Grand Tamasha

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Pramit Bhattacharya on the Crisis in India’s Economic Data Feb 12, 2020

Show notes

“The credibility of India’s official statistics has hit rock-bottom in recent years.” This is the conclusion reached by Milan’s guest on the show this week, Pramit Bhattacharya. Today, economists openly question the sanctity of India’s GDP growth figures. The government has chosen to scrap or suppress economic surveys it has conducted when they have thrown up inconvenient truths. And the apex statistical body in the country has been hollowed out by mass resignations.

Few have studied these issues more closely that Pramit Bhattacharya, who serves as data editor at Mint. Milan and Pramit discuss the decline in India’s legendary statistical prowess, the controversy over faulty GDP figures, the scrapping of inconvenient government surveys, and the broader adverse impacts on India’s economic credibility.

Jerry Rao on The Past, Present, and Future of Conservatism in India Feb 05, 2020

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In 2015, the historian Ramachandra Guha wrote an essay in the Indian magazine Caravan that ruffled a lot of feathers. Guha remarked that while India had a right-wing party in power, the country lacked a serious right-wing intellectual ecosystem.

A new book by the author and entrepreneur Jerry Rao argues that India in fact has a long, ancient tradition of right-wing thought. Rao’s book, The Indian Conservative: A History of Indian Right-Wing Thought, examines the contribution conservative ideas have made—and could make in the future—to the economy, politics, culture, society, and aesthetics of India.

On this week’s episode, Milan and Jerry sit down to talk about the roots of conservative thought in India, the connection between Hindu nationalism and conservative tradition, and what the future holds for Indian secularism.

Republic Day Episode: Madhav Khosla on India’s Founding Moment Jan 29, 2020

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On January 26, 2020—Republic Day—India celebrated the 70th anniversary of its landmark Constitution. This milestone comes at a time when India is engaged in an intense, contested, and sometimes violent, debate over India’s constitutional values and what it means to be truly Indian.

It is for this reason that a new book by the scholar Madhav Khosla on the Indian Constitution could not have come at a more opportune time. Madhav’s new book, India’s Founding Moment: The Constitution of a Most Surprising Democracy, places the Indian Constitution under a microscope—drawing on insights from philosophy, political science, history, and legal scholarship.

Madhav and Milan discuss the motivations behind India’s embrace of liberal democracy, the Indian roots of the Indian Constitution, and how to think about the pressing, modern-day questions around citizenship.

Supriya Sharma on Citizenship, Protests, and the Indian Media Jan 22, 2020

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On January 10, the newly passed Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) officially came into force. The act provides for an expedited pathway to citizenship for illegal migrants from a number of non-Muslim faiths hailing from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan and who seek refuge in India. The act has prompted intense protests across cities and towns in India. The act dovetails with another one of the Modi government’s priorities, the creation of a national register of citizens (NRC) that aims to weed out illegal migrants from India’s citizenship rolls.

To talk about the bill, the street protests, and the ruling BJP’s larger objectives, on a recent trip to New Delhi, Milan sat down with Supriya Sharma, the executive editor of Scroll.in, in this first episode of the third season of Grand Tamasha. Scroll is one of India’s leading online news organization and its reporters have been at the forefront when it comes to covering the popular resistance to both the CAA and the NRC. Supriya has extensively covered the protests—and the state’s brutal response—in the crucial Hindi heartland state of Uttar Pradesh.

Milan and Supriya also discuss the economic slowdown and how that might be fueling popular discontent as well as the state of the media environment in India today.

Citizenship Travails, Maharashtra Elections, and Election Meddling Dec 18, 2019

Show notes

On the season two finale of Grand Tamasha, Milan sits down with podcast regulars Sadanand Dhume of the American Enterprise Institute and the Wall Street Journal and the Brookings Institution’s Tanvi Madan to round up this month’s political news from India. First, Milan and his guests discuss the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the protests that have rocked India. Next, they discuss the original “Grand Tamasha,” also known as the never-ending 2019 Maharashtra assembly election. Finally, Milan, Sadanand, and Tanvi debate the unusual intermingling of Indian politics and domestic politics in the United States and the United Kingdom.

This is the last episode of Grand Tamasha in 2019. Join us for season three, which kicks off in late January 2020. We would love to hear from you with any and all feedback on the show--what you like, what you hate, and what guests you’d like to hear from. Please email us at podcasts@ceip.org.

Sushant Singh on India’s Defense Budget Dec 11, 2019

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One of the most reliable laments about Indian defense policy is that the Government of India spends far too little on defense. Experts say this is a problem for at least two reasons. First, India lags behind many of its strategic competitors when it comes to spending—which only deepens the country’s asymmetry in capabilities. Second, without greater investment, India won’t be able to live up to its own rhetoric of becoming a leading, rather than a balancing, power on the world scene.

This week on the podcast, Milan talks all things defense policy with Sushant Singh. Sushant is the deputy editor of the Indian Express newspaper, where he writes about national security, international relations, the judiciary and investigative agencies. Before turning to journalism, Sushant served in the Indian Army for twenty years, including multiple stints in Jammu and Kashmir.

Milan and Sushant discuss the crippling costs of personnel and pensions, the classic “guns versus butter” debate, and the much-anticipated national security strategy.

Katherine Eban on Fraud in India’s Generic Drugs Industry Dec 04, 2019

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90 percent of the world’s pharmaceutical market is comprised of generic drugs. Generics have been hailed as low-cost alternatives to their more expensive brand-name counterparts, thereby providing low-income patients around the world with affordable medicines.

An explosive new book, Bottle of Lies: The Inside Story of the Generic Drug Boom, by journalist Katherine Eban demolishes this myth and provides a dizzying, page-turning investigation of the lies, deceit, and outright fraud that run rampant in the generics industry. The narrative arc of the book is built around the rapid rise and the dramatic decline of the Indian generics manufacturer Ranbaxy.

This week, Milan speaks with Katherine to discuss her decade-long investigation, the contested role that India plays, and the consequences for public health.

Anit Mukherjee on the ‘Absent Dialogue’ Between Civilians and the Military in India Nov 27, 2019

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Over the years, one could fill a small library with books that have been written about how Indian democracy survived against all of the odds—inequality, poverty, a difficult neighborhood, and a sprawling geography. Somewhat surprisingly, however, very few books have been written about the role the military has played—or not played—as it were. Many of India’s neighbors have experienced military coups and some, like Pakistan, have been unable to shake near-constant military involvement in daily political life.

And yet, all is not well when it comes to civil-military relations in India. This is the argument of Milan’s guest on the show today, Anit Mukherjee, who is the author of the brand new book, The Absent Dialogue: Politicians, Bureaucrats, and the Military in India. Anit is a professor at the Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore who also just so happens to be a former officer in the Indian Army. Milan and Anit chat about civil-military relations in India, its impact on defense capabilities, and the prospect of reform under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Aatish Taseer on India, Indian Politics, and Citizenship Nov 20, 2019

Show notes

This week on Grand Tamasha, Milan sits down with the writer Aatish Taseer, an award-winning author who writes extensively about India and South Asia in his growing body of fiction and non-fiction writing. His most recent book, “The Twice Born: Life and Death on the Ganges,” is part travelogue, part social commentary, and part autobiographical journey of self-discovery set in the city of Benares, the spiritual capital of Hinduism.

Two weeks ago, Aatish received notice that the government of India was revoking his status as an Overseas Citizen of India—known as OCI. The government alleges that Aatish concealed the fact that his father, the late Salman Taseer, was a Pakistani citizen (a violation of OCI regulations). Aatish was born in London, is now a permanent resident of the United States, but was raised in New Delhi, where he spent his formative years. Milan speaks with Aatish about his life, his reporting, and the latest developments around his citizenship status.

Vivan Marwaha on the Hopes and Hype of Indian Millennials Nov 13, 2019

Show notes

There is arguably no more consequential generation to the future of India than today’s millennials. The median age of India’s population is just 28 years old. This means that Indian millennials number around 400 million--roughly one-third of the entire Indian population. By the year 2021, two-thirds of India’s population will be within the working age of 20-35 years. It is no exaggeration to say that the economic, political, and social views of India’s youth will have a profound effect on the country’s future trajectory.

This week on the show, Milan speaks with Vivan Marwaha, who is both an Indian millennial and the author of a new book on Indian millennials—What Millennials Want—that will be published by Penguin Random House India in 2020. Milan and Vivan talk about India’s much-ballyhooed “demographic dividend,” whether there is an Indian Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez waiting in the wings, and why India’s youth are bullish on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership.

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