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An interview podcast with newsmakers from around India and the world, spanning politics, culture, food, and the economy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  1. Why India's GDP data can't be believed

    19/12/2025

    Why India's GDP data can't be believed

    In A Sixth of Humanity, political scientist Devesh Kapur and economist Arvind Subramanian set out to do something ambitious: chart India’s development journey from Nehru to Modi. In this episode of Adda, they sit down with Shoaib Daniyal and break down the four stages of India’s development. Starting with Nehru’s planned economy, which they argue did not do what it set out to: import substitution. Rather than create a safe space for Indian industry to grow and then eventually take on international competition, it ended up nearly killing the private sector. Interestingly, Modi might be doing something similar now by promoting so-called national champions like Adani and Ambani. Again, by allowing them to largely play in the domestic space, rather than making them take on international competition, these firms are not adding to India’s growth story. Most shockingly, however, Kapur and Subramanian argue that India’s GDP growth has ground to a halt over the last decade or so, with them estimating that average growth has been only around 3%. For context, official data reported that India’s real GDP grew 8.2% in the second quarter of 2025-26. Contribute to Scroll's studio fund: https://pages.razorpay.com/scrollstudiofund Producer: Aryan Mahtta Editor: Hyder Habib Host: Shoaib Daniyal We welcome your comments at letters@scroll.in. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    56 min
  2. Delhi’s pollution crisis needs drastic action

    12/12/2025

    Delhi’s pollution crisis needs drastic action

    In almost any other city in the world, Delhi’s apocalyptic pollution levels would have sparked alarm. In India, however, it is business as usual. Governments are wary of taking action and even the once-activist judiciary is now lying low. This state of affairs is untenable, Sunita Narain, director Centre for Science and Environments says in this episode of Scroll Adda. The situation is severe and massive policy changes will have to be taken. Industries must be shifted to clean fuel, car and motorcycle users must be shifted to buses as well as trains and old, polluting vehicles must be barred from the streets of Delhi. Narain notes the progress that has been made. Fuel today is much cleaner than it was a few years back. But also notes that any such steps forward are rolled back given the sheer increase in the number of private vehicles in Delhi. She is despondent about the Indian state’s response to pollution, arguing that earlier in her career as an environmental activist, institutions were far more responsive to people’s needs. Producer: Raghav Kakkar Editor: Hyder Habib Research: Vaishnavi Rathod Host: Shoaib Daniyal Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    56 min
  3. Why Ladakh is angry with the Modi government

    07/11/2025

    Why Ladakh is angry with the Modi government

    On September 24, shots rang through the otherwise idyllic town of Leh. Four people were killed and many more injured in police firing as protests for statehood turned violent. Sajjad Kargili, one of Ladakh’s most popular leaders and a part of the delegation that is negotiating with the Modi government joins Shoaib Daniyal on Scroll Adda to explain why Ladakhis are so angry with Delhi. Ladakhi demands, he explains, are simple: they want their political and cultural rights secured within India’s federal framework. Ladakh should be ruled by Ladakhis as part of a state in the Union. Jobs should be reserved and migration from other states restricted to protect the rights of tribal people as well as the environment in this mountainous region. Kargili criticises the Modi government for removing safeguards like Article 370 when the state of Jammu and Kashmir was partitioned and demoted to Union territory in 2019. The stakes for Delhi are high. Ladakh is bordered by Pakistan and China with both nuclear states occupying Indian territory in the Union territory. Moreover, Ladakhis, both its Buddhists and Muslims, have always stood shoulder to shoulder with the Indian Army as it defends Ladakh. Producer: Aryan Mahtta Host: Shoaib Daniyal Have any thoughts, ideas or criticism? Email us at adda@scroll.in We welcome your comments at letters@scroll.in. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    47 min
  4. Does communism have a future in India?

    24/10/2025

    Does communism have a future in India?

    From the 1950s to the 1990s, left-wing thought played a major role in Indian society. From shaping the nascent Indian state after the British left, with Indians turning to socialist ideas to combat the ravages of colonialism, to the stasis of the big Central government measures like the license permit raj and freight equalisation. Things, however, are quite different now. India’s youth has little experience of the Left. India’s largest left-wing party, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), in fact, barely has a presence in Parliament. From 43 seats in 2004, it has only four in the Lok Sabha today. On Scroll Adda, the CPI(M)’s Saira Shah Halim joins Shoaib Daniyal to explain why communism lost its appeal and how she thinks the reds can make a comeback. #communism #socialism #CPIM #Left #westbengal #kerala #Maoists #China Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    49 min
  5. Can an IAS officer have a conscience?

    10/10/2025

    Can an IAS officer have a conscience?

    India has, in theory, a cabinet system of government. A group of popularly elected politicians are meant to rule using consensus.In practice, of course, we have a strongman (or strongwoman) model, where one powerful politician rules via a clique of Indian Administrative Service officers. So much do politicians like the IAS that since independence, they have given the cadre more and more power. This when, during the Raj itself, babus were already seen to be all-powerful.What happens, though, when an IAS officer decides to listen to his conscience? In 2019, Kannan Gopinathan resigned from the service in protest against the draconian crackdown in Kashmir following the abrogation of Article 370. On Scroll Adda, Kannan tells me how he became an IAS officer almost by accident, what it felt like having so much power and what it is now after his resignation. Producer: Kritika Pant Host: Shoaib Daniyal Have any thoughts, ideas or criticism? Email us at adda@scroll.in We welcome your comments at letters@scroll.in. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 30m
  6. Why is the Indian state so corrupt?

    26/09/2025

    Why is the Indian state so corrupt?

    The Indian state is an almost mythical animal. Inherited by Indians from the British Raj, the state is responsible for great injustice: Indians are generally more scared of the police than they are of goondas. Nearly every Indian also thinks the state is corrupt: bureaucrats and politicians are out to fleece them. But paradoxically, Indians also look to the state for help and as a beacon to building a better society. Welfare and its contours are a feature of every election cycle. Moreover, backward castes have battled long and hard to control the levers of the state, using elections as well as reservations. To explain these contradictions, we have on Adda, Yamini Aiyar. Till 2024, she headed the Centre for Policy Research, then one of India’s leading think tanks. Currently she is at Brown University in the United States as a senior visiting fellow. Aiyar unpacks why allegations of corruption sometimes lead to undemocratic outcomes, how the centralisation of the Indian state hurts Indians and why we could do welfare much better. Producer: Raghav Kakkar Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 15m
  7. Why the Congress thinks India’s elections are rigged

    06/09/2025

    Why the Congress thinks India’s elections are rigged

    India’s largest Opposition party is levelling an explosive charge against the Election Commission: vote rigging to favour the Bharatiya Janata Party. In August, party leader Rahul Gandhi took the example of an Assembly Constituency in Karnataka to illustrate significant errors in the voter rolls. A belligerent Election Commission refused to accept any wrongdoing and instead attacked Gandhi in response. To unpack the Congress’ allegations, Congress leader Amitabh Dubey is on this episode of Scroll Adda with Shoaib Daniyal. We get him to explain what the Congress is accusing the EC of and what led it to such a point of no return. We also grilled Dubey on why the Congress’ workers could not catch these errors before the elections. The implications of the Congress’ allegations are grave. If Indian elections are fixed, why does the Congress take part in them? To this, Dubey says that boycotting elections serves no purpose and only ends up backfiring on the Opposition. Producer: Kritika Pant Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 1m
  8. How Varun Grover does political comedy in the Modi age

    29/08/2025

    How Varun Grover does political comedy in the Modi age

    Contribute to Scroll's studio fund: https://pages.razorpay.com/scrollstudiofund Varun Grover describes himself as an anti-establishment artist. And as a writer, filmmaker and comedian, he has carved a distinct voice for himself in these politically charged times. Of course, none of this is easy. Never in its history as an independent country has India seen this level of censorship. The threat of violence always hangs over the head of dissenting artists. Grover describes this as “having a drunk father – one day he might come back and love you but then another he might beat you for no reason”. In Scroll Adda’s first-ever live audience recording, Shoaib Daniyal speaks to Grover to understand how a middle-class Punjabi kid from Lucknow managed to use his engineering degree as a springboard into Bombay. Producer: Kritika Pant Have any thoughts, ideas or criticism? Email us at adda@scroll.in Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 35m
See All (14)

About

An interview podcast with newsmakers from around India and the world, spanning politics, culture, food, and the economy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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  • Creator
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  • Years Active
    2K
  • Episodes
    14
  • Rating
    Clean
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    © SCNS PRIVATE LIMITED
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    Scroll Adda

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