This is Episode 108 of The Pragati Podcast hosted by Pavan Srinath. India has fraction of the doctors and medical professionals it needs, even as healthcare is increasingly becoming a politically important issue. In this context, the Government of India recently passed the National Medical Commission (NMC) Act 2019, which wants to usher in a new regulatory apparatus for medical education in the...
The Pragati Podcast
Weekly podcast on public policy, economics and international relations hosted by Pavan Srinath. New episodes every Wednesday.
This is Episode 107 of The Pragati Podcast hosted by Pavan Srinath. DNA samples can today be used for creating a unique fingerprint or ID, for diagnosing cancer and heritable diseases, for telling you your ancestry or even paternity. The cost of sequencing the full genome of any human cost over a $100 million dollars at the start of the 21st century, and today costs just a few hundred dollars. In...
This is Episode 106 of The Pragati Podcast hosted by Pavan Srinath. Can India’s higher education system thrive when the teaching profession has lost most of its status in society? What is necessary for India to educate millions of its citizens who turn college-going age every year? Pushkar joins Pavan Srinath on Episode 106 of The Pragati Podcast to share his thoughts. The Pragati Podcast...
This is Episode 105 of The Pragati Podcast hosted by Pavan Srinath. How has India’s anti-defection law undermined democracy in the country? How do we tackle endless horse-trading of elected representatives in India? The Anti-Defection Law stifles intra-party democracy and dissent, and is also undermining the stability of elected governments. How do we fix a solution that has grown bigger...
This is Episode 104 of The Pragati Podcast hosted by Pavan Srinath. The Government of India has announced that it will start issuing Overseas Sovereign Bonds, thereby allowing the government to borrow in dollars from foreign lenders. With falling savings rates in India and the little money available to the private sector to borrow locally, is this a solution that can help kickstart the economy...
This is Episode 103 of The Pragati Podcast hosted by Pavan Srinath. India was one of the founding members of the United Nations, but as a colony of the British Empire. Almost 75 years later, the UN has shaped international relations as we know it. The UN has played pivotal roles in completing decolonisation across the world, shaping the legal use of seas and oceans by all nations, and much more...
This is Episode 102 of The Pragati Podcast hosted by Pavan Srinath. India is a Union of States, and Indian Republic’s federal nature has been hardcoded into the Constitution. While political federalism is important, control over the purse strings often makes or breaks federalism. Pranay Kotasthane returns to The Pragati Podcast to help us understand how fiscal federalism works in India. The...
This is Episode 101 of The Pragati Podcast hosted by Pavan Srinath. Air pollution in our cities, vanishing groundwater, disappearing lakes and global climate change. What is common to all of them is that they suffer from the tragedy of the commons. Lingaraj Jayaprakash joins us on the Pragati Podcast to help us think about the commons better. The Pragati Podcast is a weekly talkshow on public...
This is Episode 100 of The Pragati Podcast hosted by Pavan Srinath. On the 100th episode of The Pragati Podcast, the tables have been turned. Host Pavan Srinath occupies the guest seat today, with Winona Laisram talking to him about his last decade of working in public policy, and recording one hundred episodes of The Pragati Podcast. Winona Laisram is a Visual Designer and Communicator, who has...
This is Episode 99 of The Pragati Podcast hosted by Pavan Srinath. The world today is broadly organised into sovereign nation states, and we all believe that the Indian Nation exists and is thriving. But what is nationalism, at its core? How did nationalism really evolve in Europe, and are ideas like Indian nationalism and Tamil nationalism quite the same? Dr AP Ashwin Kumar joins us on Episode...
This is Episode 98 of The Pragati Podcast hosted by Pavan Srinath. 51.9 per cent of the people of Great Britain voted to leave the European Union in 2016. A country divided, Brexit is still in the works three years later and it has cost them two Prime Ministers. Anupam Manur talks to Pavan Srinath on Episode 98 of The Pragati Podcast on everything we need to know about Brexit. The Pragati Podcast...
This is Episode 97 of The Pragati Podcast hosted by Pavan Srinath. The Narendra Modi-led NDA has won an unprecedented mandate for a second term in office. With a new cabinet being sworn in and 100 day plans being drawn up, what should be the top priorities of the new Government of India? Narayan Ramachandran returns to The Pragati Podcast to discuss what should be on top of the agenda for NDA 3.0...
This is Episode 96 of The Pragati Podcast hosted by Pavan Srinath. Afghanistan was all set to go to elections this summer, but Afghanistan, its State and its people are all in peril. The Taliban are now on the negotiating table with global powers, often without the presence of the legitimate government of Afghanistan. Anand Arni and Pranay Kotasthane share how Afghanistan has been faring over the...
This is Episode 95 of The Pragati Podcast hosted by Pavan Srinath. Bangalore has at least a 20 year legacy of private citizens working with city and state governments in a variety of ways. V Ravichandar symbolises that, as over the last 19 years, he has worked with governments, has driven change while being completely outside government, and has opposed government policies effectively as well. V...
This is Episode 94 of The Pragati Podcast hosted by Pavan Srinath. Internet access is an essential part of many of our lives. And in 2019, there are more than 500 million broadband internet connections in the country. While celebrating this success, we also need to ask how our rights and freedoms must be protected on the internet. Net neutrality, internet shutdowns, website blocks, online...
This is Episode 93 of The Pragati Podcast hosted by Pavan Srinath. Space exploration was unthinkable for anyone except the US and the USSR in the early 1960s. Today, students and startups can launch satellites into space. Narayan Prasad joins us on the latest episode of The Pragati Podcast to tell us about this amazing transformation of human activities in space. The Pragati Podcast is a weekly...
Is it rational to vote? Is it rational for us to think about government as a benign entity? Amit Varma is back on Episode 92 of The Pragati Podcast to talk about public choice theory and how it can inform our thinking about governments and public decision-making.
This is Episode 91 of The Pragati Podcast hosted by Pavan Srinath. Do astronauts grow up dreaming of going to space? What makes human spaceflight special? Listen to astronaut and former head of NASA Charlie Bolden on Episode 91 of The Pragati Podcast. The Pragati Podcast is a weekly show on public policy, economics and international relations hosted by Pavan Srinath. Major General Charles Frank...
Anil Swarup talks about his stellar career as an IAS Officer on Episode 90 of The Pragati Podcast.
Nandita Jayaraj and Vasudevan Mukunth talk about science journalism on Episode 89 of The Pragati Podcast.