Grand Tamasha

This week, we conclude Season Six of Grand Tamasha with a bang. Before Milan was a podcast host, he was a podcast consumer. And two of his favorite India podcasts are “The Seen and the Unseen” with Amit Varma and “Ideas of India” with Shruti Rajagopalan. So, what better way to end our season than with a massive mash-up of three leading India podcasts. 

Amit and Shruti join Milan on the show this week to discuss the relevance of Lant Pritchett’s popular characterization of India as a “flailing state” and whether there is such a thing as the “Modi economic doctrine” eight years into his prime ministership. Plus, the three discuss the art and science of podcasting. 

Grand Tamasha will be taking a little holiday break, but we will be back in late January with a new season of insightful conversations on Indian politics and policy. Stay tuned for more information about our new season!

1. Lant Pritchett, “Is India a Flailing State?: Detours on the Four Lane Highway to Modernization,” Harvard Kennedy School.
2. Shruti Rajagopalan and Alex Tabarrok, “Premature Imitation and India’s Flailing State,” The Independent Review.
3. Keshava Guha, “In Farmers vs Modi, A Big Lesson For Congress,” NDTV.com.
4. Amit Varma, “Narendra Modi Takes a Great Leap Backwards,” Times of India.
5. Amit Varma, “#9: Why Are My Episodes so Long?” The India Uncut Newsletter.
6. Emergent Ventures, Mercatus Center at George Mason University.
7. “The Seen and The Unseen” book project.
8. Amit Varma, “We Are Fighting Two Disasters: Covid-19 and the Indian State,” Times of India.
9. Amit Varma, “Lessons from an Ankhon Dekhi Prime Minister,” Times of India.
10. W.S. Merwin, “Separation.”

Most of our listeners do not need an introduction to the Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan. You’ve watched his movies. You’ve sung the songs his films have popularized. You might even have had his poster on your wall growing up. 

A new book by the economist Shrayana Bhattacharya, Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh: India's Lonely Young Women and the Search for Intimacy and Independence, describes another role that Shah Rukh has fulfilled: he has been the north star for women across India as they search for intimacy, independence, and empowerment. 

Shrayana joins Milan on the podcast to discuss her new book—which is part economics tract, part reportage, part social commentary, and part feminist call to arms. Milan and Shrayana discuss how Shah Rukh has become a female (but not feminist) icon, the economics behind the lack of women’s agency in India, and her own struggles with love and loneliness. Plus, the two discuss the mysteries of the Delhi social scene and the ways government policy can help challenge conservative, patriarchal social norms. 

1. K.X. Ronnie, “Interview, Shrayana Bhattacharya, author, Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh – “I’m a loud and proud feminist economist,” Hindustan Times, November 27, 2021.
2. Devesh Kapur, Neelanjan Sircar, and Milan Vaishnav, “Introduction to e-Symposium: Urbanisation, gender, and social change in north India,” Ideas for India, December 6, 2021.
3. Milan Vaishnav, “Women and work: How much does measurement matter?” Ideas for India, May 10, 2021.
4. Ruth Pollard, “What a Bollywood Megastar Means for Women in India,” Bloomberg, December 9, 2021.

Ambassador Nirupama Rao has had the kind of career that every Indian Foreign Service aspirant dreams of. In 2011, she retired as foreign secretary to the Government of India, the most senior position in the foreign service. She has served as spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, ambassador to Sri Lanka, ambassador to China, and ambassador to the United States of America. 

She is also the author of a new book, The Fractured Himalaya: India Tibet China, 1949-62. The book is a deep dive into one of the most consequential periods of India-China relations—a period whose repercussions are felt even today. 

Ambassador Rao joins Milan on the podcast this week to discuss Nehru’s long fascination with China, his inability to settle India’s border dispute with China, and his “flawed heroic” character. Plus, the two discuss the current state of border tensions and the deep roots of China’s infrastructure advantage in the Himalayas.

1. “Pallavi Raghavan on an Alternative History of India-Pakistan Relations,” Grand Tamasha, April 7, 2020.
2. “Modi's Farm Law Reversal, India-China, and Trade Policy,” Grand Tamasha, November 23, 2021.
3. “Kanti Bajpai on Why China and India Are Not Friends,” Grand Tamasha, July 6, 2021.
4. C. Raja Mohan, “Nirupama Rao’s latest book, The Fractured Himalaya, is a lucid account of Sino-Indian relations,” Indian Express, November 7, 2021.

In September 2020, India’s Parliament passed three farm reform bills that the government claimed would radically change the way in which agriculture was practiced in the country. Yet, just over twelve months later, the same government announced its intention to repeal those laws—a major concession to large-scale, dogged protests launched by farmers in northern India. 

The repeal of the farm reform laws, hailed by many observers as a short-term victory for struggling farmers, has also raised complex questions about the future of agriculture in a rapidly urbanizing India. To consider some of these questions, Milan is joined on the podcast this week by Harish Damodaran. Harish is a senior fellow at the Centre for Policy Research in Delhi, where he is enjoying a sabbatical from his day job as national rural affairs and agriculture editor at The Indian Express. 

Harish and Milan talk about the state of Indian agriculture, the motivations behind the farm reform laws, and the complex reasons the government eventually withdrew them. Plus, the two discuss the next stage of farmers’ demands and what this setback does to the larger push for agrarian reform.

1. Harish Damodaran, “In burying farm laws, Govt may have held off demand for right to MSP,” Indian Express, November 20, 2021. 
2. Harish Damodaran, “Farm Bills 2020: Actual text vs perception,” Indian Express, September 21, 2020.
3. Mukulika Banerjee, “The Rural Roots of Citizenship and Democracy in India,” Grand Tamasha, November 9, 2021.
4. Yamini Aiyar and Mekhala Krishnamurthy, “The farm laws: Why this is not a 1991 moment,” Hindustan Times, November 26, 2021. 

We are nearly done with our sixth season of Grand Tamasha and we have been shamefully overdue in scheduling a news round-up for the Fall.

To set things straight and to discuss the latest news coming out of India, Milan is joined on the podcast this week by Grand Tamasha regulars Sadanand Dhume of AEI and the Wall Street Journal and Tanvi Madan of the Brookings Institution. 

The three discuss the Modi government’s abrupt about-turn on the farm law bills, the perilous state of China-India relations, and new murmurs out of Delhi on the trade policy front. Plus, Tanvi, Sadanand, and Milan discuss three stories coming out of India that podcast regulars should be following. 

1. Sadanand Dhume, “Farmers Will Reap the Benefits of Modi’s Reforms,” Wall Street Journal, October 1, 2020.
2. Sadanand Dhume, “What New Delhi Needs to Stand Up to Beijing,” Wall Street Journal, November 11, 2021.
3. Tanvi Madan, “Major Power Rivalry in South Asia,” Council on Foreign Relations, October 2021. 

After two, torturous weeks of around-the-clock negotiations at the COP26 Summit in Glasgow, Scotland, diplomats from nearly 200 countries agreed to accelerate their commitments to reduce carbon emissions, phase out fossil fuels, and ramp up aid to poor countries, many of whom are the biggest victims of the climate crisis.  

However, not everyone is pleased with the outcome in Glasgow. Climate experts point out that the accord will not put the world on track to avoid catastrophic warming beyond 1.5 degrees Celsius. 

To discuss the Glasgow accord, India’s commitments, and the questions that remain, Milan is joined on the show this week by Navroz Dubash, a professor at the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi and a veteran energy and climate scholar, policy adviser, and activist.  

Navroz and Milan discuss the big takeaways from COP26, India’s surprise net-zero pledge, and an eleventh hour fracas over language on coal. Plus, the two discuss the credibility deficit plaguing the United States’ climate diplomacy.  

1. Jayant Sinha, “How India Can Get to Net Zero Emissions,” Grand Tamasha, October 12, 2021. 
2. Navroz Dubash, “Understanding India’s climate pledges,” Hindustan Times, November 12, 2021. 
3. Navroz Dubash, “Unlocking climate action in Indian federalism,” Hindustan Times, August 11, 2021. 

For more than fifteen years, the scholar Mukulika Banerjee has been deeply embedded in the social and political life of two villages in the state of West Bengal—studying developments there, both during elections and between them. Her new book, “Cultivating Democracy: Politics and Citizenship in Agrarian India,” is a deeply researched study of Indian democracy that shows how agrarian life creates values of citizenship and active engagement that are essential for the cultivation of democracy. 

Mukulika Banerjee is an associate professor in social anthropology at the London School of Economics, and she joins Milan on the podcast this week to discuss the importance of India’s status as a “republic,” what B.R. Ambedkar got wrong about rural life, and popular misconceptions about agriculture. Plus, the two discuss the evolution of Bengali politics and the regional roots of illiberalism. 

1. Mukulika Banerjee, “Elections as Communitas,” Social Research, Spring 2011. 
2. Mukulika Banerjee, “A small ‘feastie’ in a Republic’s anniversary,” Indian Express, January 26, 2020. 
3. Pradeep K. Chhibber and Amit Ahuja, “Why the Poor Vote in India: 'If I Don't Vote, I Am Dead to the State,’” Studies in International Comparative Development, 2012. 
4. Christophe Jaffrelot, “Narendra Modi and India's New Political System,” Grand Tamasha, October 5, 2021. 

On February 14, 2019, a suicide bomber crashed into an Indian paramilitary convoy in Pulwama, Kashmir, killing forty Indian soldiers. The attack was the deadliest assault on Indian security personnel in Kashmir in three decades and captured the attention of domestic and international headlines. It also led to a nationalist fervor that fueled, in part, the BJP’s dramatic reelection just months later in the 2019 general election.

How did the attack take place? Who were the masterminds of the operation? And how does this attack fit into a decades-long story of terrorism, militancy, and spycraft that has come to define the contemporary politics of Kashmir? These questions are clinically addressed in a new book by the journalist Rahul Pandita, The Lover Boy of Bahawalpur: How the Pulwama Case was Cracked. 

This week, Rahul joins Milan on the show to discuss the inside story of the Pulwama attacks, the Indian investigation into the attack’s masterminds, and India’s retaliatory airstrikes on Pakistani territory. Plus, the two discuss the legacy of the Modi government’s abrogation of Article 370 and the nature of the terrorism threat in Kashmir today.

Episode notes:

1. “Rahul Pandita on Kashmir: ‘You can leave Kashmir but Kashmir never leaves you,’” Grand Tamasha, August 29, 2021.
2. Adrian Levy, “Inside the Secret World of South Asia's Spies,” Grand Tamasha, October 26, 2021.
3. Rahul Pandita, “Kashmir’s New Insurgency,” Open Magazine, October 22, 2021.
4. Rahul Pandita, “The Usual Suspects,” Open Magazine, September 10, 2021.

Spy Stories: Inside the Secret World of the RAW and the ISI  is the brand new book by investigative journalists Adrian Levy and Cathy Scott-Clark. Spy Stories relies on unprecedented access to top military and intelligence officials in both India and Pakistan to shed light on some of the most consequential crises in recent South Asian history—from the 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament, to the 2011 killing of Osama bin Laden, and the suicide bombing in Pulwama on the eve of India’s 2019 general election.

This week on the show, Milan sits down with Levy to discuss the secret world of South Asia’s top spies. The two discuss the different trajectories of the ISI and RAW, the defining character of India’s current National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, the roots of turmoil in Kashmir, and the long shadow of the IC 814 hijacking. Plus, Milan asks Adrian about the terror outlook for India in the wake of America’s Afghanistan exit. 

1. “What the Taliban Takeover Means for India,” Grand Tamasha, September 14, 2021.
2. Adrian Levy and Cathy Scott-Clark, The Siege: The Attack on the Taj (Penguin, 2013).
3. Aqil Shah, “How Will the Taliban Deal With Other Islamic Extremist Groups?” Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, August 31, 2021.

Joanna Slater is a veteran journalist who served as the Washington Post India bureau chief based in New Delhi from 2018-2021. She was posted there during one of the most consequential periods in recent Indian history—covering the 2019 general elections, the abrogation of Article 370 in Kashmir, the COVID-19 pandemic, the Pegasus hacking revelations, and much more. 

This week on the show, Joanna joins Milan to talk about her tenure in New Delhi and what she learned on the job.

The two discuss Joanna’s long history with India, the constraints journalists face while carrying out their jobs, and what it was like to cover some of the biggest stories in recent years from the ground. Plus, the two discuss how Joanna met her future husband on the set of a Bollywood hit movie starring Aamir Khan and the India story that Joanna still dreams about.

1. “Niha Masih on Reporting on India’s COVID-19 Crisis,” Grand Tamasha, June 15, 2021.
2. Joanna Slater and Niha Masih, “The spyware is sold to governments to fight terrorism. In India, it was used to hack journalists and others,” Washington Post, July 19, 2021.
3. Joanna Slater and Shams Irfan, “Inside a Delhi hospital, oxygen runs fatally short as covid cases mount,” Washington Post, April 24, 2021.
4. Niha Masih and Joanna Slater, “They were accused of plotting to overthrow the Modi government. The evidence was planted, a new report says,” Washington Post, February 10, 2021.
5. Joanna Slater, “A young Indian couple married for love. Then the bride’s father hired assassins,” Washington Post, August 19, 2019.
6. Joanna Slater, “In Modi’s move on Kashmir, a road map for his ‘new India,’” Washington Post, August 15, 2019.
7. Joanna Slater, “In the world’s biggest election, India’s Narendra Modi pushes fear over hope,” Washington Post, April 11, 2019.