Bringing lessons in sound public policy to journalists and young leaders

This July, Azadi.me conducted our flagship programme ìpolicy for journalists, in the hill-town of Lansdowne in Uttarakhand in partnership with Atlas Network.  The workshop engaged 24 journalists from leading national and regional media portals like Zee News, NDTV,  Hindustan Times (Hindi), Amar Ujala, Dainik Jagran and Jansatta (Indian Express Hindi), among others.

Our faculty  included Kumar Anand, Director - Advocacy, Centre for Civil Society; Prashant Narang, Associate Director - Research, Centre for Civil Society and Rohan Joshi, Head of Outreach, Centre for Teacher Accreditation (CENTA).

We also conducted the ipolicy for students at the  City Montessori School, Lucknow, attended by 40 curious and bright school students.

LIBERTY AND SOCIETY SEMINAR: ADVANCED LEARNING in LIBERAL PERSPECTIVES IN PUBLIC POLICY

We conducted our advanced four day residential program, Liberty and Society Seminar, in Goa from 11^th to 14^th July. Engaging CCS alumni, the seminar provided participants with a deeper understanding of the larger world within a liberal framework, emphasising limited government, individual rights, free trade, and competitive markets.

Attended by 24 alumni, the seminar engaged the participants in vital issues of public policy through thematic sessions on free speech, the job crisis in India, making a case for a liberal trade and agricultural policies, and a reform agenda for Modi 2.0, among others. The seminar also discussed the foundations of liberalism in India. Our esteemed faculty included, Bhuvana Anand, Director - Research, CCS; Parth Shah, President, CCS; Anupam Manur, Assistant Professor,The Takshashila Institution; Jerry Johnson, Author; Neeraj Kaushal, Economist and Author and Swaminathan Aiyar, Senior Journalist and Columnist.

CERTIFICATE COURSE IN THE POLITICS OF DEVELOPMENT: UNDERSTANDING INTERSECTIONS OF POLITICS AND POLICY

Politics of Development (PoD) is a three-day residential course that explores the intersection of politics and policy and their implications for the nation's development. Offered in partnership with the GD Goenka University this July, the certificate course drew a participation from 40 young leaders. The course offered interactive sessions on education policy, the state of India's agriculture and a reform agenda for Modi 2.0, among others. Our expert faculty included Amit Kaushik, CEO, Australian Council for Educational Research; Swaminathan Aiyar, Senior Journalist and Columnist; and Barun Mitra, Founder and Director, Liberty Institute, among others.

RESEARCHING REALITY INTERNSHIP: INSIGHTS INTO K-12 GOVERNANCE IN INDIA

This July, we completed the 19th edition of our annual summer internship program, the  Researching Reality Internship. Each year, the research internship engages college and university students in critical learning, primary research and policy analysis, leading to a publication of original research papers addressing key governance concerns and policy frameworks.

This edition saw our cohort of 14 young learners researching the anatomy of K-12 governance in India, with a focus on the unease of opening non-governmental schools, enduring administrative prejudices against them and the scope of parental choice and the lack thereof, in education in India.

ISPP POLICY RELAY SERIES: UNDERSTANDING EVALUATION IN DEVELOPMENT POLICY

The Indian School of Public Policy (ISPP) organised a workshop on 'Hard Evidence for Tough Decisions: Evaluation in Development Policy' conducted by Dr. Emmanuel Jimenezon, Executive Director, The International Initiative on Impact Evaluation on 13^th July, 2019.

Engaging with 40 enthusiastic learners, Dr. Jimenezon explained the various tools used in impact evaluation, including randomised control trials, regression discontinuity, the differences in differences approach, and instrumental variables.

Sudhanshu Neema is a lawyer and an economist. He holds an LL.B. and LL.M. in Constitutional law from Symbiosis Law School, Pune, and an MA in International Economic Relations from the School of International Service at American University, Washington DC. Sudhanshu has been a CCS alumnus, and was was awarded the Frederic Bastiat Fellowship by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University in 2015. He has previously worked with Government New Law College, Indore as visiting faculty.