Ep. 85: DeMon, Morality and the Predatory Indian State

Episode 85 of The Seen and the Unseen is about Demonetisation -- and a lot else. First, host Amit Varma launches into an angry monologue about how economic benefits can never justify moral costs. Then he is joined by economist Shruti Rajagopalan, who elaborates on all the things wrong with DeMon. They discuss the predatory Indian state, how Indians are forced into jugaad to cope with it, and that this jugaad might seem to be a good thing, but represents the enormous cost that all of us pay. **Also see**: 1. Most of Amit Varma's writing on DeMon, collected in one Twitter thread 2. 'Narendra Modi Takes a Great Leap Backwards' -- Amit Varma 3.'The Landscape of Freedom in India' -- Amit Varma 4.'The Humanitarian Cost Trumps Any Economic Argument' -- Amit Varma 5. 'What the RBI data on demonetization tells us' -- Shruti Rajagopalan 6. 'Demonetisation and Welfare' -- Shruti Rajagopalan and Larry White 7. 'Formalization of the economy is a form of coercion' -- Shruti Rajagopalan 8. Episode 2 of The Seen and the Unseen, on Demonetisation, with Suyash Rai 9. Episode 18 of The Seen and the Unseen, on restaurant regulations, with Madhu Menon