Ideas of India

Today my guest is Samanth Subramanian, who is a journalist and writer and the author of the recent books The Web Beneath the Waves and A Dominant Character: The Radical Science and Restless Politics of J. B. S. Haldane.
We talked about under water sea cables and choke points in critical global infrastructure, the intersection of technology and geopolitics, large language models, JBS Haldane and the relationship between science and politics, and much more.
Recorded March 25th, 2026.
Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links.
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Timestamps
(00:00:00) - Intro
(00:02:35) - Vulnerability and Resilience: Grappling with the Fragility of Undersea Connections
(00:03:48) - Underwater Sea Cables
(00:10:48) - How America's Big Tech Companies Dominate Bandwidth
(00:14:37) - Concentration of Infrastructure
(00:20:27) - The 2Africa Cable and Countries Without Leverage
(00:27:17) - Geopolitical Vulnerabilities
(00:34:51) - Indian Resilience
(00:39:27) - Choke Points in the Global AI Economy
(00:44:05) - The Challenges of Decommissioning Nuclear Plants
(00:49:45) - On the Frontiers and Ethics of AI Technology
(00:56:37) - Haldane's Legacy and Science in the Public Square
(01:06:34) - Optimism and Pessimism About the Future of Science
(01:12:59) - Outro

Today my guests are Arvind Subramanian and Devesh Kapur. Arvind is a Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and a former Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India. Devesh is the Starr Foundation Professor of South Asian Studies and Director of the Asia Programs at the Johns Hopkins. They are co-authors of the recent book, A Sixth of Humanity: Independent India's Development Odyssey.
We talked about India's redistributive democracy, why Indian states have taken such different development paths, India's socialism and consequent scarcity, manufacturing challenges, and much more.
Recorded February 13th, 2026.
Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links.
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Timestamps
(00:00:00) - Intro
(00:01:18) - A Sixth of Humanity
(00:06:51) - The Effect of Education on State Development
(00:13:39) - Redistributive Democracy in India
(00:21:54) - One Democracy, Multiple Outcomes at the State Level
(00:36:52) - Tamil Nadu
(00:38:01) - The Collapse of Punjab
(00:42:12) - Shades of Socialism in India
(01:08:00) - Upside-Down State
(01:26:36) - Manufacturing
(01:46:23) - Outro

Today my guest is Dr. V Anantha Nageswaran, who is currently serving as the Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India. He is also the co-author of the books Economics of Derivatives and The Rise of Finance: Causes, Consequences and Cures. 
We talked about import substitution and strategic resilience, futures and options market, gross fixed capital formation, crypto markets, India's growth trajectory, and much more.
Recorded March 12th, 2026.
Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links.
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Timestamps
(00:00:00) - Intro  
(00:02:38) - Import Substitution as a Policy  
(00:11:19) - Indian States' Spending Problem  
(00:18:16) - Capital Formation  
(00:25:47) - Increasing Financialization  
(00:30:21) - Options and Futures Markets in India  
(00:34:15) - Securities Transactions Tax (STT)  
(00:40:27) - Curbing Crypto  
(00:46:01) - How Should We Approach Policy Regulation?  
(00:51:04) - Deregulation  
(00:53:41) - Digital Public Infrastructure  
(00:56:28) - India's Growth Trajectory

Today my guests are Ornit Shani and Rohit De, historians and the authors of the latest book Assembling India's Constitution. Ornit Shani is an associate professor of history at the University of Haifa and the author of How India Became Democratic: Citizenship and the Making of the Universal Franchise. Rohit De is an associate professor of history at Yale University and the author of A People's Constitution: The Everyday Life of Law in the Indian Republic. 
We talked about how their latest book is a radical departure from the usual telling of the making of the Indian Constitution as an elite project, the mass mobilization that took place during the drafting of the constitution, the role of public participation in political negotiation, the status of provincial legislatures and of princely states during the constitution making, and much more.
Recorded January 20th, 2026 and February 10th, 2026.
Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links.
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Timestamps
(00:00:00) - Intro
(00:02:49) - Situating Rohit and Ornit's Book
(00:13:52) - More Than the Text
(00:27:22) - Provincial Legislatures
(00:35:40) - India's Princely States
(01:01:04) - Mass Mobilization
(01:16:10) - Theater and the Constitution
(01:26:06) - Judicial Interpretation
(01:31:21) - Future Projects
(01:34:08) - Outro

Today my guest is Pranay Kotasthane who is the deputy director of the Takshashila Institution and chairs the High Tech Geopolitics Programme. 
Pranay co-writes Anticipating the Unintended, a newsletter on public policy ideas and frameworks, and co-hosts Puliyabaazi, a popular Hindi-Urdu podcast on politics, policy, and technology. He is the co-author of - Missing in Action: Why Should You Care About Public Policy, When the Chips are Down, and the graphic nonfiction narrative We, the Citizens.  
We spoke about rare earths and critical minerals, China's dominance, the gap between India's ambitions and opportunities, the potential for recycling, and much and more.
Recorded February 2nd, 2026.
Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links.
Learn more about The 1991 Fellowship.
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Timestamps
(00:00:00) - 1991 Fellowship
(00:01:11) - Intro
(00:02:59) - Rare Earths versus Critical Minerals
(00:10:15) - Why Are Rare Earths and Critical Minerals So Important Now?
(00:29:29) - Geopolitical Uncertainty
(00:33:14) - China's Process Advantage
(00:44:10) - Industrial Policy
(00:48:10) - India's Critical Elements Mission
(00:53:00) - Auctions
(00:56:53) - India's Position in the Value Chain
(01:04:36) - Recycling
(01:34:04) - Law of One Price
(01:41:28) - Pakistan and Rare Earth Reserves
(01:46:26) - Outro