Public policies aids in building prosperous, inclusive and equitable societies. Solutions to many existing and emerging challenges before a modern society lie in innovative policymaking and effective implementation. A well-informed and participative citizenry is important to ensure the formulation and implementation of solutions-oriented policies and maximise impact.

This course aimed to introduce the design and architecture students to basics of public policy and give them a well-rounded perspective to the emerging trends in this space.

Focus areas

• • Introduce key concepts of public policy, its formulation and evaluation
  • Provide an understanding of public policy processes and institutions in India
  • Understand the different dynamics involved in public policy, including communication with stakeholders and foreign relations
  • Introduce students to existing policy initiatives in the built environment space
  • Engage students in public policy problems and help them develop an original approach towards
  • Make students aware of the different career options in the public policy space

Session 1: Introduction to public policy by Mr. Pratyush Prabhakar

The session covered an introduction to public policy which comprises a system of rules and regulatory measures identified by the government in the interest of the public. The life cycle of a policy was elaborated in detailed steps from agenda setting to its formulation and towards the end its implementation and evaluation process.The course also helps the students in better decision making, through the viewpoint of evaluating policies. The journey of public policy in India since independence was discussed covering the transition from being a command and control economy to a paradigm of LPG (liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation).

Session 2: Public Policy and Communication by Mr. Pratyush Prabhakar

The session involved discussions on stakeholder mapping in public policy, exploring the connection between communicating with the citizens and creating, implementing and evaluating public policy. The session traced the history of communication in public policy, explored its various roles and examined its possible future. The session included a case study of the Indian Railways which was about leveraging social media to establish one of the world’s largest customer redressal systems, which gained wide acclaim.

Session 3: Processes and Institutions by Mr. Abhishek Rajan

The session elaborated upon various processes and institutions in public policy in India. The four pillars of democracy viz. legislative, executive, judiciary and the media were discussed including their role and emerging trends. The Constitutional provisions with regard to citizen’s rights and duties were discussed, along with various constitutional provisions to establish processes, accountability and interplay of power and responsibilities between various organs of the Government. The parliamentary democracy, local self-Government and federal structure of the nation were also discussed.

Session 4: Culture and Public Policy by Ms. Divya Singh Rathore</p>

The session talked about the importance of culture in public policies. Due to the growing contemporary global challenges and their interconnectedness, culture plays a pivotal role in achieving public policy and in achieving a more sustainable future. The session focused more on India’s context and explored the role of culture in adapting to development challenges and in the implementation of public policies at the local, national, regional and international levels.

Session 5: Public Policy in tech-driven world by Mr. Kazim Rizvi, Founder, The Dialogue

Technology is fast becoming an important tool of public policy. Growing tech influence, rising new tech platforms and their role in democracy and influencing public opinion, calls for new-age policies. Kazim discussed the rise of tech platforms, digital transformation, Industry 4.0 and the role of public policies in driving the growth of tech as well as regulating it.

Session 6: Public Policy in the Built Environment: An Introduction by Ms. Susmita Sinha

Policies provide a detailed framework to deal with pressing issues such as rapid urban development, delegation of authority to sub-national and local governments etc. The SDGs which are broken down into the 17 goals and 169 targets enable policymakers to design effective timely policies and initiatives. The session focused on key issues around urban governance, processes through which the government is organised and governance delivered in towns and cities. The shifting landscapes in the domain of public policy in the built environment space were discussed including some important components such as smart city mission, affordable housing, transport and water.

Session 7: Data In Urban Governance and Policy Making: By Ms. Susmita Sinha

Good data allows organisations to establish baselines, benchmarks and goals in moving forward. Performance framework for data in urban governance and policy making translates the broad aim of Municipal Strategic Statements and Planning Schemes for urban design action at the local level. The Open Date Event has been created to promote the use of spreading awareness about data. This can help governments in solving some of the problems faced by the citizens of any city and replicating the successful ideas in other cities. The importance of capacity building at ULB levels and performance assessment frameworks by SCM in the areas of data maturity, ease of living, climate change and municipal performance was covered. Case studies and policy challenges of rural India were also discussed.

Session 8: Innovation and Public Policy: By Mr. Rahul Pachori

The session covered the four key components of innovation which include collaboration, ideation, implementation and value creation. Role of innovation in public policies as well as ensuring innovation-driven governance were discussed.

Session 9: Geopolitics and public policy: By Mr. Abhishek Ranjan, Founder, Red Lantern Analytica

The session provides the linkage between geopolitics and domestic policies, creating an exploration of key players in world politics, political patterns, and identification of emerging trends in geo-politics.

Session 10: Future of governance and public policy: Dr. Sujit Kumar Pruseth, Co-founder, Communeeti

Emerging trends in policy and governance were discussed including the role of ESG, technology, decentralisation of power, importance of civil society and governance in the post-bureaucratic age. The Governance challenges in the 21st century include; living in a global society, changing norms, changing economic powers and environmental mitigation were discussed.

Session 11: Careers in public policy: By Ms. Anupriya Nagori, Political consultant

Anupriya discussed various career options available in the public policy space viz. startups, government, political parties, private corporations etc. She also discussed a comparative study of careers in the private sector and in the public sector.

Sujit Pruseth and Pratyush Prabhakar delivered a 3-day session on public policy for B. Arch students of Anant National University under the aegis of Anant Centre for Public Policy in the context of the built environment. Key topics were being covered such as the basics of the introduction to public policy, processes and institutions, careers in public policy for students to be equipped as potential future policy professionals.

Divya Singh Rathore and Pratyush Prabhakar facilitated a 3- day session on public policy for B. Des Foundation year students under the aegis of Anant Centre of Public Policy.They touched upon various aspects of public policy including constitutionalism, processes and institutions, role of culture, history and the relevance and importance of public policy for design professionals. The sessions witnessed enthusiastic participation of students who were engaged in activities and discussions like envisioning India at 2047, revisiting the Fundamental Duties, Preamble, designing an alternate logo for G20 Presidency and conceptualising a cultural centre for community empowerment.

The Anant Fellowship on Built Environment, which was launched in 2017, has attracted more than 120 Fellows from 14 countries across the globe. The year-long programme is designed to inspire thought-leaders and built environment solutionaries through a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary curriculum and a hands-on experiential learning process.

The centre facilitated the course on “Governance Perspective ” for the 5th and 6th Cohort of Anant Fellows. The course aims to introduce fellows to diverse facets of public policy, ignite their interest in this area and nudge them to explore avenues as potential public policy professionals.

Session 1: Introduction to public policy by Mr. Pratyush Prabhakar

The session covered an introduction to public policy which comprises a system of rules and regulatory measures identified by the government in the interest of the public. The life cycle of a policy was elaborated in detailed steps from agenda setting to its formulation and towards the end its implementation and evaluation process.The course also helps the students in better decision making, through the viewpoint of evaluating policies. The journey of public policy in India since independence was discussed covering the transition from being a command and control economy to a paradigm of LPG (liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation).

Session 2: Processes and institutions in India by Pratyush Prabhakar

The session elaborated upon various processes and institutions in public policy in India. The four pillars of democracy viz. legislative, executive, judiciary and the media were discussed including their role and emerging trends. The Constitutional provisions with regard to citizens’ rights and duties were discussed, along with various constitutional provisions to establish processes, accountability and interplay of power and responsibilities between various organs of the Government. The parliamentary democracy, local self-Government and federal structure of the nation were also discussed.

Session 3: Culture and public policy by Ms. Divya Singh Rathore

The importance of culture in public policy was discussed. Due to the growing contemporary global challenges and their interconnectedness, culture plays a pivotal role in achieving a more sustainable future. The session focused more on India’s context and allowed the students to understand how culture plays a role in addressing development challenges and in the formulation and implementation of public policies at the local, national, regional and international levels.

Session 4: Built environment and public policy by Ms. Susmita Sinha

Policies provide a detailed framework to deal with pressing issues such as rapid urban development, delegation of authority to sub-national and local governments etc. The SDGs which are broken down into the 17 goals and 169 targets enable policymakers to design effective timely policies and initiatives. The session focused on key issues around urban governance, processes through which the government is organised and governance delivered in towns and cities. The shifting landscapes in the domain of public policy in the built environment space were discussed including some important components such as smart city mission, affordable housing, transport and water.

Session 5: Data and Urban Governance by Ms. Susmita Sinha

Good data allows organisations to establish baselines, benchmarks and goals in moving forward. Performance framework for data in urban governance and policy making translates the broad aim of Municipal Strategic Statements and Planning Schemes for urban design action at the local level. The Open Date Event has been created to promote the use of spreading awareness about data. This can help governments in solving some of the problems faced by the citizens of any city and replicating the successful ideas in other cities. The importance of capacity building at ULB levels and performance assessment frameworks by SCM in the areas of data maturity, ease of living, climate change and municipal performance was covered. Case studies and policy challenges of rural India were also discussed.

Session 6: Careers in public policy by Ms. Anupriya Nagori, Political Consultant</p>

Anupriya discussed various career options available in the public policy space viz. startups, government, political parties, private corporations etc. She also discussed a comparative study of careers in the private sector and in the public sector.

Session 7: International Relations: Dynamics and Challenges by Mr. Abhishek Ranjan and Mr. Siddhartha Ghosh of Red Lantern Analytica

The session on International relations of dynamics and challenges covered important issues around geopolitics, the emerging new world order, India’s standing in the new world order and geopolitical currents and conflicts.

With : Dr. Sasmit Patra, Honourable Member of the Parliament

The 6th cohort of Fellows had the opportunity to collaborate with Dr. Sasmit Patra, Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha, representing the state of Odisha, on this year’s live action project. The Fellows were working on research on varied areas with the purpose of zeroing in on a particular issue for developing a Private Member Bill.

Webinar on Financial Inclusion

The centre organised a webinar on “Effectiveness of financial inclusion interventions in India ” under the Anant Centre for Public Policy. The keynote address was delivered by Dr Amitabh Rajan, Chairman of RBI Services Board; Advisory Board of Communeeti. The panel witnessed engaging conversations by panellists on board, Shinjini Kumar, Co-founder of Salt; and Dr Abhishek Kumar, Associate Professor, Anant.

Public Policy Conversation series

Centre launched public policy conversation series to expose Anant students to public policy professionals working in varied areas.

The first conversation of the series was on the “Financing of public projects for urban centres’ featuring Ankit Tulsyan, India Head, Water & Nature, Resource Management, Agence Française de Développement. Ankit spoke about the need to find innovative ways to fund infrastructure projects and various financing mechanisms and stressed the need to find more innovative financing solutions to meet the growing demands of urbanisation.

Next conversation in the series was on “Policy for Innovation” with Mr. Shailendra Jaiswal, Former Executive Director, Innovation, Ministry of Railways; Mentor of Srijan Sanchar, an organisation working on driving innovation by creating industry-academia connect. Mr. Shailendra discussed various policies undertaken by the government to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship. He also spoke about the growing startup ecosystem in the country and the need to strengthen academia-industry connect to foster innovation.

A session on Housing Policy was facilitated by Ms. Divya Singh Rathore with content creation by Ms. Susmita Sinha for the fourth year student of B. Arch at Anant. Important topics such as historical perspective of housing, evolution of housing policies in India, recent developments and challenges were discussed.

Engaging Debates, fiery arguments, and all in good spirit ending with smiles all around! A Mock Parliament was facilitated by Communeeti for the Anant Fellows of Built Environment at Anant National University, under the aegis of Anant Centre for Public Policy. ‘Farm Laws of 2020’ was the topic of the mock parliament. Mr. Pratyush Prabhakar & Ms. Divya Singh Rathore were the Honourable speakers of the house who presided over the discussions held. The Fellows were assessed on basis of their understanding, eloquence, body language and strength of the arguments. Activities like these will help the Fellows understand the intricacies of public policies, develop unique perspectives and strengthen the communication skills.

Fruitful discussions took place between Team Communeeti; Mr. Pratyush Prabhakar & Ms. Divya Singh Rathore and the academic team of Anant National University on ways to integrate public with other academic initiatives, building capacities, and documenting the community immersion experiences. It was discussed that such efficient exercises with the Faculty team would be carried further to capture the insights and updates which would be shared by the Academicians with Team Communeeti.