India’s Most Admired Think Tanks
Education World, August 10,
2017
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Hitherto unknown and
unappreciated, think tanks are thriving in India with many
coming of age. In the latest (2016) annual survey of the
world’s top think tanks conducted by the University of
Pennsylvania under its Think Tanks and Civil Societies
Program, nine Indian think tanks are ranked among the Top
175 globally - Indranil Banerjie
When
the world’s #1 think tank, Brookings Institution, decided to
open an office in India in 2013, many in this country
wondered why a US-based think tank would want an Indian
presence. There was more perplexity than hostility. “When
the idea for Brookings India first originated, many Indian
policymakers and industrialists questioned the role of think
tanks, or why they were useful or necessary,” says Vikram
Singh Mehta, the Delhi-based chairman of Brookings India.
Fortunately, mindsets have radically changed since then.
Mehta, former chairman of the Shell Group of Companies in
India, explains: “Today, almost anyone in the know
understands the valuable role think tanks play as generators
of new policy research and neutral arbiters of ideas. A wide
variety of stakeholders appreciate the work being done by
Brookings India and other think tanks in shaping policy
debates. Our experts feature regularly in the Indian media
and are called in to provide advice to the government. All
of this augurs well for the growth and development of think
tanks in India.”
Once largely unknown and unappreciated, think tanks defined
as organisations which conduct policy-oriented research and
analyses and provide advice to governments, corporates and
policy formulators on domestic and international issues to
enable informed decisions and build media and public opinion
are thriving in India with many coming of age. In the latest
(2016) annual survey of the world’s top think tanks
conducted by the University of Pennsylvania under its Think
Tanks and Civil Societies Program (TTCSP), nine Indian think
tanks are ranked among the Top 175 globally. To constitute
the TTCSP Global Go To Think Tank Index, over 6,500 think
tanks from 60 countries were invited to participate, and
were ranked by 1,950 scholars, public and private donors,
policy makers, and journalists using a set of 18 criteria
(see box p.76).
Among the Indian think tanks ranked in the global Top 175:
Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (#54), Centre for
Civil Society (81), Indian Council for Research on
International Economic Relations (110), The Energy and
Resources Institute (112), Observer Research Foundation
(119), Development Alternatives (139), Delhi Policy Group
(142), Centre for Land Warfare Studies (172) and Centre for
Policy Research (174). The University of Pennsylvania survey
notes that India “has experienced a dramatic growth in think
tanks since the mid-2000s” and hosts the fourth largest
number in the world 280 cf. 1,835 in the US, 435 in China
and 288 in the United Kingdom (see box p.76).
According to Dr. Parth Shah, founder president of the Centre
for Civil Society (estb.1997), Delhi, growing awareness of
enlightened public policy as a means to socio-political
development has fuelled the growth of think tanks in India.
“The past decade has seen growing interest among education
institutions in public policy currently there are over 21
public policy undergraduate and postgraduate programmes
offered in India. There’s also a gradual change in the
attitudes of young people. Today’s youth believe in the
‘power of knowledge’ as opposed to the age-old practices of
morchas and dharnas (demonstrations and strikes) and in
creating an informed citizenry to bring about change. The
number of fellowships, internships and opportunities for
young people to enter the public policy sector is growing by
the year.”
“Think tanks are public-policy research analysis and
engagement organizations that generate policy-oriented
research, analysis, and advice on domestic and international
issues, thereby enabling policymakers and the public to make
informed decisions about public policy. Think tanks may be
affiliated or independent institutions that are structured
as permanent bodies, not ad hoc commissions. These
institutions often act as a bridge between the academic and
policymaking communities and between states and civil
society, serving in the public interest as independent
voices that translate applied and basic research into a
language that is understandable, reliable, and accessible
for policymakers and the public."
Source: Think Tanks and Policy Advice in the US (Routledge
2007) and The Fifth Estate: The Role of Think Tanks in
Domestic and Foreign Policy in the US (University of
Pennsylvania Press)
When the government of India discerned a need for
independent research and policy inputs on economic affairs,
it re-jigged its socialist-era Planning Commission to form
the country’s largest think tank — NITI (National Institute
for Transforming India) Aayog. Though technically, NITI
Aayog is another arm of the Union government, intrinsic to
its formation is the idea that government needs inputs for
better policy formulation, implementation and evaluation.
Several attempts to interview Dr. Arvind Panagariya, an
economics professor of Columbia University appointed vice
chairman of NITI Aayog, proved infructuous as he had decided
to resign which he duly did on August 1.
NITI Aayog apart, as in other Asian countries, many think
tanks in India are either government- funded or affiliated
such as the top-ranked Institute of Defence Studies &
Analyses, Indian Council of World Affairs and Indian Council
for Research on International Economic Relations. While
government think tanks are flush with funds, for private,
independent think tanks, raising funds isn’t easy as
corporate and philanthropic grants and research funding tend
to be grudging.
Comments Subrat Das, executive director, Centre for Budget
and Governance Accountability, a Delhi-based not-for-profit
think tank: “As far as the growth and development of
independent think tanks is concerned, the socio-political
environment in India is not any more conducive today than it
was in the past. While the avenues for dissemination of our
research findings and opinions have expanded rapidly due to
the proliferation of social media and news portals, funding
opportunities for think tanks have declined.”
World’s Top 10 think tanks
1.
Brookings Institution (United States)
2. Chatham House (United Kingdom)
3. French Institute of International Relations
4. Center for Strategic and International Studies (United
States)
5. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (United
States)
6. Bruegel (Belgium)
7. RAND Corporation (United States)
8. Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (United
States)
9. Fundação Getulio Vargas (Brazil)
10. Council on Foreign Relations (United States) India’s top
think tanks
54. Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, Delhi
81. Centre for Civil Society, Delhi
110. Indian Council for Research on International Economic
Relations, Delhi
112. The Energy and Resources Institute, Delhi
119. Observer Research Foundation, Delhi/Mumbai
139. Development Alternatives, Delhi
142. Delhi Policy Group
172. Centre for Land Warfare Studies, Delhi
174. Centre for Policy Research, Delhi
Source: Global Go-to Think Tank Index 2016 (University of
Pennsylvania)
Critical to
think tanks producing quality research, analysis and policy
papers is their ability to attract highly respected authors,
professors and elder statesmen as scholars and researchers.
Fortunately, an increasing number of academics and
researchers are opting to contribute to the national policy
development effort. “Think tanks can’t compete with
corporate salaries, but they have learnt that it is
important to attract talent. The good news is that many
young people are showing interest in the development sector
and want to engage with issues of polity, probity and
governance,” says Pradeep Mehta, founder secretary-general
of the Jaipur-based CUTS International, a consumer rights
think tank.
Rukmini Banerji, Delhi-based chief executive of the
country’s pioneering education think tank, ASER Centre,
promoted by education NGO Pratham in 2008, concurs. “Even
though pecuniary benefits in non-government agencies and
think tanks are much less than in corporates, many IIT and
IIM graduates are opting to join the development sector.
This is a positive outcome.”
The fact that India hosts the fourth largest number of think
tanks worldwide, and that they have survived and multiplied
and attract erudite faculty and scholars, indicates that
there’s growing appreciation of the valuable role they play
in shaping public opinion and aiding policy formulation. In
the pages following, we offer snapshot profiles of India’s
most admired think tanks engaged in valuable research on
issues of national importance.
Brookings India
Relatively late (2013) in planting its flag on Indian soil
is the Brookings Institution India Centre, aka Brookings
India. However, its belated arrival is most welcome because
its parent think tank, the Washington DC-based Brookings
Institution, enjoys an awesome reputation in the US and is
routinely ranked the world’s #1 think tank in the annual
survey conducted by University of Pennsylvania under its
Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program (TTCSP). In the
latest 2016 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report of TTCSP,
unsurprisingly Brookings Institution USA is ranked the #1
think tank worldwide.
Established four years ago, Brookings India is the
initiative of its founder-chairman Vikram Singh Mehta, an
alum of Oxford and Tufts universities who served with
various European petroleum companies and retired as chairman
of the Shell Group of Companies in India in 2012, following
which he was appointed the first chairman of Brookings
Institution India Centre. Currently, the centre has 15
scholars/researchers on its muster rolls including
top-ranked economists Subir Gokarn and Rakesh Mohan, both of
whom have served as former deputy governors of the Reserve
Bank of India, and Waheguru Pal Singh Sidhu, formerly with
the EastWest Institute, New York.
Focus areas. While the ambit of Brookings
India scholars spans the domains of development and
governance, trade and investment, foreign policy, energy and
sustainability, digital economy and regulatory issues, over
the past year it has been focusing on “important topical
issues” such as public understanding of government
electricity subsidies, impact of electronic voting machines,
making health and morbidity data accessible for policy
analysis, and the future of India-US relations. Among its
long-term policy initiatives, reform of India’s coal sector,
the concept of a universal basic income and fine-tuning of
India’s ‘Act East’ policy are priority areas. “The focus is
now on consolidating our presence and expanding the scope to
sectors such as education,” says Mehta.
Centre for Civil Society
The 2016 survey of the world’s top think tanks conducted by
the University of Pennsylvania under its Think Tanks and
Civil Societies Program ranks the Delhi-based Centre for
Civil Society (CCS, estb. 1997) #54 worldwide and #2 in
India. Dr. Parth J. Shah, an alumnus of MS University,
Baroda and Auburn University, USA, and former professor of
economics at Michigan University who returned to India in
1997 to promote CCS, says the high ranking is an
acknowledgement of the centre’s efforts “to transform ideas
and mindsets and enable effective policy reforms to foster
choice and accountability across the public and private
sectors”.
Focus areas. CCS’ main areas of focus are
education for all, law, liberty and livelihood, good
governance and communities, markets and environment. The
society’s relentless campaign for protection of street
vendors’ right to livelihood has resulted in the Supreme
Court legalising street vending in Rajasthan.
According to Shah, currently CCS’ prime focus is on
“reshaping the school education policy landscape — shifting
the focus to learning outcomes, expanding choice in
education and advocating deregulation of the private
sector”. Among its notable education achievements: CCS
presented recommendations to Niti Aayog for formulation of
the New Education Policy; successfully initiated a
‘centralised lottery’ system for admission of EWS
(economically weaker sections) students under the RTE Act’s
25 percent quota for poor neighbourhood children; and
trained and skilled 2,000 youth under its Vikalp Skill
Voucher pilot project.
Moreover, CCS has trained over 445 youth, 90 journalists and
61 young professionals through its certificate course on
public policy. “Engaging with youth and students is integral
to CCS’ activities. Through campus talks, training and
credit courses we want to nurture leaders with new ideas.
Last year, we interacted with over 2,950 students of top
universities countrywide,” says Shah.
Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability
The
Delhi-based Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability
(CBGA) was established in 2002 as a programme of the Pune-based
National Centre for Advocacy Studies, and spun off as an
independent organisation in 2005 with the mandate to promote
transparent, accountable and participatory governance. “CBGA
is one of the few think tanks in the country that analyses
fiscal policy and budgetary processes. The focus is on the
impact of fiscal policies and government budgets on
underprivileged sections of the population. As a result, our
research has provided useful evidence and perspectives for
civil society organisations and social activists to help
strengthen their policy advocacy efforts,” says Dr. Subrat
Das, an economics alumnus of Jawaharlal Nehru University,
Delhi and research scholar at CBGA since 2002, who was
appointed executive director of the centre in 2010.
Focus areas. CBGA’s primary objective is to
promote transparent and accountable governance. In January
this year, the centre launched an open data portal on
government budgets in India (openbudgetsindia.org) with its
research focusing on policy framework and budgetary
priorities for critical development sectors such as
education, health, nutrition, drinking water and sanitation,
agriculture and food security, and responsiveness of budgets
to disadvantaged sections of population.
With a total income of Rs.4.9 crore in 2015-16 and served by
a core faculty of 29 researchers and scholars, CBGA’s donors
include the Ford Foundation, International Development
Research Centre, Centre for International Policy Project,
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Unicef among others.
Dr. Das plans to expand the centre’s scope of work manifold
in the coming years. “We plan to strengthen our research
work in a number of areas, viz. building a robust body of
evidence on implementation of government programmes through
field survey-based research studies; comparative analysis of
state government budgets in the context of fiscal
federalism; using ICT to improve governance and budget
processes in the country; and promoting ways in which
India’s budget data can be made ‘open’, usable and easy to
comprehend,” says Das.
Indian Institute of Dalit Studies
The Indian Institute of Dalit Studies (IIDS) was promoted in
2003 by academicians and civil society activists to
understand the problems of marginalised groups of Indian
society, identify the causes of their marginalisation and
suggest policies for their empowerment. Based in New Delhi,
over the past decade IIDS has collaborated with various
ministries of the Central and state governments to develop
policies and schemes for progressive upliftment of backward
communities.
“IIDS has been recognised as a Centre with Potential for
Excellence by the Economic and Social Research Council of
the UK, and as an Emerging Centre for Social Science
Research by Department of International Research, South Asia
Research Hub. We are one of the foremost institutions
working in the area of social exclusion and discrimination,”
says Sanghamitra S. Acharya, an alumna of Jawaharlal Nehru
University, Delhi and University of Botswana and director of
IIDS (annual budget: Rs.3.86 crore).
Among IIDS’ biggest supporters are the Union ministries of
social justice and empowerment, rural development and human
resource development.
Focus areas. The institute is primarily
focused on studies commissioned to influence policy
interventions in the areas of affirmative action in the
private sector, strengthening the Panchayati Raj system and
development of guidelines for classroom behaviour and
teacher training modules to address issues of caste
discrimination. IIDS has also collaborated with Action Aid,
UNICEF, UNDP, University of Birmingham, UK, among others in
the area of social inclusion and empowerment.
Indian Council for Research on International Economic
Relations
Established
in 1981, the Delhi-based Indian Council for Research on
International Economic Relations (ICRIER) is widely regarded
as the country’s premier think tank on issues related to
economic policy and India’s place in the global economy. “At
a time when inward looking economic policies were at their
peak in India, ICRIER was one of the first outward looking
think tanks to advocate greater, intensive engagement with
the global economy. Our biggest achievement is that we have
been able to influence economic policy making in India
through evidence-based research,” says Dr. Rajat Kathuria,
former professor of economics at the University of Maryland
(USA) and the International Management Institute, Delhi who
was appointed director of ICRIER in September 2012.
With a healthy endowment fund of Rs.47.91 crore, ICRIER
attracts highly-qualified research scholars and academics.
Its Board of Governors is chaired by well-known economist
Dr. Isher Judge Ahluwalia and includes Nandan Nilekani,
Tarun Das, Chanda Kochchar, Anand Mahindra and Uday Kotak
among others.
Focus areas. Primarily focused on economic
policy research, it has expanded its scope to include
research on manufacturing, agriculture and service sectors,
climate change, urbanisation, entrepreneurship and jobs
creation. As one of the most reputed economic think tanks in
the country, ICRIER is routinely contracted by various
ministries of the government for “single sourcing of
research” on key policy issues.
“Over the years, many of our policy recommendations have
been implemented by government. Among them: direct selling,
single and multi-brand retail and mega food parks policies.
In addition, we have contributed to bilateral Free Trade
Area negotiations, particularly for Korea, Sri Lanka and
Nepal, and the SAARC regional integration process. The
India-Pakistan trade liberalisation process initiated in
2012 was also based on evidence provided by ICRIER,” says
Kathuria.
CUTS International
Since it was founded by a voluntary group of citizens in
1983 to apprise rural citizens in the north-western state of
Rajasthan about various schemes of the Central and state
governments promoted for their welfare and upliftment, the
Jaipur-based CUTS (Consumer Unity & Trust Society)
International has evolved into the country’s foremost
consumer rights and protection organisation. It currently
operates five programme centres and an advocacy centre in
India (three in Jaipur, one each in Chittorgarh and Kolkata),
two resource centres in Africa and one in the UK.
“We are probably the only NGO in the world recognised for
our persistent advocacy of competition laws and policies in
over 25 developing countries. We have shown through
empirical evidence how in the absence of proper regulation
and competition, consumers are blocked out from
participating in the economy, thus negating the gains of
liberalisation,” says Pradeep S. Mehta, a relentless
consumer rights champion and founder secretary-general of
CUTS-International which has a headcount of 100 employees.
Focus areas. CUTS’ primary focus areas are
consumer protection; international trade and development;
promoting competition, investment and economic regulation;
human development and consumer safety. According to Mehta,
CUTS has formulated a “vision document for 50 years and
five-year strategic business plans” to guide its future
growth. “Our focus areas are directly linked to the United
Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals. We will continue to
focus on consumer protection and human development and help
achieve the SDGs’ objective of ‘leave no one behind’,” he
says.
Among its donors, CUTS (annual budget: Rs.9.74 crore) boasts
AusAID, DFID (UK and India), various Union government
ministries, the United Nations, Consumers’ International
(UK), HIVOS (Netherlands), International Development
Research Centre (Canada), and the Ford Foundation (USA).
ASER Centre
Established
in 2008 by Pratham Education Foundation (estb. 1994),
India’s pioneer and premier education NGO, the ASER Centre
is an autonomous assessment, survey, evaluation and research
institute which assesses the outcomes of social sector
programmes in the country. “Pratham’s research arm — ASER
Centre — produces evidence for action through a variety of
activities of assessment, survey, evaluation, research and
communication. Also, given the fact that the centre is part
of Pratham, an implementation organisation working to
improve quality of primary education countrywide, we are
able to act on evidence,” says Dr. Rukmini Banerji, a
highly-qualified alumna of the Delhi School of Economics,
Oxford and Chicago universities, who worked as a programme
officer at the Spencer Foundation, Chicago for several years
before returning to India in 1996. Currently, she is chief
executive of the Delhi-based Pratham Education Foundation.
Focus areas. Pratham’s invaluable flagship
initiative is publishing the Annual Status of Education
Report (ASER), a citizens-led assessment of learning
outcomes of children in the 5-16 age group in rural India.
Conducted since 2005, ASER involves resource mobilisation on
a massive scale. For instance, the 2016 survey involved
networking with 500 local organisations and mobilisation of
25,000 volunteers (mainly college students) who fanned out
across 589 rural districts to test the unprepared literacy
and numeracy capability of 562,305 children (in the age
group 3-16) of 350,232 households in 17,473 rural
habitations, making it the largest learning assessment
survey countrywide. According to ASER 2016, nationally, only
42.55 percent of children in class II are able to read class
I level texts while a mere 27.7 percent can do two-digit
subtraction sums.
“ASER has contributed significantly to changing the national
discourse on elementary education from inputs to outcomes.
ASER was initiated because there was no nationwide data on
learning outcomes of primary school children in rural India.
Also, all education policies exclusively focussed on
enrolment, gender equality and infrastructure provision.
This resulted in the RTE Act which guarantees ‘Right to
Schooling’ rather than ‘Right to Learning’. All this is now
changing and the incumbent government is focused on learning
goals and outcomes,” says Banerji.
ASER apart, the centre has produced several high-impact
education research studies including the India Early
Childhood Education Impact study, Bihar Elementary School
Study, and Inside Primary Schools. Moreover, it conducts
courses and workshops to build the capacity of individuals
and institutions to design, implement and understand
assessment of education/social sector programmes.
NITI Aayog
The Socialist-era Planning Commission, established in 1950
by India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru to devise
and implement Soviet-style central planning for every sector
of the economy, was formally abolished by the Narendra Modi-led
BJP government, and replaced by the National Institution for
Transforming India (aka NITI Aayog) on January 1, 2015. NITI
Aayog, which bills itself as “the premier policy ‘think
tank’ of the government of India, providing both directional
and policy inputs”, is mandated with designing strategic
long-term policies and programmes for the Union government
and providing “technical advice” to the Centre and states.
Although the prime minister is the ex officio chairperson of
Niti Aayog, the think tank is effectively managed by its
vice chairperson Dr. Arvind Panagariya, professor at
Columbia University on deputation to NITI Aayog and CEO
Amitabh Kant, a former bureaucrat. The think tank also has
three prominent members: V.K. Saraswat, former defence
secretary, economist Dr. Bibek Debroy and agricultural
economist Prof. Ramesh Chand.
Focus areas. Though the Planning Commission
has been junked, its new avatar retains much of the old
infrastructure and government work culture. According to the
official website, “the core of NITI Aayog’s creation are two
hubs — Team India Hub and the Knowledge and Innovation Hub.
The Team India Hub leads the engagement of states with the
Central government, while the Knowledge and Innovation Hub
builds NITI’s think-tank capabilities.” Repeated efforts to
interview any of the top brass proved unsuccessful with the
Aayog in a churn. Panagariya resigned his office on August
1.
Institute of Defence Studies & Analyses
The Central government-funded Institute for Defence Studies
& Analyses (IDSA, estb.1965) is ranked India’s #1 think tank
in the University of Pennsylvania’s latest survey for good
reason. It’s easily the country’s most well-funded and
prolific think tank with a well-qualified multi-disciplinary
research faculty drawn from academia, the defence and civil
services. Wholly funded by the Union ministry of defence, it
is sited on an expansive campus in New Delhi with an
administrative building hosting office spaces, a library,
world-class auditorium, conference rooms, and residential
apartments for visiting scholars.
The credit for transforming IDSA into the country’s most
well-equipped think tank is unanimously given to Dr. K.
Santhanam who served as director from 2001-2004. A
government scientist who supervised several top-secret
projects including missile and submarine development, Dr.
Santhanam succeeded in pushing through IDSA’s massive
infrastructure development and expansion plans through
government red tape. Unfortunately, in recent years IDSA’s
success and deep government linkages have attracted the
attention of defence and foreign ministry bureaucrats who
have usurped the director’s position leading to much
frustration amongst its research scholars. Therefore,
unsurprisingly in the tradition of Indian super bureaucrats
who have scant respect for public accountability, your
correspondent’s several efforts to interview the director
re-designated as “director general” Jayant Prasad proved
futile.
Focus areas. IDSA’s primary focus is on
national security research and analysis. “The Institute for
Defence Studies and Analyses is a non-partisan, autonomous
body dedicated to objective research and policy relevant
studies on all aspects of defence and security. To achieve
its goals, the Institute undertakes: a) Scholarly research;
b) Policy-oriented research; c) Dissemination of research
findings; d) Training and capacity building; and e) Public
education,” says its website. It also hosts several national
and international conferences on defence and
security-related issues with its prestigious Asian Security
Conference attracting defence scholars and experts from
around the world.
Observer Research Foundation
Promoted in 1990 on the eve of India’s historic
liberalisation and deregulation initiative of 1991, the
Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation (ORF) was
established with the objective of bringing economists and
policy makers together to facilitate the process of economic
reforms and aid India’s transition from “a protected economy
to a new engagement with the international economic order”.
Since then, ORF founded by the Ambani family, promoters of
Reliance Industries Ltd, India’s largest private sector
company (revenue: Rs.320,000 crore in 2017) has expanded its
ambit to security and strategic studies, economy and
development, and energy and resources, providing valuable
independent research analyses and inputs to decision-makers
in government, business, academia and civil society around
the world.
ORF’s first chairman was veteran journalist R.K. Mishra
(1932-2009), former editor of The Sunday Observer and The
Observer of Business and Politics newspapers (since
discontinued) promoted by Reliance Industries. Currently,
ORF’s team of 300 scholars and experts is led by Dr. Sunjoy
Joshi, an alumnus of Allahabad and East Anglia (UK)
universities who served the Union government as an IAS
officer in various capacities for over 25 years, before
being appointed director of the foundation in 2007.
Focus areas. With a mandate to “lead and aid
policy thinking towards building a strong and prosperous
India in a fair and equitable world”, ORF conducts “in-depth
research” and provides “inclusive platforms” on a wide range
of issues including climate, energy and resources, cyber and
media, economy and growth, global governance, national
security, strategic studies and politics of reform.
Moreover, it hosts five prestigious “forums” i.e, events the
Asian Forum on Global Governance, ORF BRICS Forum, CyFy: The
India Conference on Cyber Security and Internet Governance,
ORF Kalpana Chawla Annual Space Dialogue and the Raisina
Dialogue on issues of geopolitics and economics.
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