The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma Ep 388: Niranjan Rajadhyaksha Is the Impartial Spectator
Bystander
- Niranjan Rajadhyaksha identifies as a bystander, a concept from Peter Drucker's book.
- Drucker's anecdote about giving up the flag in a march past resonated with him.
Impartial Spectator
- Rajadhyaksha appreciates Adam Smith's concept of the impartial spectator.
- He believes distance provides an advantageous perspective.
Outsider Perspective
- Rajadhyaksha's writing receives mixed responses: some policymakers appreciate his outsider perspective, while others say he lacks "skin in the game."
- He remains comfortable with his outsider's role in policy.
He's an elder statesman in the worlds of journalism, policy and economics in India -- and he takes the long view. Niranjan Rajadhyaksha joins Amit Varma in episode 388 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his life and learnings. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Niranjan Rajadhyaksha on Twitter, Mint and Artha Global. 2. The Rise of India -- NIranjan Rajadhyaksha. 3. Niranjan Rajadhyaksha interviewed in Marathi by Think Bank: Part 1. Part 2. 4. MV Rajadhyaksha and Vijaya Rajadhyaksha. 5. The Times of India obituary of MV Rajadhyaksha. 6. The Song of Life -- Vijaya Rajadyaksha. 7. Adventures of a Bystander -- Peter F Drucker. 8. The Theory of Moral Sentiments -- Adam Smith's book that contains the concept of the impartial spectator. 9. The Impartial Spectator columns by Niranjan Rajadhyaksha and Shruti Rajagopalan. 10. Ratatouille -- Brad Bird. 11. The Overton Window. 12. John Maynard Keynes on Alfred Marshall. 13. The Rooted Cosmopolitanism of Sugata Srinivasaraju — Episode 277 of The Seen and the Unseen. 14. The Rise and Fall of the Bilingual Intellectual -- Ramachandra Guha. 15. Understanding India Through Its Languages — Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan). 16. Wanderers, Kings, Merchants: The Story of India through Its Languages — Peggy Mohan. 17. The Heckman Equation -- a website based on James Heckman's work. 18. Select episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Suyash Rai (1, 2) and Rahul Verma (1, 2). 19. Stri Purush Tulana by Tarabai Shinde on Amazon and Wikipedia. 20. Kalyanche Nishwas by Vibhavari Shirurkar (Malati Bedekar) on Amazon and Wikipedia. 21. Makers of Modern India -- Ramachandra Guha. 22. Simone de Beauvoir (Wikipedia, Britannica, Amazon) and Germaine Greer (Wikipedia, Britannica, Amazon). 23. Gopal Ganesh Agarkar's essay on education for girls. 24. The omnibus volume of BR Nanda’s biographies of Gokhale, Gandhi and Nehru. 25. The Adda at the End of the Universe — Episode 309 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Sathaye and Roshan Abbas). 26. This Be The Verse — Philip Larkin. 27. Rohit Lamba Will Never Be Bezubaan -- Episode 378 of The Seen and the Unseen. 28. Volga Se Ganga (Hindi) (English) -- Rahul Sankritayan. 29. In Service of the Republic — Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah. 30. Turning Over the Pebbles: A Life in Cricket and in the Mind -- Mike Brearley. 31. Slow Horses (book one of Slough House) -- Mick Herron. 32. Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945 -- Tony Judt. 33. On Warne -- Gideon Haigh. 34. The Essential Keynes -- John Maynard Keynes. 35. The Age of Uncertainty — John Kenneth Galbraith. 36. Asian Drama -- Gunnar Myrdal. 37. Aneesh Pradhan on Spotify, Amazon, Instagram, Twitter and his own website. 38. Malini Goyal is the Curious One — Episode 377 of The Seen and the Unseen. 39. The UNIX Episode -- Episode 32 of Everything is Everything. 40. The O-Ring Theory of Economic Development -- Michael Kremer. 41. Why Abhijit Banerjee Had to Go Abroad to Achieve Glory -- Amit Varma. 42. Why Talent Comes in Clusters -- Episode 8 of Everything is Everything. 43. The Dark Knight Rises -- Christopher Nolan. 44. Thinking it Through -- The archives of Amit Varma's column for Mint. 45. Remembering Mr. Shawn's New Yorker -- Ved Mehta. 46. Videhi -- Vijaya Rajadhyaksha. 47. Select pieces on the relationship between Raymond Carver and Gordon Lish: 1, 2, 3, 4. 48. Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy -- Joseph Schumpeter. 49. Maharashtra Politics Unscrambled — Episode 151 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sujata Anandan). 50. Complaint Resolution Systems: Experimental Evidence from Rural India -- Chinmaya Kumar and MR Sharan. 51. Parkinson’s Law — C Northcote Parkinson. 52. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 53. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen. 54. The Forgotten Greatness of PV Narasimha Rao — Episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 55. The Life and Times of KP Krishnan — Episode 355 of The Seen and the Unseen. 56. Lant Pritchett Is on Team Prosperity — Episode 379 of The Seen and the Unseen. 57. The Reformers — Episode 28 of Everything is Everything. 58. The Tragedy of Our Farm Bills — Episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 59. Public Choice Theory Explains SO MUCH -- Episode 33 of Everything is Everything. 60. The Logic of Collective Action — Mancur Olson. 61. Ashutosh Salil and the Challenge of Change — Episode 312 of The Seen and the Unseen. 62. Rational Ignorance. 63. The State of Our Farmers — Ep 86 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gunvant Patil, in Hindi). 64. India’s Agriculture Crisis — Ep 140 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Barun Mitra & Kumar Anand). 65. The Indian State Is the Greatest Enemy of the Indian Farmer — Amit Varma. 66. The Worldly Philosophers -- Robert Heilbroner. 67. The Clash of Economic Ideas — Lawrence H White. 68. Capital-Labor Substitution and Economic Efficiency -- Kenneth Arrow, Hollis Chenery, Bagicha Singh Minhas and Robert Solow. 69. Room 666 -- Wim Wenders. 70. Laapataa Ladies -- Kiran Rao. 71. The Brave New Future of Electricity -- Episode 40 of Everything is Everything. 72. What I, as a development economist, have been actively “for” — Lant Pritchett. 73. National Development Delivers: And How! And How? — Lant Pritchett. 74. Economic growth is enough and only economic growth is enough — Lant Pritchett with Addison Lewis. 75. Smoke and Ashes -- Amitav Ghosh. 76. Sata Uttarachi Kahani -- GP Pradhan. 77. Gopal Ganesh Agarkar and Bal Gangadhar Tilak. 78. Collections of VD Savarkar's Marathi essays: 1, 2. 79. Savarkar and the Making of Hindutva -- Janaki Bakhle. 80. Savarkar Te BJP -- SH Deshpande. 81. Sarvakarancha Buddhiwad Ani Hindutvawad -- Sheshrao More. 82. Swatantryaveer Savarkar Ek Rahasya -- DN Gokhale. 83. Shodh Savarkarancha -- YD Phadke. 84. The Taking of Pelham 123 -- Tony Scott. 85. Sriram Raghavan (IMDb) (Wikipedia) and Vijay Anand (IMDb) (Wikipedia). 86. Manorama Six Feet Under -- Navdeep Singh. 87. Agatha Christie and Frederick Forsyth on Amazon. 88. Salil Chowdhury and RD Burman on Spotify. 89. Haikyu -- Haruichi Furudate. 90. Pramit Bhattacharya Believes in Just One Ism — Episode 256 of The Seen and the Unseen. 91. Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister — Jonathan Lynn and Antony Jay. 92. Dilip José Abreu: an elegant and creative economist — Rohit Lamba. Niranjan would like to inform listeners that Spontaneous Order would be translated to Marathi as उत्सफूर्त व्यवस्था. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Amit’s newsletter is active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! 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. Episode art: ‘The Impartial Spectator’ by Simahina.