Ep 447: Rahul Ahluwalia Fights for Growth and Freedom

Eight decades after independence, India still isn't free. Rahul Ahluwalia joins Amit Varma in episode 447 of The Seen and the Unseen to explain why economic growth has such a positive humanitarian impact -- and freedom lies at its heart. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Rahul Ahluwalia on Twitter, LinkedIn and FED. 2. Foundation for Economic Development. 3. Growth is Good -- Rahul Ahluwalia's podcast at FED. 4. Deepak VS and the Man Behind His Face — Episode 373 of The Seen and the Unseen. 5. Swaminathan Aiyar's columns at ToI and his own website. 6. Gurcharan Das's columns at ToI and his own website. 7. India Unbound — Gurcharan Das. 8. The Life and Times of Gurcharan Das — Episode 425 of The Seen and the Unseen. 9. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 10. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen. 11. The Forgotten Greatness of PV Narasimha Rao — Episode 283 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 12. Naushad Forbes Wants to Fix India — Episode 282 of The Seen and the Unseen. 13. The Life and Times of KP Krishnan — Episode 355 of The Seen and the Unseen. 14. Lant Pritchett Is on Team Prosperity — Episode 379 of The Seen and the Unseen. 15. The Life and Times of the Indian Economy -- Episode 387 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rajeswari Sengupta). 16. Why Freedom Matters — Episode 10 of Everything is Everything. 17. The Reformers — Episode 28 of Everything is Everything. 18. India's Massive Pensions Crisis — Episode 347 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah & Renuka Sane). 19. The Tragedy of Our Farm Bills — Episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 20. The 1991 Project. 21. Stay Away From Luxury Beliefs -- Episode 46 of Everything is Everything. 22. Gig Work is AWESOME! -- Episode 124 of Everything is Everything. 23. Reading Lolita in Tehran -- Azar Nafisi. 24. India's Problem is Poverty, Not Inequality -- Amit Varma. 25. A Venture Capitalist Looks at the World — Episode 213 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sajith Pai). 26. Public Choice Theory Explains SO MUCH -- Episode 33 of Everything is Everything. 27. Population Is Not a Problem, but Our Greatest Strength -- Amit Varma. 28. The short history of global living conditions and why it matters that we know it -- Max Roser. 29. The Florentines -- Paul Strathern. 30. National output without government? State capacity and welfare measurement -- Vincent Geloso and Chandler Reilly. 31. Atlas Shrugged -- Ayn Rand. 32. The Wealth of Nations -- Adam Smith. 33. Understanding the State -- Episode 25 of Everything is Everything. 34. Every Act of Government Is an Act of Violence -- Amit Varma. 35. Economic growth is enough and only economic growth is enough — Lant Pritchett with Addison Lewis. 36. Where Has All the Education Gone? — Lant Pritchett. 37. Looking like a state: The seduction of isomorphic mimicry -- Matt Andrews, Lant Pritchett and Michael Woolcock. 38. Sixteen Stormy Days — Tripurdaman Singh. 39. The First Assault on Our Constitution — Episode 194 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh). 40. Nehru: The Debates that Defined India — Tripurdaman Singh and Adeel Hussain. 41. Nehru's Debates — Episode 262 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh and Adeel Hussain). 42. The Right to Property — Episode 26 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 43. Caged Tiger: How Too Much Government Is Holding Indians Back — Subhashish Bhadra. 44. Subhashish Bhadra on Our Dysfunctional State — Episode 333 of The Seen and the Unseen. 45. Colours of the Cage: A Prison Memoir — Arun Ferreira. 46. Shikha Dalmia Is the Unpopulist -- Episode 403 of The Seen and the Unseen. 47. DeMon, Morality and the Predatory Indian State — Episode 85 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 48. Narendra Modi Takes a Great Leap Backwards — Amit Varma. 49. Horseshoe Theory and the Median Voter Theorem. 50. Government's End: Why Washington Stopped Working — Jonathan Rauch. 51. Denial: My 25 Years Without a Soul -- Jonathan Rauch. 52. The Logic of Collective Action -- Mancur Olson. 53. Anarchy, State and Utopia — Robert Nozick. 54. A Theory of Justice — John Rawls. 55. India After Gandhi — Ramachandra Guha. 56. Arguments for Liberty -- Edited by Aaron Ross Powell and Grant Babcock. 57. Johan Norberg on Amazon and YouTube. 58. State Building -- Francis Fukuyama. 59. India Needs Decentralization -- Episode 47 of Everything is Everything. 60. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 61. Education in India — Episode 77 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Amit Chandra). 62. The Profit Motive in Education — Episode 9 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Parth Shah). 63. Our Unlucky Children (2008) -- Amit Varma. 64. Fund Schooling, Not Schools (2007) -- Amit Varma. 65. Profit = Philanthropy -- Amit Varma. 66. Praise for intelligence can undermine children's motivation and performance — Claudia Mueller and Carol Dweck. 67. Controlling Your Dopamine For Motivation, Focus & Satisfaction -- Huberman Lab. 68. Master Your Sleep & Be More Alert When Awake -- Huberman Lab. 69. Why We Sleep — Matthew Walker. 70. Matthew Walker on the Huberman Lab podcast. 71. The Frido 3D eye mask Amit uses. 72. John Collison's tweet on the world being a museum of passion projects. 73. The Beatles, Elvis Presley, Dean Martin, Metallica, Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden on Spotify. 74. Love Me Tender and Can't Help Falling in Love -- Elvis Presley. 75. Aaj -- Bloodywood. 76. Bekhauf -- Bloodywood (featuring BABYMETAL) 77. Coke Studio Bharat Season 2 and Season 3. 78. Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg and Eminem on Spotify. 79. The Next Episode -- Dr Dre featuring Snoop Dogg, Kurupt, Nate Dogg. 80. Ravi Shankar at Monterey Pop. 81. Ain't No Man Alive Can Handle Me -- Dumpster Grooves. 82. Alistair MacLean and PG Wodehouse on Amazon. 83. The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy -- Douglas Adams. 84. Animal Farm -- George Orwell. 85. Building State Capability: Evidence, Analysis, Action -- Matt Andrews, Lant Pritchett and Michael Woolcock. 86. The Rebirth of Education: Schooling Ain't Learning -- Lant Pritchett. 87. Lant Pritchett On Growth, Development & Income Inequality -- FED Dialogues. 88. In Service of the Republic — Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah. 89. Random Critical Analysis. 90. Chupke Chupke -- Hrishikesh Mukherjee. Amit Varma runs a course called Life Lessons, which aims to be a launchpad towards learning essential life skills all of you need. For more details, and to sign up, click here. And have you read Amit's newsletter? It's madly active right now! Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It's free! Also check out Amit's online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: 'Marketplace of Ideas' by Simahina.