India’s Middle Class Hits a Breaking Point

More from Grand Tamasha

1. 

   S15 · E15 · 6 May 2026 · 1 hr 13 min

   India’s Delimitation Dilemma

   India hasn’t updated how political power is distributed across its states in five decades—and the consequences are mounting. Recently, Milan sat down with Shruti Rajagopalan of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University for a wide-ranging webinar on delimitation, representation, and the reshaping of Indian democracy.

2. 

   S15 · E14 · 29 Apr 2026 · 54 min

   India’s Youth Boom Meets a Jobs Bust

   For more than three decades, India’s growth story has rested on the promise of a large and youthful workforce. But a new report published by the Centre for Sustainable Employment at Azim Premji University takes a comprehensive look at how young Indians move from education into the labor market—and asks whether India is successfully converting its demographic dividend into an economic one. This week on the show Milan speaks with the report’s lead author Rosa Abraham, who heads theCentre for Sustainable Employment at Azim Premji University.

3. 

   S15 · E13 · 22 Apr 2026 · 1 hr

   The Indian Who Helped Build Silicon Valley

   Kanwal Rekhi was the first Indian-American founder & CEO to take a venture-backed company public on the NASDAQ. He also co-founded and built The Indus Entrepreneurs—or TiE—into the largest global network of Indian entrepreneurs. He writes about his life in his new memoir, which traces his remarkable journey from a modest upbringing in India to becoming one of the most influential figures in the Indian diaspora in the United States. Kanwal joins Milan to discuss his lifelong passion for entrepreneurship, his modest upbringing and challenging early family life, and his role in building the…

4. 

   S15 · E11 · 8 Apr 2026 · 52 min

   Inside The Complex: Family, Power, and India in Turmoil

   On this week’s show, Milan sits down with the novelist Karan Mahajan, author of a much-anticipated new novel, The Complex. Karan and Milan discussed the book at our first ever live Grand Tamasha event at Carnegie headquarters in Washington, DC on March 16. Karan is an associate professor in Literary Arts at Brown University and the author of the books Family Planning and The Association of Small Bombs.

5. 

   S15 · E10 · 1 Apr 2026 · 55 min

   Can India Thrive in Trump’s World?

   Donald Trump’s return to the White House has once again altered the contours of international politics. For India, this evolving context raises several important questions about the viability of its foreign policy approach. This week on the podcast, Milan sits down with three of the contributors to a new compilation published by the Carnegie Endowment—Shoumitro Chatterjee, Sameer Lalwani, and Tanvi Madan—to discuss the uncertain trajectory of Indian foreign policy.

6. 

   S15 · E9 · 25 Mar 2026 · 35 min

   Inside Washington: Ami Bera on Shifting U.S.–India Ties

   Over the past two decades, Washington and New Delhi have drawn steadily closer—driven by shared concerns about China, expanding economic ties, and a growing Indian diaspora in the United States. To help us unpack all of this, this week Milan spoke with Congressman Ami Bera in his office on Capitol Hill.

7. 

   S16 · E6 · 7 Oct 2026 · 57 min

   Why Clean Air Is So Hard to Deliver in India

   This week, Grand Tamasha is launching a new four-part series on energy and climate issues in collaboration with CASI—the Center for the Advanced Study of India—at the University of Pennsylvania. To discuss why toxic air has proven so politically challenging in India—and what it might take to change that—Milan is joined on the show this week by Vaishnavi Chandrashekhar and Tariq Thachil.

8. 

   S16 · E5 · 30 Sep 2026 · 1 hr 1 min

   India’s Public Finances, Explained

   This week, host Milan Vaishnav is joined by Sarthak Pradhan and Pranay Kotasthane to discuss their new book, Fiscal Fables: A Citizen’s Guide to Public Finance. The book demystifies India’s public finances for a lay audience—and explains public finance concepts using relatable stories and examples.

9. 

   S16 · E4 · 23 Sep 2026 · 42 min

   How India and Pakistan See Each Other—and the World

   New data collected by the Pew Research Center offer a revealing snapshot of how people across South Asia view their neighbors, major powers like the United States and China, and India’s growing global role. To unpack what these findings tell us about global public opinion, Milan is joined on the podcast this week by Jacob Poushter, the lead author of recent Pew report titled, “India and Pakistan: Rivals with Divergent Views of the Global Order.”

10. 

    S16 · E3 · 16 Sep 2026 · 52 min

    Episode 300: India, Then and Now

    This week, Milan, Sadanand Dhume, and Tanvi Madan discuss the political fall-out of this summer’s Gen Z protests, the political future of the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), and the churn within the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Plus, the trio discuss Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the potential thaw in China-India relations, and whether ties between India and the United States can weather the current turbulence.

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