Past Imperfect Episode 26 features Dinyar Patel, Associate Professor of History at SPJIMR, in conversation with John Cassidy, staff writer at the New Yorker and the author of Capitalism and Its Critics: A Battle of Ideas in the Modern World.

Although the term “capitalism” only dates from the 1830s, people have been analyzing it—and, quite often, condemning it—for over 250 years. Capitalism and Its Critics provides a sweeping account of over thirty major economic thinkers. These range from well-known names like Adam Smith and Karl Marx to lesser-known—but equally important—figures like Silvia Federici, who demanded wages for housework, and Eric Williams, who laid bare the formative role of slavery in capitalism. Flagrant inequality has been a rallying cry of these critics, but so has empire and imperialism. From eighteenth-century critiques of the East India Company to twenty-first century assaults on American hegemony, we can observe some remarkably consistent arguments about how capitalism has been immoral, inequitable, and exploitative but also remarkably resilient.

Past Imperfect Episode 25 features Dinyar Patel, Associate Professor of History at SPJIMR, in conversation with Avrati Bhatnagar, Instructor in the Department of History and International Comparative Studies Program at Duke University, and Sumathi Ramaswamy, James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of History at Duke University. Bhatnagar and Ramaswamy are the editors of Photographing Civil Disobedience: Bombay 1930-1931.

Photographing Civil Disobedience captures Bombay in a moment of upheaval, convulsed by the Civil Disobedience Movement. Based on an album of photographs recently discovered at the Alkazi Collection in Delhi, the volume provides a new perspective on Bombay and Indian nationalism, demonstrating the power of female political participation. Bhatnagar and Ramaswamy show us how, in the months after Mahatma Gandhi’s famous Salt March, the women of Bombay led, directed, and dominated key acts of anticolonial protest. Photographs, they remark, can tell us a very different version of history from what we derive from written records.

Past Imperfect Episode 24 features Dinyar Patel, Associate Professor of History at SPJIMR, in conversation with Sam Dalrymple, author of Shattered Lands: Five Partitions and the Making of Modern Asia.

The Partition of 1947 was not carried out in isolation. Dalrymple’s Shattered Lands reconstructs a longer and much more complex story: how the British Indian Empire, which once stretched from modern-day Yemen to Myanmar, was sundered through five distinct and traumatic separations. Between 1937 and 1971, twelve nation-states emerged from the rubble of empire—yet their creations were not inevitable. Shattered Lands is a story of cosmopolitan connections, opposition to partitions, and several missed opportunities which could have changed the course of South Asia’s very violent twentieth century.

WISE Tech Insights Episode 9: The unicorn paradox: Why Indian agritech requires integration, not disruption

WISE Tech insights episode 8: Fintech: Beyond the unicorns, the untold story

Past Imperfect Episode 23 features Dinyar Patel, Associate Professor of History at SPJIMR, in conversation with Padraic X. Scanlan, Assistant Professor at the Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources at the University of Toronto and the author of Rot: A History of the Irish Famine.

Between 1845 and 1851, a famine of unimaginable proportions ravaged Ireland. At least a million people died and at least a million more Irish emigrated. The Great Famine, Scanlan argues, was a product of both colonialism and global capitalism. A rigid adherence to free market principles utterly blinded British policymakers about relief efforts. Stunningly, as Ireland starved, the country continued to export agricultural goods. Relief operations even discouraged Irish from growing their own food, lest such food interfere with market forces. Scanlan’s narrative of the Great Famine reminds us that this was a thoroughly modern event: one that was repeated in other parts of the British Empire, including in India.

WISE Tech Insights episode 06: AI in Cancer detection — Promise of a Revolution? by SPJIMR Podcast

WISE Tech Insights episode 05: India's next digital leap: From Public Infrastructure to public Intelligence by SPJIMR Podcast

WISE Tech Insights episode 04: The green dilemma why we don't buy what we believe In by SPJIMR Podcast

Fast on fashion, slow on responsibility?

From Zara’s weekly drops to Shein’s 6,000 designs a day, fast fashion has redefined style and access. But behind the bargains and trends lies a pressing question:

What’s the true cost of cheap, rapid fashion — on the planet, on workers, and on society?

In this latest edition of WISE Tech Insights, we explore:

🌍 The environmental toll — CO₂, water, and microplastics

🧵 The human cost — low wages, unsafe conditions, exploitation

♻️ The greenwashing dilemma — intent vs. business model conflict

🇮🇳 The rise of Indian pioneers like @Doodlage, @NoNasties, @Upcycleluxe, @KaSha, and @Cottonworld leading the way on sustainable fashion

💡 The question we leave you with:

Can fast fashion ever be truly sustainable, or is conscious consumerism our only way forward?