The last publicly available nation-wide caste census in India was conducted in 1931. Now, a state-wide caste census has become available from the government of Bihar. Even though we know the Indian state collects data on a variety of markers and indicators, whether socioeconomic or health-related, there seems to be a reluctance when it comes to collecting data on caste. 

What is the reason for this? What are the complexities involved in capturing caste in India? How should we think about the categorization and sub-categorization of caste? What will the politics of caste look like going forward? What are the ways in which a caste census can be conducted more efficiently? What are the different aspects of the politics of social justice in India? What have been the successes and failures of social justice in India?

In this episode of Interpreting India, D. Shyam Babu joins Suyash Rai to discuss these questions and more.

Episode Contributors

D. Shyam Babu is a senior fellow at the Centre for Policy Research. His current research interests include socioeconomic mobility among Dalits, liberalization and social justice, and the role of entrepreneurship in mobility. He has also collaborated with Devesh Kapur and Chandra Bhan Prasad to conduct socioeconomic surveys to map social change and its linkages with public policies and entrepreneurship among Dalits. Their 2014 co-authored book, Defying the Odds, has received critical acclaim.

Suyash Rai is a deputy director and fellow at Carnegie India. His research focuses on the political economy of economic reforms and the performance of public institutions in India. His current research looks at the financial sector, the fiscal system, and the infrastructure sector.

Additional Readings

Mandal’s Original Sin, Surveyed by D. Shyam Babu

Rethinking Inequality: Dalits in Uttar Pradesh in the Market Reform Era by Devesh Kapur, Chandra Bhan Prasad, Lant Pritchett, and D. Shyam Babu

Defying the Odds: The Rise of Dalit Entrepreneurs by Devesh Kapur, D. Shyam Babu, and Chandra Bhan Prasad 

Reimagining Merit in India: Cognition and Affirmative Action by D. Shyam Babu, Chandra Bhan Prasad, and Devesh Kapur

Dalits in the New Millennium by Sudha Pai, D. Shyam Babu, and Rahul Verma

Key Moments

(00:00); Introduction

(01:47); Chapter 1: Why Was There Hesitance in Conducting Caste Census?

(10:43); Chapter 2: The Complexity of Caste and Its Relationship With the State

(15:45); Chapter 3: Potential Purposes of Caste Census

(20:49); Chapter 4: Scope of Improvement in Politics of Caste Census

(23:29); Chapter 5: Ways to Mitigate the Negative Consequences of Caste

(30:13); Chapter 6: Public System and Caste 

(35:35); Chapter 7: Consequences and Limitations of Economy on Social System

(42:18); Chapter 8: Caste Issues and Public

(44:28); Chapter 9: The Making of Citizens: Social Identity and Community 

(52:08); Chapter 10: Structural Incompetence of Caste on Social System

(54:16); Chapter 11: Cultural Determinism and Nationalism

(57:24); Chapter 12: Social Justice in Relation to Caste

(58:25); Chapter 13: Recommended Books 

(59:10); Outro

---

From December 4–6, 2023, Carnegie India will convene the eighth Global Technology Summit, co-hosted with the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India. This year, we will discuss key technology policy issues concerning digital public infrastructure, artificial intelligence, critical and emerging technology, space, semiconductors, national security and technology, data protection, and more.  

To register for the summit, visit gts2023.com. Make sure you follow our Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram accounts for more updates on the event.

Every two weeks, Interpreting India brings you diverse voices from India and around the world to explore the critical questions shaping the nation's future. We delve into how technology, the economy, and foreign policy intertwine to influence India's relationship with the global stage.

As a Carnegie India production, hosted by Carnegie scholars, Interpreting India, a Carnegie India production, provides insightful perspectives and cutting-edge by tackling the defining questions that chart India's course through the next decade.

Stay tuned for thought-provoking discussions, expert insights, and a deeper understanding of India's place in the world.

Don't forget to subscribe, share, and leave a review to join the conversation and be part of Interpreting India's journey.

One of the most visible signs of India’s economic development in the past seventy-five years has been the growth of its cities. Some of them are now among the largest on the planet, both in terms of area and population. However, Indian cities are far from perfect. They’re often not well planned, coping with problems of rapid growth and inefficient use of land and other resources. Indian cities are also plagued by a lack of basic amenities, such as clean drinking water, sanitation, and solid waste management systems, as well as safety-related problems.

What is the scale of the challenges facing India’s cities? What are some of the ideas and themes that are unique to India’s experience of urbanization? What is the global significance of the trends underway in Indian cities?

Devashish Dhar discusses many of these questions in his recent book, India’s Blind Spot: Understanding and Managing Our Cities. In this episode, he joins Anirudh Burman to unpack them further.

Episode Contributors

Devashish Dhar is a former public policy specialist at NITI Aayog. He is a Mason Fellow from the Harvard Kennedy School and a Li-Ka Shing Scholar from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore.

Anirudh Burman is an associate research director and fellow at Carnegie India. He works on key issues relating to public institutions, public administration, the administrative and regulatory state, and state capacity. He has also worked extensively on financial regulation and regulatory governance.

Additional Readings

India’s Blind Spot: Understanding and Managing Our Cities by Devashish Dhar

Understanding Indian Cities by Anirudh Burman

Key Moments

00:00); Introduction

(02:25); Chapter 1: What Prompted Devashish to Study Indian Cities?

(04:55); Chapter 2: Why is Urbanization a Binding Constraint?

(07:17); Chapter 3: Transforming Cities: Economic Growth and Socio-Economic Factors 

(11:50); Chapter 4: Unique Features of India’s Urbanization and Cities 

(21:49); Chapter 5: Infrastructure, Housing, and Utility Issues in India 

(29:10); Chapter 6: Are There Any Solutions to High Rents? 

(36:18); Chapter 7: Causes of Failure to Redevelop Land Property 

(42:45); Chapter 8: Urban Governance

(51:23); Chapter 9: Urban Reforms in Small Cities

(54:54); Chapter 9: Children as Figures of Urban Research

(01:01:45); Closing Comments 

(01:02:55); Outro 

Every two weeks, Interpreting India brings you diverse voices from India and around the world to explore the critical questions shaping the nation's future. We delve into how technology, the economy, and foreign policy intertwine to influence India's relationship with the global stage.

As a Carnegie India production, hosted by Carnegie scholars, Interpreting India, a Carnegie India production, provides insightful perspectives and cutting-edge by tackling the defining questions that chart India's course through the next decade.

Stay tuned for thought-provoking discussions, expert insights, and a deeper understanding of India's place in the world.

Don't forget to subscribe, share, and leave a review to join the conversation and be part of Interpreting India's journey.

The U.S.-India initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET) was launched during the Quad Summit in Tokyo in May 2022. The purpose of the iCET was to expand partnerships in critical and emerging technologies, including semiconductors. 

As part of the iCET, the Semiconductor Industry Association and India Electronics and Semiconductor Association agreed to undertake a “readiness assessment” to identify near-term industry opportunities and facilitate the longer-term strategic development of their complementary semiconductor ecosystems. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), a Washington, DC-based science and technology policy think tank, was commissioned to undertake authorship of this assessment.

In this episode, Stephen Ezell, vice president for global innovation policy at ITIF, joins Konark Bhandari to discuss the opportunities and obstacles involved in cultivating robust semiconductor supply chains.

Episode Contributors

Stephen Ezell is vice president for global innovation policy at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) and director of ITIF’s Center for Life Sciences Innovation. He also leads the Global Trade and Innovation Policy Alliance. His areas of expertise include science and technology policy, international competitiveness, trade, and manufacturing. Ezell is also the co-author of Innovating in a Service-Driven Economy: Insights, Application, and Practice and Innovation Economics: The Race for Global Advantage.

Konark Bhandari is a fellow at Carnegie India. He is a lawyer who has researched certain areas in the digital economy, focusing primarily on approaches to antitrust regulation of companies in the digital realm. He had earlier worked at India’s antitrust regulator, the Competition Commission of India, where he worked closely with senior officials on a variety of matters. He is also an avid follower of the regulation of the space technology ecosystem and is keen to contribute to that discipline. 

Additional Readings

Is India “Ready” for Semiconductor Manufacturing? by Konark Bhandari

The Geopolitics of the Semiconductor Industry and India’s Place in It by Konark Bhandari

Key Moments

(00:00); Introduction

(02:23); Chapter 1: Offshoring Operations Outside China

(05:52); Chapter 2: Utilization of ITSI Funds

(09:19); Chapter 3: Friendshoring Initiatives

(13:35); Chapter 4: Survival of Supplier Companies 

(19:06); Chapter 5: Semiconductor Fabrication Ecosystem in India

(21:44); Chapter 6: Financial Investments

(25:28); Chapter 7: Why Hasn’t India Leveraged the Chip-Designing Ecosystem?

(27:48); Chapter 8: Role of Trade Policy in Company Investment

(32:26); Chapter 9: Red Tape to Red Carpet: Readiness in India on Investment

(35:36); Closing Comments

(36:32); Outro

Every two weeks, Interpreting India brings you diverse voices from India and around the world to explore the critical questions shaping the nation's future. We delve into how technology, the economy, and foreign policy intertwine to influence India's relationship with the global stage.

As a Carnegie India production, hosted by Carnegie scholars, Interpreting India, a Carnegie India production, provides insightful perspectives and cutting-edge by tackling the defining questions that chart India's course through the next decade.

Stay tuned for thought-provoking discussions, expert insights, and a deeper understanding of India's place in the world.

Don't forget to subscribe, share, and leave a review to join the conversation and be part of Interpreting India's journey.

Even though India and France have had a strategic partnership for twenty-five years now, the bilateral relationship between these countries has received substantial impetus recently. The relationship spans common interests in the Indian Ocean Region and the Indo-Pacific, a robust military and defense partnership, cooperation in high-tech areas such as space and nuclear, and, of course, a growing economic and trade relationship. 

What lessons can both countries offer each other? And what are some of the commonalities and differences in the French and Indian approaches to global governance and global challenges such as climate change in a multipolar world? What are the challenges in taking this relationship to the next level?

In this episode of Interpreting India, Emmanuel Lenain joins Anirudh Suri to discuss these questions.

Episode Contributors

Emmanuel Lenain is the Ambassador of France to India. He began his diplomatic career in 1997, serving in the French Foreign Ministry’s United Nations Department, where he took part in peace negotiations on Kosovo. Since then, he has served in France’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York, the Embassy of France in Beijing as the Prime Minister’s technical adviser on multilateral affairs, the French Embassy in Washington, DC, as Consul General of France in Shanghai, Director for the Asia-Pacific Division of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and as Diplomatic Adviser to the Prime Minister.

Anirudh Suri is a nonresident scholar with Carnegie India. His interests lie at the intersection of technology and geopolitics, climate, and strategic affairs. He is currently exploring how India is carving and cementing its role in the global tech ecosystem and the role climate technology can play in addressing the global climate challenge.

Every two weeks, Interpreting India brings you diverse voices from India and around the world to explore the critical questions shaping the nation's future. We delve into how technology, the economy, and foreign policy intertwine to influence India's relationship with the global stage.

As a Carnegie India production, hosted by Carnegie scholars, Interpreting India, a Carnegie India production, provides insightful perspectives and cutting-edge by tackling the defining questions that chart India's course through the next decade.

Stay tuned for thought-provoking discussions, expert insights, and a deeper understanding of India's place in the world.

Don't forget to subscribe, share, and leave a review to join the conversation and be part of Interpreting India's journey.

In the last decade, there has been a growing convergence of global powers in the Indo-Pacific, evident from the proliferation of multilateral initiatives in the region. It has also emerged as an arena for geopolitical competition between China and the United States. As the competition intensifies, how does China see the Indo-Pacific? How has Beijing's understanding of this region changed over time? What can India learn from the way China sees the Indo-Pacific?

In this episode of Interpreting India, Manoj Kewalramani joins Shibani Mehta to answer these questions and more. 

Episode Contributors

Manoj Kewalramani is a fellow in China Studies and the chairperson of the Indo-Pacific Studies Programme at the Takshashila Institution. His research interests range from Chinese politics, foreign policy, and approaches to new technologies to addressing questions on how India can work with like-minded partners to address challenges presented by China's rise. Manoj is the author of Smokeless War: China’s Quest for Geopolitical Dominance, which discusses China’s political, diplomatic, economic, and narrative responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Shibani Mehta is a senior research analyst with the Security Studies Program at Carnegie India. Her research focuses on the India-China boundary dispute with the purpose of analyzing India’s foreign and security policy decisionmaking.

Additional Readings

Smokeless War: China’s Quest for Geopolitical Dominance by Manoj Kewalramani

Indo-Pacific Empire: China, America and the Contest for the World's Pivotal Region by Rory Medcalf

Key Moments

(0:00); Introduction

(2:35); Chapter 1: China’s Role in the Indo-Pacific

(8:36); Chapter 2: Changing Threat Perceptions of the Term “Indo-Pacific”

(13:25); Chapter 3: Different Interpretations of the Term “Indo-Pacific”

(19:55); Chapter 4: The Contradictory Position Undertaken by China

(28:36); Chapter 5: Beijing’s Vision for a Global Order

(33:59); Chapter 6: India’s Take on China’s View of the Indo-Pacific  

(43:16); Closing Comments

(44:19); Outro

Every two weeks, Interpreting India brings you diverse voices from India and around the world to explore the critical questions shaping the nation's future. We delve into how technology, the economy, and foreign policy intertwine to influence India's relationship with the global stage.

As a Carnegie India production, hosted by Carnegie scholars, Interpreting India, a Carnegie India production, provides insightful perspectives and cutting-edge by tackling the defining questions that chart India's course through the next decade.

Stay tuned for thought-provoking discussions, expert insights, and a deeper understanding of India's place in the world.

Don't forget to subscribe, share, and leave a review to join the conversation and be part of Interpreting India's journey.

The past week has been momentous for those awaiting the enactment of a legal framework for data protection in India. India’s parliament passed the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, and the law has now also received the assent of the President of India. This law has been enacted after multiple rounds of deliberations and consultations. Multiple committees have submitted reports on the proposed legislation, and three previous drafts of the legislation have been circulated for public consultation. What changes has this law undergone? How will the cost of data protection and privacy compliance impact Indian businesses?

In this episode of Interpreting India, Rahul Matthan joins Anirudh Burman to give us insights into these questions and more.

Episode Contributors

Rahul Matthan is a partner at Trilegal, one of India’s leading law firms, and heads the technology, media, and telecommunications (TMT) practice of the firm. He has extensive experience advising on high-value TMT transactions in the country. Rahul’s expertise spans several sectors in the technology space, including data protection, digital finance, cryptocurrencies, e-commerce, and more. Rahul has advised the government on the data privacy law and has served on the Kris Gopalakrishnan Committee on Non-Personal Data. He has authored numerous articles and thought pieces on various topical issues relating to computers, the internet, and other new technologies.

Anirudh Burman is an associate research director and fellow at Carnegie India. He works on key issues relating to public institutions, public administration, the administrative and regulatory state, and state capacity.  He has also worked extensively on financial regulation and regulatory governance.

He has published works related to parliamentary oversight in India, the freedom of movement and residence, measuring the responsiveness of independent regulators in India, the design of insolvency professionals as a regulated profession, and the right to information.

Additional Readings

Get On with Data Protection Now That the Law’s Enacted by Rahul Matthan

Companies Must Work Hard to Ensure Data Protection by Rahul Matthan

Resisting the Leviathan: The Key Change in India’s New Proposal to Protect Personal Data by Anirudh Burman

Will India’s Proposed Data Protection Law Protect Privacy and Promote Growth? by Anirudh Burman

—-

Key Moments:

(0:00); Introduction 

(3:00); Chapter 1: The Journey of This Act

(7:03); Chapter 2: Data Protection in India

(10:58); Chapter 3: Key Components of the Data Protection Act 

(14:19); Chapter 4: Applying GDPR Compliance in India

(22:00); Chapter 5: Right to Data Portability

(27:57); Chapter 6: Consent Manager Framework 

(32:44); Chapter 7: The Indian Government’s Data Accessing Powers

(37:30); Chapter 8: Restrictions on Data Fiduciaries

(42:46); Chapter 9: Blocking Data Fiduciaries’ Access to Public Information  

(45:18); Chapter 10: Data Localization

(46:56); Chapter 11: Establishing a Data Protection Board

(49:48); Closing Comments

(52:40); Outro

Every two weeks, Interpreting India brings you diverse voices from India and around the world to explore the critical questions shaping the nation's future. We delve into how technology, the economy, and foreign policy intertwine to influence India's relationship with the global stage.

As a Carnegie India production, hosted by Carnegie scholars, Interpreting India, a Carnegie India production, provides insightful perspectives and cutting-edge by tackling the defining questions that chart India's course through the next decade.

Stay tuned for thought-provoking discussions, expert insights, and a deeper understanding of India's place in the world.

Don't forget to subscribe, share, and leave a review to join the conversation and be part of Interpreting India's journey.

The role of the private sector in facilitating the climate transition journey of our world has been much talked about recently. While many corporations, including those in the fossil fuel sectors, have started drafting out their own journeys to “net zero,” Ajay Banga, the newly appointed president of the World Bank, has also emphasized the need for active private sector finance in the climate transition. There is a growing realization that governments alone cannot do all that is needed to prevent the worst-case scenarios that the world is increasingly faced with. And yet, the full scope of how the private sector can actually expedite this once-in-an-era transition has not been explored enough. 

In this episode, Suresh Narayanan joins Anirudh Suri to explore the role of the private sector in the climate transition journey.

Episode Contributors

Suresh Narayanan is the chairman and managing director of Nestlé India Limited. He has been in this role since August 2015. He also serves as the chairman of the CII National Committee on Food Processing Industries. Under Mr. Narayanan’s leadership, Nestlé India has received several accolades, including, most recently, “MNC in India of the Year” in 2022 by the All India Management Association, “Outstanding Company of the Year 2021” by CNBC TV18 India Business Leader Awards (IBLA), and “MNC of the Year” by Business Standard in 2020.

Mr. Narayanan joined Nestlé in 1999 as executive vice president for sales in India. His international career commenced at Nestlé Indochina in 2003, and he has also served in the Philippines, Singapore, Egypt, and the Northeast Africa Region. He was honored as the “Entrepreneurial CEO” at the EY Entrepreneur of The Year™ Awards 2020. Business Today awarded him “Best CEO-FMCG” for two consecutive years in 2019 and 2020.

Anirudh Suri is a nonresident scholar with Carnegie India. His interests lie at the intersection of technology and geopolitics, climate, and strategic affairs. He is currently exploring how India is carving and cementing its role in the global tech ecosystem and the role climate technology can play in addressing the global climate challenge.

He is the author of The Great Tech Game: Shaping Geopolitics and the Destinies of Nations (HarperCollins, 2022) and is currently the managing partner at India Internet Fund, a technology-focused venture capital fund based in India and the United States. He has also written extensively on foreign policy, geopolitics, cybersecurity, climate, technology, and entrepreneurship in publications such as the Indian Express, Times of India, Hindustan Times, Foreign Policy, The Print, The New Republic, Economic Times, MoneyControl, and Asia Times. 

--

Additional Readings

A Comprehensive Framework for India’s Climate Finance Strategy by Anirudh Suri

Why Banga  Being a Corporate Czar is Good for World Bank by Anirudh Suri

—-

Key Moments:
(0:00); Introduction 

(4:29); Mr. Narayanan’s Journey

(9:45); The Private Sector’s Role in Combating Climate Change

(15:49); Nestle’s Application of Common But Differentiated Responsibilities 

(20:09); Nestle’s Science and R&D-Based Approach 

(27:51); Obstacles to India’s Private Sector Spending on R&D

(37:15); On Packaged Foods and Food Security 

(38:53); Policy Hurdles in Public-Private Collaborations 

(42:42); India’s Climate Opportunity Strategy 

(48:41); Concluding Remarks 

(49:15); Outro

Every two weeks, Interpreting India brings you diverse voices from India and around the world to explore the critical questions shaping the nation's future. We delve into how technology, the economy, and foreign policy intertwine to influence India's relationship with the global stage.

As a Carnegie India production, hosted by Carnegie scholars, Interpreting India, a Carnegie India production, provides insightful perspectives and cutting-edge by tackling the defining questions that chart India's course through the next decade.

Stay tuned for thought-provoking discussions, expert insights, and a deeper understanding of India's place in the world.

Don't forget to subscribe, share, and leave a review to join the conversation and be part of Interpreting India's journey.

Defense cooperation is central to the India-U.S. partnership, and it has served as a key enabler for stronger collaboration at the multilateral level. While defense ties between the two countries have gone from strength to strength over the last two decades, defense-industrial cooperation has notably failed to take off thus far. However, of late, the two countries have made a renewed push toward furthering defense-industrial cooperation. They released a roadmap in June 2023, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent state visit to the United States has given the process further impetus.

In this episode of Interpreting India, Sameer Lalwani joins Rahul Bhatia to discuss these points and more.

Episode Contributors

Sameer Lalwani is a senior expert on South Asia at the U.S. Institute of Peace. He is also a nonresident senior fellow with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. His research interests include nuclear deterrence, interstate rivalry, alliances, crisis behavior, counterinsurgency, and Indo-Pacific security. Sameer has been widely published in academic journals and print media alike. He was the co-editor of the book Investigating Crises: South Asia’s Lessons, Evolving Dynamics, and Trajectories, which was published by the Stimson Center in 2018.

Rahul Bhatia is a research analyst with the security studies program at Carnegie India. His research focuses on India’s borders and India’s foreign and defense policies. He is currently working on a project that looks at India’s military modernization with a focus on indigenization. He also has a keen interest in the changing geopolitical landscape in the Indo-Pacific.

---

Additional Readings

Modi’s Trip to Washington Marks New Heights in U.S.-India Ties by Sameer P. Lalwani, Daniel Markey, Tamanna Salikuddin, and Vikram J. Singh

A Big Step Forward in U.S.-India Defense Ties by Sameer P. Lalwani and Vikram J. Singh

What the GE Engine Deal Means for India’s Military Diversification by Rahul Bhatia

Can a Defense Innovation Bridge Elevate India-U.S. Defense Cooperation? by Rahul Bhatia and Konark Bhandari

---

Key Moments:

(0:00); Intro

(2:10); Chapter 1: The Role of Defense-Industrial Cooperation

(4:11); Chapter 2: The Roadmap for Defense-Industrial Partnership

(7:07); Chapter 3: Why the DTTI Failed

(12:41); Chapter 4: Bureaucratic Differences in the DTTI

(16:48); Chapter 5: India’s History of Technology Sharing and Indigenization

(24:36); Chapter 7: The Significance of the GE Deal

(27:21); Chapter 8: The Role of the Indian Startup Ecosystem

(29:03); Chapter 9: India-U.S. Cooperation on Undersea Domain Awareness

(31:53); Chapter 10: The Significance of INDUS-X

(36:48); Chapter 11: Challenges in India-U.S. Joint Defense Innovation

(40:23); Outro

---

Carnegie India Socials:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carnegieindia/ (@CarnegieIndia)

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CarnegieIndia

Website: https://carnegieindia.org

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/CarnegieIndia/

Every two weeks, Interpreting India brings you diverse voices from India and around the world to explore the critical questions shaping the nation's future. We delve into how technology, the economy, and foreign policy intertwine to influence India's relationship with the global stage.

As a Carnegie India production, hosted by Carnegie scholars, Interpreting India, a Carnegie India production, provides insightful perspectives and cutting-edge by tackling the defining questions that chart India's course through the next decade.

Stay tuned for thought-provoking discussions, expert insights, and a deeper understanding of India's place in the world.

Don't forget to subscribe, share, and leave a review to join the conversation and be part of Interpreting India's journey.

In recent years, international indices and rankings such as the Democracy Index and the V-Dem Index have downgraded India’s democracy. Although there are significant differences in the degrees of downgrading, most major indices suggest that Indian democracy is backsliding.

Meanwhile, India is witnessing an increase in voter turnout, and people continue to participate actively and vociferously in politics. What is the reason for this disconnect between scholarly understandings of Indian democracy and ground realities?

To help us make sense of this dichotomy, Rahul Verma joins Suyash Rai to discuss his recent essay titled “The Exaggerated Death of Indian Democracy.” In the essay, Dr. Verma argues that the claims of democratic backsliding in India are somewhat exaggerated.

Episode Contributors

Rahul Verma is a fellow at the Center for Policy Research and a visiting assistant professor at Ashoka University. His research interests include voting behavior, party politics, political violence, and the media. Dr. Verma has published papers in Asian Survey, Economic & Political Weekly, and Studies in Indian Politics. His book, co-authored with Professor Pradeep Chhibber, Ideology and Identity: The Changing Party Systems of India, develops a new approach to defining the contours of what constitutes an ideology in multiethnic countries such as India. He has a PhD in Political Science from the University of California at Berkeley.

Suyash Rai is a deputy director and fellow at Carnegie India. His research focuses on the political economy of economic reforms and the performance of public institutions in India. His current research looks at the financial sector, the fiscal system, and the infrastructure sector.

---

Additional Readings

The Exaggerated Death of Indian Democracy by Rahul Verma

“Symposium: Is India Still a Democracy?” Journal of Democracy, July 2023

The Possibilities of Indian Electoral Politics by Suyash Rai

Understanding the Debate on Democratic Backsliding Through Two Papers by Suyash Rai

Ideology and Identity: The Changing Party Systems of India by Pradeep K. Chhibber and Rahul Verma

The Rise of the Second Dominant Party System in India: BJP’s New Social Coalition in 2019 by Pradeep K. Chhibber and Rahul Verma

Dalits in the New Millennium, edited by Sudha Pai, D. Shyam Babu, and Rahul Verma

How India’s Ruling Party Erodes Democracy by Ashutosh Varshney

The Expanding Role of Majoritarianism in India by Suhas Palshikar

Understanding the Nature of Party Competition and Politics of Majoritarianism by Suhas Palshikar

For India, ‘Middle’ Democracy Works by Subrata K. Mitra

---

Key Moments

(00:00); Intro

(4:24); Chapter 1: Why Rahul Wrote the Essay

(9:53); Chapter 2: Paradoxes in Indian Polity 

(12:14); Chapter 3: Biases in Ranking Measures

(18:53); Chapter 4: Comparing the Present with the Past

(21:22); Chapter 5: Conflating Other Phenomena for Backsliding

(29:20); Chapter 6: Party Dominance and Partisanship

(35:03); Chapter 7: Unpacking Mass Polarization

(41:00); Chapter 8: The Frequency of Protests in Past Years

(49:22); Chapter 9: The Pew Survey on Religion in India

(50:53); Chapter 10: Scholarly Discourse vs. Public Opinion

(55:38); Chapter 11: The Current State of Indian Democracy

(1:04:47); Chapter 12: Remaining Hopeful About Indian Democracy

(1:08:18); Chapter 13: Closing Remarks by Suyash

(1:11:52); Outro

--

Carnegie India Socials:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carnegieindia/ (@CarnegieIndia)

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CarnegieIndia

Website: https://carnegieindia.org

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/CarnegieIndia/

Every two weeks, Interpreting India brings you diverse voices from India and around the world to explore the critical questions shaping the nation's future. We delve into how technology, the economy, and foreign policy intertwine to influence India's relationship with the global stage.

As a Carnegie India production, hosted by Carnegie scholars, Interpreting India, a Carnegie India production, provides insightful perspectives and cutting-edge by tackling the defining questions that chart India's course through the next decade.

Stay tuned for thought-provoking discussions, expert insights, and a deeper understanding of India's place in the world.

Don't forget to subscribe, share, and leave a review to join the conversation and be part of Interpreting India's journey.

The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act was introduced in 2016 to protect consumers who had invested in residential real estate projects from malpractices by real estate developers. After the law was passed, most states established real estate regulatory authorities to register and oversee the conduct of real estate developers. 

What changes did this act try to bring in, and how has this regulatory change benefited consumers? Is the increased information about property litigation that the Maharashtra RERA provides affecting housing prices? Does RERA reduce information asymmetry in the housing market?

In this episode of Interpreting India, Vaidehi Tandel and Sahil Gandhi join Anirudh Burman to give us insights into these issues and more. They discuss their recent working paper, co-authored with Anupam Nanda and Nandini Agnihotri. Their study analyses how housing prices change in response to mandatory disclosures under the RERA. The paper is titled, “Do Mandatory Disclosures Squeeze the Lemons? The Case of Housing Markets in India.”

Episode Contributors

Vaidehi Tandel is an economist working in the areas of urban economics, political economy, and public finance, with a focus on India. Currently, Dr. Tandel is a lecturer in real estate and urban economics at the University of Manchester, UK. Her research has been featured in The Financial Times, The New York Times, The Straits Times, Livemint, and others. Her papers have been published in the Journal of Development Economics, the Journal of Urban Economics, the Journal of Regional Science, Environment and Urbanization, Cities, and BMJ Open, among others. Her current work looks at the politician-builder nexus in Mumbai, agglomeration economies in India, and climate change and adaptation across cities in developing countries.

Sahil Gandhi is an urban and real estate economist. Dr. Gandhi is a lecturer at The University of Manchester’s School of Environment, Education and Development. His research is in the fields of urban economics, real estate, and land economics. His recent papers are on vacant housing in India, migration and tenure choice, housing supply in Mumbai, and so on. His research has been published in the Journal of Urban Economics, the Journal of Development Economics, the Journal of Regional Science, Environment and Urbanization, and Cities, among others. He has also led a report on affordable housing in India. Dr. Gandhi has bylines in international and Indian media outlets such as The Washington Post, The Hindu, Hindustan Times, The Economic Times, and Livemint, among others. His research has also been cited in The Financial Times, The BBC, The Straits Times, Livemint, and more.

---

Key Moments

(0:00); Introduction

(2:39); Chapter 1: The Context Behind RERA

(9:56); Chapter 2: Key Regulatory Changes

(15:21); Chapter 3: The Case of Maharashtra’s RERA

(17:27); Chapter 4: Mumbai’s High Proportion of Litigated Projects

(23:04); Chapter 5: The Aim and Findings of the Study

(27:35); Chapter 6: Variations Across Housing Submarkets 

(32:35); Chapter 7: Luxury Housing and Mandatory Disclosures

(35:02); Chapter 8: Non-Luxury Housing and Litigation Costs

(36:10); Chapter 9: RERA’s Impact on Low- and Middle-Income Consumers

(40:36); Chapter 10: Types of Litigation Faced by Projects

(43:44); Chapter 11: Future Research in Urban Economics

(48:22); Outro

---

Additional Readings

Do Mandatory Disclosures Squeeze the Lemons? The Case of Housing Markets in India by Vaidehi Tandel, Sahil Gandhi, Anupam Nanda, and Nandini Agnihotri

Too Slow for the Urban March: Litigations and the Real Estate Market in Mumbai, India by Sahil Gandhi, Vaidehi Tandel, Alexander Tabarrok, and Shamika Ravi

View: Time to Make RERA Roar by Nandini Agnihotri and Sahil Gandhi

India Has to Attack Causes of Land Litigation. Modi’s Ease of Doing Business Depends on It by Anirudh Burman 

Making Land Titles in India Marketable: Using Title Insurance as a Viable Alternative to Conclusive Titling by Anirudh Burman

--

Carnegie India Socials:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carnegieindia/ (@CarnegieIndia)

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CarnegieIndia

Website: https://carnegieindia.org

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/CarnegieIndia/

Every two weeks, Interpreting India brings you diverse voices from India and around the world to explore the critical questions shaping the nation's future. We delve into how technology, the economy, and foreign policy intertwine to influence India's relationship with the global stage.

As a Carnegie India production, hosted by Carnegie scholars, Interpreting India, a Carnegie India production, provides insightful perspectives and cutting-edge by tackling the defining questions that chart India's course through the next decade.

Stay tuned for thought-provoking discussions, expert insights, and a deeper understanding of India's place in the world.

Don't forget to subscribe, share, and leave a review to join the conversation and be part of Interpreting India's journey.