Podcasts by The Pragati Podcast
Take a step back from noisy political debates and tune in to rich conversations on India and the world. The Pragati Podcast is a weekly talkshow on public policy, economics and international relations. Science-geek-turned-policy-wonk Pavan Srinath talks to scholars and experts on everything from India's unique genetics to why China isn't really trying to take over the world. New episodes out every Thursday. The Pragati Podcast is the titular podcast of the online magazine Pragati, and has a lot more brain fodder at www.thinkpragati.com.
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Ep. 157: The Science and Magic of Indian Food with Krish Ashok from 2021-01-28T00:35:14
Krish Ashok and Pavan Srinath explore the science, knowledge, and the wonder of Indian home cooking, on Episode 157 of The Pragati Podcast.
Krish Ashok (@krishashok on Twitter) reimagines ...
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Ep. 156: How Does a Bill Become a Law? from 2020-12-10T00:35:07
Kaushiki Sanyal explains how bills become laws in India, on Episode 156 of The Pragati Podcast.
Kaushiki Sanyal and host Pavan Srinath discuss how legislative agendas are decided, and the...
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Ep. 155: The Nobel Pursuit of Science from 2020-11-12T00:35:21
Professor Gautam Menon talks to host Pavan Srinath about the Nobel Prize, what they mean for scientists, and how they shape science.
In episode 155 of The Pragati Podcast, Gautam and Pavan...
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Ep. 154: The Role of an RBI Deputy Governor from 2020-11-05T00:35:19
Economist Viral Acharya talks to host Pavan Srinath about his tenure as the Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India.
This is the second of two episodes on The Pragati Podcast with Vir...
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Ep. 153: Fixing NPAs in Indian Banks from 2020-10-29T00:35:14
Former RBI Deputy Governor Viral Acharya talks to host Pavan Srinath about understanding and fixing India's persistent Bank NPA problem.
This is the first of two episodes on The Pragati Po...
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Ep. 152: The Safety of a Good Pension from 2020-10-22T00:35:08
Whether in 1980 or in 2020, the idea of a good, assured pension is an incentive like few others. Economist Renuka Sane talks to host Pavan Srinath on Episode 152 of The Pragati Podcast on pensio...
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Ep. 151: Questioning Tradition from 2020-10-08T00:35:07
AP Ashwin Kumar returns to The Pragati Podcast to discuss traditions, how to understand them better, and confronts the challenges of reform.
The Pragati Podcast is a weekly talk show on pu...
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Ep. 150: What's Happening in China? from 2020-10-01T00:35:15
Foreign policy wonk and podcaster Hamsini Hariharan returns to Episode 150 of The Pragati Podcast to discuss China's internal issues and news in 2020.
While Indian news outlets cover the o...
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Ep. 149: Creating Social Infrastructure for Our Cities from 2020-08-27T00:35:09
V Ravichandar returns to The Pragati Podcast to talk about the dire need to create more public spaces and social infrastructure in Indian cities. He talks to host Pavan Srinath on Episode 149 ab...
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Ep. 148: The Unfinished Journey of Women's Property Rights from 2020-08-21T00:35:07
Shipra Deo and Devendra Damle talk to host Pavan Srinath about the long struggle for women to secure property rights and land ownership in India. On Episode 148 of The Pragati Podcast, they disc...
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Ep. 147: Eye Care in India from 2020-07-30T00:35:11
Dr. Gullapalli N Rao, Founder of the LV Prasad Eye Institute in Hyderabad, talks about human vision, eye health, and the transformation of eye care in India on Episode 147 of The Pragati Podcast...
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Ep. 146: Police reforms in India and Beyond from 2020-07-24T00:35:04
Ameya Naik and host Pavan Srinath discuss long-overdue police reforms and provide a primer on how to reimagine policing in India in the 21st century, on The Pragati Podcast.
Ameya and Pava...
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Ep. 145: Science: From Publishing to Communication from 2020-07-16T00:35:01
Neuroscientist and Science Communicator Shruti Muralidhar is on Episode 145 of The Pragati Podcast to talk about the challenges of science publishing and science communication in 2020. Shruti al...
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Ep. 144: IN-SPACe and Space Reforms in India from 2020-07-08T06:35:01
Space Law scholar Dr Ranjana Kaul and space entrepreneur Narayan Prasad discuss space reforms and the recent Indian IN-SPACe announcement with host Pavan Srinath on Episode 144 of The Pragati Po...
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Ep. 143: Bringing Podcast Tech to the 2020s from 2020-07-01T00:35:01
Podcasts are a modern, new medium for most of us in India, but is the underlying technology stuck in the 2000s? Can we reimagine podcasts as a potentially more interactive medium in 2020? Kartik...
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Ep. 142: India's Land and Reforms in 2020 from 2020-06-24T00:35:02
What land reforms does India need in 2020? How can we think about property rights, and a complicated legislative history and ground reality in India?
Shekhar Shah and Pranab Ranjan Choudhu...
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Ep. 83: (Rebroadcast) Voicing India from 2020-06-17T00:35:07
Podcasts are all about voices and conversations, but how did India's own voice-over industry evolve? This is a rebroadcast of Episode 83 of Pragati Podcast, where pioneering voice artists Shammi...
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Ep. 141: A 21st Century Justice Platform for India from 2020-06-10T11:19:12
Leah Verghese and Surya Prakash from Daksh India talk to host Pavan Srinath about how a 21st-century justice platform can transform access to justice for Indians.
In 2020, it is impossible...
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Ep. 140: The Environment in India's Law&Courts from 2020-06-05T00:35:03
Can India's courts protect the country's environment? The Pragati Podcast revisits the topic on World Environment Day 2020 with returning guest and Supreme Court Lawyer Ninad Laud.
Ninad w...
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Ep. 139: Palliative care: Treating the Person, Not the Disease from 2020-06-01T11:08:47
Dr. M.R. Rajagopal of Pallium India talks to host Pavan Srinath about Palliative care, what it means and how we can ease suffering and pain across India, on Episode 139 of The Pragati Podcast. Listen
Ep. 138. Building Online News Media in India from 2020-05-20T00:35:05
India's news houses are in crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic, the lockdown, the dwindling circulation of print newspapers, and the loss of advertising revenue have all created a perfect storm for an...
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Ep. 137: Vaccines and Immunity against COVID-19 (BIC Talks) from 2020-05-13T00:35:05
Nearly a hundred vaccine candidates are being developed across the world. Award-winning medical scientist, Dr Gagandeep Kang talks to host Pavan Srinath about the development of vaccines, ongoin...
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Best Of Last Week from 2020-05-13T00:35:05
Nearly a hundred vaccine candidates are being developed across the world. Award-winning medical scientist, Dr Gagandeep Kang talks to host Pavan Srinath about the development of vaccines, ongoin...
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Ep. 136: The SARS-COV-2 Virus: Mutations & Evolution from 2020-05-08T07:07:14
The SARS-COV-2 virus started infecting humans in Wuhan in late 2019. How has the virus mutated and evolved so far? With 1-2 mutations occurring per month, researchers are now seeing a clade or a...
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Ep. 135: A Mission Mode Health Response to COVID-19? from 2020-04-15T00:35:05
Can India's health and healthcare systems ramp up on mission mode to respond effectively to the COVID-19 pandemic? What should we know about India's messy public and private healthcare systems b...
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Ep. 134: Tackling COVID-19 during India's Lockdown from 2020-04-01T00:35:04
How can India make the most of the nation-wide lockdown to contain the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic? How can India rapidly ramp up testing and diagnostics? How can India's governments, privat...
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Ep. 133: Modeling the Spread of Epidemics from 2020-03-25T11:41:32
How are infectious diseases and pandemics modeled? How can we model and estimate the spread of Influenza or Coronavirus Disease 2019? And most importantly, how can disease modeling help us desig...
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Ep. 132: Managing the COVID-19 Epidemic in India from 2020-03-19T08:12:03
Close to 200,000 people across 160 countries have been affected by COVID-19 or Coronavirus Disease 2019, and this has happened in just about three months. As of March 18, 2020, India has confirm...
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Covid 19 Conversations from 2020-03-19T08:12:03
Close to 200,000 people across 160 countries have been affected by COVID-19 or Coronavirus Disease 2019, and this has happened in just about three months. As of March 18, 2020, India has confirm...
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Ep. 131. The Supreme Court in 2020 from 2020-03-11T15:34:19
Two years ago, four senior judges of the Supreme Court of India held an unprecedented press conference to tell the public that there was an ongoing crisis in the Supreme Court of India. Since th...
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(Rebroadcast) Ep. 37: Why is Talk Radio Missing in India? from 2020-03-04T00:35:05
This is a rebroadcast of Episode 37 of The Pragati Podcast, first released on March 29, 2018. Brand new episodes of The Pragati Podcast will return from next week.
Is it illegal to do the ...
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Rebroadcast Ep. 90: Not Just A Civil Servant from 2020-02-26T00:35:07
We hear about the all-powerful District Collector or Deputy Commissioner in every district in India, but what do they really do? How was the Government of India's first successful health insuran...
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Ep. 130: AI, Learning and Intelligence from 2020-02-19T06:58:48
What is intelligence? How do we learn what we learn? How are we aware of the world around us and ourselves? It is impossible to think about building an artificial intelligence or getting machine...
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Ep. 129: The Science of Economics from 2020-02-12T00:35:06
The science of economics can often be misunderstood. Economics as a discipline is riddled with paradoxes. We often want economics to be able to predict the next crisis, while dismissing sound ec...
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Ep. 128: Getting Back to Economic Growth from 2020-02-05T00:35:07
India's economic growth dips below 5% per annum again, less than a decade after the previous economic crisis. Is 5% growth for a country like India all b...
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Ep. 127: The Rich History of Banking in India from 2020-01-30T08:50:36
Is India's banking crisis the first of its kind in the country? How did banks flourish and fail a hundred years ago, and what can we learn from them?
Amol Agarwal gives us a magesterial to...
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Ep. 126: US-China Trade Wars: What Next? from 2020-01-22T00:35:09
On January 15, 2020, the United States of America and the People's Republic of China and Xi Jinping signed the "Phase One Trade Deal" after more than a year of protracted negotiations.
On ...
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Ep. 99: (Rebroadcast) Questioning Nationalism from 2020-01-15T00:35:07
The world today is broadly organised into sovereign nation states, and we all believe that the Indian Nation exists and is thriving. But what is nationalism, at its core? How did nationalism rea...
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Ep. 125: Learning From The Assam NRC from 2020-01-08T00:30
A nation-wide NRC is an unknown beast of unknown dimensions. Real world examples of the NRC come from Assam, where close to 19 lakh residents of the state were left out of the NRC lis...
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Ep. 124: Nuclear War, Deterrence and Peace. from 2019-12-25T00:30
Nuclear war feels unthinkable, but how much peace does nuclear deterrence guarantee? Do nuclear programmes truly deter or compel adversaries in the real world? And can we imagine a wo...
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Ep. 123: Growing Up In Patriarchal India from 2019-12-18T00:30
The Republic of India is often a Republic of men. While men and women nationally enjoy the same rights, we are yet to solve many of the social failures from decades ago. Child marriag...
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Ep. 122: The Adolescents of India from 2019-12-11T00:30
India has made strides in improving the health, well-being and lives of infants and expecting mothers over the last several decades. But once children enter school and enter adolescen...
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Ep. 121: Improving India's State Capacity from 2019-12-04T00:30
The Indian State has incredible ambition, but often falls very short of meeting grand outcomes. The mismatch is linked to State Capacity, a nebulous concept at the best of times. Prak...
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Ep.120: Pakistan in 2019 from 2019-11-27T00:30
What has been happening in Pakistan after Imran Khan became the Prime Minister? Why do some people want General Qamar Javed Bajwa's tenure as the army chief to come to an end? Dr Chri...
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Ep. 119: Refugees in the 21st Century from 2019-11-20T00:30
About 1% of the world's population today are refugees, internally displaced or stateless. They live difficult, dangerous lives, have few protections and often no voice. Meanwhile, glo...
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Ep. 118: Security in the Kashmir Valley. from 2019-11-13T00:30
The State of Jammu & Kashmir as we know it has changed permanently in 2019. With the end of J&K's special status and the restructuring of the state into two union territories under gr...
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Ep. 117: The Future of Indian States from 2019-11-01T00:30
The States Reorganisation Act came into effect 63 years ago to this day, on November 1, 1956. India's states as we know them started taking their shape then. Many states like Karnatak...
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Ep. 62: (Rebroadcast) Syria and the Ugliness of Modern Warfare from 2019-10-30T00:30
The Syrian Civil War has been raging since 2011, and crimes against humanity are being committed even in 2019. How did a peaceful protest turn into a multi-sided war that has killed h...
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Ep. 116: Drug Discovery for India from 2019-10-23T07:18:19
How is a new drug discovered or invented? What does it take for medicine to go from a small idea in a research lab all the way to your local pharmacy? How can we develop new medicines...
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Ep. 115: Engineering Interplanetary Missions from 2019-10-09T11:22:01
Ep. 114: A Bottom-Up Look at India's Judiciary from 2019-10-02T00:30
India's judicial system operates at three levels: the Supreme Court at the national level, High Courts at the state level, and city or district level courts at the local level. A lot ...
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Ep. 113: The Platform Economy from 2019-09-25T00:30
The Industrial Revolution led to the creation of firms. The Information Revolution has led to the creation of platforms. Amazon and Flipkart, Ola and Uber, Google and Apple -- are all...
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Ep. 61: (Rebroadcast) The Many Indian Genomes from 2019-09-18T00:30
Genome sequencing and mapping is unearthing new knowledge about the origin of humans and human civilisation. More than that, genome analysis is also yielding new insights about human ...
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Ep. 112: The 2019 Hong Kong Protests from 2019-09-11T00:30
Hong Kong has seen protests since March 2019, triggered by newly proposed legislation that allows Hong Kong citizens to be extradited to China or Taiwan. This is the latest round in a...
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Ep. 111: India's Mental Health Challenge from 2019-09-04T00:30
Mental health is not a first world concern, but very much an Indian challenge. Social taboos have prevented Indians from confronting mental illnesses head on and now it's estimated th...
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Ep. 110: Putting Stock in the Market from 2019-08-28T00:30
What is happening in India's stock markets right now? How do the stock markets interact with the real Indian economy? Deepak Shenoy is on Episode 110 of The Pragati Podcast to help us...
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Ep. 109: Cybersecurity: From Company to Country from 2019-08-21T00:30
Companies around the world have been learning how to manage the safety and security of their digital assets. Can the cybersecurity logic of a private corporation be expanded to that of a nation ...
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Ep. 108: Unlocking Medical Education in India from 2019-08-15T00:30
India has fraction of the doctors and medical professionals it needs, even as healthcare is increasingly becoming a politically important issue. In this context, the Government of India recently...
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Ep. 107: Regulating DNA Tech from 2019-08-08T00:30
DNA samples can today be used for creating a unique fingerprint or ID, for diagnosing cancer and heritable diseases, for telling you your ancestry or even paternity. The cost of sequencing the f...
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Ep. 106: The State of Higher Education from 2019-08-01T00:30
Can India's higher education system thrive when the teaching profession has lost most of its status in society? What is necessary for India to educate millions of its citizens who turn college-g...
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Ep. 105: The Anti Defection Law from 2019-07-25T00:30
How has India's anti-defection law undermined democracy in the country? How do we tackle endless horse-trading of elected representatives in India? The Anti-Defection Law stifles intra-party dem...
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Ep. 104: Addictive Dollar Bonds from 2019-07-18T05:39:44
The Government of India has announced that it will start issuing Overseas Sovereign Bonds, thereby allowing the government to borrow in dollars from foreign lenders. With falling savings rates i...
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Ep. 103: The United Nations Explained from 2019-07-11T06:21:52
India was one of the founding members of the United Nations, but as a colony of the British Empire. Almost 75 years later, the UN has shaped international relations as we know it. The UN has pla...
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Ep. 102: Fiscal Federalism in India from 2019-07-04T00:30
India is a Union of States, and Indian Republic's federal nature has been hardcoded into the Constitution. While political federalism is important, control over the purse strings often makes or ...
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Ep. 101: Protecting the Commons from 2019-06-27T00:30
Air pollution in our cities, vanishing groundwater, disappearing lakes and global climate change. What is common to all of them is that they suffer from the tragedy of the commons. Lingaraj Jaya...
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Ep. 100: A Long Strange Trip in Public Policy from 2019-06-21T00:30
On the 100th episode of The Pragati Podcast, the tables have been turned. Host Pavan Srinath occupies the guest seat today, with Winona Laisram talking to him about his last decade of working in...
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Ep. 99: Questioning Nationalism from 2019-06-13T00:30
The world today is broadly organised into sovereign nation states, and we all believe that the Indian Nation exists and is thriving. But what is nationalism, at its core? How did nationalism rea...
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Ep. 98: Where is the Brexit? from 2019-06-06T00:30
51.9 per cent of the people of Great Britain voted to leave the European Union in 2016. A country divided, Brexit is still in the works three years later and it has cost them two Prime Ministers...
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Ep. 97: The Agenda for NDA 3.0 from 2019-05-30T00:30
The Narendra Modi-led NDA has won an unprecedented mandate for a second term in office. With a new cabinet being sworn in and 100 day plans being drawn up, what should be the top priorities of t...
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Ep. 76: (Rebroadcast): India's Successes and Failures from 2019-05-23T00:30
It's Election week in India, and as we wait to see who will form the next union government and who will become our prime minister, it's a great time to listen to the words of Dr Jayaprakash Nara...
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Ep. 96: Afghanistan: A Republic in Peril from 2019-05-16T00:30
Afghanistan was all set to go to elections this summer, but Afghanistan, its State and its people are all in peril. The Taliban are now on the negotiating table with global powers, often without...
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Ep. 95: Working with Government from 2019-05-09T00:30
Bangalore has at least a 20 year legacy of private citizens working with city and state governments in a variety of ways. V Ravichandar symbolises that, as over the last 19 years he has worked w...
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Ep. 69: (Rebroadcast): Why do We Elect Criminals? from 2019-05-02T00:30
This is a rebroadcast of Episode 69 of The Pragati Podcast with Pavan Srinath.
Ep. 94: Freedom on the Internet from 2019-04-25T00:30
Internet access is an essential part of many of our lives. And in 2019, there are more than 500 million broadband internet connections in the country. While celebrating this success, we also nee...
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Ep. 93: Markets in Space from 2019-04-18T00:30
Space exploration was unthinkable for anyone except the US and USSR in the early 1960s. Today, students and startups can launch satellites. Narayan Prasad joins us on this episode of The Pragati...
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Ep. 92: Public Choice, Voting and Governance from 2019-04-11T00:30
Is it rational to vote? Is it rational for us to think about government as a benign entity? Amit Varma is back on Episode 92 of The Pragati Podcast to talk about public choice theory and how it ...
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Ep. 91: Meet an Astronaut from 2019-04-04T00:30
Do astronauts grow up dreaming of going to space? What makes human spaceflight special? Listen to astronaut and former head of NASA Charlie Bolden on Episode 91 of the Pragati Podcast.
Th...
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Ep. 90: Not Just A Civil Servant from 2019-03-28T00:30
We hear about the all-powerful District Collector or Deputy Commissioner in every district in India, but what do they really do? How was the Government of India's first successful health insuran...
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Ep. 89: Science Journalism in India from 2019-03-21T00:30
Great science needs great journalism, and that's in short supply in India. Nandita Jayaraj and Vasudevan Mukunth talk about science journalism on Episode 89 of The Pragati Podcast.
The Pr...
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Ep. 88: India's Telecom Revolution from 2019-03-14T00:30
As we enter 2019, Indians have close to 1.2 billion phone connections, and close to half a billion smartphones with 3G and 4G connections. India got here by leap-frogging over wired telephones t...
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Ep. 87: The Growth of Indian E-Commerce from 2019-03-07T00:30
How did E-Commerce grow from next to nothing in India a decade ago to a $50 Billion industry today? Is Indian e-commerce business little more than a clone of e-commerce in the United States or e...
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Ep. 86: Afghanistan before 9/11 from 2019-02-28T00:30
2019 is an important year for Afghanistan, with national elections scheduled for July. At the same time, the people and the State of Afghanistan continues to face grave threats to their national...
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Ep. 85: India's Strategic Culture from 2019-02-21T00:30
Does India have a strategic culture? Does India display strategic thought and action on global affairs? There is wide-spread skepticism about India having any grand strategy, but are people mist...
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Ep. 84: From Academia to Entrepreneurship from 2019-02-14T00:30
How can great academic research lead to building a great tech company? Listen to Vijay Chandru talk...
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Ep. 83: Voicing India from 2019-02-07T00:30
Podcasts are all about voices and conversations, but how did India's own voice-over industry evolve? On Episode 83 of Pragati Podcast, Listen
Ep. 82: Connectivity Raises All Boats from 2019-01-31T00:30
Why is China investing in belts and roads, building infrastructure from the Balkans to Sri Lanka? Why is India building roads in Afghanistan or wants to build train lines connecting India's Nort...
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Ep. 81: The Parliament and the Republic from 2019-01-26T00:30
Sixty nine years ago, Indians established a radical new government that put the individual at the centre of all governance. Republic Day celebrates the Constitution of India, where we not only s...
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Ep. 80: Being a Foreign Policy Journalist in India from 2019-01-24T00:30
How do you report on India's complex neighbourhood as a journalist in Delhi? Devirupa Mitra of The Wi...
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Ep. 79: Corporate-Government Relations in India. from 2019-01-17T00:30
How should we think of the relationship between governments and businesses? Can the private sector engage with governments in a way that doesn't involve corruption, cronyism and more? Is 'Lobbyi...
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Ep. 78: The US-China War for Technology from 2019-01-10T01:00
The US-China Trade War goes well beyond tariffs on steel. Tariffs might just be a current battle, but the real conflict between China and the United States could be on tec...
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Ep. 77: The US-China Tariff Battle from 2019-01-10T00:30
A Trade War between the United States and China has dominated headlines and discussions across the world in 2018. Is this really a war? Is it a battle? Do all such metapho...
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Ep. 76: India's Successes and Failures from 2019-01-03T00:30
How should we think about India as a republic and as a democracy? What has India succeeded in doing, and where do we still have a long way to go?
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Ep. 75: True Financial Inclusion from 2018-12-27T00:30
How is India doing on increasing access to finance for all its citizens? When we talk about microfinance, are we actually talking about only loans?
Ep. 74: Why Should Indians Care About Distant ISIS? from 2018-12-20T00:30
The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, ISIS, is rapidly losing territory and seems to be collapsing. Can this collapsing Islamic State pose new challenges to India and its n...
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Ep. 73: Can the Courts Protect India's Environment? from 2018-12-13T00:30
How well have Public Interest Litigations and the National Green Tribunal served the cause of upholding environmental concerns in India? Is it really Environment versus Development, as most deba...
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Ep. 72: India Putting the Jumbo in Shrimp from 2018-12-06T00:30
India is one of the largest producers of frozen shrimp in the world, and may take the top spot from China in 2018 or 2019. Industrialist and shrimp exporter Aditya Dash talks to Pavan Srinath an...
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Ep. 71: 10 Years Later: The 26/11 Mumbai Attacks from 2018-11-29T00:30
It has been 10 years since the 2008 Terrorist Attacks on Mumbai. Ten terrorists from the Lashkar-e-Taiba killed over 174 people in South Mumbai, and committed the one of the worst acts of terror...
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Ep. 70: Behind the Scenes of a Hostage Rescue Mission from 2018-11-22T00:30
What was it like to rescue Indian hostages from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan almost 20 years ago? Retired R&AW officer Anand Arni takes us behind the scenes of the hijac...
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Ep. 45: (Rebroadcast) The Magic Number to Elections from 2018-11-15T00:30
It's election season in India again, and everybody wants to know who will win! Listen to this rebroadcast of Episode 45 of the Pragati Podcast to learn about how opinion p...
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Ep. 69: Why Do We Elect Criminals? from 2018-11-08T00:30
Why do we vote criminals and corrupt politicians into power? Can politicians really buy the votes of Indians? Does good governance translate into electoral victories?
... Listen
Ep. 68: Being a Foreign Correspondent in India from 2018-11-01T00:30
How do you report on India for a global audience? What do you choose to write about? And how should we understand cronyism in Indian policy-making?
Author and journalist James Crabtree jo...
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Ep. 67: No, China Isn't Taking Over the World from 2018-10-25T00:30
Does China really have a grand strategy to take over the world? Is Chinese media nothing more than a mouthpiece of the Chinese government? And has China side-stepped an ov...
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Ep. 66: Myths about China from 2018-10-18T00:30
Most Indians know more about USA and Europe than our northern neighbour China. This two-part series on The Pragati Podcast will bust myths about China and the Chinese gove...
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Ep. 65: Journalism, South India Style from 2018-10-11T00:30
How do you do good journalism online? How do you keep opinion and reportage separate? How do you report live on active humanitarian disasters like the Kerala Floods of 201...
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Ep. 64: The Aadhaar Judgements Explained from 2018-10-04T06:06:56
Rahul Matthan and Listen
Ep. 63: Modern Cuisine meets 19th Century Governance from 2018-09-27T00:30
There are restaurants at every corner in a city like Bangalore, but they are never easy to run. Governments make the lives of restaurateurs more difficult in a million way...
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Ep. 62: Syria and the Ugliness of Modern Warfare from 2018-09-20T00:30
The Syrian Civil War has been raging since 2011. Now the war is entering a new and perhaps final phase. How did a peaceful protest turn into a multi-sided war that has kil...
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Ep. 61: The Many Indian Genomes from 2018-09-13T00:30
It is time to talk about the many Indian Genomes, and the great genetic diversity of Indians, 28 years after the Human Genome Project was launched.
Dr Kumarasamy Thangaraj joins Pavan Sri...
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Ep. 60: The Indian Rupee in a Turkish Bath from 2018-09-06T00:30
How do actions by President Erdoğan in Turkey affect the Indian rupee? What is the emerging market crisis that business channels keep talking about? How does changing geopolitics in the Middle E...
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Ep. 59: Trump's New Washington DC from 2018-08-30T00:30
It's been almost two years since Donald Trump was elected the President of the United States of America. What has happened to the Washington DC ecosystem s...
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Ep. 58: A Thin Svaraj from 2018-08-23T00:30
If Swaraj is your birthright, do you have it? What does Swaraj even mean? Do we have different concepts of self-rule? And how do we even spell the word -- ...
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Ep. 57: Let My Nation Awake from 2018-08-15T07:30
What does nationalism mean? How far has India come since 1947? What about the Indian nation gives you hope and despair?
On this Independence Day Special of The Pragati Podcast, Nitin Pai ...
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Ep. 56: A Brave New World Order from 2018-08-09T00:30
Everyone from Henry Kissinger and Donald Trump to Solomon Lane in the new Mission Impossible(Listen
Ep. 55: I'm not a Data Subject, but a Data Principal! from 2018-08-03T00:30
The Government of India is trying to create the first ever law to protect your personal data and information. The Justice Srikrishna Committee has come out with a draft Personal Data Protection ...
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Ep. 54: Privacy for 21st Century India from 2018-07-31T01:00
Did Pakistan get a privacy law before India? What's a data protection law, and how is that different from a privacy law?
Rahul Matthan(Listen
Ep. 53: Privacy 1.0 to 3.0 from 2018-07-31T00:30
Did walls create privacy, and is the internet going to destroy it? Is Privacy a western idea, being imported to India?
Rahul Matthan (Listen
Ep. 52: A Tale of Two Nukes: North Korea (Part 2) from 2018-07-26T00:30
If Donald Trump wants to denuclearise the Korean peninsula, how come he met with 'Little Rocket Man' In June? Why does it seem like the world has forgotten the nuclear non-proliferation treaty?<...
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Ep. 51: A Tale of Two Nukes: Iran (Part 1) from 2018-07-19T00:30
Why did Trump sign a nuclear deal with North Korea, while bailing out of a deal with Iran? Is it just Trump being Trump? Or is there more to the story?
In Episode 51 of the Pragati Podcast...
Ep. 50: Eminence Before Institution from 2018-07-12T00:30
Jio Institute. Eminence tags for only IITs Bombay and Delhi, not Chennai and Kanpur. Elections in Pakistan, after Nawaz Sharif failed to become the first ever Prime Minister to have served a ful...
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Ep. 49: The Rightness of Rights from 2018-07-05T00:30
Is a negative right a positive idea? Why is a Right to Education problematic, but a Right to Information perfectly alright? In Episode 49 of the Pragati Podcast, Yazad Jal joins hosts Hamsini Ha...
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Ep. 24: (Rebroadcast) Editing Our Genes from 2018-06-27T16:51:48
What does it mean to edit someone's genes? Is Malaria in its last days? What is CRISPR, if not a startup that makes chips?
Shambhavi Naik (Listen
Ep. 48: 20 Million Jobs from 2018-06-21T00:30
Does India really need to create 20 million jobs a year? How well are we doing now?
In Episode 48 of The Pragati Podcast, economist Anupam Manur(Listen
Ep. 47: My Rupee, My Pride from 2018-06-15T17:26:43
The Rupee tumbles to 68 against the US dollar. Will the dollar breach the 70-rupee mark this year? Does a weak rupee mean a weak economy?
In this episode of the Pragati Podcast, Economist...
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Ep. 46: You're Scaring the Nipah Out of Me! from 2018-06-07T00:30
What is the story behind the Nipah virus that has claimed 16 lives in Kerala? Where did it come from? How can we prevent it? Dr Shambhavi Naik joins hosts Pavan Srinath and Hamsini Hariharan to ...
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Ep. 32: Rebroadcast : Should We Pay for the Kaveri? from 2018-05-31T00:30
Is Bangalore going to run out of water in a couple of years? How should Tamil Nadu and Karnatake share the Kaveri? Should we start paying for water? In episode 32 of the Pragati Podcast, Nitin P...
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Ep. 45: The Magic Number to Elections from 2018-05-24T00:30
What is the answer to the ultimate question of politics, elections and voting? Karthik Shashidhar joins hosts Hamsini Hariharan and Pavan Srinath to discuss election polling, what works and what...
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Ep. 44: The Art of the Deal from 2018-05-17T00:30
Walmart buys Flipkart. Trump backs out of the Iran Nuke deal. Trump bats for a North Korea Nuke Deal.
Hosts Hamsini Hariharan and Pavan Srinath round up the news from India and around the...
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Ep. 43: The Rockets' Red Glare from 2018-05-10T06:04:01
What connects the American national anthem with battles fought in Mysore? Did Mysore have a secret weapon on its side against the British? What was military innovation like in South India on the...
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Ep. 42: Sovereignty: From the Cholas to Wakanda from 2018-05-03T00:30
What does it mean when India is considered a Sovereign Republic? How do refugee crises like the Rohingya crisis affect sovereignty? And what can Wakanda and Black Panther teach us about it?
... Listen
Ep. 41: India-US Bhai Bhai from 2018-04-26T00:30
Have we finally arrived on the global stage? How should the United States change the way it approaches India? What are the gaps in the Indo-US relationship?
In Episode 41, Alyssa Ayres jo...
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Ep. 40: A Six-Trillion-Dollar Goal from 2018-04-19T00:30
What does the Indian economy look like, in 2018? Does India have the institutions to manage a $6 Trillion economy in a few years? How have we done on continuing to reform governance in the count...
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Ep. 39: Of Jesters and Stand-Up Comics from 2018-04-12T00:30
Are comedians doing the job of journalists? Can the wrong joke land you in jail in India? And can the right joke change the nation's politics?
In Episode 39 of the Pragati podcast, the ve...
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Ep. 38: A Hundred Billion Dollar Hole from 2018-04-05T00:30
Why are Indian banks in so much trouble? Why have so many of their loans gone bad? How can the Government of India plug a $100B hole in the banking sector?
In Episode 38 of the Pragati po...
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Ep. 37: Why is Talk Radio missing in India? from 2018-03-29T00:30
Is it illegal to do the Pragati podcast on radio? Why do large Indian cities have so few FM stations, and why do they all sound the same?
In Episode 37 of the Pragati Podcast, Ami...
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Ep. 36: The Kangaroo-Dragon Affair from 2018-03-22T00:30
Ties between Australia and China are coming under strain because of worries about political funding, Chinese students, and ample amounts of rhetoric. In Episode 36 of The Pragati Podcast, Dr Ric...
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Ep. 35: Biohackers and Protesting Farmers from 2018-03-15T00:30
Why were farmers marching on Mumbai? Can China become the hub of medical tourism for the next generation of treatments? Are there new dangers to democracy in the Indian subcontinent?
In E...
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Ep. 34: Liberty and a Free Society from 2018-03-08T00:30
In this episode, we'll be doing something a little different. We'll be talking about ideas, values and labels. The word Liberal has become a slur in India, but it stands for something more. What...
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Ep. 33: No More Big Brother from 2018-03-01T00:30
Should India always put its neighbourhood first? Was Nehru’s foreign policy idealist or realist? How should we think of external powers acting in the the Indian subcontinent?
In Episode 3...
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Ep. 32: Should We Pay for the Kaveri? from 2018-02-22T00:30
Is Bangalore going to run out of water in a couple of years? How should Tamil Nadu and Karnatake share the Kaveri? Should we start paying for water? In episode 32 of the Pragati Podcast, Nitin P...
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Ep. 31: The Shades of Social Credit from 2018-02-15T00:30
Is Black Mirror unfolding in real life? What is this social credit system? Is an Orwellian dystopia unfolding in China? In episode 31 of the Pragati Podcast, Manoj Kewalramani joins Hamsini Hari...
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Ep. 30: Power plays in the Indo-Pacific from 2018-02-08T00:30
We’ve heard of hard power, soft power and smart power, but what is this new sharp power? What are the major changes in the global order that we should watch out for? How can middle powers that a...
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Ep. 29: Firing On The Line Of Control from 2018-02-01T00:30
How serious are ceasefire violations? Why do they happen? How can India end this cycle of violence?
Ceasefire violations have become part and parcel...
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Ep. 28: Looking East on Republic Day from 2018-01-25T00:30
Why do we have ten guests of honour for the Republic Day Parade instead of one? How do domestic policy and politics affect India's foreign policy? How shou...
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Ep. 27: The Supreme Court in Crisis from 2018-01-18T00:30
Why did four senior judges of the Supreme Court hold a press conference? Why are they complaining about the Chief Justice of India? Can we expect judicial r...
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Ep. 26: The Cholas: Conquerors of Oceans from 2018-01-11T00:30
Is it true that the Indian civilisation never attempted to conquer anything beyond the subcontinent? Did Indian and the Chinese courts establish diplomatic ...
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Ep 25: The 2017 Kim Jong Awards from 2018-01-04T00:30
Ideas are stubborn, and bad ones even more so. In North Korea, the Kim family used bad economic ideas with a heavy role for the government, no rule of law, and no economic freedoms. This kept th...
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Ep.24: Editing Our Genes from 2017-12-21T00:30
What does it mean to edit someone's genes? Is Malaria in its last days? What is CRISPR, if not a startup that makes chips?
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Ep.23: What's Happened to Al Qaeda? from 2017-12-14T00:30
What has Al Qaeda been up to since Osama? What happens in India and the subcontinent after the Islamic State falls? What does Bollywood director Vishal Bha...
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Ep.22: Death by Taxes from 2017-12-07T00:30
Is taxation theft? Is the government of India any better than Gabbar Singh? Why do Indian actors pretend to be farmers?
Tune in episode 22 of the Pr...
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Ep.21: Kill the hospital, save the patient? from 2017-11-30T00:30
Doctors protesting across Karnataka. Price controls on private medical care. Kangaroo courts for errant doctors. Missing patient empowerment. All from an eventful November.
Episode 21 of ...
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Ep.20: The GDP: From World War I to Today from 2017-11-23T00:30
What is the GDP, and why is the world so obsessed with GDP growth? We associate human wellbeing with growth in the GDP -- but are there better measures? And what do the two World Wars and the ri...
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Ep. 19: Catch up! Parking for Pollution&Asian Quadrilaterals from 2017-11-16T00:30
Delhi has introduced high parking fees to combat pollution, but is it really helping?
After a decade, the India-US-Japan-Australia quadrilateral is getting revived. What does that mean for...
Ep. 18: All Quiet on the Western Front? from 2017-11-09T00:30
With the impeachment of Pakistani President Nawaz Sharif and India's preoccupation with the Doklam standoff, little of the national mindspace is being occu...
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Ep. 17: Who Moved My Science? from 2017-11-02T00:30
While India has successfully sent a mission to Mars and has a globally competitive tech sector back home, we still struggle to do great scientific research in the country. In this episode of the...
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Ep. 16: The Perfidy of Parking from 2017-10-26T00:30
Why should Indian cities consider paid parking as a solution to improve traffic? Should curbside parking be priced? In this episode of of the Pragati Podcast, hosts Pavan Srinath and Hamsini Har...
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Ep. 15: Sand, Sanitation and Subsidies from 2017-10-05T00:30
Can we use sand in India without having to deal with a sand mafia? Why do Indians have toilets at home, but defecate outside? And does anyone ever use a toilet for health reasons? Thejaswi Udupa...
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Ep. 14: Kabuliwaala, Trump and the GDP from 2017-09-21T00:30
Is the Indian economy doing alright? Is it suffering from something worse than the painful effects of demonetization? Is 2017 the beginning of a new chapter between India and Afghanistan? Did Tr...
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Ep. 13: Floods, Pyjama-Laadi and Mandarin Classes from 2017-09-07T00:30
How do we stop urban flooding year after year? What is this mysteriously named pyjama-laadi scheme? Why should more Indians learn Mandarin? You'll find all this and more in episode 13 of the Pra...
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Ep. 12: Kautilya's Legacy from 2017-08-24T00:30
How can cities protect their heritage when growing rapidly? Why is India deporting 40,000 refugees? How should we think of the trajectory of India's foreign policy? All of this in the twelveth e...
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Ep. 11: The sky is falling! IT is imploding! from 2017-08-10T00:30
How do the recent job losses in the IT industry impact the economy? Did Nawaz Sharif really lose prime ministership over a font? What's with the inflation targeting mechanisms? In the first half...
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Ep. 10: Terms and Conditions Apply from 2017-07-27T00:30
Do you own your data? What do you give up every time you sign up for something new on the interweb? In the 10th episode of the Pragati Podcast, Hamsini Hariharan discusses what a new law on data...
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Ep. 09: Of Tax Reforms and Secularism from 2017-07-13T00:30
Have the photos of food on your timeline been replaced by photos of bills? In the ninth episode of The Pragati Podcast, Hamsini Hariharan sits down with Anupam Manur, Research Fellow at the Taks...
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Ep. 08: ISRO, Indian Ocean and Infrastructure from 2017-06-29T00:30
Will ISRO be relevant in ten years? Will Britain give up its last colony in the Indian Ocean? How should India think China's infrastructure projects? In the eighth episode of the The Pragati Pod...
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Ep. 07: Ms. Robot, I Have a Doubt from 2017-06-15T00:30
Not sure which TV show to pick up next? In the 7th episode of the Pragati Podcast, Hamsini Hariharan and Pavan Srinath discuss a number of shows that break down American and British politics. In...
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Ep. 06: Till Divorce do Us Part from 2017-06-01T00:30
In the sixth episode of The Pragati Podcast, Pavan Srinath and Hamsini Hariharan talk about where the jobs have gone, the crackdown on conjunctions at World Bank, civil- military relations and S...
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Ep. 05: The Illicit Episode from 2017-05-18T00:30
Pavan Srinath and Hamsini Hariharan catch up on some reading while the hullaballoo of the GST and the One Belt, One Road Project reverberates in the background. Then, Devanghsu Datta joins them ...
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Ep. 04: Right wing, left wing or wrong wing? from 2017-05-04T00:30
Left or right? Liberal or conservative? Paper or plastic? Political identities and political labels are becoming popular these days, when someone is describ...
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Ep. 03: Budgets at Home and Military Ops Abroad from 2017-04-20T00:30
The first full Pragati Podcast covers everything from swimming pools in Udupi to Indian military adventures in West Africa. As the budget season comes to a close, Pavan Srinath, Hamsini Harihara...
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Ep. 02: The Answer is Tourism from 2017-04-19T11:26:20
The American economist Alex Tabarrok, who is in Mumbai these days, feels that tourism could be "India's leading export sector." In his piece in Pragati, 'Let the World In' (Listen
Ep. 01: What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been from 2017-04-19T11:12:45
Welcome to the first episode of The Pragati Podcast. As Pragati relaunches, editor Amit Varma gets together with founder Nitin Pai and frequent contributor Pavan Srinath to discuss the changes i...
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