The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma

Dadabhai Naoroji and the Fight for India Description: In the 19th century, when the Idea of India was so nebulous, what did it mean to be a freedom fighter? Dinyar Patel joins Amit Varma in episode 187 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe Dadabhai Naoroji's battle to transform India from within the British empire. Also check out: 1. Naoroji: Pioneer of Indian Nationalism -- Dinyar Patel. 2. Dadabhai Naoroji's books on Amazon. 3. Dadabhai Naoroji -- RP Masani. 4. Three Statesmen: Gokhale, Gandhi and Nehru -- BR Nanda. 5. Understanding Gandhi. Part 1: Mohandas -- Episode 104 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ramachandra Guha). 6. Understanding Gandhi. Part 2: Mahatma -- Episode 105 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ramachandra Guha). 7. The Art of Narrative Nonfiction (+ JBS Haldane) -- Episode 183 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Samanth Subramanian). And do check out Amit's writing course, The Art of Clear Writing.

As India completes 73 years, it's worth taking stock of our journey so far. Pratap Bhanu Mehta joins Amit Varma in episode 186 of The Seen and the Unseen, an Independence Day Special that takes a discursive look at the political and social currents that made us what we are. Also check out: 1. Pratap Bhanu Mehta's writing in the Indian Express. 2. The Burden of Democracy -- Pratap Bhanu Mehta. 3. On Politics -- Alan Ryan. 4. The Making of Modern Liberalism -- Alan Ryan. 5. Human Dignity -- George Kateb. 6. Patriotism and Other Mistakes -- George Kateb. 7. Conversation and Society -- Episode 182 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Russ Roberts). 8. Fixing Indian Education -- Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 9. The Three Languages of Politics -- Arnold Kling. 10. The Dark Side of Democracy -- Michael Mann. 11. The Emergency -- Episode 103 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gyan Prakash). 12. The Ideas of our Constitution -- Episode 164 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhav Khosla). 13. The Facts Do Not Matter -- Amit Varma. 14. A Meditation on Form -- Amit Varma. 15. An Indian Political Life: Charan Singh and Congress Politics, 1937 to 1961 -- Paul R Brass. 16. Taking Stock of Our Republic -- Episode 157 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha). 17. Who Broke Our Republic? -- Episode 163 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Kapil Komireddi) 18. Participatory Democracy -- Episode 160 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashwin Mahesh.) 19. A Life in Indian Politics -- Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jayaprakash Narayan). 20. Kashmir and Article 370 -- Episode 134 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan). 21. The Citizenship Battles -- Episode 152 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan). 22. Indian Society: The Last 30 Years -- Episode 137 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Santosh Desai). 23. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism -- Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 24. Political Ideology in India -- Episode 131 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rahul Verma). 25. Religion and Ideology in Indian Society -- Episode 124 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Suyash Rai). 26. The Intellectual Foundations of Hindutva -- Episode 115 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel). 27. Crime in Indian Politics -- Episode 114 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Milan Vaishnav). Do also check out Amit's writing course, The Art of Clear Writing, and subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter.

It is a humanitarian and moral failure that 73 years after Independence, our education system remains broken. We have failed our children through all this time. Karthik Muralidharan joins Amit Varma in episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen to share his insights from years of research on the ground. We can fix this. Is the NEP part of the solution?   Also check out: 1. Karthik Muralidharan's bio at UCSD. 2. Walking the Talk -- Inga Kiderra's profile of Karthik Muralidharan. 3. Reforming the Indian School Education System -- Karthik Muralidharan's chapter from What the Economy Needs Now. 4. The State and the Market in Education Provision -- Karthik Muralidharan. 5. Karthik Muralidharan interview by Pranav Kothari for EI Dialogues. 6. Charting a Course for the Indian Economy -- Karthik Muralidharan in conversation with Arvind Subramanian. 7. Karthik Muralidharan's archived research and articles. 8. Education in India -- Episode 77 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Amit Chandra). 9. The Profit Motive in Education -- Episode 9 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Parth Shah). 10. The Right to Education Act -- Episode 19 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vivek Kaul). 11. Our Unlucky Children (2008) -- Amit Varma. 12. Fund Schooling, Not Schools (2007) -- Amit Varma. 13. A Prize for Evidence-Based Policy -- Karthik Muralidharan. 14. Why Abhijit Banerjee Had to Go Abroad to Achieve Glory -- Amit Varma. 15. Poverty 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.

The rivalry between Dara Shukoh and Aurangzeb is often considered a foundational one for Islam in India. Good Muslim vs Bad Muslim. But it's not quite that simple. Historian Supriya Gandhi joins Amit Varma in episode 184 of The Seen and the Unseen to point out that the truth is complex, and there are no easy binaries.   Also check out: 1. The Emperor Who Never Was: Dara Shukoh in Mughal India -- Supriya Gandhi. 2. City of Djinns -- William Dalrymple. 3. Jill Lepore and Shamsur Rahman Faruqi on Amazon. 4. Dara Shukoh -- Kalika Ranjan Qanungo (full text). 5. Dārā S̲h̲ikūh: Life and Works -- Bikrama Jit Hasrat (full text). 6. Mysteries of Selflessness: Rumuz-i Bekhudi -- Muhammad Iqbal. 7. The Month We Lost Dara -- Ashok Malik. 8. Women in Indian History -- Episode 144 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ira Mukhoty). 9. Jahangir the Curious -- Episode 147 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Parvati Sharma). 10. The Resonance of Akbar -- Episode 173 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manimugdha Sharma).  11. Our Colorful Past -- Episode 127 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manu Pillai). 12. Secularism and Hindutva Histories -- Supriya Gandhi. 13. The Truth About Us -- Sanjoy Chakravorty. 14. Supriya Gandhi interviewed by Ira Mukhoty. 15. Supriya Gandhi interviewed by Rana Safvi.

In a complex world where the truth is up for grabs, we need narrative nonfiction. Samanth Subramanian joins Amit Varma in episode 183 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about the art and craft of this form of literature. Also discussed: A Dominant Character, Samanth's book on JBS Haldane, and the intersection of science and politics. Also check out: 1. A Dominant Character -- Samanth Subramanian. 2. Samanth Subramanian's website, Amazon page and his work at the Guardian and the New Yorker.  3. The Intersection -- the podcast hosted by Padmaparna Ghosh and Samanth Subramanian. 4. Psmith, Journalist -- PG Wodehouse. 5. Question Time: My Life as a Quiz Obsessive -- Samanth Subramanian. 6. Quizzing is Not Just a Trivial Pursuit -- Amit Varma. 7. Neville Cardus on Amazon. 8. Darwin's Dangerous Idea -- Daniel Dennett. 9. The Perfect Murder -- HRF Keating. 10. Conversation and Society -- Episode 182 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Russ Roberts). 11. Cricket as a novelty, an obsession, and as literature -- Samanth Subramanian on Siddhartha Vaidyanathan's podcast, 81 all out. 12. On Writing Well -- Sarah Farooqui's interview with Samanth Subramanian. 13. The Complete New Yorker. 14. AJ Liebling, Calvin Trillin and Joan Didion on Amazon. 15. The Confidence Man -- Samanth Subramanian (on Lalit Modi). 15. The New New Journalism -- Robert Boynton. 16. The Secret of Excess -- Bill Buford (on Mario Batali). 17. The Power Broker -- Robert A Caro. 18. Robert A Caro on Amazon. 19. What Ails Indian Science -- JBS Haldane. 20. The Evolution of Everything -- Episode 96 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Matt Ridley). 21. The Man of System -- Adam Smith (excerpted from The Theory of Moral Sentiments). 22. The Papers of JBS Haldane -- Samanth Subramanian. 23. A talk by Samanth Subramanian on JBS Haldane at Archives@NCBS.    And hey, do check out Amit Varma's writing course, The Art of Clear Writing.

We live in an age of competing monologues. We talk, but we do not listen. Russ Roberts joins Amit Varma for a wide-ranging conversation in episode 182 of The Seen and the Unseen.   Also check out: 1. Econ Talk -- Russ Roberts's podcast. 2. Russ Roberts's website, archived writing and books. 3. How Adam Smith Can Change Your Life -- Russ Roberts. 4. The Theory of Moral Sentiments -- Adam Smith. 5. The Three Languages of Politics -- Arnold Kling. 6. The Three Blind Sports of Politics -- Russ Roberts. 7. Tribe -- Sebastian Junger. 8. The Economics of the Chilling Effect -- Episode 5 of Econ Central. 9. You’re From the Mutton Lobby — Transcript of episode 49 of The Seen and the Unseen (solo episode on political discourse). 10. A Letter on Justice and Open Debate -- Various authors (in Harper's). 11. My Twelve Rules for Life -- Russ Roberts. 12. Shallow -- A Star is Born. 13. Shallow -- Lady Gaga and Bradely Cooper at the Oscars. 14. Shallow -- Cover by Jessica Reinl and Christopher Halligan of the Mount Sion Choir. 15. Everything Flows -- Vasily Grossman. 16. The Story of My Life -- Russ Roberts. 17. The Evolution of Everything -- Episode 96 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Matt Ridley). 18. Indian Society: The Last 30 Years -- Episode 137 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Santosh Desai). Also check out these Econ Talk episodes that Russ mentioned with Dan Klein, Arnold Kling and Ryan Holiday. New batches for Amit's online course, The Art of Clear Writing, begin soon.

Why is there this tension between China and India? To understand that, we must uncover many layers of the past. Foreign Policy scholars Hamsini Hariharan and Shibani Mehta join Amit Varma in episode 181 of The Seen and the Unseen to share their insights on the rich history of the interactions between these two great civilizations.  Also check out: 1. What Does China Want? -- Episode 143 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manoj Kewalramani). 2. Chinese Foreign Policy -- Episode 81 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manoj Kewalramani). 3. Foreign Policy is a Big Deal -- Episode 170 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane & Manoj Kewalramani). 4. Understanding Foreign Policy -- Episode 63 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nitin Pai). 5. The Geopolitics of the Bangladesh War -- Episode 113 of The Seen and the Unseen (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 in the Subcontinent -- Episode 359 of All Things Policy. 20. Should We Be Aatma Nirbhar? -- Episode 1 of Econ Central. 21. Ban on Chinese apps: Sending a strong message to ourselves -- Hamsini Hariharan. 22. Ladakh's position in the Sino-India border issue -- Hamsini Hariharan. 23. What India Can Learn From China -- Hamsini Hariharan. 24. Wilson Center Digital Archive (and the Mao-Nehru conversation). 25. Eye on China -- Manoj Kewalramani's newsletter.

Indian decision makers often blindly copy public policy from abroad, without considering whether it would work in local conditions. Shruti Rajagopalan and Alex Tabarrok join Amit Varma in episode 180 of The Seen and the Unseen to explain the damage caused by such 'isomorphic mimicry,' and why it happens in the first place. Also check out: 1. Premature Imitation and India’s Flailing State -- Shruti Rajagopalan & Alexander Tabarrok. 2. Modern Principles of Macroeconomics -- Tyler Cowen & Alex Tabarrok. 3. Modern Principles of Microeconomics --  Tyler Cowen & Alex Tabarrok. 4. DeMon, Morality and the Predatory Indian State -- Episode 85 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 5. The Delhi Smog -- Episode 44 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vivek Kaul). 6. Is India a Flailing State? -- Lant Pritchett. 7. We Are Fighting Two Disasters: Covid-19 and the Indian State -- Amit Varma. 8. Political Ideology in India -- Episode 131 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rahul Verma). 9. Ideology and Identity -- Pradeep Chhibber & Rahul Verma. 10. Understanding Gandhi. Part One: Mohandas -- Episode 104 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha). 11. Understanding Gandhi. Part Two: Mahatma --  Episode 105 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ram Guha). 12. Akhil Katyal's poem on caste. 13. Caste in Modern India -- Episode 52 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 14. Women at Work -- Episode 132 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Namita Bhandare). 15. Metrics of Empowerment -- Episode 88 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Devika Kher, Nidhi Gupta & Hamsini Hariharan). 16. Here’s What’s Wrong With the Maternity Benefits Act -- Suman Joshi. 17. FSI in India -- Episode 11 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Alex Tabarrok). 18. Twelve Dream Reforms -- Episode 138 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan, Rajeswari Sengupta & Vivek Kaul). 19. Slums in India -- Episode 21 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pavan Srinath).  20. Order Without Design -- Alain Bertaud. 21. The Power Broker — Robert Caro. 22. The Death and Life of Great American Cities — Jane Jacobs. 23. The Right to Property -- Episode 26 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 24. Swachh Bharat -- Episode 82 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 25. Modi's Lost Opportunity -- Episode 119 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Salman Soz). 26. Education in India -- Episode 77 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Amit Chandra). 27. The Art and Science of Economic Policy -- Episode 154 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah). 28. In Service of the Republic -- Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah. 29. The Importance of Cities -- Episode 108 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Reuben Abraham & Pritika Hingorani).

India suffers from a predatory state, and nothing illustrates this better than the sorry state of our street vendors. Prashant Narang joins Amit Varma in episode 179 of The Seen and the Unseen to elaborate on this unseen tragedy of the streets around us.   Also check out: 1. Street Vendor Act 2014: Progress Report -- 2017, 2018-19, 2020. 2. Do Street Vendors Have a Right to the City? -- Prashant Narang & Vidushi Sabharwal. 3. The Ease of Doing Business on the Streets of India -- Bhuvana Anand, Prashant Narang, Riktika Shah, Vidushi Sabharwal. 4. Suboptimal vendor enumeration practices in Gurugram --  Prashant Narang & Vidushi Sabharwal. 5. Enumerating Street Vendors in Mumbai -- Prashant Narang. 6. Street Vendors Act 2014: Allocating Certificates of Vending -- Prashant Narang & Bhuvana Anand. 7. Vendors Need Ease of Doing Business to Become Atmanirbhar -- Bhuvana Anand, Jayana Bedi & Prashant Narang. 8. Modi govt will count hawkers in job data but must improve their Ease of Doing Business too -- Prashant Narang and Jayana Bedi. 9. Third Wheel -- A documentary on auto-rickshaws. 10. Manushi Sangathan v GNCT of Delhi -- Judgement on cycle rickshaw pullers. 11. Time For Manushi-II -- Prashant Narang. 12. Formal versus Informal Allocation of Land in a Commons -- Gregg W Kettles. 13. What About 'Unlock' For Vendors? -- Bhuvana Anand, Jayana Bedi & Prashant Narang.  14. A People's Constitution-- Rohit De. 15. The Mystery of Capital --  Hernando De Soto. 16. The Power Broker-- Robert Caro. 17. The Death and Life of Great American Cities -- Jane Jacobs. Also, do check out The Art of Clear Writing.   Note: This episode was recorded in February 2020.

Journalism used to be a quest to establish the truth. It has now become a battle of conflicting narratives. We have gone from seeking to shouting. What went wrong? Nidhi Razdan joins Amit Varma in episode 178 of The Seen and the Unseen to share insights from her eventful career.   Also check out: 1. Left, Right and Centre: The Idea of India -- Nidhi Razdan (editor). 2. Special: Inside Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (Dec 2004) -- NDTV/Nidhi Razdan. 3. Best in the Field (w Nidhi Razdan) -- NDTV. 4. The Facts Do Not Matter -- Amit Varma. 5. The State of the Media -- Episode 46 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Prem Panicker). 6. The State of the Media 2 -- Episode 89 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sidharth Bhatia & Peter Griffin). 7. You're From the Mutton Lobby -- Episode 49 of The Seen and the Unseen (solo ep with transcript). 8. Television Price Controls -- Episode 27 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ashok Malik).  9. Jon Stewart Is Back to Weigh In -- David Marchese. 10. Hold On, Mr President! -- Sam Donaldson.