The Rooted Cosmopolitanism of Sugata Srinivasaraju — Episode 277 of The Seen and the Unseen. 27. The China Model is Broken -- Episode 16 of Everything is Everything, hosted by Amit Varma and Ajay Shah. 28. Early Indians — Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tony Joseph). 29. Early Indians — Tony Joseph. 30. Who We Are and How We Got Here — David Reich. 31. The Incredible Insights of Timur Kuran -- Episode 349 of The Seen and the Unseen. 32. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 33. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India -- Akshaya Mukul. 34. Hindi Against India: The Meaning of DMK -- Mohan Ram. 35. Governments across the world are discovering “homeland economics” -- Callum Williams. 36. Living Two Lives in Digital India -- Santosh Desai. 37. Rahul Matthan on Twitter, Amazon, LinkedIn and Trilegal. 38. Climate Change and Our Power Sector — Episode 278 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshay Jaitley and Ajay Shah). 39. Ashutosh Salil and the Challenge of Change — Episode 312 of The Seen and the Unseen. 40. Vishnu Sahasranamam - MS Subbulakshmi. 41. Foyle's War -- Created by Anthony Horowitz. 42. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 43. Understanding Indian Healthcare — Episode 225 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 44. Karthik Muralidharan Examines the Indian State — Episode 290 of The Seen and the Unseen. 45. The Percy Mistry Report. 46. The Great Redistribution — Amit Varma. 47. The Logic of Collective Action — Mancur Olson. 48. The Alchemy of Finance — George Soros. 49. Amid 2008 meltdown, how short-selling survived a ban -- P Vaidyanathan Iyer. 50. Our Parliament and Our Democracy — Episode 253 of The Seen and the Unseen (w MR Madhavan). 51. Most of Amit Varma’s writing on Demonetisation, collected in one Twitter thread. 52. We Also Make Policy -- Subhash Chandra Garg. 53. Parkinson's Law. 54. Shashank Subramanyam, N Ramani and RK Srikantan on Spotify. 55. The Truth Pill -- Dinesh Thakur and Prashant Reddy. 56. The Dark Side of Indian Pharma — Episode 245 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Dinesh Thakur). 57. The Third Way: India’s Revolutionary Approach to Data Governance -- Rahul Matthan. 58. Whole Numbers And Half Truths -- Rukmini S. 59. The Importance of Data Journalism — Episode 196 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S). 60. Rukmini Sees India’s Multitudes — Episode 261 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S). 61. VP Menon: The Unsung Architect of Modern India -- Narayani Basu. 62. India’s Greatest Civil Servant — Episode 167 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Narayani Basu, on VP Menon). Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘A Civil Servant’ by Simahina.
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