Ideas of India Podcast By Mercatus Center at George Mason University cover art

Ideas of India

Ideas of India

By: Mercatus Center at George Mason University
Listen for free

About this listen

Through conversations with top thinkers in the social sciences and beyond, economist Shruti Rajagopalan explores the ideas that will propel India forward. Science Social Sciences
Episodes
  • Ramachandra Guha on the Origins of Indian Environmentalism
    Jun 5 2025

    Today my guest is environmental scholar, historian and biographer Ramachandra Guha. He is the author of a number of books, including a two-volume biography of Gandhi and the award-winning book “India After Gandhi.”

    We talked about his latest book, "Speaking with Nature: The Origins of Indian Environmentalism.” We spoke about global versus local commons, bottom up approach to environmentalism in India, urbanization, economic growth and technological progress and much more.

    Recorded May 7th, 2025.

    Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links.

    Connect with Ideas of India

    Follow us on X

    Follow Shruti on X

    Follow Ram on X

    Click here for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox.

    Timestamps

    00:00:00 - Intro

    00:01:08 - Speaking with Nature

    00:08:42 - Unquiet Woods

    00:38:29 - Science and Progress of Environmentalism

    00:47:33 - Radhakamal Mukerjee

    00:55:06 - K. M. Munshi

    01:03:38 - Technological Progress and Tradeoffs

    01:11:22 - Jayaprakash Narayan

    01:19:39 - Outro

    Show more Show less
    1 hr and 20 mins
  • Rajmohan Gandhi on Revenge and Reconciliation in South Asia
    May 22 2025

    Today’s episode is the second part of my conversation with Rajmohan Gandhi, a historian and biographer involved in efforts for trust-building and reconciliation and author of more than fifteen books, of which the most recent is Fraternity: Constitutional Norm and Human Need. He taught history and politics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 1997 until he retirement in 2022. His most recent initiative is We Are One Humanity (WAOH), a writers collective responding to the worldwide thrusts against democracy and equality.

    We spoke about his reflections on communal violence between Hindus and Muslims, revenge and reconciliation in South Asia, Sikhs and Buddhists, differences between north and south India, constitutional values, and much more.

    Recorded April 17th, 2025.

    Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links.

    Connect with Ideas of India

    Follow us on X

    Follow Shruti on X

    Click here for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox.

    Show more Show less
    1 hr and 18 mins
  • Rajmohan Gandhi Reflects on India's Founding Fathers
    May 8 2025

    Today my guest is Rajmohan Gandhi, a historian and biographer involved in efforts for trust-building and reconciliation and author of more than fifteen books, of which the most recent is Fraternity: Constitutional Norm and Human Need. He taught history and politics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 1997 until his retirement in 2022. His most recent initiative is We Are One Humanity (WAOH), a writers collective responding to the worldwide thrusts against democracy and equality.

    We spoke about his reflections on his biographies of the founding fathers, Vallabhai Patel, Mohandas Gandhi, C Rajagopalachari, and Gaffar Khan, their competing visions, debates with others like Ambedkar and Nehru, constitutional values, the civil rights movement, his faith, and much more.

    Recorded April 18th, 2025.

    Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links.

    Connect with Ideas of India

    Follow us on X

    Follow Shruti on X

    Click here for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox.

    Timestamps

    Intro - 00:00:00

    Patel - 00:01:34

    Rajaji - 00:31:20

    Ghaffar Khan - 00:51:53

    Gandhi - 01:05:53

    Competing Visions - 01:17:32

    Biographies of Family Members - 01:18:54

    Serendipity in the Research Process - 01:23:40

    Civil Rights in the US - 01:27:23

    Pessimistic or Optimistic? - 01:35:16

    Role of God and Faith - 01:36:27

    Outro - 01:38:20

    Show more Show less
    1 hr and 39 mins
adbl_web_global_use_to_activate_webcro805_stickypopup
No reviews yet