Jack Of All Knowledge

In this episode of Jack of All Knowledge, I am joined by Rahul Ahluwalia who is a director at Foundation for Economic Development in India. FED works with central and state governments in India to identify high-impact opportunities for economic growth and helps them realize those opportunities. 

Rahul is, what many of us would call, a classical liberal thinker. I came across his work some time back through FED’s “Growth is Good” podcast series; where Rahul invites economists and other experts to discuss various facets of economic growth - all linked to Fed’s central thesis, which is that economic growth is indisputably the best way to improve human lives. 

In this podcast we went back to the basics. We talked about his connection to economic growth, why does he feels so passionately about it, the foundations of classical liberalism, and why we must stand guard against the perils of socialism.

It was refreshing to talk to him about the foundational concepts that we throw around from time to time without realising the deeper meaning behind them. I had a fun time recording with Rahul, and I hope you enjoy this episode.

Show Notes:

1. Foundation for Economic Development: https://www.fedev.org/who-we-are/ 

2. Rahul Alhuwalia (twitter/ X): https://www.fedev.org/who-we-are/ 

3. 1991 Project: https://the1991project.com/ 

4. Growth is Good episode with Shruti Rajagopalan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPC6VzqMsvk 

5. A comprehensive analysis of poverty in India: https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/847861468257945118/pdf/946460v10JRN0B0O0900170adev0a000021.pdf 

6. BR Shenoy’s Forgotten Voice of Dissent: https://www.forbesindia.com/article/hindsight/b.r.-shenoys-forgotten-voice-of-dissent/26922/1 

7. Why conventional wisdom on healthcare is wrong: https://randomcriticalanalysis.com/why-conventional-wisdom-on-health-care-is-wrong-a-primer/ 

8. We economists have done the math, growth is a doomed strategy: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/10/economists-maths-growth-doomed-strategy-un-agencies-political-leaders 

9. Gen Z Socialism, From Zohran to Zack and beyond: https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2026/06/04/gen-z-socialism-from-zohran-to-zack-and-beyond 

10. How to fight Gen Z Socialism: https://www.economist.com/leaders/2026/06/04/how-to-fight-back-against-gen-z-socialism 199

11. Short history of living conditions: our world in data (https://ourworldindata.org/a-history-of-global-living-conditions)

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 orders

2. Evaluation of SEBI's insider trading orders at SAT

3. Impact of insider trading on market is exaggerated

4. Evaluation of ERC's performance at APTEL

5. Improving legal transparency at RBI

6. Regulation of prepaid instrument regulation

7. Bypassing tribunals through writs

8. India's electricity sector needs structural reform

9. The safety of a good pension

10. 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

In this episode I am speaking with second time guest on the show, Dr. Ajay Shah about {x}kdr forum and the problems it solves. We speak about how the organisation chooses problems to solve, how they contribute to the Indian developmental story, how Ajay manages to be as enthusiastic about solving big problems as he was 20 years ago, and much more.

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.

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/