Fortnightly podcast hosted by Pranay Kotasthane & Saurabh Chandra. Out every alternate Tuesday.
Why are Indian cities the way they are? How do we define a good city? And what should the future of urbanized India be like? In the next Puliyabaazi, we discuss these questions and a lot more, with Dr Anjali Karol Mohan, an urban and regional planner. हमारे समाज की समृद्धि के लिए शहरीकरण ज़रूरी …
Read more “Ep. 97: एक अच्छे शहर का मतलब क्या है? Urbanisation Done Right.”
Gender discrimination is all around us — at homes, workplaces, and in relationships. It starts before a child’s birth and doesn’t go away even in death rituals. And this holds true even in elite India. So, in this episode, we speak to Mahima Vashisht (@mahimavashisht), who is showing Indians the mirror, one story, and one …
Read more “Ep. 96: आधा आसमां. Women Hold Up More than Half the Sky.”
Our governments roll out many laws and regulations. When these laws fail to have the desired effect, we either blame the implementation deficit or the citizens. But what if the problem was in the design of the law itself? Is there a way to design better laws? In the Puliyabaazi, we are joined by the …
Read more “Ep. 95: क़ानून की क्वालिटी परखें कैसे? Measuring the Quality of Indian Laws.”
Most Indian languages share the same phonetic structure and yet have vastly different scripts, making communication across languages difficult. Moreover, each script has its own peculiarities steepening the learning curve for adults and children alike. To tackle this challenge, a team at IIT Madras designed a novel and technology-friendly Indic script — Bharati — that …
Read more “Ep. 94: एक देश, कईं भाषाएँ, एक लिपि। Many Languages, One Script.”
India’s connection with groundwater is recorded as far back as the Indus Valley Civilisation. What are the consequences of relying on groundwater? How can over-extraction of groundwater resources be contained? What role can you play in water conservation? We discuss all these questions and more in this episode with S Vishwanath (@zenrainman), the urban planner …
Read more “Ep. 93: भारत: एक भूजल सभ्यता। India: A Groundwater Civilisation.”
The horse has been so central to human civilisation that the history of this majestic animal alone reveals a lot about our own past. So in this episode, Yashaswini Chandra, author of the new book The Tale of the Horse: A History of India on Horseback gives a masterclass on the history of horses in …
Read more “Ep. 92: अश्वशास्त्र. The Story of the Horse in India.”
In this #By2, Saurabh and Pranay discuss the ongoing case in the Supreme Court on increasing the reservation cap beyond 50% and the role of universities in society. In the #KBP section, they discuss listener questions. इस #By2 में पुलियाबाज़ी आरक्षण पर चल रहे सुप्रीम कोर्ट केस पर, और एक समाज में विश्वविद्यालय के मक़सद …
Read more “Ep. 91: आरक्षण, लोकतंत्र, यूनिवर्सिटी. Reservations, Democracy, and Universities”
How has the retail sector sector evolved in India? Why does India have so many small shops? How is technology impacting retail trade? How did the concept of “Sachetisation” come about? We discuss these questions and more in this deepdive on Indian retail with go-to market strategy consultant, Amit Mittal, who is also an ardent …
Read more “Ep. 90: भारत में रिटेल का बदलता नक़्शा. The Changing Face of Retail in India”
Deborah Stone in her textbook Policy Paradox, describes the paradox of distribution thus: “equality often means inequality, and equal treatment often means unequal treatment. The same distribution may look equal or unequal, depending on where you focus.” So in this #By2 episode, Saurabh and Pranay discuss affirmative action and the paradox of distribution in India. …
Read more “Ep. 89: सामाजिक न्याय की क़श्मक़श. Affirmative Action in India.”
In the past, India has played a significant role in mediating peace in conflicts involving major powers. However, this zeal has waned over the last few decades. In this episode, Raja Karthikeya, who has worked on several peace issues in West Asia, argues that India must revive the peace mediation agenda for its own national …
Read more “Ep. 88: दूसरे देशों के झगड़ों में क्यों पड़े? International Peace Mediation and India.”
In the next #By2 series, Saurabh and Pranay discuss three things. One, a solution for changing incentives of government companies without an outright sale of all assets. Two, the absolute joy of seeing and hearing Mars courtesy NASA’s Perseverance. And three, why mandatory corporate social responsibility provisions are counterproductive. इस एपिसोड में तीन मुख़्तलिफ़ मुद्दों …
Well-known journalist, author, and entrepreneur Chandran Bhan Prasad (@cbhanp) is on Puliyabaazi to discuss his latest book What is Ambedkarism?. Mr Prasad makes a case for capitalism as a way for achieving Dalit empowerment. In this episode, we also discuss Ambedkar’s ideas on dalit politics and economics. इस एपिसोड में हमने चर्चा की प्रसिद्ध पत्रकार, …
Last few days witnessed two significant moves by radically networked societies. Retail investors rallied around a stock to take on a hedge fund management company in the US. Meanwhile, tweets by US celebrities on the ongoing farmer protests in northern India put the government on the defensive. So in the #By2, Pranay and Saurabh discuss …
Read more “Ep. 85: विद्रोह डॉट कॉम. Radically Networked Protests.”
Economist Ronald Coase said that “If you torture the data long enough, it will confess.” With data being used in narratives all around us, this quote has never been more salient. So in this episode, Karthik Shashidhar (@karthiks) returns to Puliyabaazi to discuss some common pitfalls of data analysis and how to avoid them. आंकड़ों …
WhatsApp’s change in privacy policy attracted a lot of attention over the last couple of weeks. While some people migrated to Signal, most others ended up with all three — WhatsApp, Telegram, and Signal — on their phones. So in this #By2 episode, we discuss the narratives surrounding privacy in India. We also discuss if …
Read more “Ep. 83: गुपचुप बातें. Politics of Secure Messaging.”
Contrary to some notions that the Indian Constitution is as an elitist document far removed from the Indian populace, the document in fact profoundly transformed everyday life of ordinary Indians, in mostly desirable and sometimes unintended ways. In this episode, Pranay and Saurabh speak to Rohit De (@itihaasnaama) — author of A People’s Constitution: The …
In the first Puliyabaazi #By2 episode, Saurabh and Pranay take stock of the state of agriculture in India. Saurabh talks about his encounters with agricultural markets and horticulture farming in Karnataka. In the second section of the podcast, the hosts respond to listener questions. पुलियाबाज़ी #By2 श्रृंखला के पहले अंक में सौरभ और प्रणय एक …
Read more “Ep. 81: “कृषि दर्पण. Reality of Agriculture in India.”
After years of dilly-dallying, 2020 was the year when many states started working together to take on a common challenge: China. One such formation is the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad). Though established in 2008, it’s only over the last couple of years that the grouping has started engaging more fruitfully. In this puliyabaazi, Indrani Bagchi, …
Read more “Ep. 80: चीन बनाम चौकड़ी | The Geopolitics of Quad.”
Narratives are all around us. Whether it’s policy, politics, or the economy, the stories we tell and listen matter. In this Puliyabaazi, we discuss why narratives have the power to make the unreal real with economic historian and assistant professor at IIM Bangalore, Prateek Raj (@PrateekRaj_). आजकल “नैरेटिव” का बोलबाला है. हर कोई नए तरीकों …
What do the recent changes in agricultural laws mean for farmers? Will these changes unshackle the agricultural sector or do the problems lie elsewhere? We discuss these questions and more with Gunwant Patil, leader of the Shetkari Sangathana Movement and a farmer himself. आजकल चल रहे कृषि आंदोलन के क्या कारण है? क्या यह कानून …