A Four-Week Immersive Online Introductory Certificate Training Course and An Online Spring School Program on Fundamentals of PUBLIC POLICY were conducted by IMPRI Impact and Policy Research Institute, New Delhi. An informative talk about 'Agricultural Reforms in India@75’ was delivered by Dr A Amarender Reddy, Principal Scientist (Agricultural Economics), ICAR- Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, Hyderabad.
After the brief introduction by Fiza Mahajan, Researcher at IMPRI of Shri Bhartendra Singh Baswan, Former Secretary, Department of Secondary and Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India. He discussed the concept of Public Policy Drivers by delving into the process of policymaking that starts with consulting the policymakers who prepare a white paper that is presented in the legislation and on the contrary opposition prepares the black paper. After detailed discussion, a committee from where ministries are formulated after rational discussions and shredding out the nitty gritty policies are finally implemented at ground level.
An informative and interactive panel discussion on Data and public Policy was presided by Dr Soumyadip Chattopadhyay, Associate Professor, Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan; Visiting Senior Fellow, IMPRI. To set the tone of the discussion he began with the challenges associated with data evolution as with the increase in online activities large section of the population is leaving digital footprints as a result of which numerous inauthentic and unreliable data are being circulated in the economy and for accessing the authentic data various data tools and policies are needed.
Fiza Mahajan, a research intern at IMPRI, had the honor of introducing Ms Urvashi Prasad. She discussed the dilemma associated with public policy formulation at the practical level by taking into consideration the example of COVID-19. At the onset of the pandemic, there was a lot of confusion regarding whether to go for masks or not or to implement lockdown or not. With the insights about policy implementation from the practitioner's point of view, she discussed various factors that need to be taken care of while implementing policies such as proper assessment of available resources, along with its impact on civil society at large.
Prof Mukul Asher took an informative and interactive session on Introduction to Public Policy. He is a Former Professor, at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore, and a Visiting Distinguished Professor, at IMPRI. He began by pinpointing the weak areas where people especially civil servants lack while formulating public policy as they lack quality data, poor economic reasoning, and poor legal backing. The key to good policy-making is relevant content along with thought logic. Then Intelligently he described the art of public policy with the help of a graph in which various indicators were highlighted such as population density concentrated in some parts of the country especially Uttar Pradesh and accordingly policies will be formulated, he pointed out the development activities near coastal areas vai Sagarmala, Bharatmala.
The session on Bureaucrats’ Reflections on Public Policy was taken by Dr. Nivedita P. Haran who is the Former Additional Chief Secretary, of the Government of Kerala. She began with the definition of Public Policy as what actually Public Policy means. It refers to the systems in place be they economic, political, or social and the information and data available with the same. Further, it includes the mindset of the government and the governed as it looks into the prioritization aspect as well in the financial sector to promote the public sector or private sector that ensures efficiency and effectiveness in the bureaucracy. The policy is considered the bedrock of the governance which comprises vision, mission, policy, programs, and projects.
LPPYF Law and Public Policy Youth Fellowship is an Online National Summer School Program, a Two-Month Online Immersive Legal Awareness & Action Research Certificate Training Course and Internship Program, from June-August 2023 by IMPRI Impact and Policy Research Institute. An informative and interactive panel discussion on "Field Work & Qualitative Research Methods & Questionnaire" was held by Dr Soumyadip Chattopadhyay, VISVA-BHARATI (A Central University and an Institution of National Importance).