The Centre for Policy Research turned fifty in November 2023. As we celebrate this special milestone, we present some snippets of our impact on the Indian policy sphere over the years in various areas of research.

This edition of Policy in Action is dedicated to showcasing the various public engagement platforms that we have built over the years, by ourselves as an institution, as well as in partnership with other organizations.

Policy research and public engagement go hand in hand, and there is a growing need for cross-disciplinary, global platforms where policy issues, cooperation and expertise can be in dialogue to provide more effective solutions to policy challenges.

CPR’s platforms have ranged from a cross-disciplinary forum like CPR Dialogues, which brings CPR faculty from various initiatives and disciplines together with world leaders on one platform; to more specific subject centric conversations, such as Accountability Initiative’s PULSE for Development, Initiative of Cities, Economy and Society’s CPR-CSH workshops, Politics Initiative’s How India Votes series and several other initiatives.

Here’s a snapshot of our key work on creating platforms of public engagement over the years:

CPR Dialogues

• ​​Hosted and organised by the Centre for Policy Research, CPR Dialogues is an annual public forum where leading policy practitioners, academics, and thought leaders address the most critical policy issues of our times. CPR Dialogues provides a platform for locating debates and challenges in India within a global perspective, allowing key stakeholders to engage with and learn from each other. The first and second editions of CPR Dialogues were held in 2019 and 2020. The third edition of CPR Dialogues was held in 2022 and featured over 60 speakers and 20 panels.

PULSE for Development

• In 2020, during the COVID-19 Pandemic, Avani Kapur co-founded the PULSE (Platform to Understand, Learn, Share and Exchange) for Development which brought together practitioners, researchers, and funders in the development sector to understand the situation and through this knowledge mitigate the impact of the crisis on human lives. It is currently incubated in the Accountability Initiative at the Centre for Policy Research. In 2022, a conscious decision was made to also include longstanding development challenges facing India and facilitate the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals.
• The community currently comprises over 114 organisations and more than 230 individual members. These members include IAS officers, State Cadre officers, national and local civil society organisations, development practitioners, research organisations, and funders. A key feature of this platform is its Coffee Chat sessions, informal online discussions tailored to explore and advance solutions for complex welfare issues in India.
• Since its formation in 2020, PULSE for Development has hosted 28 Coffee Chat sessions. These discussions cover a range of welfare-related subjects, spanning Gender and Livelihood, Migration and Migrants, Reducing Vulnerabilities including in difficult geographies, Disability Issues, Inclusive Development and Post-COVID 19 Challenges, Education, and Health and Healthcare, Nutrition, Family Planning, and Governance.

CPR-CSH Workshops

• The CPR-CSH monthly urban workshop series, which organized its 166th event last month, was set in motion by a rather spontaneous event in February 2010. It was soon after Marie-Helene Zerah, who is now Visiting Senior Fellow at CPR, had taken charge of research on urban dynamics at the Centre for Human Sciences in New Delhi, and discussed a joint seminar series over a coffee meeting with CPR Senior Fellow Partha Mukhopadhyay. An occasion arose immediately to host eminent French scholar Christophe Jaffrelot, and with the only available slot being on a Tuesday afternoon, the tradition of a workshop on ‘urban’ issues on the last Tuesday of every month was born.
• Over the years, the CPR conference room, where the series is usually hosted, has emerged as an energetic space for discussions around urban politics, housing, governance, social dynamics, environmental issues, and more. Through this journey, the CPR-CSH collaboration has provided a bridge for French scholars to engage deeply with Indian urbanists, and has also provided a robust platform for visiting scholars from around the world and from various Indian institutions to share their ongoing work.
• In September 2019, we celebrated CPR-CSH’s centenary with a panel discussion reflecting on the field of urban studies in India. The onset of Covid in March 2020 meant a pivot to digital events, and led to the participation of global scholars through online webinars. Today, nearly 14 years since it first started, the CPR-CSH workshop continues to be a watering hole for everyone curious about urban issues, and an enduring space for dialogue and exchange.

How India Votes

• With an aim to create dialogue around voter and election behavior in India, the Politics Initiative at CPR started a conversation series in 2023 called “How India votes: 24 conversations in the run-up to the 2024 elections”. The conversations put a focus on the topics most concerning the Indian electorate and are moderated by Rahul Verma.
• The series aims to develop a comprehensive understanding of how Indian citizens engage in the electoral arena. Each conversation explores one theme in detail, with leading experts in the field. Our hope is that this series will interest a wide range of audience as India heads for its 18th general elections in 2024. You can watch the previous conversations click here.

CPR-CWC Dialogue Forum (TREAD Talks)

• CPR-CWC Dialogue Forum is a collaborative activity between CPR and the Central Water Commission (CWC), pursued under the MoU between the Ministry of Jal Shakti (MoJS) and the CPR to establish the MoJS Research Chair – Water Conflicts and Governance at CPR. It is a forum where CPR’s research interests and CWC’s practitioner perspectives converge to discuss, debate and critically engage with contemporary water policy governance challenges. It has particular interests in interstate river water disputes and transboundary river water governance.
• The Forum is also a space to network and engage with wider groups of stakeholders for a vibrant policy discourse. It hosts distinguished scholars, practitioners and civic society actors to share their research and experiences. These interactions are organized as talks, targeted consultations (focused on specific issues), and dissemination workshops.
• The talk series organized by the Forum are promoted as TREAD Talks, after the program that the MoJS Research Chair leads: TREADs (Transboundary Rivers, Ecologies and Development studies). TREAD Talks have so far addressed a variety of issues and themes.

India and the World

• As part of the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, a special celebration organized by the Government of India to commemorate the 75th year of India’s Independence, the Centre for Policy Research (CPR) launched a flagship lecture series titled, ‘India and the World’. The series brought together distinguished speakers who have had a long and deep engagement with the country to understand their perspectives on India’s global relationships and how the world understands and engages with India – our history, our democracy, our economy and our society. This series sought to bring a global perspective into dialogue with India with the objective of celebrating the country, its role in global governance and articulating a pathway in the new, shifting geopolitical landscape.
• Chaired by Honorary CPR fellow and former Indian Foreign Secretary Amb Shyam Saran, and featured a number of brilliant speakers from across the globe such as Peter Varghese, Nabil Fahmy, Ibrahim Gambari, Tshering Tobgay and many more. Ending in August 2022, as India completed its 75th year of independence, the series and its conversations remain a pivotal resource in understanding the global issues of our times.

To know more about CPR’s engagement with public platforms you can visit our website at https://cprindia.org/

Stay tuned for our next pop-up edition of Policy in Action, coming soon!