communiqué

The fourth issue of Communique brings to the forefront the diverse and unique pursuits, achievements and engagements of the Bharti Institute of Public Policy in terms of policy research, training and practice. In the past year, the Institute has garnered distinguished collaborations with state governments and various public and private entities, along with the initiation of noteworthy educational and research programmes, to enrich the domain of public policy. Hope you enjoy reading the first issue of this exciting year!

EDUCATION

Advanced Management Programme in Public Policy

The sixth batch, welcomed in August 2021, comprises a well-balanced and diverse mix of 35 participants from public (IAS, IPS, IRS, IFS, Telecom, Armed Forces) and private sectors (Consulting Firms, Banking, Media, Developmental Sector). The average experience of this cohort is 16 years and we have been able to move the needle towards better diversity in the programme, with 30% females in this batch.

First Residency

The first residency of the Cohort 2021-22 was held from August 20 to August 30 at Hyatt Regency, Chandigarh. The residency started with an orientation session, introducing participants to the course design, structure, LMS access, ethical research, and enabling interactions with invited alumni and faculty members. Six courses are covered during the Term 1 of the course.

Second Residency

The second residency of the Cohort 2021-22 was held from November 12 to November 21 at Hyderabad Campus. During the second term, seven courses covering various dimensions of public policy are taught by AMPPP faculty, along with several guest lectures by policy experts. The 10-day residency ended with a Gala Dinner organised for AMPPP students and alumni at ISB’s Hyderabad Campus.

(Clockwise from left) Prof Ashwini Chhatre taking a session during the course on Quantitative Methods at Hyderabad residency; Participants get together for a click after an interaction with Mr Jayesh Ranjan at T-Hub, Hyderabad; The Cohort-2022 poses in front of the Open Hand Monument during a visit to The Capitol Complex, Chandigarh.

Visits during Residencies

At Hyderabad, participants visited the premises of T-Hub, Government of Telangana’s ambitious innovation ecosystem, followed by a visit to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy for interaction with various experts. During the first residency, a visit to Capitol Complex and the Secretariat, Chandigarh, enabled participants to explore the political and cultural heritage of the City Beautiful.

EXPERT TALKS

Dr Sanjaya Baru (left), Political Commentator and Policy Analyst; Member, Advisory Council, Bharti Institute, interacts with AMPPP participants and alumni, during an online session organised under ‘AMPPP Speaker Series’; Mr Praveen Pardeshi, Member Administration, National Capacity Building Commission, delivers a guest lecture during second residency at Hyderabad.

Supplementing the first residency, four expert talks were organised which were given by Mr Vijai Vardhan, IAS, Chief Secretary, Haryana, and Dr Karan Avtar Singh, IAS (Retd.), Chairman, Punjab Water Regulation and Development Authority, followed by online sessions of Dr Sanjaya Baru, Political Commentator and Policy Analyst and Dr Sujeet Kumar, MP, Rajya Sabha. During the second residency, the participants interacted with Mr Jayesh Ranjan, Principal Secretary, Information Technology, Government of Telangana; Mr Praveen Pardeshi, IAS, Member Administration, National Capacity Building Commission and Mr Rajat Kumar, IAS, Chief Secretary, Irrigation Department, Government of Telangana, while Mr Anil Swaroop, Founder Chairman, Nexus of Good; Former Secretary, School Education, Government of India, and Dr Anup Wadhawan, Former Commerce Secretary, Government of India had online sessions on different policy issues. Along with this, a fireside chat was also organised with Dr Mukund Rajan, Chairman, ECube Investment Advisors, to discuss about ethical dimensions of public policy.

POLICY WALK 2021

The Policy Walk was conducted for AMPPP Cohort 2020-21 from September 23 to September 25 at New Delhi. The three-day event witnessed discussions with policy formulators, practitioners and influencers from diverse sectors, interacting with participants on issues discussing political, cultural, economic, and technological dimensions of public policy. The participants interacted with senior political representatives, bureaucrats, diplomats and private sector leaders during the programme and visited the headquarters of the Ministry of External Affairs; Ministry of Electronics and IT; Indian Council of Cultural Relations; UK High Commission; Invest India, along with several sessions at the venue of stay, The Taj Palace, Chanakyapuri. Know more here.

ENGAGEMENT WITH ALUMNI

Glimpses from ‘Gala Dinner’ organised for all past and present batches of AMPPP to facilitate interactions among students and alumni, during the Policy Walk 2021 at New Delhi.

In August 2021, two AMPPP alumni were invited to be a part of the orientation session of the AMPPP Cohort 2021-22: Mr Rakesh Kerwell, Director- North, DLF, from the first batch and Mr Sahil Makkar, Chartered Accountant, from the third batch. Every new batch is onboarded with an orientation session on the first day of their first residency wherein the alumni speak to the newcomers and share their experiences.

An interactive dinner meet was also organised for the alumni during the Policy Walk, September 2021, at New Delhi. The evening provided a chance for students of current and previous batches to interact, unite and share their views and memories of the course and the residencies.

While the alumni were also a part of the series of sessions by eminent policymakers and practitioners during the AMPPP Speaker Series (July-Sept 2021), many of them are also invited for taking guest lectures in the AMPPP programme, where they share their experiences, valuable insights, capstone projects and also their published case studies.

Public Policy SIG: Various AMPPP Alums are a part of ISB’s Public Policy Special Interest Group (SIG), which is an active group and organises various panels, expert talks and events. The Institute partners with the Alumni Relations department at ISB and Public Policy SIG for some of these sessions.

ALUMNI SPEAK

FACULTY SPEAK

"AMPPP prepares practitioners, dealing with public policy in different fields, to make better, informed decisions. The course is extremely useful to create an enlightened workforce which can help India overcome multiple challenges.”

Padma Bhushan Prof Shyam Saran, Former Foreign Secretary, Govt of India.

STUDENT SPEAK

Kanika Pal, South Asia Head, Community Investments and Sustainability Programmes, Hindustan Unilever.

“The cross-sectoral learnings from a multitude of people enrich your experience and make this programme a must-have for everyone contributing to nation-building through their diverse profiles.”

Vamsimohan Vallabhaneni, Member of Legislative Assembly (Gannavaram constituency), Andhra Pradesh.

“In this dynamic, globalised world, and given the large and direct impact that politics has on people, politicians need to have deep and informed insights into policy making. Thanks to the course, I have got exposure to various dimensions of policymaking prevalent across the globe.”

INITIATIVE IN FOCUS

Climate Change Primer for Journalists

A short-term asynchronous course to help journalists understand significant concepts and issues around climate change and global environment discourse was conceived and developed by Bharti Institute. The course, named Climate Change Primer for Journalists, was launched by Dr Jairam Ramesh, Member of Parliament and Chairman, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Environment, Forests and Climate Change, along with Andrew Fleming, British Deputy High Commissioner to Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, in a virtual event on October 18.

Introduced in the backdrop of utterly significant United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) held in Glasgow, the fully funded, self-paced course aims to equip media fraternity, environment researchers and enthusiasts to comprehend the expanse and nuances of climate discourse from perspectives of public policy, socio-economic dynamics, science, politics and sustainability. More can be known about the course here.

COLLABORATION IN FOCUS

Meghalaya Legislative Research Fellowship

The Government of Meghalaya has collaborated with Bharti Institute to advance its efforts for research-driven policy formulation and implementation in the state. A unique programme, Meghalaya Legislative Research Fellowship (MLRF), has been introduced for which the Institute is the training and executing partner, facilitating support for research and data analysis for State Legislators and empowering the Legislative Assembly. The Institute has selected 12 Legislative Fellows and is in the process of training and mentoring them along with two Data Fellows on behalf of the Meghalaya Institute of Governance, the nodal agency for MLRF.

Meghalaya Chief Minister, Conrad Sangma, tweets about the collaboration with Bharti Institute, during the launch of MLRF in September 2021.

The institute had attracted over 400 applications for the fellowship position from persons with Meghalayan domicile, a pre-requisite for the post. Through a structured two-year programme, the fellows will be trained for providing evidence-based policy insights to legislators on issues of importance and urgency. This distinctive collaboration will also result in the formation of a Meghalaya Data Portal (MDP), a data repository for policy and governance needs, housing datasets specific to the State’s programmes, schemes, socio-economic demographics, Central funds, departmental data, among others, on lines of the India Data Portal. The Institute will support the efforts to build and launch the MDP. The orientation workshop of fellows will take place in January 2022 at Shillong.

NEW GRANTS

GRANT UPDATES

Case Study in Focus

Development of Public Infrastructure on Private Land

The case aims to find feasible, efficient and sustainable perspectives, and alternatives for the development of public infrastructure on private land in India. It focusses on varied impediments of infrastructure development and a few strategies which have been proved successful in different states, comprehensively covering problems of land acquisition: suing ways of private land for public welfare and different models of infrastructural development. It helps understand how land acquisition and development solutions need to be oriented to specific states, locales and situations. Researcher Nidhi Kalani has worked on the case study, under the guidance of Prof OP Agarwal, Visiting Faculty for AMPPP, and CEO, World Resources Institute, India.

EVENTS IN FOCUS

The second edition of IDP Open Data Conclave hosted panel discussions among data experts.
Open Data Conclave

India Data Portal organised the Open Data Conclave II on September 28 to help enhance the access and dissemination of ‘open data’ across various Indian states. The second edition hosted panel discussions among several experts and stakeholders on multiple aspects of data availability at levels of states, districts, sub-districts and more. It focussed on ways to overcome challenges in data collection, data management and circulation by multiple Central and State Government agencies. Data experts, including Sitansu Mohapatra from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology; Soumya Guha from NITI Aayog; Rakesh Dubbudu from Factly; Nidhi Jamwal from Gaon Connection and Irobiha Metei from The Frontier Manipur, talked about improving the sub-state level data accessibility, sharing their experiences and expertise on assisting government agencies in advancing data management.

India and Sustainability Standards Conference

The Forest Governance Team co-hosted a session on Multi-stakeholder Partnerships for Sustainable Forest Management and Livelihoods as part of the India and Sustainability Standards Conference, in collaboration with the Centre for Responsible Business. The panel includes eminent speakers like Kanika Pal, South Asia Head- Sustainability, Hindustan Unilever Limited; Ashish Saraf, President Manorama Industries; Deep Narayan Pandey, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Rajasthan and Kunal Shekhar, GM, Bilt Graphic Paper Products who provided significant insights and unravelled different aspects of forest economy, from building substantive partnerships to creating sustainable livelihoods and enhancing forest management through empowered communities.

ENGAGEMENT IN FOCUS

Government of Jharkhand
Bharti Institute- QCI Partnership

UPDATES ON ENGAGEMENTS

BHARTI INSTITUTE IN NEWS

News Publications
The amendment to the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2006, if passed in the Parliament, will be a contributor to the list of gender-transformative policies in India, says Prof Anjal Prakash in his write-up for Forbes India.
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In an opinion piece for The Times of India, Dr Anjal Prakash suggests three ways to mitigate the extreme weather events in Uttarakhand.
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Prof Anjal Prakash talks about the IPCC’s 2021 report and its significance for Mumbai, in The Indian Express.
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TEAM IN NEWS

Sridhar Kundu in The Hindu Business Line explains why the gradual decline in the unemployment rate, is still not a good sign in terms of economic recovery and economic growth.
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Prof Anjal Prakash in CNNNews18, emphasises the need for a long-term, research-driven policy to curb stubble burning and the degrading air quality in North India.
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In an interview with The Times of India, Prof Anjal Prakash explains why programmes like Haritha Haram should become the state’s norm in Telangana
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Anjal Prakash in The Quint Podcast: How Substantive Are the Climate Pledges Made by India at COP26?
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Prof Anjal Prakash takes part in NDTV expert discussions on Chennai rains and points to broader causes of climate change-induced extreme weather events, in reference to the IPCC Report of which he is the coordinating lead author.
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Anjal Prakash in The Scroll.in says that the warming in the Himalayas is pushing the Indian Subcontinent towards water insecurity.
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RESEARCH STUDIES IN NEWS

Prof Ashwini Chhatre’s research study explores the complex and multiple interactions between climate, air quality and agriculture to widen the understanding of impact of anthropogenic activities on combined human health. It calls for the attention of policymakers to approach public health through a comprehensive scientific lens. Details in:

India Today
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Times of India
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United News of India
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Prof Avik Sarkar, along with researchers Akshaya Ramesh and Kratika Narain, investigates various aspects of India’s retail and e-commerce ecosystem, starting with the norms for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). Details in:

Telangana Today
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The Times of India
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United News of India
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EVENTS IN NEWS

Meghalaya ropes in ISB for Legislative Research Fellowship. Details in:

The Hindu
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The Times of India
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The Shillong Times
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Policy Walk: Dr Jitendra Singh Interacts with the participants of Advanced Management Programme in Public Policy. Details in:

The Week
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Greater Kashmir
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India Education Diary
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Jharkhand-ISB collaborate to empower forest economy:

The Hindu
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The Times of India
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UNI
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RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS

  • Dr Anjal Prakash's co-authored the research paper 'A climate resilience research renewal agenda: learning lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic for urban climate resilience', which was published in Climate and Development journal.
  • • Prof Ashwini Chhatre's co-authored the paper, ‘Rural Institutions, Social Networks, and Self-organized Adaptation to Climate Change’, which has been published in the ‘Environmental Research Letters’ journal.
  • • Prof Ashwini Chhatre’s co-authored paper, ‘Rural Institutions, Social Networks, and Self-organized Adaptation to Climate Change’, was published in the ‘Environmental Research Letters’ journal.

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

Anjal Prakash: As an expert on climate policy, Dr Anjal Prakash talked about adaptation measures and their significance at Uttar Pradesh Climate Change Conclave 2021. He shared his valuable insights on ‘Inference from global goal on adaptation and its relevance for vulnerable sectors in Uttar Pradesh’ at the conclave, which was organised by the Government of Uttar Pradesh and German Development Agency. He had participated in a discussion with Mandakini Kaul, South Asian Regional Coordinator, World Bank, on issues of climate mitigation in the Himalayas.

Aarushi Jain: Dr Aarushi Jain’s book on 'Cyber Law and Cyber Crimes' was launched by Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Sports, and Youth Affairs, Shri Anurag Thakur. The book, written by Dr J.N Barowalia, Former Principal Secretary (Law)- cum- Legal Remembrancer, Government of Himachal Pradesh, and Dr Jain entails extensive research on cyberlaws in India and their effectiveness in dealing with cybercrimes.

She had also participated as panellist in the International Conference on Multidisciplinary Academic Research and Development in October.

Avik Sarkar: Prof Avik Sarkar participated in a two-day roundtable discussion on cross-border dataflows and data protection laws, organised by Foreign, Commonwealth and Department Office, UK; Gujarat National Law University, Gujarat, and Victoria University, Australia. He also moderated the

Open Data Conclave, and Roundtable Conference on FDI, and took part in discussions on business models, omnichannel retail and policy implications for the ecosystem, along with Prof Rajendra Srivastava, Prof Ahmed Timoumi, Prof Abhinav Uppal and Prof Murali Mantrala, in a round-table conference organised by the Indian School of Business.

Ashwini Chhatre: Prof Ashwini Chhatre introduced the India Data Portal and IndiaPulse@ISB (High Frequency Indicators) to the Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office in a virtual Partners’ Meet, Niti Aayog.
Know more in detail about thought leadership activities of the staff and faculty here.

We thank our dedicated team members, who with their hard work, creativity and resilience, turned a patchy year into a remarkable success for the Bharti Institute of Public Policy and Indian School of Business. With more hope and excitement, we welcome the new one, and end this issue revisiting some joyful moments of togetherness. Happy and Safe 2022!

Compiled by: Sukhmani Kaur and Sangeetha Hariharan