Grand Tamasha

This year, the non-profit Educate Girls became the first Indian organization ever to receive the Ramon Magsaysay Award—often called Asia’s Nobel Prize. The foundation recognized the group for its groundbreaking work enrolling out-of-school girls, improving learning outcomes, and shifting social norms in some of India’s most underserved communities. It’s a remarkable milestone for an NGO that began in rural Rajasthan and now reaches millions of households across the country.To discuss the challenges—and the opportunities—surrounding girls’ education in India, Milan is joined on the show this week by Gayatri Nair Lobo, the CEO of Educate Girls. Gayatri has more than 25 years of experience across the consulting and development sectors. Before joining Educate Girls, she led the ATE Chandra Foundation and the India School Leadership Institute. She has also held senior roles at Dalberg Advisors and Teach For India.Milan and Gayatri discuss the origins of Educate Girls, the supply and demand-side barriers to girls’

India and the United Kingdom have spent decades trying to define their post-colonial relationship—part partnership, part rivalry, and often, part courtship. Today, that relationship is being recast amid trade talks, tech cooperation, and geopolitical shifts. The two sides recently signed a landmark trade agreement and officials in London and New Delhi are sounding a new tone of optimism about what the two countries might do together— especially in a post-American world. To talk more about the new era in ties between the UK and India, Milan is joined on the podcast this week by Avinash Paliwal. Avinash is a Reader in International Relations at SOAS University of London. He is the author of two books, My Enemy’s Enemy – India in Afghanistan from the Soviet Invasion to the US Withdrawal and India’s Near East – A New History. In 2024-25, he was seconded to the UK Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office where he covered ‘India and South Asia’.  Milan and Avinash discuss the troubled history between the two p

Bihar has once again delivered a political drama worthy of its reputation—record turnout, sharp debates over the voter rolls, a decisive victory for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), and a fresh round of questions about whether the opposition has what it takes to displace Modi and the BJP. The NDA—anchored by Nitish Kumar and his Janata Dal (United), together with the BJP and other allies—secured a landslide victory by winning 202 out of 243 seats in the state assembly. The opposition, for its part, saw little change in its vote share from 2020, but could only muster 35 seats. To work through the elections—and their larger meaning for India’s political economy—Milan is joined on the show today by the Hindustan Times data and political economy editor Roshan Kishore. Over the past several months, Roshan and his team have consistently put out the most thoughtful data and analysis on the trends in Bihar. Milan and Roshan discuss the resilience of the JD(U)–BJP alliance, the polarization in the electorate, a

How do non-state armed groups act when the state seeks not to crush them—but to tolerate their activities? This is the central question of a new book by the political scientist Kolby Hanson titled, Ordinary Rebels: Rank-and-File Militants between War and Peace.Kolby is an assistant professor of government at Wesleyan University, and his new book looks at how state toleration fundamentally transforms armed groups by shaping who takes up arms—and which leaders they follow. The book draws on a range of innovative surveys and in-depth interviews tracing four armed movements over time in Northeast India and Sri Lanka. The book looks not so much at what armed groups do when they fight—but what they do when they don’t. To talk more about his new book, Kolby joins Milan on the show this week. They discuss what it means to be a “likely” recruit of an armed group, the complex political economy of India’s northeast, and the way in which state toleration operates on a spectrum. Plus, the two discuss the prospects for lon

For much of India’s democratic history, the woman voter has either been invisible or ignored – at times she has been spoken for, but very rarely listened to. A new book by the journalist Ruhi Tewari argues that this is no longer the case and seeks to understand why women have emerged from the political shadows.What Women Want: Understanding the Female Voter in Modern India draws on years of journalism and field reportage to trace the rise of the woman voter from 1947 to the present day.Ruhi is a journalist with nearly two decades of experience covering politics, policy and their intersection for leading Indian media organizations. She’s developed a reputation for being a savvy political reporter who spends quality time in the field understanding what makes voters, politicians, and parties tick. Ruhi joins Milan on the show this to talk more about her new book. They discuss the “subtle but steady shift” in how women voters are perceived, the narrowing gender gap in voter turnout, and the distinctive voter beha

As recently as 1928, a vast swathe of Asia—India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Burma, Nepal, Bhutan, Yemen, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait—were bound together under a single imperial banner, an entity known officially as the “Indian Empire,” or more simply as the British Raj. And then, in just fifty years, the Indian Empire shattered. Five partitions tore it apart, carving out new nations, redrawing maps, and leaving behind a legacy of war, exile and division.A new book the author Sam Dalrymple, Shattered Lands: Five Partitions and the Making of Modern Asia, presents the unknown back story of how the Indian Empire was unmade. Sam is a historian and award-winning filmmaker who grew up in Delhi. He graduated from Oxford University as a Persian and Sanskrit scholar. In 2018, he co-founded Project Dastaan, a peace-building initiative that reconnects refugees displaced by the 1947 Partition of India. His debut film, Child of Empire, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2022, and he runs t

A Sixth of Humanity: Independent India's Development Odyssey is a landmark new book by the scholars Devesh Kapur and Arvind Subramanian.The book is an audacious attempt to trace how India—uniquely and daringly—attempted four concurrent transformations—building a state, creating an economy, changing society, and forging a sense of nationhood under conditions of universal suffrage.It is the joint product of one of India’s most respected political scientists and one of its best known economists. The book includes insights from politics, economics, history, and literature and provides a developmental history of India that is big, bold, engaging, and utterly unique.To talk more about their book and the lessons it holds for India’s next 75 years, Arvind and Devesh return to Grand Tamasha to speak with Milan.Devesh Kapur is the Starr Foundation professor of South Asia Studies at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.Arvind Subramanian is senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for Interna

Justice Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud was the fiftieth chief justice of India. An alumnus of Harvard Law School, he served as additional solicitor general of India. He was appointed as a judge of the Bombay High Court in 2000 and became the chief justice of the Allahabad High Court in 2013. In 2016, he was elevated to the Supreme Court of India, where he served as chief justice from November 2022 to November 2024.Justice Chandrachud is the author of a new compilation of speeches titled, Why the Constitution Matters. In it, the author reflects on his quarter-century of experience as a judge, illustrating how the Constitution impacts everyday life and why it remains a cornerstone of democracy.Justice Chandrachud joins Milan this week to about his new book and the state of the Court in India today. The two discuss the place of the Court in India’s current political environment, the relationship between the judicial and executive branches, the weaknesses in the rule of law supply chain, and the role of the Cour

Earlier this month, the Trump administration announced a stunning $100,000 fee on new H-1B visas—the main channel through which U.S. employers hire foreign professionals in technology, engineering, and research.The move has sent shockwaves through America’s innovation ecosystem, prompting fears that companies will either look abroad—or scale back their ambitions at home.Few countries will be as impacted by this change as India, whose citizens account for nearly three-quarters of annual H-1B visa petitions. So, what happens when the world’s largest economy makes it harder for global talent to come in?To answer this question, Milan is joined on the show this by Britta Glennon. Britta is an assistant professor of management at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a faculty research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Her research focuses on immigration and cross-border innovation. Much of her work dispels long-held myths about immigrants and how they influence the U.S. economy

One of the most surprising developments in Washington, if you’re a South Asia-watcher, is the surprising turn in U.S.-Pakistan relations. Having largely sidelined Pakistan over the past decade or more, the current U.S. administration has courted Pakistan with an enthusiasm that has caught many analysts off-guard.In June, Trump hosted Pakistan’s army chief, Asim Munir, in the White House. A few weeks later, the White House struck a trade deal with Pakistan that kept the tariff rate at 19 percent, lower even than the 25 percent rate slapped on India. Finally, officials from both sides have been discussing joint ventures in cryptocurrency and critical minerals.To talk more about the sudden thaw in U.S.-Pakistan ties, Milan is joined on the show this week by Uzair Younus. Uzair is Chief Product Officer at TAG AI, the artificial intelligence-enabled platform developed by The Asia Group.Prior to joining The Asia Group, Uzair served as Director of the Pakistan Initiative at the Atlantic Council. He’s the host of the

For a quarter century, Washington policymakers made a strategic bet on India premised on the belief that shared values, shared interests, and a shared strategic convergence in Asia would bind these two countries together as ‘natural allies’ in the twenty-first century. All of this optimistic talk came crashing down to Earth a few months ago with the Trump administration’s decision to slap 25 percent tariffs on Indian exports. This was exacerbated by a second decision to add an additional 25 percent tariff on India for its import of Russia oil. Taken together, these policy measures plunged U.S.-India relations into their most significant crisis since the late 1990s and the era of U.S. sanctions on India in the wake of the latter’s nuclear tests.How did we get here? Where are we now? And where might we be going? These are the questions Milan takes up on this week’s show with guest Ashley J. Tellis. Tellis is the Tata Chair for Strategic Affairs at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and is well-known

India’s once-flourishing ties with Washington have soured in Trump’s second term, marked by punishing tariffs and penalties over Russian oil. This turbulence reinforces New Delhi’s instinct for “multi-alignment,” and the desire to hedge between great powers rather than bet on any single partner.Against this backdrop, a new paper by the journalist and analyst James Crabtree argues that now is the time for Europe to shine and to make the case that it is India’s most promising alternative in a shifting global order. The paper is called, “Pivot to Europe: India’s Back-Up Plan in Trump’s World,” and it has just been published by the European Council on Foreign Relations, where James is a distinguished visiting fellow. James spent ten years as a journalist and foreign correspondent, notably for the Financial Times, where he served as the Mumbai bureau chief. He is the author of the much-celebrated book, The Billionaire Raj: A Journey Through India’s New Gilded Age, published in 2018. He is currently a columnist for

A Man for All Seasons: The Life of K.M. Panikkar is the new book by the author Narayani Basu. It documents the life and times of one of modern India’s most fascinating characters. Panikkar defies simple description. He was a journalist who founded the Hindustan Times; a bureaucrat who advised India’s princely states; a poet, a philosopher, and an international relations scholar. He served as India’s ambassador to China and to Egypt. And he helped develop a critical plan to reorganize India’s states on linguistic lines. Basu’s book brings Panikkar out of the shadows and, in so doing, sheds as much light on this enigmatic figure as it does on India’s quest to find its place in the world.Basu is the bestselling author of V.P. Menon: The Unsung Architect of Modern India and Allegiance: Azaadi & the End of Empire. She is a historian and foreign policy analyst, who specializes in spotlighting lesser known—but nevertheless key players—in the story of Indian independence.She joins Milan on the podcast this week t

Believer’s Dilemma: Vajpayee and the Hindu Right’s Path to Power, 1977-2018 is the much anticipated second volume of author Abhishek Choudhary’s biography of former BJP prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The book traces his life from his stint as external affairs minister in the short-lived Janata government to his death in 2018 following a period of prolonged illness.The first volume of this biography, Vajpayee; The Ascent of the Hindu Right, 1924-1977, was widely acclaimed, winning the 2023 Tata Literature First Book Award in 2023. Abhishek Choudhary studied economics in Delhi and Chennai, followed by stints in development and journalism.To discuss part two of this exceptional work, which Ram Guha calls the “finest biography of an Indian prime minister that I have ever read,” Abhishek joins Milan on the podcast this week. They discuss Vajpayee’s entry into the Sangh Parivar, his turbulent stint as foreign minister, and his core ideological beliefs. Plus, the two discuss Vajpayee’s unique partnership with

Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive order slapping India with a 25 percent special tariff due to its purchases of Russian oil. This surprise measure raised the total tariff on Indian exports to the United States to 50 percent—among the highest rates imposed by the United States on any country in the world.But India is not just “any country.” Over the last quarter-century, it has emerged as one of America’s most valuable strategic partners. Trump’s tariff move has plunged the bilateral relationship into crisis, raising difficult questions about the future of both U.S. and Indian foreign policy.Grand Tamasha emerged from its summer hiatus for an emergency episode to make sense of these developments and their global ramifications. For this special episode, Milan is joined by Grand Tamasha regulars, Sadanand Dhume of the American Enterprise Institute and the Wall Street Journal and Tanvi Madan of the Brookings Institution.The trio discuss the drivers behind Trump’s decision, India’s respons

Two summers ago, Ashley J. Tellis published an essay in Foreign Affairs titled, “America’s Bad Bet on India,” which led to an extended, highly charged debate about the future of the U.S.-India relationship.Just a few weeks ago, Ashley published another big-picture piece in Foreign Affairs titled, “India’s Great-Power Delusions,” which has once again got people talking.In his new piece, Ashley argues that India is on its way to becoming a great power, but perhaps not the kind of power that many in the world are expecting.On this week’s season finale of Grand Tamasha, Ashley makes his return to the show. Ashley holds the Tata Chair for Strategic Affairs at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He served in the U.S. government during the George W. Bush administration, where he was intimately in involved in negotiating the U.S.-Indian civil nuclear deal.Ashley and Milan discuss the U.S. policy of “strategic altruism” toward India, compare India and China’s growth record, and unpack the drivers of India’

How and why did Hindu nationalism become popular among India’s diaspora after India’s independence in 1947? This is the central question of Hindu Nationalism in the Indian Diaspora: Transnational Politics and British Multiculturalism, a 2023 book by the historian Edward Anderson.The book interrogates the distinctive resonance Hindutva ideology has overseas, and the multiple ways in which the diaspora engages with British politics and society, while sustaining connections back home in India.Anderson is assistant professor in History at Northumbria University in Newcastle. He was previously the Smuts Research Fellow in Commonwealth Studies at the University of Cambridge, where he obtained a PhD in History.Anderson joins Milan on the show this week to discuss the trajectory of Indian migration to Britain, the founding of the first overseas Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) shakha, and the Emergency’s impact amongst the diaspora. Plus, the two discuss the role of the diaspora in funding politics and the emergence

India’s celebrated education technology company Byju’s went from being one of the world’s most hyped start-ups to being sued for fraud in a Delaware court and accused of engaging in unethical, if not illegal, behavior.The episode serves as a cautionary tale about the world of start-ups, venture capital, and the crushing social pressures Indian children and parents face to climb up the social ladder. The story of the rise—and sudden fall—of Byju’s and its founder Byju Raveendran is detailed by the journalist Yudhijit Bhattacharjee in a new piece for the online magazine Rest of World titled, “The math tutor and the missing $533 million.”Bhattacharjee is a contributing writer at The New York Times Magazine whose writing has also appeared in The New Yorker, National Geographic, Wired, and other U.S. magazines.He is also the author of the New York Times-bestselling nonfiction thriller, The Spy Who Couldn’t Spell, and host of the podcast “Scam Likely.”To talk more about his recent reporting, Yudhijit joins Milan on

Indira Gandhi’s ascent as prime minister of India in 1966 seems obvious with the benefit of hindsight, but it was entirely unforeseen at the time.Within years—if not months—she emerged as one of the most powerful political leaders of her era—serving as prime minister for fifteen years, leaving behind a complex and deeply controversial legacy.A new book by the historian Srinath Raghavan, Indira Gandhi and the Years that Transformed India, unpacks that legacy, uncovering fresh material that challenges much of the conventional wisdom we’ve accumulated over the years.Srinath is professor of international relations and history at Ashoka University and nonresident scholar at Carnegie India. He is the author of several celebrated books, including India’s War: The Making of Modern South Asia and Fierce Enigmas: A History of the United States in South Asia.He joins Milan on the show this week to discuss Gandhi’s unforeseen right to power, the daunting conditions which greeted her premiership, and her improvisatory lea

Indian Genius: The Meteoric Rise of Indians in America is a new book by the author and journalist Meenakshi Ahamed. While many immigrant groups have found success in the United States, few have excelled as far and as fast as Indian Americans, reaching heights in a single generation that many thought would take the better part of a century to achieve. Ahamed’s new book offers fascinating portraits of several Indian Americans in three distinct sectors—technology, medicine, and public policy. The book tries to understand what exactly accounts for Indian Americans' ability to break into mainstream American culture and their meteoric rise within its ranks.Listeners may remember our 2021 conversation with Meena on her previous book, A Matter of Trust: India–US Relations from Truman to Trump.To talk about her new book, Meena joins Milan on the show this week. They talk about the “godfather” of the Indian tech community in Silicon Valley, the balance between creativity and execution, and the role of caste. Plus, the