COVID-19 Pandemic

Listen To Our Episodes On COVID-19 Pandemic

With India entering a critical phase in the fight against this pandemic, we are amplifying our coverage of this outbreak. Here is a list of episodes we have produced so far which looks at what COVID-19 is, what we know so far about it and India’s preparedness; how health inequities and access to health matter in times of pandemic; what social distancing potentially means for the poor of India.

Jul 06, 2022

Talking Right - How well did India communicate about COVID-19?
The episode, part of a mini-series sets context about why it is important to communicate well during a pandemic like COVID-19 and features discussions between Suno India editor-in-chief DVL Padma Priya and Prof...

37 mins

Jul 26, 2022

How the India’s booster dose scheme subverted drug approval procedures
In celebration of 75 years of Independence, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced free booster doses at government vaccination centres for 75 days from July 15 to September 30, 2022. A few days after this anno...

37 mins

Jul 30, 2022

Life after COVID - Is Long Covid a Disability?
In this episode of Gasping for Breath season 2, we raise a question- Is Long Covid a disability? In 2021, the Americans with Disabilities Act recognised Long Covid as a disability.  In June, a tribunal in the...

38 mins

Aug 15, 2022

Karthik Muralidharan Examines the Indian State
In 1947, few people gave us 75 years. Bloody hell, here we are! And it is up to us now to make this country the best version of itself. Karthik Muralidharan joins Amit Varma in episode 290 of The Seen and the U...

310 mins

Jun 20, 2022

Naushad Forbes Wants to Fix India
He's been an academic who's studied the country, and a businessman who's created wealth and jobs. Now he wants to help India achieve its potential. Naushad Forbes joins Amit Varma in episode 282 of The Seen and...

182 mins

May 23, 2022

Climate Change and Our Power Sector
To fight climate change, we need to reform the power sector. Right now, it's dysfunctional. Akshay Jaitly and Ajay Shah join Amit Varma in episode 278 of The Seen and the Unseen to share their roadmap for chang...

224 mins

May 16, 2022

The Rooted Cosmopolitanism of Sugata Srinivasaraju
He grew up breathing Kannada literature -- and he also embraced the globalised world. Sugata Srinivasaraju joins Amit Varma in episode 277 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss this confluence of the old and th...

318 mins

May 09, 2022

The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee
How did one of the greatest nonviolent movements in history emerge from within the supposedly violent Pathans of the wild frontier? Why do poor people in India vote even though there seems to be no point to it?...

317 mins

Apr 25, 2022

Two-and-a-Half Bengalis Have an Economics Adda
India is in bad shape. Bad economics is one reason why. Economists Rajeswari Sengupta and Shrayana Bhattacharya join Amit Varma in episode 274 of The Seen and the Unseen to take stock of the mess. You don't lik...

221 mins

Apr 18, 2022

Warren Mendonsa Plays the Universal Pentatonic
He's that Blackstratblues guy. He's done rock, blues, sessions work for Bollywood, and you can't put him in a box. Indie music legend Warren Mendonsa joins Amit Varma and guest co-host Chuck Gopal in episode 27...

180 mins