Vol 2, Issue 2-b, 2022
This issue of Communique’ covers Bharti Institute’s engagements and activities From July-September 2022.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE QUARTER
Report on E-Commerce Policy Launched
The report ‘Policy Recommendations for Customer-Centric E-commerce in India’ was released by the Bharti Institute of Public Policy in August 2022 at an event in New Delhi. The report analyses the scope and challenges of the e-commerce industry and puts across significant policy changes for the sector’s growth and development. Mr Rakesh Bharti Mittal, Vice President of Bharti Enterprises and Chairman of the Advisory Council of Bharti Institute of Public Policy launched the report. The well attended event saw discussions with the government, academia, industry and developmental sector experts in the backdrop of the recently released New Draft E-Commerce Rules, 2021.
The report launch event was moderated by Prof Avik Sarkar, lead author of the report, Dr Sharique Manazir, report co-author, in the presence of Dr Aarushi Jain, Policy Director, Bharti Institute of Public Policy. Bharti Institutes Advisory Council Members, Ms Anita Kapur, (IRS Retd.), Former Chairperson, CBDT and Mr Vinod Duggal (IAS Retd.), Former Governor of Manipur and Mizoram, participated in the event. Based on desk research for over two years, followed by a dialogue with subject matter experts, government officials, sellers, and e-commerce companies, the report documents policy interventions in the e-commerce ecosystem into four broad areas. Read the full report and learn more about the event here.
Knowledge partnership with Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA)
Evaluation of 36 Schemes of Government of India
As a prestigious assignment, the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India had assigned the task of critically analysing the major schemes of the country to the Officer Trainees (OTs) of the 96th Foundation Course during the Valedictory ceremony. The Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA), the premier training institute for civil services in the country, collaborated with the Bharti Institute for a knowledge partnership to handhold and support OTs in this critical assessment of the significant central government schemes. Thirty-six schemes were decided by LBSNAA to be analysed, and Bharti Institute anchored the process of development of the reports in coordination with Officer Trainees, LBSNAA faculty and researchers, ISB and AMPPP faculty, experts from advisory council and officials from various ministries. There were 7 researchers and 32 interns involved at the Bharti Institute for this endeavour.
A workshop was organised at LBSNAA from 2nd July to 6th July, attended by more than 150 OTs. Prof Anjal Prakash, Research Director and Dr Aarushi Jain, Policy Director, and a team of research analysts conducted the sessions, focusing on aspects related to data sources, research report writing, theory of change analysis etc., to help OTs in composing their reports. As an outcome of the workshops, the OT groups came up with final Theory of Change documents and impact pathways and collated data sources for analysis as a group activity.
On September 30, 2022, the Institute submitted detailed evaluation reports to LBSNAA along with corresponding executive summary reports and PPTs for the schemes selected. The reports broadly focus on policy issues, establishing a Theory of Change backed by data and evidence, leading to insights and policy suggestions. LBSNAA is submitting all hard-bound copies of reports to the PMO, and the top 5 reports have been selected. Audio-visual presentations were delivered to the Hon’ble PM at a function at Kevadia, Gujarat, on 31st Oct 2022.
EDUCATION
Advanced Management Programme in Public Policy
The AMPPP Co’ 23 (Batch 7) comprises of 38 participants, of which 20 are from the public sector (3 IAS, 6 IPS, 4 IRS, 4 railway services and 2 from Government of Punjab etc.) and 18 from the private sector (including a sitting MLA and participants from the corporates, consultancies, media and the developmental sector). The cohort is selected from 185 applicants and includes 32% women, thereby improving gender diversity.
The first residency of Batch 7 was organised from 8th August to 18th August 2022 at ISB Mohali Campus. The Hon’ble Governor of Haryana, Shri Bandaru Dattatreya, addressed the cohort and formally inaugurated the programme. The 10-day residency included 32 sessions covering six courses (Fundamentals of Economics; Evidence in Public Policy; Reading and Writing Analytically; Introduction to Data Analysis; Leadership Skills for Policy Makers, and Introduction to Public Policy) with two group visits.
Expert sessions
during Residency
The residency included three guest expert sessions:
- Mr Amarjeet Sinha, IAS (Retd.) Former Advisor to PM, delivered the keynote address during the inaugural session and spoke on ‘Public Policy and The Last Mile Delivery’.
- Mr Kumara Guru, Senior Director, External Relations, ISB, in his session, spoke on ‘Social Media for Learning, and Personal Branding’.
- Mr Avinash Pandey, CEO of ABP Network, in his session focussed on ‘Media and Public Policy’.
ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT
In a first-of-its-kind event, Bharti Institute collaborated with Alumni Engagement at ISB and the Special Interest Group in Public Policy for organising rounds of panel discussions in New Delhi on September 17, wherein members of the AMPPP alumni community participated and shared their insights on ‘Technology, Business and Public Policy’. While Ms Renita Bhaskar, Minister Counsellor, Delegation of EU to India, delivered a keynote address on the Business and Sustainability Agenda, a fireside chat was organised with Mr Vishal Kapoor, AMPPP Co ‘21, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Power. A panel discussion on ‘Public Private Partnerships in ensuring a Circular Economy’ included participation by Sudhir Kumar, Adviser, NITI Aayog; Manoj Rustagi, PGP Co '06, Chief Sustainability Officer, JSW Cement; Anurag Awasthi, AMPPP Co '22, Vice President, IESA, and Sankha Som, PGP Co '09, Chief Innovation Evangelist, TCS, while Dr Aarushi Jain hosted an info-session.
TRAINING IN FOCUS
Training for Department of Water Resources, Punjab
The second workshop on ‘Leadership, Ethics, and Emerging Issues in Water Resources’ was organised by Bharti Institute from August 8 to 12 at ISB Mohali Campus. The workshop, held in collaboration with the Department of Water Resources, Government of Punjab, was attended by 45 senior officials comprising Superintending Engineers (SE’s) and Senior Executive Engineers (Xen’s). It aimed to equip them with contemporary management concepts and enhance their motivation and leadership skills, along with imparting research-driven knowledge on water management, security and agri-water conflicts resolution. Ishwar Das Goel, Chief Engineer, Headquarters, Department of Water Resources had presided over the culmination ceremony.
EVENTS IN FOCUS
Roundtable on Forest Governance and Industry Partnerships
A roundtable discussion on ‘Boosting the Forest Economy of Himachal Pradesh from Security of Tenure’ was hosted by Bharti Institute in partnership with the Centre for Responsible Business in Shimla on August 30. It aimed to discuss the potential of communities, industry, and business models of forest-based economies anchored on the Security of Tenure. Various reputed industry leaders (like IKEA, AAK, Dabur, Hindustan Unilever and ITC-Agribusiness Division) and representatives of the Government of Himachal Pradesh (Officers from Departments of Women and Child Development, Forests, Tribal Development, and Industries) participated in the roundtable.
UPDATES ON ENGAGEMENTS
Government of Meghalaya
Meghalaya Legislative Research Fellows
As the knowledge and executing partner for the Meghalaya Legislative Research Fellowship programme, Bharti Institute has completed the first year of engagement with the Government of Meghalaya. The focus was on training of fellows through regular in-person and virtual engagements by subject matter experts, group activities and relevant visits. In this quarter, the maiden cohort of legislative fellows assisted the CM, Ministers and MLAs in the recently concluded Autumn Session of the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly. The fellows are now working on the Meghalaya Data Portal. The second Public Policy Workshop for Legislators will take place next year and Ministers and MLAs from Meghalaya will come to Hyderabad campus for the workshop. As another effort during the second year of engagement, there is an edited book on Meghalaya being planned in collaboration with Meghalaya Institute of Governance.
Government of Jharkhand
Government of Himachal Pradesh
Initiative on Forest Economy
Under the Pangi pilot in Himachal Pradesh, 53 claims in the Pangi block of Chamba district have been generated and are ready for submission. A system for generating and filing claims at scale has been set up. In addition, five Gram Sabhas participated in the first collective sale by Chhota Banghal Maha Gram Sabha, which was held on 10th September. These included Rajgundha, Badagran, Nalhota, Chherna and Polling. In total, 2.7 quintals of Kadu (Picrorhiza kurroa / Gentiana kurroo), a medicinal plant, was procured by the various traders of Majitha Mandi, Amritsar. The team is also leading active conversations with several corporate and social organisations towards enabling the buying of Seasonal Forest Products from local communities and women-led enterprises in the pilot region of Pangi Valley, Himachal Pradesh. In this regard, the team identified a premium retail buyer, Dry Fruit Basket, for procuring a sample of Himalayan Hazelnuts. The first hazelnut consignment by Jarhun Nag Self Help Group from the village of Dhanala, Pangi Valley, Chamba district, Himachal Pradesh, has been completed with the Dry Fruit Basket, which procured hazelnuts at the cost of 2200/Kg, which is higher than the local prices and with online payment, in advance. This is a promising start for empowering communities through the Initiative on Forest Economy.
Government of Punjab
Asynchronous Education Training
Bharti Institute’s unique asynchronous self-paced training course on ‘Leadership & Motivation for Effective School Management’, launched in collaboration with the Department of School Education, Government of Punjab, in July last year, had seen a total enrolment of more than 10,000 Principals, Heads and Lecturers from State Government Schools, as the project stands completed in August 2022.
Development, Monitoring and Evaluation Office, NITI Aayog
Bharti Institute has been engaging with Development, Monitoring and Evaluation Office (DMEO), NITI Aayog on various fronts. In August 2022, Dr Aarushi Jain participated in the 5th DMEO’s Partners meet and other regular meetings to discuss the hybrid course on Monitoring and Evaluation for civil servants and state ATIs, as well as collaboration on Evaluation studies.
WRI-NUIA collaboration
The Leaders in Climate Change Management (LCCM) programme, for which Bharti Institute had been collaborating with the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA), was launched in June 2022 by Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Sh Hardeep Singh Puri. The Institute is handholding six core modules of the programme in the form of asynchronous courses. In September 2022, Prof Anjal Prakash conducted three sessions for the LCCM programme participants in Hyderabad city. Two sessions were combined on Gender and Water Issues, while another focused on ‘Water Transfer from Peri-urban to Urban Areas: Conflict over Water for Hyderabad City.
EPTRI
Environment Protection Training & Research Institute (EPTRI) being the Nodal Agency for Climate Change for the State of Telangana has prepared a Project Concept Note (PCN) on “Increasing Climatic Resilience of Urban Water Management System of Hyderabad” in association with Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply & Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB), Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) and Ground Water Department (GWD). The concept note was submitted to the Green Climate Fund (GCF). Bharti Institute was requested to help EPTRI in furbishing the PCN based on the comment received and through the stakeholder driven process of finalisation of the note for GCF funding. Dr Anjal Prakash worked on the project and the final note has been submitted to EPTRI in October 2022.
HUL-Prabhat Poshan Sathi
Bharti Institute is engaging with Hindustan Unilever to conduct the impact evaluation of HUL’s ambitious programme ‘Prabhat Poshan Saathi’. The project is being implemented in six districts across five states, and Bharti Institute is working with HUL and its implementation partners (American India Foundation and SHARP) as an external evaluator to bring rigour to the analysis of the data being collected under the POSHAN project through adjustments in research design and the use of advanced statistical methods. In a recent development, HUL has proposed a micro-nutrient study along with the previous proposal, and the engagement will start in November 2022 which will be led by Prof Ashwini Chhatre.
UPDATES ON GRANTS
India Data Portal
The data team has taken over from the technology partner - Gramener, through multiple knowledge transfer sessions. After completing the code analysis, the team found the necessity of changing the base framework and the architecture to support the scalability aspects for adding larger and higher granular datasets. Following the similar workflow defined in the existing UI, the team is continuously working to change the overall functionality and backend of the India Data Portal. The portal is moving from the existing monolithic architecture toward a decoupled modern architecture which can help us achieve the purpose of a portal with reasonable efficiency, performance, flexibility, and scalability in the coming years. The team is establishing connections with media and houses nationwide for engagements and collaborations and relevant in-person workshops and virtual masterclasses on the outreach front. Premium Subscriptions, Data Wire Services, Collaborations with Media Houses and Educational Institutions are part of the sustainability strategy for the India Data Portal.
Institutional Networks and Self-Organised Adaptation: Tracing the Democratic Architectures of Climate Response (SLU)
The team conducted telephonic interviews with key stakeholders from Chapakhori and Raviopi (in Nepal) in the past quarter to further build on research on institutional networks in field sites in selected villages of Nepal. The INSA project, funded by the Swedish University of Life Sciences, aims to improve the understanding of how multiple actors, institutions, and different forms of state support shape the local response to different shocks and facilitate key development outcomes. The data cleaning process has been completed for the data collected from India, while the team is currently working on creating unique household IDs for Nepal data. They are also working on streamlining the master code sheet by recoding data on threats and responses. Field visits will follow this up. The team is also working on specific research publications and papers highlighting significant findings and areas of research.
Upscaling Community Forest Resource (CFR) Rights Recognition and Governance in India
Through the Initiative on Forest Economy, the team is building the capacity of local communities to collect ground-truthing information using GPS devices for Forest Inventory Mapping. It has also completed the process of estimating the volume of bamboo that can be harvested in Malkangiri through Participatory Forest Inventory Mapping. Besides training communities to use Handy GPS and RaitiFi in Jharkhand, the team also conducted a workshop on ‘Creating Maps for Community Forest Resource Rights Recognition’ at Gondwana University for the leaders and members of Gram Sabhas in Korchi, Maharashtra. Workshops were also conducted for Forest Rights Committees, leaders of Panchayati Raj Institutions, and local representatives in all pilot regions apprising the participants of the Forest Rights Act, 2006; the process for claim filing and forest management after the recognition of CFR rights.
The team has formalised collaborations with certain technology and research in specifics regarding corporate engagements. ISB and the Centre for Rural Development & Technology (CRDT) in IIT Delhi are collaborating to develop and customise machinery for the primary processing of Seasonal Forest Products in all three states (HP, Jharkhand and Orissa). Also, ISB, Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute (CEERI) in Pilani and Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CEDAC) in Noida are working together to build a MESH network for local communication using radio frequency protocols like Long Range (LoRa). Along with this, through regular roundtable discussions, corporate networking events and seminars, the team can tap various industry leads to streamlining the value chains in forest management under the security of tenure. The lynchpin of the Initiative on Forest Economy is a multi-stakeholder partnership between local communities as the custodians of forest resources, industry leaders using the forest products, and government agencies facilitating the creation of jobs and wealth. It represents a triple-win opportunity by reducing environmental threats, creating jobs at the bottom of the pyramid, and establishing sustainable forest management systems. Know more about the Initiative on Forest Governance at
https://forestgovernance.in/
CASE STUDY IN FOCUS
Bharti Institute completed a case study documenting the reforms undertaken in Punjab’s school education ecosystem during the tenure of the case’s protagonist, an IAS officer, posted as Secretary of School Education for roughly four years. The case authored by Dr Aarushi Jain and Mohit Parashar, offers an insight into the journey of the extensive reforms ushered in Punjab’s schools, their administration and internal machinery, i.e., a complete process of re-engineering departmental functions. The case also divulges into the factors enabling such reformative efforts, encompassing the personality traits and psychological aspects of a transformative leadership approach of the official in-charge charges reforms. These are also discussed in the case to present a holistic perspective.
Focusing on various Flagship Learning Schemes for Schools (like BALA Building as a Learning Aid; Padho Punjab, Padhao Punjab, MASHAAL program); Digital Learning Programmes (Punjab Smart Connect Scheme; Punjab Smart School Policy; Punjab EduCare App) and Novel Learning Schemes (Library Langars; English Booster Club; Mission 100%), the case explores the launch, implementation, success and challenges of such programmes, and how they impacted the school education scenario with Mr Protagonist at the helm of affairs. The case study compiled over one year, had the documentation process consisting of field visits with the protagonist to Punjab’s schools in various districts of the state, shadowing him in his office, and observing his interactions with multiple stakeholders during on-field visits and engagements. It also consists of analysing other reforms and schemes gathered from the Department of School Education, Punjab, as well as from secondary sources such as published news and reports. The protagonist is an Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer presently serving in the state of Punjab.
The case not just helps in understanding the year-long journey of reforms in the Punjab school education ecosystem but also aids in familiarising stakeholders with how transformative leadership can install dynamism in an ecosystem involving large-scale stakeholders and help understand the nuances of balancing political and people sentiments to deliver on policy needs and aspirations on the grassroots from a management perspective.
OUTREACH
- Discussions have been underway to collaborate with the state governments of Bihar and Odisha to collaborate on the Institute’s flagship initiatives on education and research front. In August 2022, the Bharti Institute Team held interactions with senior officials in Himachal Pradesh and in September 2022, various meetings were held in the states of Odisha, Bihar and Meghalaya.
- Team India Data Portal conducted 13 workshops with over 800 registrations and trained around 600 professionals from National and Vernacular media on 'Using Data to Support Anecdotal Stories'. There were six virtual and nine physical workshops in Aligarh, Bulandshahar and Etawah in Uttar Pradesh and Hyderabad. The outreach team is also establishing connections with nationwide media houses for engagements and collaborations. The team is conversing with regional News Networks in Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Himachal Pradesh. India Data Portal has collaborated with East Mojo from Guwahati, a media start-up and recipient of accolades and awards for their news projects, to start 'Data Bites', a show with data and visualisation support from IDP for a twice-a-week segment with a three-month contract.
State Engagements
India Data Portal
BHARTI INSTITUTE IN NEWS
Team in News
Prof Ashwini Chhatre shares his insights on Forest Economy in The Economic Times and The Hindu BusinessLine.
Prof Anjal Prakash shares his views on climate change and policy imperatives in The Scroll, India Narrative, The New Indian Express, Hindustan Times, Times Now, The Hindu
Prof Anjal Prakash writes about digitisation in Forbes India and Bengaluru Floods in Deccan Herald
Events in News
Bharti Institute launches report on eCommerce policy recommendations in The Hindu, Outlook India, East Mojo
Haryana Governor addresses participants at ISB, in India Education Diary and Babushahi
Team@Bharti Institute- The research team with interns for the ISB-LBSNAA engagement.
