Pramod Biligiri
@pramodbiligiri2
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A resident of Bengaluru. Hoping to see more liberty, equality and fraternity in India.
Bengaluru, India
Joined June 2020
In the recent past I happened to read or watch a bunch of resources related to Indian nationalism (the freedom struggle and thereafter), and also nationalism in general. A short thread of the really good material that stood out for me. 1/7.
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Really enjoyed the movie Su from So! 👌. This was a good interview with its director (only contains mild spoilers).
Kannada cinema is in flux, with audiences drifting and small films struggling to survive, but two recent films have bucked the trend. Read the full feature by @subhajrao here. #Ekka #SuFromSo .
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This conversation flowed so smoothly and had highly informed exchanges on how India is governed and how that impacts us. The economist guest connected ideas to our daily lives brilliantly!. Perfect match for a podcast called “Ideas of India” (albeit not the “academic” variety) 🙂.
In the latest episode of @IdeasofIndia @mercatus I speak with Rathin Roy @EmergingRoy about how India slices the fiscal pie between the union and state governments, and across rich and poor states, compensatory welfare, fiscal federalism, and much more.
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Very interesting article! . Strongly agree with this bit: “… exodus of the elite from the very public systems they continue to administer. Ministers, MLAs, MPs, and IAS/IPS/IRS officers, rarely, if ever, avail the services they oversee.”.
👉🏽 “India must institute a Public Accountability and Liability Act — a statute that does for government negligence what tort law has long done for corporate misconduct”.
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This was superb stuff! I knew very little about Keeladi (near Madurai) and its ancient history before watching this video. But I hope our politicians don’t swoop in and have us polarized over *ancient* cities! 🙂 Tending to our existing cities is hard enough 😓.
What if everything we learnt about Indian civilisations was only half the story?. At Keeladi in Tamil Nadu, archaeologists uncovered evidence that could rewrite history. @PoojaPrasanna4 breaks it down from the ground in this #LetMeExplain special.
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This was a very nice and thoughtful article!.
The cacophony of honking that characterises Indian roads says a lot about who we are. Today in the TOI
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If you happen to be near or around Basavanagudi in Bangalore, check out this exhibition of historical photos from anti-colonial struggles in Africa and their connections to India. Free entry, terrific descriptions and photography allowed! 👌. 1/3
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This was a nice one! A good example of the political becoming the personal. This is an apt, true and sadly inescapable reality in India: “The broad social compact around education emphasises its instrumental rather than public value.”.
Textbook turmoil: our very own Theatre of the Absurd.
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A beautiful article. Felt like it came from the heart. “In a three-horse race for development between state, market, and society, only two horses are running.”.
WHAT ABOUT VIKSIT SARKAR? - my column in Deccan Herald today. ---.An asymmetrically powerful and unreformed state has been a drag on development, despite the efforts of the market and society. Fix-it India requires a Viksit Sarkar.
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Requesting people like him (and other experts) to present some deep dives into how plans for other cities in the world got worked out 🙏. Once we see some concrete examples it will become easier for many of us to visualize how this could play out in Bangalore! 🙂.
The city needs a transport plan, from which all decisions flow. Right now, we're making decisions and trying to give the impression that those decisions are the plan. That won't add up.
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A terrific episode with a dense exchange of ideas! .Surprising anecdotes from Bihar about incentive structures that affect rural/local governance. I wish they’d discussed China’s decentralization a lot more. Trigger warning: “Urban municipal elections” 😭.
In the latest episode of the @IdeasofIndia @mercatus, I speak with MR Sharan @sharanidli about his research on local governance in India, incentives of various political actors, caste and other power structures, fiscal federalism, and much more. Links👇
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Strongly agree. Watching the deliberations of the US House and Senate (even in their current debilitated state) makes one yearn for something remotely similar to that in India. Our legislators are structurally useless when it comes to actually making and shaping… legislation!.
Donald Trump's domestic agenda legislation is keenly watched, as each Republican lawmaker decides whether or not to support it. In India, OTOH, our MPs have no say in votes in Parliament - they are required by law to vote as directed by their party, or risk disqualification.
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Wow, this was a great article. Even the comments on that page were so good. Thanks to @srajagopalan for the re-share.
In India, government jobs pay far more than equivalent jobs in the private sector–so much so that the entire labor market and educational system have become grossly distorted by rent seeking to obtain these jobs.
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Why are “urban issues” not “emotive”, though? Being able to get to work and back, and generally move around in the city where you live, breathe good air… aren’t these emotive issues? 🙂.
In my opinion a new political party (in India) purely focusing on urban issues - ease of living, quality of infrastructure & public services- devoid of emotive issues (religion, caste & language) will have a fair level of acceptance. (Since none of the establishment political.
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Really nice video! Looking forward to more in this series.
Caught in the Middle - a new show I am doing for @TheQuint on We the Middle Class, who no one wants to talk about. Watch. Comment. Share.
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Absolutely terrific chat!👏. Touched upon the mass movement aspect of India’s freedom struggle, the later statist turn, retaining the colonial state architecture, its present consequences in terms of a rubber-stamp Parliament, the inanities of electoral arithmetic. And much more!.
.@sandiptodg was my guest on #GrandTamasha this week. We discussed his award-winning book on India's constitution, decolonization, and the link between democracy and majoritarianism
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From Abhijit Banerjee’s article “The power of goodness”, about the post-Independence civil servant Jagat Mehta:. “I dearly miss his voice telling us that we, India, can only be powerful if we are good”.
archive.is
archived 9 Jun 2025 18:47:07 UTC
That last line is key and as we get older, we need to keep repeating it. It wasn't always like this. It might be difficult to believe but it really wasn't always like this. India was always a cruel place but it used to aspire not to be cruel. Now it leans into cruelty.
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I think this is key. Our cities are stuck in a “resource curse”. The resources are humans (many are high skilled) from whom large value is extracted. But land (and govt) belongs to politicos whose support base is rural, agrarian, caste-based. Their ties to the city are weak ☹️.
Third Act: predatory business practices, financial and political interests of politicians, acquiescence by urban planners and active collusion by bureaucracy. 5/6.
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We can’t blame people (of any class) for wanting basics: roads, footpaths, public transport, breathable air and some nice public spaces. It’s because our govt can’t provide this that rich are withdrawing into gated communities. Recent @fayedsouza video:
Second Act: myopic selfishness of upper half of society ensuring expansion of their living facilities, their idea of infrastructure, irrespective of limited space n resources--denying claims by lower half who are necessary for making life comfortable for the upper half. 4/6.
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