India is too large to be governed in a top-down way, with an all-powerful center. It makes a mockery of democracy. Decentralisation is the only way out.

Welcome to Episode 47 of Everything is Everything, a weekly podcast hosted by Amit Varma and Ajay Shah.

In this episode, Amit and Ajay discuss how a country as large and diverse as India needs more local government. But what does this mean in practical terms? Should we be happy with dictatorial chief ministers? How does democracy work at the level of a village? Why do we need many more states -- and empowered cities? Does Bubba really know the Pope?

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TABLE OF CONTENTS:
00:00 Packaging
00:13 Introduction: A Thought About How States Evolve
04:34 Chapter 1:India Is Heterogenous
12:29 Chapter 2: What Should the State Do?
24:17 Chapter 3: The Subsidiarity Principle
40:19 Chapter 4: The Indian Journey
57:43 Chapter 5: Migration Is Important
1:08:42 Chapter 6: A Choice Between Bad and Bad
1:14:28 Chapter 7: How Do We Solve This?
1:18:32 Chapter 8: Amit’s Recco
1:19:39 Chapter 9: Ajay’s Recco

USEFUL RESOURCES:
1. Amit on Twitter:   / amitvarma  
2. Ajay on Twitter:   / ajay_shah  
3. The Seen and the Unseen -- Amit's audio podcast: https://seenunseen.in/
(Also on all podcast apps. And YouTube, though less than 1% of listens come from here:    / @theseenandtheunseen  )
4. Ajay's organisation, XKDR Forum, on YouTube:    / @xkdr  
5. In Service of the Republic -- Vijay Kelkar and Ajay Shah: https://amzn.eu/d/hwGILb3
6. The Art of Clear Writing -- Amit's writing course: https://indiauncut.com/clear-writing/
7. The India Uncut Newsletter -- Amit's newsletter at https://indiauncut.substack.com/
8. Lant Pritchett Is on Team Prosperity -- Episode 379 of The Seen and the Unseen:    • Ep 379: Lant Pritchett Is on Team Pro...  
9. CMIE Consumer Pyramids dx: https://consumerpyramidsdx.cmie.com/
10. From Imperial to Adaptive Firms -- Episode 37 of Everything is Everything:    • From Imperial to Adaptive Firms | Epi...  
11. Metrics of Empowerment — Episode 88 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Devika Kher, Nidhi Gupta & Hamsini Hariharan):    • Ep. 88: Metrics of Empowerment  
12. We Should Celebrate Rising Divorce Rates (2008) — Amit Varma: https://indiauncut.com/we-should-cele...
13. South vs North -- Nilakantan RS: https://amzn.in/d/cGcWZou
14. South India Would Like to Have a Word — Episode 320 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nilakantan RS):    • Ep 320: South India Would Like to Hav...  
15. Accelerating India’s Development — Karthik Muralidharan: https://amzn.in/d/8GIl1wI
16. Karthik Muralidharan Examines the Indian State — Episode 290 of The Seen and the Unseen:    • Ep 290: Karthik Muralidharan Examines...  
17. Karthik Muralidharan and the Bureaucrat’s Burden -- Episode 375 of The Seen and the Unseen:    • Ep 375: Karthik Muralidharan and the ...  
18. The Practice of Medicine — Episode 229 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Lancelot Pinto):    • Ep 229: The Practice of Medicine  
19. Brave New World -- Vasant Dhar's podcast: https://bravenewpodcast.com/
20. The Fable of the Monkey and the two Cats -- Pranay Kotasthane: https://tinyurl.com/4zmsnp26
21. Centrally Sponsored Government Schemes — Episode 17 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane):    • Ep. 17: Centrally Sponsored Governmen...  
22. Shruti Rajagopalan on India's many constitutional amendments:    • Shruti Rajagopalan on "Incompatibilit...  
23. Urban Governance in India — Episode 31 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan):    • Ep. 31: Urban Governance in India  
24. Exit, Voice, and Loyalty -- Albert O Hirschman: https://amzn.in/d/inFK6az
25. Seeing Like a State -- James C Scott: https://amzn.in/d/7QP3iLD
26. Our Population Is Our Greatest Asset -- Episode 20 of Everything is Everything:    • Our Population Is Our Greatest Asset ...  
27. The Power Broker -- Robert Caro: https://amzn.in/d/5ctnHnd
28. Triumph of the City -- Edward Glaeser: https://amzn.in/d/8tbd0xe
29. The Death and Life of Great American Cities -- Jane Jacobs: https://amzn.in/d/0gH07m3

Produced by Amit Varma
Shot by Vaishnav Vyas and Nomsita MS Haritashya:   / vaishnav.vyas  
Edited by Nomsita MS Haritashya:   / nomsitaharitashya  
Thanks to Gaurav Chintamani for helping with sound:   / gaurav_chintamani  
Chapter images & additional illustrations by Simahina:   / i_am_simahina