Today my guest is Narayani Basu, who is a historian and the author of the latest book, A Man for All Seasons: The Life of K. M. Panikkar. Her last book was a biography of V.P. Menon: The Unsung Architect of Modern India.

We talked about KM Panikkar, his comparison with VP Menon, the Indian nationalist movement in the interwar years, the origins of India’s diplomatic relationship with China, Pannikar’s Zionism and much more.

Recorded August 1st, 2025.

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Timestamps

(00:00:00) - Intro

(00:01:07) - The Elusive K. M. Panikkar

(00:07:52) - Panikkar’s and the Indian National Movement

(00:19:32) - Panikkar’s Intellectual Arc

(00:26:45) - Unifying an Indian Identity

(00:35:38) - India’s Princely States

(00:40:19) - Panikkar and China

(00:54:43) - Panikkar and the 1950s

(00:59:43) - Panikkar’s Thought vs. His Government Work

(01:08:35) - Panikkar’s Blind Spots

(01:15:48) - Panikkar and Today’s India

(01:18:27) - Outro

Today my guest is Yamini Aiyar, who is currently a Visiting Senior Fellow at the Saxena Center for Contemporary South Asia at Brown University and the author of the recent book Lessons in State Capacity from Delhi’s Schools. Her main research interests are contemporary politics, state capacity, welfare policy, and federalism.

We talked about the challenges of education policy and welfare in India, the lack of agency experienced by school administrators and teachers, the role of local governments in education, Delhi’s experiment with education reforms, portable benefits and school vouchers, and much more.

Recorded July 16th, 2025.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links.

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Timestamps

(00:00:00) - Intro

(00:01:27) - Delhi School Experiment

(00:12:45) - Education in a Welfare State

(00:28:34) - Incompetent Petty Tyrants

(00:38:17) - Federalism and Education

(00:50:18) - How to Build Empowerment

(01:05:39) - Is the Delhi Experiment Generalizable?

(01:18:52) - Portability and Education

(01:28:15) - Outro

Recorded July 8th, 2025.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links.

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Timestamps

(00:00:00) - Intro

(00:01:38) - India’s Fiscal Federalism System

(00:22:46) - India’s Welfare State

(00:34:19) - Unequal Growth

(00:45:58) - Consumption Taxes

(01:02:30) - Public Finance in India

(01:27:06) - Outro