The Pragati Podcast

Kaushiki Sanyal explains how bills become laws in India, on Episode 156 of The Pragati Podcast.

Kaushiki Sanyal and host Pavan Srinath discuss how legislative agendas are decided, and the varying paths that are taken in an issue giving rise to a draft bill or amendment, how that moves through the Indian legislative system, gets passed as an Act, and eventually becomes the law of the land. They also discuss the roles played by the L...

Professor Gautam Menon talks to host Pavan Srinath about the Nobel Prize, what they mean for scientists, and how they shape science.

In episode 155 of The Pragati Podcast, Gautam and Pavan discuss the outsized role that the Nobel Prize plays in being an aspirational goal for young scientists, how they create role models, the work, and the people who win the awards, and the dynamics at play.

Gautam I Menon (@MenonBioPhysics) is a Prof...

Economist Viral Acharya talks to host Pavan Srinath about his tenure as the Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India.

This is the second of two episodes on The Pragati Podcast with Viral Archarya. He recently published his book, The Quest for Financial Stability in India. The book can be purchased at SAGE’s BIG Book Festival Sale: https://stealadeal.sagepub.in/quest-for-restoring-financial-stability-in-india-viral-acharya-978935...

Former RBI Deputy Governor Viral Acharya talks to host Pavan Srinath about understanding and fixing India's persistent Bank NPA problem.

This is the first of two episodes on The Pragati Podcast where Viral Archarya talks about his new book, The Quest for Financial Stability in India. The book can be purchased here: http://tiny.cc/viralacharya-book

On Episode 153, Viral unpacks the problem of NPAs or Non Performing Assets. He discusse...

Whether in 1980 or in 2020, the idea of a good, assured pension is an incentive like few others. Economist Renuka Sane talks to host Pavan Srinath on Episode 152 of The Pragati Podcast on pensions, their roles, types, and their evolution in modern India.

Renuka Sane is an Associate Professor at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP). Her research interests are in household finance, especially on household choice...

AP Ashwin Kumar returns to The Pragati Podcast to discuss traditions, how to understand them better, and confronts the challenges of reform.

The Pragati Podcast is a weekly talk show on public policy, economics, and international relations hosted by Pavan Srinath. AP Ashwin Kumar is a Senior Fellow at the Centre for Learning Futures at Ahmedabad University and has previously been a guest on both Pragati and the Thale-Harate Kannada ...

Foreign policy wonk and podcaster Hamsini Hariharan returns to Episode 150 of The Pragati Podcast to discuss China's internal issues and news in 2020.

While Indian news outlets cover the ongoing Chinese aggressions in Ladakh and the India-China border conflict, Hamsini helps listeners take a peek at what is happening within China since the Coronavirus pandemic started, how the Chinese economy and politics are faring, and explores wh...

V Ravichandar returns to The Pragati Podcast to talk about the dire need to create more public spaces and social infrastructure in Indian cities. He talks to host Pavan Srinath on Episode 149 about the role that governments, citizens, and the city elite can play in making urban lives richer.

Ravichandar is the Honorary Director of the Bangalore International Centre and Chairman, Feedback Consulting. He has been active in urban refor...

Shipra Deo and Devendra Damle talk to host Pavan Srinath about the long struggle for women to secure property rights and land ownership in India. On Episode 148 of The Pragati Podcast, they discuss what progress has been made over the last century, and the vast pending scope of legal and societal challenges.

Shipra Deo is the Director of Women's Land Rights, India, at Landesa, and Devendra Damle is a consultant researcher at the Nat...

Dr. Gullapalli N Rao, Founder of the LV Prasad Eye Institute in Hyderabad, talks about human vision, eye health, and the transformation of eye care in India on Episode 147 of The Pragati Podcast.

Dr. Rao talks to host Pavan Srinath about how myopia is a growing challenge across the world and in India. They discuss how India's opthalmological practice leads the rest of healthcare in various aspects, how eye care in metropolitan India...

Ameya Naik and host Pavan Srinath discuss long-overdue police reforms and provide a primer on how to reimagine policing in India in the 21st century, on The Pragati Podcast.

Ameya and Pavan record Episode 146 of The Pragati Podcast, at a time when there are daily reports of police brutality on minorities and peaceful protestors in the Black Lives Matter movement. Meanwhile in India, the lathi remains the default instrument of polici...

Neuroscientist and Science Communicator Shruti Muralidhar is on Episode 145 of The Pragati Podcast to talk about the challenges of science publishing and science communication in 2020. Shruti also talks to host Pavan Srinath about how Scicomm can be transformed in India.

Announcement: The Pragati Podcast will now be releasing new episodes every Thursday morning, India time. The Pragati Podcast is also now available in a new rich and...

Space Law scholar Dr Ranjana Kaul and space entrepreneur Narayan Prasad discuss space reforms and the recent Indian IN-SPACe announcement with host Pavan Srinath on Episode 144 of The Pragati Podcast.

On June 24, the Cabinet of the Govt of India met to approve the setting up of IN-SPACe, Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre. This has been heralded as historic space reforms in India. Ranjana and Narayan discuss wh...

Podcasts are a modern, new medium for most of us in India, but is the underlying technology stuck in the 2000s? Can we reimagine podcasts as a potentially more interactive medium in 2020? Kartik Parija of Adori Labs joins host Pavan Srinath on Episode 143 of The Pragati Podcast to both tell us and show us how.

This is a special, experimental episode that goes beyond the regular audio. A request for all listeners: please try listenin...

What land reforms does India need in 2020? How can we think about property rights, and a complicated legislative history and ground reality in India?

Shekhar Shah and Pranab Ranjan Choudhury give host Pavan Srinath a masterclass on land and reform on Episode 142 of The Pragati Podcast. They discuss what constitutes property ownership in India, what land reforms have meant between the 1950s and 1980s in India, and what they can mean ...

Podcasts are all about voices and conversations, but how did India's own voice-over industry evolve? This is a rebroadcast of Episode 83 of Pragati Podcast, where pioneering voice artists Shammi Narang and Dishant Narang share their personal journey from the early days of radio ads in India to the rapidly growing industry that is voice-acting today.

Shammi and Dishant Narang run Pindrop Media in New Delhi, and Shammi Narang is the H...

Leah Verghese and Surya Prakash from Daksh India talk to host Pavan Srinath about how a 21st-century justice platform can transform access to justice for Indians.

In 2020, it is impossible for migrant workers who have gone back to their home states to go to court over unpaid salaries and wages. It is impractical for a startup to file a civil case to recover pending payments from a large company. India is also an outlier country wher...

Can India's courts protect the country's environment? The Pragati Podcast revisits the topic on World Environment Day 2020 with returning guest and Supreme Court Lawyer Ninad Laud.

Ninad was previously on Episode 73 of The Pragati Podcast to discuss the legal history of environmental challenges in India from the 1990s to 2018. This episode includes sections of Episode 73, which explore how well Public Interest Litigations and the Na...

Dr. M.R. Rajagopal of Pallium India talks to host Pavan Srinath about Palliative care, what it means and how we can ease suffering and pain across India, on Episode 139 of The Pragati Podcast.

Palliative care focuses on quality of life of patients, especially those facing life-threatening illnesses, with a focus on treating pain, alleviating suffering and managing other challenges. Palliative care is a distant priority in India, whe...