Jack Of All Knowledge

Hi, welcome to the 23rd episode of Jack of all knowledge. In this episode, I am speaking with Dr. Renuka Sane and Bhavin Patel, who are the executive director, and program director at Trustbridge, respectively. Trustbridge, is a research institute which seeks to improve India's business environment by improving the rule of law for businesses in India. It has two focus areas. One is regulatory state capacity, which is the topic of our conversation today, and the other is government contracting and dispute resolution. I met Renuka and Bhavin at xkdr forum's office in Mumbai, last year while they were presenting their work, and have followed their work ever since. This conversation was a long time in making and I'm happy we finally managed to record this. We speak about the reason why Trustbridge exists, its aims and goals, about the excellent work being carried out at the institute, life in policy and much more. I had a great time speaking with them and I hope you enjoy the episode. Show Notes.1. Guide to writing good regulatory orders2. Evaluation of SEBI's insider trading orders at SAT3. Impact of insider trading on market is exaggerated4. Evaluation of ERC's performance at APTEL5. Improving legal transparency at RBI6. Regulation of prepaid instrument regulation7. Bypassing tribunals through writs8. India's electricity sector needs structural reform9. The safety of a good pension10. Shamika Ravi and Renuka Sane on healthcare, economic slowdown and women's labour participation

In this episode, I am joined by Dr. Suvrat Kher. Suvrat is a geologist with deep expertise in sedimentary geology and remote sensing. Suvrat also writes the popular geology blog Rapid Uplift, which as per Suvrat is an exploration of geology and our changing planet. I was introduced to Suvrat and his amazing efforts to popularise geology through the blog. In this conversation we speak about his early interest in geology, his studies and research work, why geology is more important than meets the eye (even though it is everywhere around us), and his passion to communicate this field to others. I had a great time speaking about earths sciences with Suvrat and it made me more curious and aware of my surroundings. I hope you enjoy the episode. Show Notes.1. Rapid Uplift: https://rapiduplift.substack.com/2. Suvrat's twitter: https://x.com/rapiduplift 3. Suvrat on what he does: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tH2zNBhqlT0

Ajay Shah, a prominent figure involved with the {x}kdr forum, returns to discuss crucial topics in Indian development. He shares insights into how the forum identifies and tackles pressing challenges, emphasizing the need for innovative problem-solving. The conversation highlights the role of knowledge production amidst India's complex funding landscape, the critique of traditional academic limitations, and the significance of fostering enthusiasm and collaboration in intellectual culture. Shah also reflects on redefining success and the importance of personal growth.

In this episode, I am speaking with Bhargavi Zaveri Shah. She is currently pursuing a doctorate degree in law at the National University of Singapore. Her core research interests are the working of central banks and courts in developing countries. She has also done a lot of work on financial regulation, bankruptcy law, regulatory governance and the land market, all in the Indian context. In the conversation, we speak about a range of fascinating topics such as her journey from law to finance, and how she left her law firm job to dedicate herself to public policy research, legal education, and the justice system. We speak at length about her data-backed scholarship on analysing various debt resolution fora and how it can help litigants make better and more equipped choices in the justice system. You can find links to her work here: Bhargavi's Google Scholar page: https://scholar.google.co.in/citations?user=bDvivMIAAAAJ&hl=en Bhargavi's articles on the LEAP blog: https://blog.theleapjournal.org/2015/12/author-bhargavi-zaveri.html#gsc.tab=0 Bhargavi's research on future of court metrics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28800jhftMg&t=1s&ab_channel=xKDR Bhargavi is present on twitter @bhargavizaveri

Roshan Abbas doesn't need much introduction. He's an enigma of creativity and a brilliant person. It was a pleasure to pick out his brains for an hour. The episode features timeless wisdom, poignant stories from his life, advice for creators and curious individuals, and much more a reflection of the great human being he is. Roshan is on Twitter as @roshanabbas

Ajay Shah and I speak about a range of issues - how to better our state capacity, what battles are worth for the state to take up, how to improve our governance models, how to align incentives in the governance institutions, what is the role of the modern state, how to bring out better outcomes for the society, what are in fact better outcomes and much more. Ajay's work can be found at: https://www.mayin.org/ajayshah/

In this episode, I'm speaking with two of my favorite writers about a host of issues. From choosing which college to go to, to understanding what good parenting is, we talk about everything that makes the human brain go tick. We speak extensively about being curious, keeping your learning self alive, how to learn better, how to accumulate knowledge etc. It is a thoroughly enjoyable conversation, and I hope you enjoy listening to this as well! This podcast was recorded with the help of Emergent Ventures grant from Mercatus Center, George Mason University.

I'm talking to Amit Varma, host of the immensely popular podcast seen and the unseen; on a range of issues. We talk about his creative process, the making of seen and the unseen as an oral history project, politics, conversation & disagreements, policy etc. 

In the 15th episode of Jack of all knowledge, I'm talking to Shruti Rajagopalan - senior research fellow at Mercatus center, George Mason University and fellow at classical liberal institute NYU law. She is also the lead of Indian vertical of Emergent ventures (a grant making initiative) at GMU. She writes prolifically and also hosts the popular podcast Ideas of India. She's by far, one of the most brilliant people I know - with deep expertise in areas of law and economics. She did her undergraduate degree in economics from Hansraj college, DU and then went to do her LLB from CLC, DU. She then do her masters in law and economics as an Erasmus scholar and then did her PhD in economics from GMU. We talk about her intellectual and personal journey, her interests, research and how she looks at the world. We also talk about intersection of law and economics, what does it mean to think like an economist, how to critically look at economics, and much more. This conversation is one of the best I've had on the podcast - I hope you enjoy this episode. Links: 1. Mercatus center: https://www.mercatus.org/ 2. Ideas of India: https://www.mercatus.org/tags/ideas-india 3. Emergent ventures: https://www.mercatus.org/emergent-ventures 4. Econ4everybody: https://econforeverybody.com/ 5. Fast grants: https://fastgrants.org/

In the 14th episode of Jack of all knowledge, I'm talking to Alok Prasanna Kumar, co founder of Vidhi center for legal policy. Vidhi works on various law and justice issues and is committed to drafting good laws, strengthening public institutions, and realising fundamental rights. Alok did his undergraduate from NALSAR and then went to do his BCL from Oxford. After a brief career in litigation, he was part of the founding team of Vidhi - a think tank that has come a long way since the winter of 2013 when it was started.  In the following conversation we talk about many things. We extensively talk about Alok's earlier days, during school and the later, law school, his interests and experiences. We have an insightful discussion on legal education - both undergraduate and masters and how both impacted him as a legal scholar and a person. We then dive deep into the Vidhi story. We talk about the genesis of the think tank, how did they scale up, the values and culture that drives Vidhi, how they take up new projects and measure progress.  Producing this podcast takes a lot of my time and effort. From finding the right guests, to recording and editing. If you enjoy listening to the podcast, I would encourage you to support my work by buying me a coffee! Basically for each coffee you buy, I get 375 rupees - and all of this will help me focus on producing high quality conversations for free. I've included the link in the description. Consider supporting (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/divyanshudembi)  Vidhi Center of legal policy - https://vidhilegalpolicy.in/