Ideas of India

In this episode, Shruti speaks with Montek Singh Ahluwalia about how policy reforms happen, civil servants vs. technocratic experts, the importance of expert committees, good and bad lobbying, economic growth and much more. Ahluwalia is an Indian economist and civil servant who was the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission of India, a position which carried the rank of cabinet minister. He was previously the first director of the Independent Evaluation Office at the International Monetary Fund. Recorded April 26th, 2023 Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links. Follow us on Twitter Follow Shruti on Twitter Click here for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox.

In this episode, Shruti speaks with Sajith Pai about the various sectors of the Indian market, unique payment systems, public versus private investment, the role of artificial intelligence and much more. Pai is a long-time media executive turned venture capitalist. After working in media and entertainment, much of it in The Times of India Group, across strategy and corporate development roles, he moved to Blume Ventures, one of India's leading early-stage venture firms, in 2018. At Blume, he actively focuses on and support its investments in the domestech space, including consumertech, smb saas, b2b marketplaces and more. He also writes on tech, business, culture and their intersections. Recorded March 29th, 2023 Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links. Follow us on Twitter Follow Shruti on Twitter Follow Sajith on Twitter Click here for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox.

In this episode, Shruti speaks with Chakravarthi Rangarajan about currency crises, how the post-liberalization reforms built on earlier reforms, fiscal dominance, capital mobility and much more. Rangarajan is an Indian economist, a former member of parliament and 19th governor of the Reserve Bank of India. He formerly chaired the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council. He is also the chair of the Madras School of Economics; a former president of the Indian Statistical Institute; the founding chairman of the C.R. Rao Advanced Institute of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science; former chancellor of the University of Hyderabad; and a professor at Ahmedabad University. His book "Forks in the Road: My Days at RBI and Beyond" describes the path-breaking reforms that he implemented during his tenure as governor of the Reserve Bank of India. Recorded March 22nd, 2023 Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links. Follow us on Twitter Follow Shruti on Twitter Click here for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox.

In this episode, Shruti speaks with Pranay Kotasthane and Raghu S. Jaitley about the intersections of markets, society and the state. They discuss the importance of individual decision-making, self-governance versus good governance, why economic growth is a moral imperative, the persuasive power of Indian cinema and much more. Kotasthane is the deputy director of the Takshashila Institution and chairs the High Tech Geopolitics Programme. Jaitley is a public policy and political economy enthusiast. They co-write "Anticipating the Unintended," a newsletter on public policy ideas and frameworks. Their book, "Missing in Action: Why You Should Care About Public Policy," examines Indian public policy through the lens of the state. Recorded March 28th, 2023 Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links. Follow us on Twitter Follow Shruti on Twitter Follow Pranay on Twitter Click here for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox.

In this episode, Shruti speaks with Nitin Pai about storytelling through the lens of his book, "The Nitopadesha." They discuss the lessons of Indian folktales for citizens and bureaucrats, the importance of civic education, when democracy does and doesn't work, the effects of economic growth on individual prosperity and much more. Pai is the co-founder and director of the Takshashila Institution, an independent think tank and school of public policy based in Bangalore, whose goal is to champion India's national interest and constitutional values. Pai previously worked in technology policy for the government of Singapore and played a role in the deregulation of the telecommunications industry and deployment of broadband infrastructure. Recorded March 1st, 2023 Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links. Follow us on Twitter Follow Shruti on Twitter Follow Nitin on Twitter Click here for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox.

In this episode, Shruti speaks with Alain Bertaud about how Indian cities have evolved, utilities pricing, land use restrictions such as floor area ratio and floor space index, slums, charter cities, urbanization in Africa and much more. Bertaud is an urbanist, distinguished visiting scholar at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, and senior research scholar at New York University's Marron Institute of Urban Management. From 1980 to 1999, he was the principal urban planner at the World Bank. His book about urban planning is titled "Order Without Design: How Markets Shape Cities." Recorded February 7th, 2023 Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links. Follow us on Twitter Follow Shruti on Twitter Follow Alain on Twitter Click here for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox.

In this episode, Shruti speaks with Poornima Dore about using regions rather than states as the unit of analysis, the importance of the construction sector, diversification, balanced regional development planning and much more. Dore is the director of analytics, insights and impact at Tata Trusts. She teaches at some of India's premier management and technical institutes and is also an active musician. Her research covers macro-regional growth, smart cities and local economy insights. She co-authored "Regional Economic Diversity: Lessons from an Emergent India," a comprehensive study at the National Sample Survey regional level that quantifies regional output and talks about what kind of diversification can help India. Recorded January 31, 2023 Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links. Follow us on Twitter Follow Shruti on Twitter Follow Poornima on Twitter Click here for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox.

In this episode, Shruti speaks with Nikhil Menon about the history of Indian socialism and central planning, government-artist relationships, economists who dissented from the central-planning orthodoxy, the legacy of P.C. Mahalanobis and much more. Menon is a historian of modern South Asia, specializing in the political and economic history of 20th-century India. His research explores the histories of democracy and development in independent India. His book, "Planning Democracy: Modern India's Quest for Development," tells the story of how India wedded western-style democracy and Soviet-inspired economic planning in the middle of the 20th century. Recorded November 22nd, 2022 Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links. Follow us on Twitter Follow Shruti on Twitter Click here for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox.

In this episode, Shruti speaks with Nirupama Menon Rao about the South Asian Symphony, Indian stories in opera, border tensions between India and China, the importance of Tibet, Taiwan and much more. Rao is a retired Indian diplomat, foreign secretary and ambassador. She was India's first woman spokesperson in the Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi, the first woman high commissioner from her country to Sri Lanka and the first Indian woman ambassador to the People's Republic of China. She served as India's Foreign Secretary from 2009 to 2011 and as India's ambassador to the United States from 2011 to 2013. She is the author of "The Fractured Himalaya: India, Tibet, China 1949-62" and founder of the South Asian Symphony Foundation. Recorded December 13th, 2022 Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links. Follow us on Twitter Follow Shruti on Twitter Follow Nirupama on Twitter Click here for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox.

In this episode, Shruti speaks with Janhavi Nilekani about India's high rate of C-sections compared with vaginal births, problems with maternal healthcare, the present and future of Indian midwifery and much more. Nilekani is the founder and chair of the Aastrika Foundation, which seeks to promote a future in which every woman is treated with respect and dignity during childbirth, and the right treatment is provided at the right time. She is a development economist by training and now works in the field of maternal health. She obtained her Ph.D. in public policy from Harvard and holds a 2010 B.A., cum laude, in economics and international studies from Yale. Recorded November 7th, 2022 Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links. Follow us on Twitter Follow Shruti on Twitter Follow Janhavi on Twitter Click here for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox.