Grand Tamasha

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H-1Bs, India, and the Global Talent Wars Oct 08, 2025

Show notes

Earlier this month, the Trump administration announced a stunning $100,000 fee on new H-1B visas—the main channel through which U.S. employers hire foreign professionals in technology, engineering, and research.

The move has sent shockwaves through America’s innovation ecosystem, prompting fears that companies will either look abroad—or scale back their ambitions at home.

Few countries will be as impacted by this change as India, whose citizens account for nearly three-quarters of annual H-1B visa petitions. So, what happens when the world’s largest economy makes it harder for global talent to come in?

To answer this question, Milan is joined on the show this by Britta Glennon. Britta is an assistant professor of management at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a faculty research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Her research focuses on immigration and cross-border innovation. Much of her work dispels long-held myths about immigrants and how they influence the U.S. economy.

Milan and Britta discuss the pluses and minuses of America’s “demand-driven” skilled immigration system, the impact on Indians of the Trump administration’s massive new fee on H-1B visas, and how the availability of skilled worker visas impact offshoring decisions. Plus, the two discuss how America’s competitors are poaching U.S. talent, the complex connection between immigration and innovation, and the economic costs of the green card backlog.

To watch this episode, click here.

Episode notes:

1. Britta Glennon, “Skilled Immigrants, Firms, and the Global Geography of Innovation,” Journal of Economic Perspectives 38, no. 1 (Winter 2024): 3-26.

2. Britta Glennon, “How Do Restrictions on High-Skilled Immigration Affect Offshoring? Evidence from the H-1B Program,” Management Science 70, no. 2 (February 2024): 907-930.

3. Saerom (Ronnie) Lee and Britta Glennon, “The Effect of Immigration Policy on Founding Location Choice: Evidence from Canada’s Start-up Visa Program,” NBER Working Paper 31634 (August 2023).

4. Robert Flynn, Britta Glennon, Raviv Murciano-Goroff, and Jiusi Xiao, “Building a Wall Around Science: The Effect of U.S.-China Tensions on International Scientific Research,” NBER Working Paper 32622 (May 2025).

5. Vox, “$100,000 for a visa,” Today, Explained (podcast), September 25, 2025.

Why Washington Is Wooing Pakistan Oct 01, 2025

Show notes

One of the most surprising developments in Washington, if you’re a South Asia-watcher, is the surprising turn in U.S.-Pakistan relations. Having largely sidelined Pakistan over the past decade or more, the current U.S. administration has courted Pakistan with an enthusiasm that has caught many analysts off-guard.

In June, Trump hosted Pakistan’s army chief, Asim Munir, in the White House. A few weeks later, the White House struck a trade deal with Pakistan that kept the tariff rate at 19 percent, lower even than the 25 percent rate slapped on India. Finally, officials from both sides have been discussing joint ventures in cryptocurrency and critical minerals.

To talk more about the sudden thaw in U.S.-Pakistan ties, Milan is joined on the show this week by Uzair Younus. Uzair is Chief Product Officer at TAG AI, the artificial intelligence-enabled platform developed by The Asia Group.

Prior to joining The Asia Group, Uzair served as Director of the Pakistan Initiative at the Atlantic Council. He’s the host of the podcast, Pakistonomy, a show which gives listeners an accessible way of understanding developments related to the politics, economics, and foreign policy of Pakistan. Uzair is also the author of a new book, Future Ready: Innovation, Abundance And The Global South.

On this week’s show, the two discuss Washington’s quiet reassessment of Pakistan, the Trump administration’s interest in Pakistan’s critical minerals, and the military lessons of Operation Sindoor. Plus, the two discuss the prospects for India-Pakistan rapprochement and the Trump administration’s interest in mediation.

To watch this episode, click here.

Episode notes:

1. Uzair Younus, “The US Is Rethinking the India-Pakistan Dynamic,” The Diplomat, September 3, 2025.

2. Moeed Yusuf, “Why America Should Bet on Pakistan,” Foreign Affairs, September 11, 2025.

3. “How This India-Pakistan Conflict Will Shape the Next One (with Joshua T. White),” Grand Tamasha, May 21, 2025.

4. “Operation Sindoor and South Asia’s Uncertain Future (with Christopher Clary),” Grand Tamasha, May 14, 2025.

5. “Pakistan's Political Earthquake (with Zoha Waseem),” Grand Tamasha, February 14, 2024.

From Convergence to Confrontation: Trump’s India Gambit Sep 24, 2025

Show notes

For a quarter century, Washington policymakers made a strategic bet on India premised on the belief that shared values, shared interests, and a shared strategic convergence in Asia would bind these two countries together as ‘natural allies’ in the twenty-first century.

All of this optimistic talk came crashing down to Earth a few months ago with the Trump administration’s decision to slap 25 percent tariffs on Indian exports. This was exacerbated by a second decision to add an additional 25 percent tariff on India for its import of Russia oil.

Taken together, these policy measures plunged U.S.-India relations into their most significant crisis since the late 1990s and the era of U.S. sanctions on India in the wake of the latter’s nuclear tests.

How did we get here? Where are we now? And where might we be going?

These are the questions Milan takes up on this week’s show with guest Ashley J. Tellis. Tellis is the Tata Chair for Strategic Affairs at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and is well-known to Grand Tamasha listeners as one of the sanest, wisest voices on South Asia and U.S.-India relations, more specifically.

Milan and Ashley discuss the policy of U.S. “strategic altruism” toward India, the ongoing trade negotiations between the United States and India, and Modi’s recent visit to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meeting in China. Plus, the two discuss the latest turn in U.S.-Pakistan relations and whether the thaw in China-India relations is sustainable.

To watch this episode, click here.

Episode notes:

1. Robert D. Blackwill and Ashley J. Tellis, “The India Dividend: New Delhi Remains Washington’s Best Hope in Asia,” Foreign Affairs 98, no. 5 (September/October 2019): 173-183.

2. Ashley J. Tellis, “India’s Great-Power Delusions: How New Delhi’s Grand Strategy Thwarts Its Grand Ambitions,” Foreign Affairs 104, no. 4 (July/August 2025): 52-67.

3. Lisa Curtis, Dhruva Jaishankar, Nirupama Rao, and Ashley J. Tellis, “What Kind of Great Power Will India Be? Debating New Delhi’s Grand Strategy,” Foreign Affairs 104, no. 5 (September/October 2025): 186-195.

4. Ashley J. Tellis, “America’s Bad Bet on India: New Delhi Won’t Side With Washington Against Beijing,” Foreign Affairs, May 1, 2023.

5. Milan Vaishnav, “How India Can Placate America,” Foreign Affairs, July 16, 2025.

6. “Trade Wars: Trump Targets India (with Sadanand Dhume and Tanvi Madan),” Grand Tamasha, August 12, 2025.

7. “What Kind of Great Power Will India Become? (with Ashley J. Tellis),” Grand Tamasha, July 2, 2025.

Can Europe be India's Plan B? Sep 17, 2025

Show notes

India’s once-flourishing ties with Washington have soured in Trump’s second term, marked by punishing tariffs and penalties over Russian oil. This turbulence reinforces New Delhi’s instinct for “multi-alignment,” and the desire to hedge between great powers rather than bet on any single partner.

Against this backdrop, a new paper by the journalist and analyst James Crabtree argues that now is the time for Europe to shine and to make the case that it is India’s most promising alternative in a shifting global order.

The paper is called, “Pivot to Europe: India’s Back-Up Plan in Trump’s World,” and it has just been published by the European Council on Foreign Relations, where James is a distinguished visiting fellow.

James spent ten years as a journalist and foreign correspondent, notably for the Financial Times, where he served as the Mumbai bureau chief. He is the author of the much-celebrated book, The Billionaire Raj: A Journey Through India’s New Gilded Age, published in 2018. He is currently a columnist for Foreign Policy and hard at work on a second book on the United States in Asia.

James joins Milan on the show this week to discuss the turmoil in U.S.-India relations, the historical underperformance of Europe-India relations, the looming China challenge, and the factors which have made Europe a more “geopolitically serious” actor. Plus, the two discuss the nascent thaw in China-India ties and how Europe can avoid short-termism to forge stronger bonds with India over the long haul.

Episode notes:

1. James Crabtree, “Why India Should Not Walk Into the China-Russia Trap,” Foreign Policy, August 27, 2025.

2. “India and the Reordering of Transatlantic Relations (with Tara Varma),” Grand Tamasha, March 11, 2025.

K.M. Panikkar and the Making of Modern India Sep 10, 2025

Show notes

A Man for All Seasons: The Life of K.M. Panikkar is the new book by the author Narayani Basu. It documents the life and times of one of modern India’s most fascinating characters. Panikkar defies simple description. He was a journalist who founded the Hindustan Times; a bureaucrat who advised India’s princely states; a poet, a philosopher, and an international relations scholar. He served as India’s ambassador to China and to Egypt. And he helped develop a critical plan to reorganize India’s states on linguistic lines.

Basu’s book brings Panikkar out of the shadows and, in so doing, sheds as much light on this enigmatic figure as it does on India’s quest to find its place in the world.

Basu is the bestselling author of V.P. Menon: The Unsung Architect of Modern India and Allegiance: Azaadi & the End of Empire. She is a historian and foreign policy analyst, who specializes in spotlighting lesser known—but nevertheless key players—in the story of Indian independence.

She joins Milan on the podcast this week to discuss the incredible personal and professional journey of K.M. Panikkar. They discuss his family circumstances, his surprising path to Oxford and his formative years in Paris, his prolific writings, and his lifelong relationships with Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. Plus, the two discuss his intimate relations with India’s princely states and his prescient vision of Indian federalism.

Episode notes:

1. Shubhangi Misra, “KM Panikkar was a scapegoat. It was easier to blame him for China than Nehru,” ThePrint, August 1, 2025.

2. Narayani Basu, “How K.M. Panikkar became India’s first ambassador to China,” Mint Lounge, July 13, 2025.

3. “Jairam Ramesh on the Many Lives of V.K. Krishna Menon,” Grand Tamasha, March 24, 2021.

Vajpayee and the Making of the Modern BJP Sep 03, 2025

Show notes

Believer’s Dilemma: Vajpayee and the Hindu Right’s Path to Power, 1977-2018 is the much anticipated second volume of author Abhishek Choudhary’s biography of former BJP prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The book traces his life from his stint as external affairs minister in the short-lived Janata government to his death in 2018 following a period of prolonged illness.

The first volume of this biography, Vajpayee; The Ascent of the Hindu Right, 1924-1977, was widely acclaimed, winning the 2023 Tata Literature First Book Award in 2023. Abhishek Choudhary studied economics in Delhi and Chennai, followed by stints in development and journalism.

To discuss part two of this exceptional work, which Ram Guha calls the “finest biography of an Indian prime minister that I have ever read,” Abhishek joins Milan on the podcast this week. They discuss Vajpayee’s entry into the Sangh Parivar, his turbulent stint as foreign minister, and his core ideological beliefs. Plus, the two discuss Vajpayee’s unique partnership with L.K. Advani and his dealings with Narendra Modi in the aftermath of the 2002 Gujarat riots.

Episode notes:

1. “Vinay Sitapati on the Political History of the BJP Before Modi,” Grand Tamasha, December 16, 2020.

2. “Hindutva Politics in the Diaspora (with Edward Anderson),” Grand Tamasha, June 25, 2025.

3. “Savarkar, In His Own Words (with Janaki Bakhle),” Grand Tamasha, March 27, 2024.

Trade Wars: Trump Targets India Aug 12, 2025

Show notes

Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive order slapping India with a 25 percent special tariff due to its purchases of Russian oil. This surprise measure raised the total tariff on Indian exports to the United States to 50 percent—among the highest rates imposed by the United States on any country in the world.

But India is not just “any country.” Over the last quarter-century, it has emerged as one of America’s most valuable strategic partners. Trump’s tariff move has plunged the bilateral relationship into crisis, raising difficult questions about the future of both U.S. and Indian foreign policy.

Grand Tamasha emerged from its summer hiatus for an emergency episode to make sense of these developments and their global ramifications. For this special episode, Milan is joined by Grand Tamasha regulars, Sadanand Dhume of the American Enterprise Institute and the Wall Street Journal and Tanvi Madan of the Brookings Institution.

The trio discuss the drivers behind Trump’s decision, India’s response to the crisis, and the future of India’s policy of “multi-alignment.” Plus, the two discuss the U.S. government’s 180-degree turn on Pakistan and the prospects for an amicable resolution of the U.S.-India trade spat by summer’s end.

Episode notes:

1. Praveen Swami, “Asim Munir’s India nuke threat from US ballroom—‘will take half the world down,’” ThePrint, August 10, 2025.

2. Sadanand Dhume, “India Is Losing Its Best and Brightest,” Wall Street Journal, July 30, 2025.

3. “Tanvi Madan on the geopolitical shifts revealed by the India-Pakistan crisis,” The Economist, May 12, 2025.

4. Ashley J. Tellis, “India’s Great-Power Delusions,” Foreign Affairs (July/August 2025).

5. Nirupama Rao, Dhruva Jaishankar, Lisa Curtis, and Ashley J. Tellis, “What Kind of Great Power Will India Be?” Foreign Affairs (September/October 2025).

6. Milan Vaishnav, “How India Can Placate America,” Foreign Affairs, July 16, 2025.

7. “What Kind of Great Power Will India Become? (with Ashley J. Tellis),” Grand Tamasha, July 2, 2025.

What Kind of Great Power Will India Become? Jul 02, 2025

Show notes

Two summers ago, Ashley J. Tellis published an essay in Foreign Affairs titled, “America’s Bad Bet on India,” which led to an extended, highly charged debate about the future of the U.S.-India relationship.

Just a few weeks ago, Ashley published another big-picture piece in Foreign Affairs titled, “India’s Great-Power Delusions,” which has once again got people talking.

In his new piece, Ashley argues that India is on its way to becoming a great power, but perhaps not the kind of power that many in the world are expecting.

On this week’s season finale of Grand Tamasha, Ashley makes his return to the show. Ashley holds the Tata Chair for Strategic Affairs at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He served in the U.S. government during the George W. Bush administration, where he was intimately in involved in negotiating the U.S.-Indian civil nuclear deal.

Ashley and Milan discuss the U.S. policy of “strategic altruism” toward India, compare India and China’s growth record, and unpack the drivers of India’s quest for multipolarity. Plus, the two discuss India’s growing illiberalism and the complex ways domestic politics shapes foreign policy.

Episode notes:

1. “Reexamining America’s Bet on India (with Ashley J. Tellis),” Grand Tamasha, June 21, 2023.

2. Ashley J. Tellis, “Great Expectations: India amid US-China Competition,” in Hal Brands, ed., Lessons from the New Cold War: America Confronts the China Challenge (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2025).

3. Ashley J. Tellis, “India Sees Opportunity in Trump’s Global Turbulence. That Could Backfire,” Carnegie Endowment Emissary (blog), April 9, 2025.

4. “Trade, Tariffs, and India's Silver Lining (with Shoumitro Chatterjee),” Grand Tamasha, April 16, 2025.

5. “The Precarious State of U.S.-India Ties (with Rajesh Rajagopalan),” Grand Tamasha, February 26, 2025.

Hindutva Politics in the Diaspora Jun 25, 2025

Show notes

How and why did Hindu nationalism become popular among India’s diaspora after India’s independence in 1947? This is the central question of Hindu Nationalism in the Indian Diaspora: Transnational Politics and British Multiculturalism, a 2023 book by the historian Edward Anderson.

The book interrogates the distinctive resonance Hindutva ideology has overseas, and the multiple ways in which the diaspora engages with British politics and society, while sustaining connections back home in India.

Anderson is assistant professor in History at Northumbria University in Newcastle. He was previously the Smuts Research Fellow in Commonwealth Studies at the University of Cambridge, where he obtained a PhD in History.

Anderson joins Milan on the show this week to discuss the trajectory of Indian migration to Britain, the founding of the first overseas Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) shakha, and the Emergency’s impact amongst the diaspora. Plus, the two discuss the role of the diaspora in funding politics and the emergence of “neo-Hindutva.”

Episode notes:

1. “A Reappraisal of Indira Gandhi’s Life—and Legacy (with Srinath Raghavan),” Grand Tamasha, June 11, 2025.

2. “The Secret to Indian Americans' Success (with Meenakshi Ahamed),” Grand Tamasha, June 4, 2025.

3. “The Indian American Vote in 2024 (with Sumitra Badrinathan and Devesh Kapur),” Grand Tamasha, November 6, 2024.

4. “What to read about Hindutva,” The Economist, April 5, 2024.

The Decline and Fall of an Indian Ed Tech Empire Jun 18, 2025

Show notes

India’s celebrated education technology company Byju’s went from being one of the world’s most hyped start-ups to being sued for fraud in a Delaware court and accused of engaging in unethical, if not illegal, behavior.

The episode serves as a cautionary tale about the world of start-ups, venture capital, and the crushing social pressures Indian children and parents face to climb up the social ladder.

The story of the rise—and sudden fall—of Byju’s and its founder Byju Raveendran is detailed by the journalist Yudhijit Bhattacharjee in a new piece for the online magazine Rest of World titled, “The math tutor and the missing $533 million.”

Bhattacharjee is a contributing writer at The New York Times Magazine whose writing has also appeared in The New Yorker, National Geographic, Wired, and other U.S. magazines.

He is also the author of the New York Times-bestselling nonfiction thriller, The Spy Who Couldn’t Spell, and host of the podcast “Scam Likely.”

To talk more about his recent reporting, Yudhijit joins Milan on the show this week. They discuss the rags-to-riches backstory of Byju Raveendran, the anxiety Indian families experience around education and career success, and Byju’s miraculous rise—and sudden downfall. Plus, the two discuss the larger lessons of this episode for start-ups, investors, and India’s future as a consumer market.

Episode notes:

1. Pradip K. Saha, The Learning Trap: How Byju’s Took Indian Edtech For A Ride (New Delhi: Juggernaut, 2024).

2. Chloe Cornish, Jyotsna Singh, and Mercedes Ruehl, “How a teaching app feted by Silicon Valley was left chasing the Indian dream,” Financial Times, October 3, 2022.

3. “When venture capitalism goes wrong,” Financial Times, October 23, 2024.

4. “Understanding the Delhi Education Experiment (with Yamini Aiyar),” Grand Tamasha, January 22, 2025.