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In this episode of Jack of All Knowledge, I am joined by Rahul Ahluwalia who is a director at Foundation for Economic Development in India. FED works with central and state governments in India to identify high-impact opportunities for economic growth and helps them realize those opportunities.  Rahul is, what many of us would call, a classical liberal thinker. I came across his work some time back through FED’s “Growth is Good” podcast series; where Rahul invites economists and other experts to discuss various facets of economic growth - all linked to Fed’s central thesis, which is that economic growth is indisputably the best way to improve human lives.  In this podcast we went back to the basics. We talked about his connection to economic growth, why does he feels so passionately about it, the foundations of classical liberalism, and why we must stand guard against the perils of socialism. It was refreshing to talk to him about the foundational concepts that we throw around from time to time without realising the deeper meaning behind them. I had a fun time recording with Rahul, and I hope you enjoy this episode. Show Notes: Foundation for Economic Development: https://www.fedev.org/who-we-are/  Rahul Alhuwalia (twitter/ X): https://www.fedev.org/who-we-are/  1991 Project: https://the1991project.com/  Growth is Good episode with Shruti Rajagopalan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPC6VzqMsvk  A comprehensive analysis of poverty in India: https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/847861468257945118/pdf/946460v10JRN0B0O0900170adev0a000021.pdf  BR Shenoy’s Forgotten Voice of Dissent: https://www.forbesindia.com/article/hindsight/b.r.-shenoys-forgotten-voice-of-dissent/26922/1  Why conventional wisdom on healthcare is wrong: https://randomcriticalanalysis.com/why-conventional-wisdom-on-health-care-is-wrong-a-primer/  We economists have done the math, growth is a doomed strategy: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/10/economists-maths-growth-doomed-strategy-un-agencies-political-leaders  Gen Z Socialism, From Zohran to Zack and beyond: https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2026/06/04/gen-z-socialism-from-zohran-to-zack-and-beyond  How to fight Gen Z Socialism: https://www.economist.com/leaders/2026/06/04/how-to-fight-back-against-gen-z-socialism 199 Short history of living conditions: our world in data (https://ourworldindata.org/a-history-of-global-living-conditions)

Hi, welcome to the 23rd episode of Jack of all knowledge. In this episode, I am speaking with Dr. Renuka Sane and Bhavin Patel, who are the executive director, and program director at Trustbridge, respectively. Trustbridge, is a research institute which seeks to improve India's business environment by improving the rule of law for businesses in India. It has two focus areas. One is regulatory state capacity, which is the topic of our conversation today, and the other is government contracting and dispute resolution.  I met Renuka and Bhavin at xkdr forum's office in Mumbai, last year while they were presenting their work, and have followed their work ever since. This conversation was a long time in making and I'm happy we finally managed to record this. We speak about the reason why Trustbridge exists, its aims and goals, about the excellent work being carried out at the institute, life in policy and much more. I had a great time speaking with them and I hope you enjoy the episode. Show Notes. healthcare, economic slowdown and women's labour participation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mys6GuP-y9k 11. Renuka Sane on safety of a good pension: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJvC8_w1QV4

In this episode, I am joined by Dr. Suvrat Kher. Suvrat is a geologist with deep expertise in sedimentary geology and remote sensing. Suvrat also writes the popular geology blog Rapid Uplift, which as per Suvrat is an exploration of geology and our changing planet. I was introduced to Suvrat and his amazing efforts to popularise geology through the blog.  In this conversation we speak about his early interest in geology, his studies and research work, why geology is more important than meets the eye (even though it is everywhere around us), and his passion to communicate this field to others.  I had a great time speaking about earths sciences with Suvrat and it made me more curious and aware of my surroundings. I hope you enjoy the episode. Show Notes. 1. Rapid Uplift: https://rapiduplift.substack.com/ 2. Suvrat's twitter: https://x.com/rapiduplift 3. Suvrat on what he does: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tH2zNBhqlT0

In this episode I am speaking with second time guest on the show, Dr. Ajay Shah about {x}kdr forum and the problems it solves. We speak about how the organisation chooses problems to solve, how they contribute to the Indian developmental story, how Ajay manages to be as enthusiastic about solving big problems as he was 20 years ago, and much more.

In this episode, I am speaking with Bhargavi Zaveri Shah. She is currently pursuing a doctorate degree in law at the National University of Singapore. Her core research interests are the working of central banks and courts in developing countries. She has also done a lot of work on financial regulation, bankruptcy law, regulatory governance and the land market, all in the Indian context. In the conversation, we speak about a range of fascinating topics such as her journey from law to finance, and how she left her law firm job to dedicate herself to public policy research, legal education, and the justice system. We speak at length about her data-backed scholarship on analysing various debt resolution fora and how it can help litigants make better and more equipped choices in the justice system. You can find links to her work here: Bhargavi's Google Scholar page: https://scholar.google.co.in/citations?user=bDvivMIAAAAJ&hl=en Bhargavi's articles on the LEAP blog: https://blog.theleapjournal.org/2015/12/author-bhargavi-zaveri.html#gsc.tab=0 Bhargavi's research on future of court metrics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28800jhftMg&t=1s&ab_channel=xKDR Bhargavi is present on twitter @bhargavizaveri

Roshan Abbas doesn't need much introduction. He's an enigma of creativity and a brilliant person. It was a pleasure to pick out his brains for an hour. The episode features timeless wisdom, poignant stories from his life, advice for creators and curious individuals, and much more a reflection of the great human being he is. Roshan is on Twitter as @roshanabbas

Ajay Shah and I speak about a range of issues - how to better our state capacity, what battles are worth for the state to take up, how to improve our governance models, how to align incentives in the governance institutions, what is the role of the modern state, how to bring out better outcomes for the society, what are in fact better outcomes and much more. Ajay's work can be found at: https://www.mayin.org/ajayshah/

In this episode, I'm speaking with two of my favorite writers about a host of issues. From choosing which college to go to, to understanding what good parenting is, we talk about everything that makes the human brain go tick. We speak extensively about being curious, keeping your learning self alive, how to learn better, how to accumulate knowledge etc. It is a thoroughly enjoyable conversation, and I hope you enjoy listening to this as well! This podcast was recorded with the help of Emergent Ventures grant from Mercatus Center, George Mason University.

I'm talking to Amit Varma, host of the immensely popular podcast seen and the unseen; on a range of issues. We talk about his creative process, the making of seen and the unseen as an oral history project, politics, conversation & disagreements, policy etc.

In the 15th episode of Jack of all knowledge, I'm talking to Shruti Rajagopalan - senior research fellow at Mercatus center, George Mason University and fellow at classical liberal institute NYU law. She is also the lead of Indian vertical of Emergent ventures (a grant making initiative) at GMU. She writes prolifically and also hosts the popular podcast Ideas of India. She's by far, one of the most brilliant people I know - with deep expertise in areas of law and economics. She did her undergraduate degree in economics from Hansraj college, DU and then went to do her LLB from CLC, DU. She then do her masters in law and economics as an Erasmus scholar and then did her PhD in economics from GMU. We talk about her intellectual and personal journey, her interests, research and how she looks at the world. We also talk about intersection of law and economics, what does it mean to think like an economist, how to critically look at economics, and much more. This conversation is one of the best I've had on the podcast - I hope you enjoy this episode. Links: 1. Mercatus center: https://www.mercatus.org/ 2. Ideas of India: https://www.mercatus.org/tags/ideas-india 3. Emergent ventures: https://www.mercatus.org/emergent-ventures 4. Econ4everybody: https://econforeverybody.com/ 5. Fast grants: https://fastgrants.org/

In the 14th episode of Jack of all knowledge, I'm talking to Alok Prasanna Kumar, co founder of Vidhi center for legal policy. Vidhi works on various law and justice issues and is committed to drafting good laws, strengthening public institutions, and realising fundamental rights. Alok did his undergraduate from NALSAR and then went to do his BCL from Oxford. After a brief career in litigation, he was part of the founding team of Vidhi - a think tank that has come a long way since the winter of 2013 when it was started.  In the following conversation we talk about many things. We extensively talk about Alok's earlier days, during school and the later, law school, his interests and experiences. We have an insightful discussion on legal education - both undergraduate and masters and how both impacted him as a legal scholar and a person. We then dive deep into the Vidhi story. We talk about the genesis of the think tank, how did they scale up, the values and culture that drives Vidhi, how they take up new projects and measure progress.  Producing this podcast takes a lot of my time and effort. From finding the right guests, to recording and editing. If you enjoy listening to the podcast, I would encourage you to support my work by buying me a coffee! Basically for each coffee you buy, I get 375 rupees - and all of this will help me focus on producing high quality conversations for free. I've included the link in the description. Consider supporting (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/divyanshudembi)  Vidhi Center of legal policy - https://vidhilegalpolicy.in/

In the 13th episode of the Jack of all knowledge I'm talking to Abhinav Sekhri. Abhinav is a practicing lawyer based in Delhi. He graduated from NLS Bangalore in 2014 and since then has been litigating. He is especially interested in criminal law, evidence and procedure and also edits and writes about the same on his blog Proof of Guilt. He attended HLS for his masters on an Inlaks Shivdasini scholarship. We extensively talk about section 66A,of the IT act  the history behind how section 66A was struck down in the now famous judgement of Shreya Singhal v UOI, and also how it has now become a legal zombie - a law that despite being struck down is continually being used to prosecute individuals. We then talk about section 69A of the IT act, which although was challenged in Shreya Singhal but was ruled to be constitutionally firm. The section is back in the public discourse after its use became frequent by the present government to take down certain types of online content. We also talk about his passion for writing, his views on what reforms are needed in the Indian criminal justice system, what would his advice be to aspiring criminal lawyers and lastly - which books should law students read to gain a better knowledge of the law. Abhinav is on twitter as @abhinavsekhri10 I hope you enjoy the conversation. Relevant links: 1. Proof of guilt: https://theproofofguilt.blogspot.com/ 2. Section 66A and other legal zombies: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3275893 3. Shreya Singhal on the case: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2Gj8hUd2DJ03LDxVNCzru2?si=GxdE3iSuQz60oWhkh7DNEA&dl_branch=1 4. Section 69A of the IT act must go: https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion/section-69a-of-it-act-must-also-go-1012522.html?utm_source=pocket_mylist 5. Disintegration of Criminal Justice System: https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/the-disintegration-of-the-criminal-justice-system/article32785928.ece?utm_source=pocket_mylist

In this episode, I'm talking with Sukhnidh Kaur about a range of tech policy issues - from data governance, platform regulation, free speech and private power, and most importantly - about her work as the Digital Literacy fellow at the Internet Freedom Foundation. If you're buzzing in and around the Indian tech policy scene, chances are that you've seen Sukhnidh's brilliant explainer videos about complex legal and technological issues which she did on behalf of IFF. We talk about how she broke down these complex issues into accessible chunks of media, how memes can help generate awareness, and why we need people other than lawyers in Indian tech policy. In the later half of our conversation, we talk about how she approached these issues of tech policy coming from a space of Instagram influencing, about how the platform i.e. Instagram itself is evolving, and about how can organizations cultivate sustained change making movements. Sukhnidh is on twitter as @skhndh. References: 1. Sukhnidh's Privacy 101 explainer video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ykl8bcxFdxo&t=21s&ab_channel=InternetFreedomFoundation 2. Anja Kovack's piece on Identity and data: https://deepdives.in/when-our-bodies-become-data-where-does-that-leave-us-906674f6a969?gi=c62f48e15b67 3. Sukhnidh's Medium page: https://sukhnidh.medium.com/

In the 11th episode, I’m talking to Ashish Kulkarni – someone who genuinely embodies the title of this show ‘Jack of all knowledge’. Ashish is an assistant professor at the Gokhle Institute of Politics and economics, Pune. He also writes at his blog econ4everybody about economics, ideas, perspectives and everything under the sun. He also hosts a podcast called back to college in which he talks to college graduates about what they would do differently if they were again in college. Ashish had been a dream guest for the show for a long time and it was very exciting for me to be able to host him, you’ll see shortly why. I talked to Ashish about a lot of things – about how he dropped engineering to study economics, about his passions and philosophy for education and the education system, what it means to be curious and how one can become more curious, why everyone should write, how his ideal university looks like, how he optimises for time and attention in the internet age and finally his sound advice on how to maximise soul. By far this was the best conversation on my podcast yet, I hope you enjoy! Ashish is on twitter at @shish2727. Links: Econ4everybody: https://econforeverybody.com/ Back to college: https://open.spotify.com/show/250XSqf7sfLJNAg5gL1u5U?si=d0BGsrThSnm5k4xn11CPYQ&dl_branch=1 Maximising soul: https://econforeverybody.com/2021/03/08/maximizing_soul/ Ashish’s interview on philosophy and future of education part I: https://praneetsinghbutran.substack.com/p/on-the-philosophy-and-future-of-education Ashish’s interview on philosophy and future of education part II: https://praneetsinghbutran.substack.com/p/on-the-philosophy-and-future-of-education-590 On Interning: https://econforeverybody.com/2021/03/05/on-interning/ Unbundling college: https://econforeverybody.com/2020/07/14/unbundling-college/ Long, slow, but inevitable death of classroom: https://econforeverybody.com/2021/01/28/the-long-slow-but-inevitable-death-of-the-classroom/ How to optimise twitter as a learning tool: https://divyanshu99.substack.com/p/why-twitter-is-the-single-most-important-21-06-06 Marginal Revolution: https://marginalrevolution.com/ Conversations with Tyler: https://conversationswithtyler.com/ Almost ideal university, part I: https://econforeverybody.com/2021/07/09/the-almost-ideal-university/ At Tyler Cowen university, no one would have tenure: https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-07-05/what-would-your-fantasy-university-look-like

In this episode of Jack of all knowledge, I'm joined by my dear friend and senior Nirmal Bhansali. Nirmal is a 5th year law student at NLUJ, and will be graduating from college this summer. I talk to him about a range of issues, from his experience of hosting two different podcasts, to curiosity and how learning happens inside and outside college. We go off on a bunch of different interesting tangents which makes the conversation richer. Nirmal is on twitter as @NirmalSBhansali. 1. Curiousect: https://open.spotify.com/show/3xy0CTHMOHTvuYy2sKNvGA?si=tB-K8hPCQNKPVzC5gpknSg&utm_source=copy-link 2. Legal Synthesis (with Sandesh Atyam): https://open.spotify.com/show/22uItKBeS0gcABpxgTrCiQ?si=GR6crqvqR2-o1MZ_2jvSLw&utm_source=copy-link 3. 99% Invisible: https://open.spotify.com/show/2VRS1IJCTn2Nlkg33ZVfkM?si=a2vTqf40T42n_sH-67Pi7Q&utm_source=copy-link 4. This American Life: https://open.spotify.com/show/41zWZdWCpVQrKj7ykQnXRc?si=vxLJpGRaRyu49bKyTmUG9g&utm_source=copy-link 5. More perfect: https://open.spotify.com/show/6iVxbLoqDofkNpXYO4mt2W?si=45m9LFftShOhCxW5V5-aQQ&utm_source=copy-link 6. Hello Internet: https://open.spotify.com/show/6qJxqNeEbtFpRVkUchWTRr?si=ta_-LmSDT8WoF85ds_lo2Q&utm_source=copy-link 7. The undismal paradox: https://open.spotify.com/show/0E5PReAJtDkKFBhbMKzo4n?si=lOuv0VCSQvSy1rZmFIuQDg&utm_source=copy-link 8. Ways of hearing: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5sovOkTvSVAi1VDgKKi74d?si=9rRsh4d8Sh61M6iJu89GcQ&utm_source=copy-link 9. Roman Mars's Ted Talk: https://youtu.be/pnv5iKB2hl4 10. Paul Graham's essay on Curiosity: http://www.paulgraham.com/think.html 11. Nirmal's episode titled 'A longing to read': https://open.spotify.com/episode/7BhjVdVNIYLkhGZl7SkI0B?si=Vq6OShcUTNOKlqWFexJ9jw&utm_source=copy-link 12. Max Joseph's video about Bookstore and reading: https://youtu.be/lIW5jBrrsS0 13. Ashish Kulkarni's (v cool) blog: https://econforeverybody.com/ My essays on some related topics: 1. The knowledge tradeoff: https://impatientlycurious.blogspot.com/2021/03/the-knowledge-trade-off.html 2. Bring back long-form: https://impatientlycurious.blogspot.com/2021/03/bring-back-long-form.html 3. Procrastination kills knowledge: https://impatientlycurious.blogspot.com/2021/03/procrastination-kills-knowledge.html 4. Inadequacy of knowledge: https://impatientlycurious.blogspot.com/2021/03/inadequacy-of-knowledge.html 5. Advice to my 18 y/o self: https://impatientlycurious.blogspot.com/2021/04/advice-to-my-18-year-old-self.html