The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma

Srinath Raghavan, a historian focused on U.S.-South Asia relations and author of 'The Most Dangerous Place', dives deep into America's historical ties with South Asia. He highlights the evolution of power, ideology, and culture over 200 years. The conversation reveals how these factors shaped U.S. foreign policy, especially during pivotal moments like India's independence and the emergence of Bangladesh. Raghavan also discusses the complex dynamics between the U.S., India, and Pakistan, and how cultural perceptions have influenced diplomatic strategies over time.

Will the #MeToo movement change behaviour by changing incentives? Economist Shruti Rajagopalan joins Amit Varma in episode 92 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about Criminal Economics in the context of crimes on women in India. Also check out: Changing the Costs for the Rational Sexual Predator: Shruti Rajagopalan in Mint Men Must Step Up Now: Amit Varma's ediotrial in Pragati The Importance of #MeToo: Episode 90 of The Seen and the Unseen Metrics of Empowerment: Episode 88 of The Seen and the Unseen Fixing Our Judicial System: Episode 62 of The Seen and the Unseen

The crisis at IL&FS reveals just how rotten India's financial system is. Vivek Kaul and Ashutosh Datar join Amit Varma in episode 91 of The Seen and the Unseen to demystify the problem. Also check out: DeMon, Morality & the Predatory Indian State -- Episode 85 of The Seen and the Unseen The DNA of the NPA -- Episode 32 of The Seen and the Unseen It's Time to Stop Buying LIC Policies -- Vivek Kaul LIC Should Not Rescue IL&FS -- Vivek Kaul Slay This Indian Hydra -- Andy Mukherjee How IL&FS Was Enriching Itself at Public Cost -- Sucheta Dalal IL&FS: The debt pyramid -- Samar Srivastava

#MeToo is the most important cultural moment of our lifetimes. Supriya Nair and Nikita Saxena join Amit Varma in episode 90 of The Seen and the Unseen to share their insights. Also check out: Hostile Climate: Nikita Saxena (Feature on RK Pachauri) #MeToo is anarchic, and that's a good thing: Supriya Nair Metrics of Empowerment: Episode 88 of The Seen and the Unseen Claiming Your Space: Episode 76 of The Seen and the Unseen One Bad Law Goes, but Women Remain Second Class Citizens: Amit Varma I am a Feminist. You should be too: Amit Varma

Are journalists redundant in a world where no one cares about facts any more? Are we to cater to people's imagined realities? And when money and power come together, how are Independent journalists to resist? Sidharth Bhatia of The Wire and Peter Griffin of The Hindu join Amit Varma in episode 89 of The Seen and the Unseen. Also check out: The State of the Media: Episode 46 of The Seen and the Unseen, with Prem Panicker The Facts Do Not Matter -- Amit Varma

The lives of women in India must be gradually getting better, right? How do we measure this? Devika Kher, Nidhi Gupta and Hamsini Hariharan join Amit Varma in episode 88 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss a range of possible metrics. Also check out: Where Are the Jobs? -- Episode 87 of The Seen and the Unseen, with Yazad Jal Claiming Your Space -- Episode 76 of The Seen and the Unseen, with Aditi Mittal & Swati Bakshi Take Cities to the Women -- Devika Kher Frailty, Thy Name is Public Policy -- Devika Kher We Should Celebrate Rising Divorce Rates -- Amit Varma Misogyny is the Oldest Indian Tradition -- Amit Varma Namita Bhandare's series on IndiaSpend

India has entered a massive jobs crisis, with more than a million people coming into the workforce every month -- and not enough jobs. Will our Demographic Dividend be a Demographic Disaster? Yazad Jal of the 20 Million Jobs project joins Amit Varma in episode 87 of The Seen and the Unseen to give insight on the scale of the problem. Also check out: The Jobscape -- Yazad Jal 20 Million Jobs: Episode 48 of The Pragati Podcast The Coming Jobs Crisis: Episode 20 of The Seen and the Unseen Namita Bhandare's series on IndiaSpend Why India has a Jobs Crisis -- Vivek Kaul The Agricultural Crisis is a Jobs Crisis -- Nitin Pai But What About the Jobs Crisis? -- Anupam Manur

India's agricultural crisis has been caused by the state. Farmer leader Gunvant Patil of the Shetkari Sanghatana joins Amit Varma in episode 86 of The Seen and the Unseen to explain the many ways in which Big Government has created our agricultural crisis. Also see: 'We Must Save Our Farmers' -- Amit Varma 'Free the Farmers' -- Barun Mitra 'The Crisis in Indian Agriculture' -- Brainstorm discussion on Pragati 'Entry and Exit in Agriculture' -- Episode 1 of The Seen and the Unseen 'The Farmer Rolls the Dice' -- Episode 12 of The Seen and the Unseen 'The Unseen Effects of Farm Loan Waivers' -- Episode 25 of The Seen and the Unseen Down to Earth -- The collected writings of Sharad Joshi

Episode 85 of The Seen and the Unseen is about Demonetisation -- and a lot else. First, host Amit Varma launches into an angry monologue about how economic benefits can never justify moral costs. Then he is joined by economist Shruti Rajagopalan, who elaborates on all the things wrong with DeMon. They discuss the predatory Indian state, how Indians are forced into jugaad to cope with it, and that this jugaad might seem to be a good thing, but represents the enormous cost that all of us pay. **Also see**: 1. Most of Amit Varma's writing on DeMon, collected in one Twitter thread 2. 'Narendra Modi Takes a Great Leap Backwards' -- Amit Varma 3.'The Landscape of Freedom in India' -- Amit Varma 4.'The Humanitarian Cost Trumps Any Economic Argument' -- Amit Varma 5. 'What the RBI data on demonetization tells us' -- Shruti Rajagopalan 6. 'Demonetisation and Welfare' -- Shruti Rajagopalan and Larry White 7. 'Formalization of the economy is a form of coercion' -- Shruti Rajagopalan 8. Episode 2 of The Seen and the Unseen, on Demonetisation, with Suyash Rai 9. Episode 18 of The Seen and the Unseen, on restaurant regulations, with Madhu Menon

What is it like to grow up gay in a deeply homophobic country? Writer and stand-up comedian Navin Noronha joins Amit Varma in ep 84 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his experience of growing up gay in Bhayandar, and his insights from his podcast, Keeping it Queer. Also check out Keeping it Queer -- Navin Noronha's podcast How I Met My Daddy -- Navin Noronha The Matunga Racket -- Amit Varma You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcast App on Android: https://goo.gl/tGYdU1 or iOS: https://goo.gl/sZSTU5 You can check out our website at http://www.ivmpodcasts.com/