Despite being a Congress spokesperson, economist Salman Soz was hopeful in 2014 that the Modi government would be good for India. As the title of his new book indicates, that turned out to be quite The Great Disappointment. Soz joins Amit Varma in episode 119 of The Seen and the Unseen to elaborate on the many economic failures of the Modi government. He also tackles tough questions on the Congress party. Also check out:   The Great Disappointment -- Salman Soz   India's Lost Decade -- Ep 116 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Puja Mehra)   DeMon, Morality and the Predatory Indian State -- Ep 85 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan)   The Bad and Complex Tax -- ep 74 of The Seen and the Unseen ( w Shruti Rajagopalan)   The Fraud of Indian Education -- ep 77 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Amit Chandra)   The Importance of Cities -- ep 108 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Reuben Abraham & Pritika Hingorani)   The State of Our Farmers -- ep 86 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Gunvant Patil)   Beware of the Useful Idiots -- Amit Varma   A Manifesto for Progress -- Amit Varma   You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios

Ep. 119: Modi's Lost Opportunity

The Seen and the Unseen, hosted by Amit Varma, features longform conversations that aim to give deep insights into the subjects being discussed. Timeless and bingeworthy.

Society & Culture

Personal Journals

History

Philosophy

Places & Travel

News

Politics

How do women live in India? How do workers live? What impact can economics have in the real world? Sowmya Dhanaraj joins Amit Varma in episode 380 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe her life, her work and the churn in our society.  (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.)  Also check out: 1. Sowmya Dhanaraj on LinkedIn, Twitter, Google Scholar, Good Business Lab and her own website. 2. Male Backlash and Female Guilt: Women’s Employment and Intimate Partner Violence in Urban India -- Sowmya Dhanaraj and Vidya Mahambare. 3. Family structure, education and women’s employment in rural India -- Sowmya Dhanaraj and Vidya Mahambare. 4. The Life and Times of Ira Pande -- Episode 369 of The Seen and the Unseen. 5. Yugank Goyal Is out of the Box -- Episode 370 of The Seen and the Unseen. 6. Fixing the Knowledge Society -- Episode 24 of Everything is Everything. 7. Tell No One -- Harlan Coben. 8. Introductory Econometrics: A Modern Approach -- Jeffrey Wooldridge. 9. Econometric Analysis -- William Greene. 10. The Beauty of Finance -- Episode 21 of Everything is Everything. 11. Swapna Liddle and the Many Shades of Delhi -- Episode 367 of The Seen and the Unseen. 12. Indian Society: The Last 30 Years — Episode 137 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Santosh Desai). 13. Santosh Desai is Watching You -- Episode 356 of The Seen and the Unseen. 14. Metrics of Empowerment — Episode 88 of The Seen and the Unseen. 15. Challenges of Change: An Experiment Promoting Women to Managerial Roles in the Bangladeshi Garment Sector -- Rocco Macchiavello, Andreas Menzel, Atonu Rabbani & Christopher Woodruff. 16. Women at Work — Episode 132 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Namita Bhandare). 17. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman -- Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 18. Alice Evans Studies the Great Gender Divergence — Episode 297 of The Seen and the Unseen. 19. The Loneliness of the Indian Man — Episode 303 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Taneja). 20. Sowmya Dhanaraj and Vidya Mahambare speak to Alice Evans on her podcast. 21. We Are All Amits From Africa — Episode 343 of The Seen and the Unseen. 22. India Moving — Chinmay Tumbe. 23. India = Migration — Episode 128 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Chinmay Tumbe). 24. Deepak VS and the Man Behind His Face -- Episode 373 of The Seen and the Unseen. 25. Our Unlucky Children (2008) — Amit Varma. 26. Emergent Ventures. 27. Malini Goyal is the Curious One -- Episode 377 of The Seen and the Unseen. 28. Is Work Fun -- Tyler Cowen. 29. Dance Dance For the Halva Waala — Episode 294 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jai Arjun Singh and Subrat Mohanty). 30. Housefull Economics. 31. This Passing Moment -- Amit Varma's Housefull Economics piece on Opportunity Cost. 32. Who gains from the new Maternity Benefit Act Amendment? — Devika Kher. 33. Here’s What’s Wrong With the Maternity Benefits Act — Suman Joshi. 34. Evicted -- Matthew Despond. 35. Whole Numbers And Half Truths -- Rukmini S. 36. The Importance of Data Journalism — Episode 196 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S). 37. Rukmini Sees India’s Multitudes — Episode 261 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S). 38. The Great Indian Kitchen -- Jeo Baby. 39. Pariyerum Perumal -- Mari Selvaraj.  Amit’s newsletter is explosively active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free!  Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube.  Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.  Episode art: ‘Machinery of Society’ by Simahina.

Ep 380: Sowmya Dhanaraj Is Making a Difference

He's one of the great economists of our times, always focussed on the big questions, no matter how hard they are. Lant Pritchett joins Amit Varma in episode 379 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his life, his work and what he has learnt about the world.  (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.)  Also check out: 1. Lant Pritchett on Google Scholar and his own website. 2. Building State Capability: Evidence, Analysis, Action -- Matt Andrews, Lant Pritchett and Michael Woolcock. 3. Deals and Development: The Political Dynamics of Growth Episodes -- Lant Pritchett, Kunal Sen and Eric Werker. 4. What I, as a development economist, have been actively “for” -- Lant Pritchett. 5. National Development Delivers: And How! And How? -- Lant Pritchett. 6. Economic growth is enough and only economic growth is enough -- Lant Pritchett with Addison Lewis. 7. Is India a Flailing State?: Detours on the Four Lane Highway to Modernization -- Lant Pritchett. 8. Is Your Impact Evaluation Asking Questions That Matter? A Four Part Smell Test -- Lant Pritchett. 9. The Perils of Partial Attribution: Let’s All Play for Team Development -- Lant Pritchett. 10.  Where Has All the Education Gone? -- Lant Pritchett. 11. Looking Like a State: Techniques of Persistent Failure in State Capability for Implementation -- Lant Pritchett. 12. Cents and Sociability: Household Income and Social Capital in Rural Tanzania -- Deepa Narayan and Lant Pritchett. 13. Where Did Development Economics Go Wrong? -- Lant Pritchett speaks to Shruti Rajagopalan on Ideas of India. 14. Reforming Development Economics --  Lant Pritchett speaks to Shruti Rajagopalan on Ideas of India. 15. Suyash Rai Embraces India’s Complexity — Episode 307 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. Economics in One Lesson — Henry Hazlitt. 17. The Worldly Philosophers -- Robert L Heilbroner. 18. That Which is Seen, and That Which is Not Seen — Frédéric Bastiat. 19. The Use of Knowledge in Society — Friedrich Hayek. 20. Four Papers That Changed the World -- Episode 41 of Everything is Everything (in which Amit talks about Hayek's essay). 21. The Great Wave off Kanagawa. 22. Deepak VS and the Man Behind His Face -- Episode 373 of The Seen and the Unseen. 23. How We Do the Small Things -- Amit Varma. 24. Fixing the Knowledge Society -- Episode 24 of Everything is Everything. 25. The O-Ring Theory of Economic Development — Michael Kremer. 26. Why Abhijit Banerjee Had to Go Abroad to Achieve Glory — Amit Varma. 27. Amadeus -- Milos Forman. 28. Why Talent Comes in Clusters -- Episode 8 of Everything is Everything. 29. Imagined Communities -- Benedict Anderson. 30. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 31. Accelerating India's Development -- Karthik Muralidharan. 32. An update in 2020 of the Big Stuck in State Capability -- Lant Pritchett. 33. The Forging of Bureaucratic Autonomy -- Daniel Carpenter. 34. The Godfather -- Francis Ford Coppola. 35. Seeing Like a State -- James C Scott. 36. Dido and Aeneas -- Mark Morris Dance Group.  Amit’s newsletter is explosively active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free!  Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube.  Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.  Episode art: ‘The Lighthouse’ by Simahina.

Ep 379: Lant Pritchett Is on Team Prosperity

He is an economist with the soul of a poet. He has studied number theory and is an expert on policy. He has studied Urdu and and dreams in shairi. Rohit Lamba joins Amit Varma in episode 378 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss economics, politics, society and our human condition.  (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.)  Also check out: 1. Rohit Lamba links at Penn State, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google Scholar, YouTube and his own website. 2. Breaking the Mould: Reimagining India's Economic Future -- Raghuram Rajan and Rohit Lamba.  3. The Broken Script -- Swapna Liddle. 4. Swapna Liddle and the Many Shades of Delhi -- Episode 367 of The Seen and the Unseen. 5. Six More Stories That Should Be Films -- Episode 43 of Everything is Everything, which includes a chapter inspired by Swapna Liddle's book. 6. Wanderers, Kings, Merchants: The Story of India through Its Languages — Peggy Mohan. 7. Understanding India Through Its Languages — Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan). 8. The Life and Times of Ira Pande -- Episode 369 of The Seen and the Unseen. 9. The Price of Peace: Money, Democracy, and the Life of John Maynard Keynes -- Zachary D. Carter. 10. Fixing the Knowledge Society -- Episode 24 of Everything is Everything. 11. Robert Sapolsky’s biology lectures on YouTube. 12. Episode of The Seen and the Unseen with Ramachandra Guha: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.  13. The Nurture Assumption — Judith Rich Harris. 14. Deepak VS and the Man Behind His Face -- Episode 373 of The Seen and the Unseen. 15. The Incredible Insights of Timur Kuran -- Episode 349 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. Private Truths, Public Lies — Timur Kuran. 17. The Gentle Wisdom of Pratap Bhanu Mehta -- Episode 300 of The Seen and the Unseen. 18. 300 Ramayanas — AK Ramanujan. 19. Ramcharitmanas -- Tulsidas. 20. Savarkar and the Making of Hindutva -- Janaki Bakhle. 21. The Intellectual Foundations of Hindutva — Episode 115 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel). 22. Political Ideology in India — Episode 131 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rahul Verma). 23. Religion and Ideology in Indian Society — Episode 124 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Suyash Rai). 24. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul. 25. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 26. India After Gandhi -- Ramachandra Guha. 27. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life — Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 28. Aadha Gaon — Rahi Masoom Raza. 29. The Rooted Cosmopolitanism of Sugata Srinivasaraju — Episode 277 of The Seen and the Unseen. 30. Postcard from Kashmir -- Agha Shahid Ali. 31. The Veiled Suite: The Collected Poems -- Agha Shahid Ali. 32. You Can Always Get There From Here -- Mark Strand. 33. Collected Poems — Mark Strand. 34. Variants of chess on chess.com. 35. The Tamilian gentleman who took on the world — Amit Varma on Viswanathan Anand. 36. The New World Upon Us — Amit Varma on Alpha Zero. 37. The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. 38. The History of the Planning Commission -- Episode 306 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Menon). 39. The Life and Times of KP Krishnan -- Episode 355 of The Seen and the Unseen. 40. The Reformers -- Episode 28 of Everything is Everything. 41. Milton Friedman on Minimum Wage Laws. 42. Main Gautam Nahin Hoon -- Khalilur Rahman Azmi. 43. Lessons from Nirala’s ballad for our battle with covid -- Rohit Lamba. 44. Poker and Life -- Episode 38 of Everything is Everything. 45. Range Rover — The archives of Amit Varma’s column on poker for the Economic Times. 46. What is Populism? — Jan-Werner Müller. 47. The Populist Playbook -- Episode 42 of Everything is Everything. 48. The Tragedy of Our Farm Bills — Episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 49. Dynamism with Incommensurate Development: The Distinctive Indian Model -- Rohit Lamba and Arvind Subramanian. 50. List of Soviet and Russian leaders by height. 51. Narendra Modi takes a Great Leap Backwards — Amit Varma on Demonetisation. 52. Beware of the Useful Idiots — Amit Varma. 53. Number Theory. 54. Fermat's Last Theorem. 55. A Beautiful Mind -- Ron Howard. 56. The Life and Work of Ashwini Deshpande — Episode 298 of The Seen and the Unseen. 57. Dilip José Abreu: an elegant and creative economist -- Rohit Lamba. 58. The BJP Before Modi — Episode 202 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 59. The Forgotten Greatness of PV Narasimha Rao -- Episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 60. Ghummakkad Shastra -- Rahul Sankrityayan. 61. Jahnavi and the Cyclotron — Episode 319 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jahnavi Phalkey). 62. The Looking-Glass Self. 63. Jo Bhi Main -- Song from Rockstar with lyrics by Irshad Kamil. 64. Ranjit Hoskote is Dancing in Chains — Episode 363 of The Seen and the Unseen. 65. Politically correct, passive-aggressive: How Indians in the US struggle to decode corporate speak -- Anahita Mukherji. 66. Lincoln -- Steven Spielberg. 67. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen. 68. The Economics and Politics of Vaccines — Episode 223 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 69. In Service of the Republic — Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah. 70. The Semiconductor Wars — Episode 358 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane & Abhiram Manchi). 71. The Smile Curve. 72. Urban Governance in India — Episode 31 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 73. We Are Fighting Two Disasters: Covid-19 and the Indian State — Amit Varma. 74. The Child and the State in India -- Myron Weiner. 75. Where India Goes -- Diane Coffey and Deam Spears. 76. What's Wrong With Indian Agriculture? -- Episode 18 of Everything is Everything. 77. South India Would Like to Have a Word — Episode 320 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nilakantan RS). 78. South vs North: India’s Great Divide — Nilakantan RS. 79. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ashwin Mahesh: 1, 2, 3.  80. Maximum City -- Suketu Mehta. 81. Disgrace -- JM Coetzee. 82. Snow -- Pamuk. 83. Bahut Door, Kitna Door Hota Hai -- Manav Kaul. 84. Shakkar Ke Paanch Dane -- Manav Kaul.. 85. Poems: 1962–2020 -- Louise Glück. 86. Mahabharata.  87. राम की शक्ति-पूजा -- सूर्यकांत त्रिपाठी निराला. 88. Iqbal and Ahmad Faraz on Rekhta. 89. Ranjish Hi Sahi -- Ahmad Faraz. 90. Zindagi Se Yahi Gila Hai Mujhe -- Ahmad Faraz. 91. AR Rahman on Wikipedia and Spotify.   This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off.  Amit’s newsletter is explosively active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free!  Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube.  Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.  Episode art: ‘Pick a Tree' by Simahina.

Ep 378: Rohit Lamba Will Never Be Bezubaan

As a journalist, she always went deep. As an author, she has peeled off layers of Bengaluru -- and Indian society. Malini Goyal joins Amit Varma in episode 377 of The Seen and the Unseen to share her insights -- and the values that shape her work.  (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.)  Also check out: 1. Malini Goyal at Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Economic Times. 2. Unboxing Bengaluru: The City of New Beginnings -- Malini Goyal and Prashanth Prakash. 3. Unboxing Bengaluru -- The website. 4. After Hours With India Inc -- Malini Goyal's podcast. 5. Bindra's Wishlist (2005) -- Amit Varma. 6. Reforming Urban Governance -- Episode 48 of The Seen and the Unseen (w V Ravichandar). 7. The Life and Times of Ira Pande -- Episode 369 of The Seen and the Unseen. . 8. Malini Goyal's piece on Alang. 9. India's first social media election -- Malini Goyal. 10. Malini Goyal's four-part story on India's liberalisation children: 1, 2, 3, 4.  11. Malini Goyal's series on Hyderabad. 12. ‘Wet Streets Cause Rain’ — Michael Crichton explains Gell-Mann Amnesia. 13. Maruti 800 to Alto 800: A 30-year journey -- Malini Goyal. 14. Range Rover — The archives of Amit Varma’s column on poker for The Economic Times. 15. How large corporations go about picking CXO-level honchos -- Malini Goyal. 16. Women at Work — Episode 132 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Namita Bhandare). 17. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya). 18. Shaili Chopra and the Sisterhood -- Episode 325 of The Seen and the Unseen. 19. Israel, a startup oasis in the middle of a war zone -- Malini Goyal. 20. The Romantic Idiot -- Samarth Bansal. 21. The Reflections of Samarth Bansal — Episode 299 of The Seen and the Unseen. 22. Aella's tweet about the slutcloud. 23. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ashwin Mahesh: 1, 2, 3.  24. The Pursuit of Happyness -- Gabriele Muccino. 25. Personal History -- Katherine Graham. 26. Open: An Autobiography -- Andre Agassi. 27. Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography -- Walter Isaacson. 26. Einstein: His Life and Universe -- Walter Isaacson.. 27. Alice Munro, Kazuo Ishiguro and Roald Dahl on Amazon. 28. Thinking, Fast and Slow -- Daniel Kahneman.  Amit’s newsletter is explosively active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free!  Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube.  Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.  Episode art: ‘There is More Here’ by Simahina.

Ep 377: Malini Goyal is the Curious One

When he travels, he's a man of reflection. When he creates, he's a man of action. Utsav Mamoria joins Amit Varma in episode 376 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his philosophy towards travel, creating and living.  (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.)  Also check out 1. Utsav Mamoria on Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.  2. Postcards From Nowhere -- Utsav Mamoria's podcast. 3. The 6% Club.. 4. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on the creator ecosystem with Roshan Abbas, Varun Duggirala, Neelesh Misra, Snehal Pradhan, Chuck Gopal, Nishant Jain, Deepak Shenoy, Abhijit Bhaduri and Gaurav Chintamani.. 5. The Universe of Chuck Gopal -- Episode 258 of The Seen and the Unseen. 6. Getting Meta. -- Chuck Gopal's podcast. 7. The legendary Simblified.  8. Sabbaticalling -- Episode 85 of Simblified (w Utsav Mamoria). 9. The Untravel Show -- Abhishek.Vaid's YouTube show. 10. Chuck Gopal interviews Utsav Mamoria. 12. Horizon -- Barry Lopez. 13. Imaginary Cities -- Darran Anderson. 14. Invisible Cities -- Italo Calvino. 15. The Hiking Episode -- Episode 35 of Everything is Everything. 16. I Play to Play -- Amit Varma. 17. Unboxing Bengaluru -- Malini Goyal and Prashanth Prakash. 18. Lords of the Deccan -- Anirudh Kanisetti. 19. Anirudh Kanisetti's podcasts. 20. Are You Just One Version of Yourself? -- Amit Varma. 21. Don't Get Into a Box -- Amit Varma. 22. Shoveling Smoke -- William Mazzarella. 23. Swapna Liddle and the Many Shades of Delhi — Episode 367 of The Seen and the Unseen. 24. From Cairo to Delhi With Max Rodenbeck — Episode 281 of The Seen and the Unseen. 25. The Stanford Prison Experiment. 26. Imagined Communities — Benedict Anderson. 27. Indian Society: The Last 30 Years — Episode 137 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Santosh Desai). 28. Santosh Desai is Watching You — Episode 356 of The Seen and the Unseen. 29. Dhadak Dhadak -- Song from Bunty and Babli. 30. The Prem Panicker Files — Episode 217 of The Seen and the Unseen. 31. The Language of Food -- Dan Jurafsky. 32. Bihar Review -- Kumar Anand's twitter account on Bihar. 33. Interior design for 10 crore kids. 34. Amitava Kumar Finds His Kashmiri Rain -- Episode 364 of The Seen and the Unseen. 35. Amadeus -- Miloš Forman. 36. Arctic Dreams -- Barry Lopez. 37. The Art of Travel -- Alain De Botton. 38. The School of Life. 39. Robert Macfarlane and Pico Iyer on Amazon. 40. Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell. 41. Marginlands -- Arati Kumar-Rao. 42. Wanderers, Kings, Merchants: The Story of India through Its Languages — Peggy Mohan. 43. Understanding India Through Its Languages — Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan). 44. Tarana Husain Khan, Sadaf Hussain and Krish Ashok on Amazon. 45. The Language of Cities -- Deyan Sudjic. 46. Italo Calvino on Amazon. 47. When Breath Becomes Air -- Paul Kalanithi. 48. Coke Studio Pakistan. 49. Kabir, Kabir Cafe and Songs of Kabir. 50. The soundtracks of Qala, Udaan and Lootera.  51. Ud Jayega Hans Akela -- Kumar Gandharva. 52. Spotlight -- Tom McCarthy. 53. Grave of the Fireflies -- Isao Takahata. 54. My Neighbour Totoro -- Hayao Miyazaki. 55. Woman in the Dunes -- Hiroshi Teshigahara. 56. Departures -- Yōjirō Takita. 57. Abbas Kiarostami, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Majid Majidi, Tahmineh Milani and Yasujirō Ozu.  Amit’s newsletter is explosively active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free!  Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube.  Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.  Episode art: ‘Travel’ by Simahina.

Ep. 119: Modi's Lost Opportunity

Download our free app to listen on your phone