Grand Tamasha

As the fighting between Israel and Hamas intensifies, the world is bracing for the widening of a conflict that has the potential to escalate quickly and bring in outside powers from the region and beyond.

India’s position in the aftermath of the horrific Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7th—and the subsequent Israeli military response—has been noteworthy. Unlike many countries in the Global South, which offered qualified support for Israel after the attacks and have positioned themselves with the Palestinian cause, India’s initial response made no mention of Gaza at all.

To make sense of India’s evolving position and the ways in which its Middle East policy has shifted over the decades, Milan is joined on the show this week by the political scientist Nicolas Blarel. Nicolas is Associate Professor of International Relations at the Institute of Political Science at Leiden University in The Netherlands and the author of The Evolution of India's Israel Policy: Continuity, Change, and Compromise since 1922.

Milan and Nicolas discuss India’s response to the conflict in Israel-Palestine, its growing embrace of Israel, and the growing bilateral security partnership. Plus, the two discuss the Modi government’s simultaneous outreach to Gulf Arab states and the factors that could shape how India responds to an expanded regional conflict.

Episode notes:

Crystal A. Ennis and Nicolas Blarel, eds., The South Asia to Gulf Migration Governance Complex (Bristol, UK: Bristol University Press, 2022).

Nicolas Blarel, The Evolution of India's Israel Policy: Continuity, Change, and Compromise since 1922 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015).

Sumit Ganguly and Nicolas Blarel, “Modi’s Comments on Israel-Gaza War Signal Shift,” Foreign Policy, October 12, 2023.

Nicolas Blarel, “Navigating Asian Rivalries: Israel’s ties with China and India,” National University of Singapore-Middle East Institute, Singapore Insights No. 300, July 25, 2023.

In September, India’s parliament passed a long-anticipated piece of legislation, known as the Women’s Reservation Bill.

The bill—which sailed through both houses of Parliament within days of being introduced— reserves one-third of seats in the national parliament and the various state assemblies for women—formalizing a quota that has long existed at the local levels in India, but never at higher levels of politics.

To discuss the bill—what it says, why it was passed, and what it might mean for Indian politics more generally—Milan is joined on the show this week by the political scientist Carole Spary, who is Associate Professor at the University of Nottingham and Director of the university’s Asia Research Institute.

She is the author of two important books related to female representation: Gender, Development, and the State in India and Performing Representation: Women Members in the Indian Parliament (with Shirin Rai).

Milan and Carole discuss the state of female political representation in India today, why getting a women’s reservation bill passed has taken so long, and why its implementation is likely to be delayed for years.

Plus, the two discuss the firsthand experience of women inside the halls of Parliament and whether India is witnessing a new era of “women-centric” governance.

Episode notes:

1. Carole Spary, “Women candidates, women voters, and the gender politics of India’s 2019 parliamentary election,” Contemporary South Asia 28, no. 2 (2020): 223-241.

2. Carole Spary, “Missed opportunities: time is running out for the Indian government to pass legislative gender quotas bill,” King’s India Institute, November 1, 2018.

3. Shireen M. Rai and Carole Spary, “Populism, parliament, and performance,” Seminar 752 (April 2022).

One of the major themes of India’s G20 presidency, which concludes later this year, has been the advancement of an ambitious green transition for the 21st century.

If the world’s hopes of accelerating a clean, sustainable, just, affordable, and inclusive energy transition are to come to fruition, ensuring the spread of solar power—especially to the poorest parts of the globe—will be essential. Milan’s guest on the show this week is tasked with doing exactly this.

Dr. Ajay Mathur is the Director General of the International Solar Alliance (ISA), a relatively new international consortium of more than 120 countries. ISA’s overarching objective is to foster the efficient consumption of solar energy to reduce the world’s dependence on fossil fuels.

Dr. Mathur was formerly the Director General of The Energy and Resources Institute and the Director General of India's Bureau of Energy Efficiency. He and Milan discuss the explosive growth in solar power and what that means for India—and the world. They also talk about the promise of green hydrogen, the impediments to solar adoption, and the expansion of mini-grid technology.

Episode notes:

1. Ajay Mathur, “International finance must take a lead in mobilising solar investments,” Business Standard, September 7, 2023.

2. Ajay Mathur, “Here's how solar can help triple renewable energy by 2030,” World Economic Forum, August 14, 2023.

3. “What COP26 Means for India—and the World,” (with Navroz Dubash), Grand Tamasha, November 17, 2021.

4. “How India Can Get to Net Zero Emissions,” (with Jayant Sinha), Grand Tamasha, October 13, 2021.

Toward a Free Economy: Swatantra and Opposition Politics in Democratic India is a new book on the Swatantra Party, a leading opposition party that emerged after Indian independence to contest the entrenched dominance of the Congress Party. The leaders of Swatantra imagined a conservative alternative to the left-of-center Congress, one that embraced libertarian principles and promoted the idea of a “free economy.” This new book, written by the historian Aditya Balasubramanian, holds many lessons for how we understand democracy, neoliberalism, and India’s own economic evolution today.

This week Milan sits down with Balasubramanian, a lecturer in economic history at the Australian National University, to talk more about his new work and the history of conservative economic thought in India. The two discuss why and how Swatantra leaders parted ways with Gandhi and other leading lights of the nationalist movement, the meaning of a “free economy,” and the ordinary Indians who powered the party’s sudden rise in the late 1960s. Plus, the two discuss the legacy of the Swatantra Party several decades after the party’s collapse and the death of its key figures—and what lessons it might hold for India’s opposition.

Episode Notes:

Aditya Balasubramanian, “Toward a Free Economy: Swatantra and Opposition Politics in Democratic India,” Lecture at King’s India Institute, July 5, 2023.

Aditya Balasubramanian, “Some lessons for INDIA from the Swatantra Party,” Hindustan Times, August 31, 2023.

Shadows at Noon: The South Asian Twentieth Century is a sweeping new book by the historian Joya Chatterji. The book tells the subcontinent's story from the British Raj through independence and partition to the forging of the modern nations of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. This is no ordinary history, however. Of course, there is plenty of politics and an in-depth discussion of citizenship, nationalism, and political leaders past and present. But there is equal attention paid to unconventional topics—such as food, leisure, and household dynamics.

Joya Chatterji is a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, Emeritus Professor of South Asian History at the University of Cambridge and Reader in International History at the London School of Economics.

She joins Milan on the podcast this week to talk about this career-defining work. The two discuss the continuity—and change—in the post-1947 trajectories of Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan; India’s unique liberal “accent”; and the striking resemblance between Nehru and Jinnah that often goes unsaid. Plus, the two discuss the region’s culinary habits, the unspoken tensions within South Asian households, and what sets Bollywood apart from Hollywood.

Episode Notes:

William Dalrymple, “Shadows at Noon: The South Asian Twentieth Century by Joya Chatterji review – charming, genre-defying study,” The Guardian, July 3, 2023.

Rana Mitter, “Shadows at Noon — Joya Chatterji exposes the beating heart of south Asia,” Financial Times, August 11, 2023.

“Ramachandra Guha Revisits India After Gandhi,” Grand Tamasha, April 19, 2023.

This August, India’s parliament passed a landmark piece of legislation, known as the Digital Personal Data Protection Act. The new act provides a framework for the protection of users’ personal data and the privacy of individuals.

The passage of this bill marks the culmination of a decade-long effort to frame a data privacy law—an effort that has had many twists and turns. To talk more about this important piece of legislation and what it means for India and Indians, Milan is joined on the show this week by Rahul Matthan. Rahul is a partner in Trilegal’s Bengaluru office where he heads the firm’s telecom, media, and technology practice. Over the past decade, he has been intimately involved with India’s data privacy efforts as a lawyer, author, and technology expert. He is the author of several books, including the forthcoming, The Third Way: India’s Revolutionary Approach to Data Governance. Since 2016, he has written a weekly column for Mint called “Ex Machina.”

Milan and Rahul discuss the long and winding road that led to the passage of the data protection bill, the compromises struck along the way, and critics’ concerns about national security exemptions. Plus, the two discuss the debate over data localization and the evolution of an active, well-connected technology policy community across India.

Episode Notes:

Rahul Matthan, “Get on with data protection now that the law’s enacted,” Mint, August 15, 2023.

Rahul Matthan, “Companies must work hard to ensure data protection,” Mint, August 7, 2023.

Rahul Matthan, “The draft data privacy law surprises with its simplicity,” Mint, July 18, 2023.

Anirudh Burman, “Resisting the Leviathan: The Key Change in India’s New Proposal to Protect Personal Data,” Carnegie India, November 28, 2022.

On Saturday, September 9, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi surprised observers by announcing on Day One of the G20 summit in New Delhi that all 20 member nations had achieved consensus on the New Delhi G20 Summit Leaders Declaration.

The announcement capped nine months of frenzied activity which involved thousands of meetings, consultations, and side events associated with India’s G20 leadership. It also came just days after some negotiators warned that a consensus may be out of reach—due to continued disagreement over language condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

To talk about the G20 summit—and what it means for India and Indian foreign policy—Milan is joined on the show this week by Ashok Malik. Ashok is a Partner at The Asia Group and Chair of its India Practice. He previously served as Policy Advisor to External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and, between 2017 and 2019, speech writer and spokesperson for the President of India.

Milan and Ashok discuss the big deliverables from the Delhi summit, the meaning of the new India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor, and the striking alignment between the United States and India. Plus, the two discuss the growing influence of foreign policy on Indian domestic politics.

Episode Notes:

Prashant Jha, “On Modi’s foreign policy, here is what the Opposition gets it wrong,” Hindustan Times, September 14, 2023.

Ashok Malik, “The continuity constituency and Modi's re-election bid,” Economic Times, August 29, 2023.

[VIDEO] “G20 Summit 2023 India (with Ashok Malik),” CNN-News18, September 12, 2023.

“Ro Khanna on the U.S.-India Partnership,” Hindustan Times, September 13, 2023.

Ro Khanna is a Member of the United States Congress who has represented California's 17th congressional district since 2017. He also serves as co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans, and recently led a bipartisan delegation to India that coincided with India’s Independence Day. During their visit, the eight-member delegation met with business, tech, and government leaders in Mumbai, Hyderabad, and New Delhi.

To talk more about his visit—and his views on U.S.-India relations—Ro Khanna joins Milan on the show this week. The two discuss his visit to India, the impact his Indian grandfather had on his life, and the state of democracy in the country. Plus, Milan and Ro discuss cricket diplomacy, U.S. industrial policy, and what Democrats need to do to win the votes of the Asian American diaspora.

Episode Notes:

Ro Khanna, “The New Industrial Age,” Foreign Affairs, January/February 2023.

“The Next Chapter in U.S.-India Defense Ties (with Lindsey Ford),” Grand Tamasha, September 5, 2023.

Sumitra Badrinathan, Devesh Kapur, Jonathan Kay, and Milan Vaishnav, “Social Realities of Indian Americans: Results From the 2020 Indian American Attitudes Survey,” Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, June 9, 2021.

Arvin Alaigh, “A Reckoning for the Modi Democrats,” Dissent, December 23, 2020.

After a long summer break, we are excited to be back with the tenth season of Grand Tamasha. To kick off our brand-new season, this week Milan sits down with the U.S. government’s point person on the U.S.-India defense relationship to discuss the next chapter in U.S.-India defense ties.

Lindsey Ford is the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for South and Southeast Asia. In this capacity, she serves as the principal advisor to senior leadership at the Pentagon for all policy matters pertaining to this vast region. Chief among her responsibilities is managing the day-to-day defense relationship with India.

Lindsey is no stranger to the world of U.S.-India relations, having worked extensively on this relationship during previous roles at the Brookings Institution, the Asia Society Policy Institute, and an earlier stint at the Pentagon between 2009-2015.

Milan and Lindsey discuss the historic June 2023 summit between President Biden and Prime Minister Modi, breakthroughs in U.S.-India defense co-production and co-development, and the new ways in which the U.S. and Indian governments are collaborating with industry, think tanks, and academics on defense innovation. Plus, the two discuss the emerging security architecture in the Indo-Pacific and the Quad’s agenda for the future.

Episode Notes:

“Reexamining America’s Bet on India (with Ashley J. Tellis),” Grand Tamasha, June 21, 2023.

 [VIDEO] Ely Ratner and Lindsey Ford, “Building a More Resilient Indo-Pacific Security Architecture, Hudson Institute,” March 2, 2023.

The White House, “Joint Statement from the United States and India,” June 22, 2023.

Rudra Chaudhuri, Konark Bhandari, and Ashima Singh, “The U.S.-India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET): The Way Forward,” Carnegie India, January 24, 2023.

Programming Note: This is the very last episode of Season Nine of Grand Tamasha. As is our usual, we are going to take July and August off to recharge our batteries. We will be back in September with our tenth season of podcasts, and we’re excited about the conversations we have planned for the Fall.

Some of our listeners may recall way back in February 2020—the month before the world came to a standstill—Milan sat down with the journalistPramit Bhattacharyato discuss the unfolding crisis in Indian economic data. Pramit returns to the show today to discuss a new report that he’s just published with Carnegie titled, “India’s Statistical System: Past, Present, Future.”

Pramit’s new report is the single-best resource on the trials and tribulations of India’s data machinery. It contains the kind of straight-ahead reporting and analysis that people have come to expect from Pramit, who writes the “Truth, Lies, and Statistics” column forMintand the “Simply Economics” column for theHindustan Times.

Milan and Pramit discuss why it is both the best and worst of times for data users in India, how India squandered its competitive advantage in statistical data, and just exactly what today’s data crisis means for the average Indian. Plus, the two discuss Pramit’s ideas for overhauling the system.

Episode notes:

“Pramit Bhattacharya on the Crisis in India’s Economic Data,”Grand Tamasha, February 12, 2020.

Arvind Subramanian, “India's GDP Mis-estimation: Likelihood, Magnitudes, Mechanisms, and Implications,” Harvard Kennedy School Working Paper, June 2019.

Pramit Bhattacharya, “How India’s Statistical System Was Crippled,”Mint, May 7, 2019.

Pramit Bhattacharya, “Make our statistics credible again,”Mint, January 3, 2022.