How serious are ceasefire violations? Why do they happen? How can India end this cycle of violence?
Pragati Staff
What does it mean to be a Republic? Pranay Kotasthane and Saurabh Chandra discuss the nature of our constitutional republic in episode 2 of PuliyaBaazi.
Narendra Modi famously invoked a pakoda seller last week when he spoke about job creation in India. How apt is that invocation? Columnist Vivek Kaul, who coined the term ‘Pakodanomics’, and economist Shruti Rajagopalan join Amit Varma in episode 53 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss the prime minister, the pakoda seller and India’s job problem.
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 should India improve relations with countries in South-East Asia?
What's the big deal about Artificial Intelligence? How is it going to change our world? Two engineering geeks set out to explain it all in simple language. This is episode 1 of Puliya Baazi, a new podcast hosted by Pranay Kotasthane and Saurabh Chandra.
Modern India's greatest shame is that even after 70 years of Independence, we still haven't solved the problem of caste. Shruti Rajagopalan joins Amit Varma in episode 52 of the Seen and the Unseen to shed light on some of the ways in which we have messed up at an institutional level.
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 reforms in 2018? Harish Narsappa of Daksh and Alok Prasanna Kumar of Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy talk to hosts Pavan Srinath and Hamsini Hariharan about the current judicial crisis.
The chess program Alpha Zero made waves recently when it taught itself chess in four hours -- and then thrashed the strongest chess engine in the world, Stockfish. This illustrated a dramatic advance in Artificial Intelligence. Devangshu Datta joins host Amit Varma in episode 51 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about its impact for both chess and AI.
The 26th episode of The Pragati Podcast goes back to one of the richest and easily overlooked dynasties in India: the Cholas. The hosts Pavan Srinath and Hamsini Hariharan are joined by Devi Yesodharan, author of the historical fiction novel, Empire.
Indian politics is complex to the point of being almost unfathomable. JP Narayan, that rare public intellectual who also embraced electoral politics, joins Amit Varma in episode 50 of The Seen and the Unseen to share his learnings.
The 2017 Kim Jong Awards for Stupid Economic Ideas nominates terrible economic ideas that refused to die in 2017.
Social media has enabled everyone to have a voice -- but no one listens any more. In episode 49 of The Seen and the Unseen, Amit Varma examines why our political discourse is so polarised. One particular bugbear of his is the tendency to shift the focus from the argument to the person, and he outlines a few different ways in which people personalise arguments.
For almost two decades, V Ravichandar has been "a civic evangelist and a patron saint of lost causes" fighting to reform local government in our cities. He joins Amit Varma in episode 48 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about the lessons he has learnt, and what keeps him going.
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?
Poker and stock markets are very similar -- and both holds lessons for life. Ace investor Mohit Satyanand joins former poker pro Amit Varma in episode 47 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss how both disciplines reveal the flawed machinery of the human brain.
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 Bharadwaj have to do with all this?
We live in times when media is fragmented and there is no consensus on the truth any more. Journalism has become a race to give people what they want to believe. What are we to do? Prem Panicker joins Amit Varma in episode 46 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss the State of the Media.
Is taxation theft? Is the government of India any better than Gabbar Singh? Why do Indian actors pretend to be farmers?
Over the last few years, the BJP has built the most formidable election machine in human history. Prashant Jha, author of the book 'How the BJP wins', joins Amit Varma in episode 45 of The Seen and the Unseen to break down the elements behind their success.
Doctors protesting across Karnataka. Price controls on private medical care. Kangaroo courts for errant doctors. Missing patient empowerment. All from an eventful November.