Today my guest is Nasreen Munni Kabir, a documentary filmmaker, TV producer and director, author, biographer, translator/subtitler, and an absolute authority on all things Hindi cinema. We spoke about her biographical conversation series of books with artists like Javed Akhtar, Gulzar, Lata Mangeshkar, Waheeda Rahman, Zakir Hussain, AR Rahman. We also spoke about her documentary films on Guru Dutt, and television series Movie Mahal chronicling the history of Hindi cinema, how she chooses her...

Today the roles are reversed. In the 2023 end of the year review episode, producer Dallas Floer asks Shruti questions from our listeners about Shruti's ideas of India, how Shruti prepares for the podcast, various guests, the most listened to and the most underrated episode picks of the year, and much more.  Recorded December 12th, 2023. Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links. Follow us on X Follow Shruti on X Follow Dallas on X Click here for the latest Ideas of India...

Our last scholar in the series this year is Rajat Kocchar, a post-doctoral scholar at University of Chicago’s Energy and Environment Lab. He has a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Southern California, and his research lies in the field of environmental economics, in particular, on the understanding the factors that incentivize adaptation to climate shocks. We discussed his paper, “Does Market Power in Local Agricultural Markets Hinder Farmer Climate Change Adaptation?” We talked...

Shruti spoke with Vani Swarupa Murali a PhD. Candidate and an instructor at the South Asian Studies Department in the National University of Singapore (NUS). She has a Masters in Asian Studies from the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Singapore. Her research lies at the intersection of political science and agricultural policy and environmental governance. We spoke about “When Sowing is not Reaping: Decentralisation, Groundwater Extraction and Agrarian Livelihoods in Tamil...

Shruti spoke with Kartikeya Batra, who is a Ph.D. candidate in economics at the University of Maryland and has a master’s in international affairs from The Fletcher School. His research lies at the intersection of political economy, development economics, and economic history. They discussed his job market paper titled “Long-Run Effects of Land Redistribution: Evidence from India,” and talked about the erstwhile Zamindari or Taluqdari system and its impact on modern day Uttar Pradesh, land...

In this episode, Shruti spoke with Vatsal Khandelwal, who is a junior research fellow at Merton College and an associate member of the Department of Economics at University of Oxford. His main research interest are development and behavioral economics, with a focus on social and economic networks. They discussed his job market paper titled “Silent Networks: The Role of Inaccurate Beliefs in Reducing Useful Social Interactions,” (coauthored with Ronak Jain). They spoke about pessimistic...

Shruti spoke with Sarath Pillai, who is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Center for the Advanced Study of India at University of Pennsylvania. He holds a PhD in History from the University of Chicago, a Master of Studies in Law from Yale Law School, a MA in history from the University of Delhi, and a Postgraduate Diploma in archives and records management from the National Archives of India, Delhi. They discussed his job market paper titled “German Lessons: Comparative...

Shruti spoke with Rithika Kumar, who is a Postdoctoral Visiting Fellow at the Kellogg Institute for International Studies at the University of Notre Dame. She received her PhD in political science from the University of Pennsylvania in August 2023. Her research lies at the intersection of gender, urbanization and politics in India. Shruti and Rithika discussed her job market paper titled “Left Behind or Left Ahead?” and the feminization of politics, political and social impact of migration,...

In this episode, Shruti speaks with Vanisha Sharma about her research on social media and how it impacts farmers, from their farm expenditures to their battle against pests. Recorded August 31st, 2023. Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links. Follow us on X Follow Shruti on X Follow Vanisha on X Click here for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox.

In this episode, Shruti speaks with Duncan Webb about his research on reducing anti-transgender discrimination and other prejudice. Recorded August 31st, 2023. Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links. Follow us on X Follow Shruti on X Follow Duncan on X Click here for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox.

In this episode, Shruti speaks with Amit Ahuja, Associate Professor of Political Science at UC Santa Barbara, and Devesh Kapur, Starr Foundation Professor of South Asian Studies at SAIS at Johns Hopkins University, about their latest volume, Internal Security in India: Violence, Order, and the State. Learn more about their latest volume and their other work here. Recorded August 24th, 2023. Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links. Follow us on X Follow Shruti on X Follow...

In this episode, Shruti speaks with Shreyas Narla and Kadambari Shah about women missing from the 1991 reforms high table decision making, trends in female labor force participation, how women in economics are finding their seats in various economic institutions across India, and more. To learn more about Shreyas and Kadambari’s research, oral history interviews, and their work on the 1991 Project, visit the1991Project.com. Recorded July 7th, 2023. Read a full transcript enhanced with...

In this episode, Shruti speaks with Saurabh Kirpal about the constitutional roots of marriage equality, fundamental rights, the role of the state, problems and challenges of the Indian courts and much more. Kirpal is a senior advocate at the Delhi High Court, the author of “Fifteen Judgments: Cases That Shaped India’s Financial Landscape” and the editor of the anthology “Sex and the Supreme Court: How the Law Is Upholding the Dignity of the Indian Citizen.” Recorded June 26th, 2023. Read...

In this episode, Shruti speaks with Peter J. Boettke about the writings of F.A. Hayek, why artificial intelligence will not solve the knowledge problem, what many economists throughout history misunderstood about the market process, mainline vs. mainstream economics and much more. Boettke is a Distinguished University Professor of Economics and Philosophy at George Mason University, the BB&T Professor for the Study of Capitalism and the director of the F.A. Hayek Program for Advanced...

In this episode, Shruti speaks with Aditi Mittal about how to build a comedy career, why she curses and makes jokes about sex, the logistical difficulties of being a woman in comedy, male vs. female spaces and much more. Mittal is a comedian, writer and actor. She has two Netflix specials, “Things They Wouldn’t Let Me Say” and “Girl Meets Mic,” which is part of the Comedians of the World series. Her third show, “Mother of Invention,” is on Amazon Prime U.K. and AUS and on NextUp Comedy....

In this episode, Shruti speaks with Rohini Nilekani about civil society’s role in the state, public infrastructure, building state capacity, democratizing access to credit and much more. Nilekani is a journalist, children’s book author, activist and philanthropist. She is the founder of Arghyam, a foundation for sustainable water and sanitation, and the co-founder of Pratham Books. She is also the chairperson of Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies and the co-founder and director of EkStep, a...

In this episode, Shruti speaks with Amit Varma about being alert to changing technologies, building online communities, creating for love vs. validation, how to use ChatGPT productively and much more. Varma is a writer, journalist and podcaster based in Mumbai. He hosts the weekly podcast The Seen and the Unseen and is a columnist at the Times of India. He is also the author of the blog India Uncut, which was active from 2004 to 2008. He won the Bastiat Prize for Journalism in 2007 and 2015,...

In this episode, Shruti speaks with Rahul Sagar about East India Company rule vs. crown rule, public finance constitutionalism, effects of technology on India’s intellectual history, historic preservation and much more. Sagar is the Global Network Associate Professor of Political Science at NYU Abu Dhabi. His primary research interests are in political theory, political ethics and public policy, and he has written on a range of topics including executive power, moderation and political...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...