Thoughts on #SSR - soul that opened a can of worms that won't ever close..

Lockdown certainly amped up our entertainment quotient - the time I spent on commuting, fitness, and chores was significantly spent on rooting out old entertainment content on Amazon Prime Video (APV) and You Tube (YT). Bollywood became like a close aid during these times since I was spending so much time watching stuff and contemplating on impressions these things left.. When you are homebound, you do also end up watching a lot of mainstream entertainment like Tarak Mehta and Kapil Sharma, where actors put their best foot forward for promotional activities. Unfortunately, such things form your opinion and selection of content for future..

When the news of Sushant Singh Rajput's (SSR) suicide reached me, I felt really uncomfortable deep inside, despite not being a fan of any actor per say. I thought it was an impact of prolonged lockdown, which left people depressed - which was Trump's argument for not locking down USA! As a person fond of watching documentaries and extremely unbiased content - rare on even APV and YT; that I need to first sift through the unbiasedness of any new content before daring to watch it so I wouldn't feel stolen of a certain 'mood threshold' or time, finding Bollywood consistently superficial at the intellectual level! I still watched Paatal Lok and Four More Shots initially - one of which was biased and the other extremely below average. Inside Edge was extremely intriguing, but Richa Chadha was annoying and out of character.

This was how I viewed content before SSR opened my eyes to the reality of Bollywood and the wickedness of the business and reasons that compelled the beautiful, hardworking and extremely intellectual person to take this step - the more I read and watch SSR-oriented content, the more I fell in love with the innocence and honesty of this man who I wished just found an outlet to express himself! We needed him more in this industry of facade just like I realised and feel grateful for having actors like Kangana Renaut, who is opening public eye to the injustice in Bollywood along with gems like Vivek Obroi. Sorry for poor spellings of the actors!

I realised how there is a divide between star kids actors and those who struggle to get success. This was just like nepotism in any other industry - politics, business, lawyers etc. and how favouritism gets kiths and kins more opportunities - like how the rich and powerful of India only give further opportunities to their own bloodline before anyone else. For instance Ravi Shankar Prasad's daughter who I interacted with at MIT, was leading projects at BCG and BMGF in India, the opportunity that never percolated down to a super qualified person like me, because these "so called star kids of politics" were absorbed there first and perhaps these were only created for them! So if Bollywood has its very apparent curses, so do all industries have and perhaps the sensible people are pushed to follow the difficult path of accepting the reality, keep working harder, give up or fight back aggressively. As a country to become more transparent, merit-oriented and "truly developed", we would need to have anti-nepotism awareness, rights backed by a legal provision that allows people in all industries to compete with fairness and fearlessness.

It has been disheartening to know how SSR was bound by anti-competitive contracts, which gave undue advantage to his mediocre peers like Ranvir Singh, who thrived in Bollywood out of frivolity. The concept of "Roasting" other actors by failed star kids and using abuses was extremely indecent at one point of time, but a culture introduced and made "cool" by the alleged mafia king of Bollywood, Karan Johar. His show had a cult following in India, relying on gossip and making personal judgments about talented stars like SSR and Kangana Renaut - for which people like me are responsible because we found this brainless content as entertainment.

 

Going back to some YT interviews of SSR, I observed how he paid attention to his dressing sense along with every word that came from his mouth. As an Indian and Hindu, I felt so proud of seeing him sport Kurtas in a number of events, followed by a Shiva T-Shirt to his citing reading old Hindu scriptures and texts as they give wisdom in terms of similarity of human lives existing now and centuries ago! Such a brilliant mind has gone away from this planet and he had to teach so much more to each one of us - through more meaningful films like Byomkesh Bakshi that I started watching on DD, then on APV as well a touching biopic, Dhoni...

The incident and loss has made me even more cautious about choosing my content. I wish this backlash does not die down - those who are part of each industry fight back harder like Kangana Renaut, while making each one of us in other industry aware of their battles against groupism, nepotism, favouritism, bullying, cornering, shaming, and compelling a hard-working person like SSR to take this extreme step. I wish he had lived to tell his story.. in a novel.. in a film.. in a blog.. or even in YT video...   

New COVID and readjusting SDGs

COVID-19 pandemic has brought the world to a standstill with a global lockdown, and up to 113,000 deaths as on April 12, 2020. Little is known about creating physical barriers, boundaries or supposed walls from curtailing spread of the infectious disease from to and further to different geographical territories. At the time the 'Sustainable Development Goals' (SDGs), the highest-level political forum and plan of action for people, planet and prosperity were framed in 2015, a humanitarian disaster of this proportion was not in the offing. This health and human crisis, in future, will call for re-looking at all economic, political, social and global priorities, and re-distributing resources for re-creating public structures for a world where a mass contagion of this effect could be both prevented and cured.    

The novel coronavirus, which started spreading from Wuhan, China early in January, 2020 has a human to human transmission, through tiny droplets discharged during coughing, sneezing or speaking and falling directly, on surfaces, ground or even remaining suspended in air for up to 6 hours or more. With patients remaining asymptomatic for as long as 14 days, while still infecting others, the pandemic has almost been impossible to manage through measures recommended by the World Health Organisation, and countries - both developed and developing have had to strictly enforce guidelines for social distancing, quarantining, curfews and self-isolation through lockdowns.

Due to country-wide lockdowns, many economic activities have come to a standstill. The initial economic projections of growth rates are critically challenged, with agricultural supplies getting wasted due to non-availability of freight transport. Daily wager's lives have been majorly jolted with millions of them out of jobs, heavily impacting the unorganised or service sector, which contributes a large chunk to the national income. Migrant labour from cities started reverse movements during this period to their villages on foot, in the absence of modes of transportation. These testing times, and challenges thereof, call for some visibly robust changes in the way services were being both offered and supplied to people, whose lives would continue to get affected during and after the pandemic.

The purpose of re-looking at SDGs in this blog was to recommend fresh focus areas or merging various SDGs for the pandemic and post-pandemic world. The pandemic falls under SDG 3: Good health and well-being, however, it impacts 15 other SDGs as follows: 

SDG 1: No poverty - there is sufficient evidence that already suggests that the low income countries would only get poor after this pandemic, and it is already impacting the lives of poor people adversely due to lack of medical coverage and inability to abide by the standardised isolation norms. At a time, when the global poverty rates had witnessed great reduction and roles of development banking was been questioned, the pandemic has again created the need for poverty-oriented funding.

SDG 2: Zero Hunger – perishable food is being spoilt due to lockdowns and would adversely impact long-term produce. Due to lack of jobs, people will not be able to afford basic essential food items, unless appropriate provisions are made by the government to ensure food security.

SDG 3: Good health and well-being – this is the most affected of all the goals. Governments, private sector and multilateral agencies have joined hands in sponsoring programs and stimulus packages. Health and frontline workers are facing risk like never before and constitute large numbers of those suffering and perishing from the disease due to lack of appropriate health care equipment.

SDG 4: Quality education – due to lockdowns, schools and instituted of higher education are closed down, and the in-person learning is replaced by individualised web-teaching. Despite not causing a break, this mode has several challenges like issues of web connectivity, social learning etc.

SDG 6: Clean water and sanitation – the pandemic has highlighted the need of washing hands frequently with soap and water. Although, there are no proven concerns of the disease spreading through unclean water, appropriate processing of sanitary waste is extremely crucial, including handling remains of the deceased.

SDG 8: Decent work and economic growth – Employment is directly linked to state of the economy. With slowdown in global economy, lockdown has severely affected the livelihood of not just daily wagers, but those engaged in the unorganised sector as well as non-essential service sector as defined by respective governments.  

SDG 9: Industry, innovation and infrastructure – A number of industries have been directly impacted due the outbreak leading to their non-survival. Airlines, travel and tourism, entertainment, transportation, non-essential retailing, construction etc. are some examples where stimulus packages have been announced by the governments for their revival.

SDG 10: Reduced inequalities – Not just national, but even global disparities are bound to rise due to livelihood shifts and changed style of working. The income levels of businesses and personnel who could meet this shift with preparation would sustain or grow in this era, others will need to adapt or wait patiently.

SDG 11: Sustainable cities and communities – The pandemic has shaken the capacity of best healthcare systems in advanced economies in Italy, Spain, China, USA, Japan etc. Despite building model infrastructure facilities, planned cities and empowering communities, the vision for this goal will need to be revisited for future.

SDG 12: Responsible consumption and production – With almost all international and domestic boundaries sealed, consumption is dependent on local supplies. There is also enhanced scepticism of the virus remaining on the surfaces of packages, due to which there is very care purchasing, even of essential commodities. Both production and consumption will need to factor in the aspects post COVID-19.

SDG 13: Climate action – Climate change has not sought the kind of attention it mandates not just on the individual level, but even by certain economies. If a pandemic can cripple the globe for more than a quarter at present, climate issues could be worst, and require stricter focus.

SDG 14 and 15: Life below water and on land – It’s strongly believed that the live animal and seafood market in Wuhan was the starting point for Coronavirus. Non-regulated livestock has been commonly sold for human consumption in these markets, which led to animal-human viral transmission. It’s important for human beings to protect other living species on the planet, and not exploit them as food resources due to infinite and sustainable alternatives already available.

SDG 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions – The pandemic has put to test the robustness of many governments, institutions and even multilateral agencies. Policies of many countries were challenged by the crisis at multiple levels. The World Health Organisation and even the UNSC have been questioned for several decisions, which were not in favour of controlling and containing the disease to particular regions in a timely manner.

SDG 17: Partnerships for the goals – Progress has been made for this goal for managing the pandemic by all financial institutions, regional trade organisations and for capacity-building between countries. However, these efforts came at a time when crisis was at its peak. With different geographies going through different stages of the pandemic, better coordination and cooperation would help in enabling countries to deal with the outbreak through knowledge-sharing.

Payal Dey CV - List of Publications

This list is part of the abridged Resume. Full CV: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1amktKQdH89vjyQmkjSCyhA0m28xQL7O8/view?usp=sharing

2018

·     Co-authored report for the Asian Development Bank titled: 'Report on Analysis of Select Social Sector Public-Private Partnership Projects (PPP) in India', CUTS Institute for Regulation and Competition, February 2018, ADB (Contract no. 136504).

2017

·       Editorial inputs for the Report: Chanchal et al, ‘Public Policies and Investments for the Welfare of Children in Urban Poverty in India’, Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability, supported by Bernard van Leer Foundation, New Delhi, available here.  

2016

·       'Rail Budget 2016: Prabhu signals shifting focus to customers’, staff', www.firstpost.com, February 2016, available here.

·       'Connecting the Dots: An Analysis of Union Budget 2016-17', Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability, March 2016, available here.

·       ‘Report of the Task Force on Financial Redress Agency’, Ministry of Finance, Government of India, June 2016, available here.

·       ‘Public-Private Partnership and Fiscal Rules in India’, Young Scholar’s Conference on Government Finance and Public Policy Issues, CBGA, July, 2016.

·       'Diwali: a smog mare for the India capital', LSE South Asia Blog, November, 2016, available here.

2015

·     Payal Dey, 'Regulatory Control of Foreign Direct Investment - A Case of Pharmaceutical Sector in India', Journal of Governance and Public Policy, Volume 5, No. 1, January-June 2015; ISSN 2231-0924, abstract available here.

2014

·     Manu Sharma, Payal Dey and Gunwant Singh Saini, 'Silver and Global Equity Markets', The Journal of Private Equity, Spring 2014, Vol. 17, No. 2: pp. 18-22          

2013

• Eldho Mathews, Biju A Chittuparamban, Sharvari Joshi, and Payal Dey, 'Engaging the Corporate Sector: Narayana Murthy Committee Recommendations and the Future of Indian Higher Education', Economic  and Political Weekly, Vol - XLVIII No. 29, July 20, 2013, abstract available here.   

·     Manu Sharma, Payal Dey and Rajneesh Agarwal, 'Dow Jones Precious Metal Index and Global Markets', Journal of Wealth Management, Summer 2013, Vol. 16, No. 1: pp. 91-96

2012

·     Conference paper for Adviser to Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission of India, 'PPP in National Highways: Indian Perspective', International Transport Forum, September 28, 2012

·     Conference paper presented as speaker: 'Roadblocks in Roadways and Effectiveness of PPPs in India', Seventh International Conference on Public Policy and Management, Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, August 16, 2012.

2011

·     Policy paper for Secretary, DBT and Member, Planning Commission of India, 'White paper on FDIs in the  Indian Pharmaceutical Industry', December, 2011

·     'Foreign Investment Promotion Board Review 2010', Department of Economic Affairs, MoF, Government of India, September 2011, available here.

2008-09

·     Conference paper presented as speaker: 'Banking Consolidation (India): Retrospect and Prospects', IBS Mumbai, December 19, 2008

·     'Safe Drinking Water Project in Rural Areas', project report prepared on behalf of Chandrabimb Foundation, available here, August 9, 2009

·     'BIO-Health Economics^TM', project report jointly prepared on behalf of Chandrabimb Foundation, available here, May 13, 2008

2005-06

·     Report: 'Impact of Fiscal Incentives on Exporters', Commissioned by Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India and Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), December 18, 2006

·     Bindu Dey and Payal Dey, 'Clinical Trials – Commerce versus Ethics', May 4, 2005, available here.

The government and the unorganized sector

The government can only bring regulation for sectors it exerts direct control on: these are mainly classified into two categories - economic and social, or hard and soft. The economic sectors include all those industries that directly contribute to the growth of the economy such as infrastructure, finance, agriculture, mining etc; whereas social sectors include areas that directly deal with people's lives such as water, health, environment, education, housing etc. While a major chunk of service providers to both these sectors come under the organised sector through consulting agencies, private sector, NGOs and other white-collared professions that support the executive, legislative and judiciary roles of the government, there is a robust unorganized sector which is the "critical backbone" of the organised sector. Percentage share of unorganized sector in service sector in terms of human capital far exceeds the number of people engaged by organised sector. This is what makes this unfettered sector a support system for the organised sector. Unorganized sector includes all kinds of labour in professions ranging from domestic help, gardener, fruit and vegetable seller, private driver, rickshaw puller, kiryana store seller, shoe-mender, carpenter, plumber, beautician, astrologer to ad-hoc staff hired by organisations and individuals primarily operating in or on behalf of the organised sector.

Despite plethora of unending professional support that comes from the unorganised sector, is it completely unregulated as only role of the government is to provide skills to train large population in a country like India for employment generation. This blog is to critique this 'limited role' to move to a more 'human capital' or 'human resource' oriented governance role.

The government in the past has focused towards more industry-oriented sectors that lead to direct economic growth, resulting in neglect of human capital. At a point at which there is unchecked migration to urban areas in search of lucrative options, there is a need of governance both on the demand and supply side.

On demand side

When the services of the unoganised sector personnel is availed, there is no formal agreement between the two parties as it is done on mutual trust. The only preventive regulation is 'police verification' in case of engaging someone for house-hold support activities. In many cases, employers have to face harassment from hiring someone with unprofessional attitude and behavior, which are issues that are not resolvable, in many instances causing disputes and in extreme but prevalent situations, crimes.

On supply side

Although there are many agencies that register staff for professional services, even in digital era, hiring is a challenge due to bottlenecks in value chain of these agents. For instance, domestic helpers are not registered on any portal, and same is the case with shoe-menders, gardeners and many other professionals. If there is a government mandate of compulsory registration based on Aadhar number or a similar ID, search and hiring would be streamlined. It would also monitor illegal migration for vote-bank politics in urban spaces, and streamline the problem of slums, unauthorized occupation and menace on public or private properties.

Concluding thoughts

The present government is based on the principle of 'minimum government, maximum governance', however, India still fairs poorly on the Human Development Index. An orientation towards its human capital by regulating the unorganised sector would not just improve accountability of the nation towards economic growth, but also strengthen last mile connection between human-human service delivery. With a system that has moved away from trust, small steps can foster this business relationship at the very basic level. The simplest definition of Democracy is governance by the people, for, and of the people. In this case, "for" is to protect the interests of the "demand side" and "of" to check the irregularities on the "supply side".              

India's Daughter - a personal account at Harvard with Leslee Udwin

Although wanting to reach at 3 PM for the documentary to be screened at 4 PM at Harvard Graduate School of Education, conscientiously and resource-tied for multiple submissions, I could leave only at 3.45 PM. It was like 'challenging' myself, to 1) brave going alone and 2) watching content that may leave me shaken up. Being sensitive, I've practiced refraining from watching disturbing content for many years now..

Entering the 'Askwith Hall', I observed many empty rows - it felt a bit chilling already. I picked the right back corner and sunk into the chair, wrapping into the jacked and ensuring there were people around for support, in case of any unexpected 'need'. Yes, literally! I saw people in two's mostly. The documentary started with a warning for anyone to walk out at any time. It began with the incident in Delhi on December 16, 2012. I remembered this was the time I used to work for the Planning Commission of India, and all political figures looked familiar. The story then transitioned towards the driver, accused Mukesh giving interview and his version and details of the incident and other culprits.

Throughout the documentary, Mukesh spoke without any resentment or guilt. The two lawyers, who were representing the criminals were also of the mindset that unmarried women should not be stepping out with a guy after a 'decent hour', dating is wrong and there are strong standards women are to abide by in order to be 'worshiped'. Both parents of Jyoti Singh, the young ambitious girl who met with the fateless incident maintain a calm disposition in the documentary like soldiers, bringing plenty of sorrow; when one hears the two sides, it becomes even more difficult to complain.

The culprits have a criminal background and come from extremely poor families where having one meal was a challenge. They had no interest in 'education', and societal norms like how women need to be treated was an unknown concept to them. The criminal physiologist in the film mentions how this act was a culmination of so many wrongs that went unnoticed, ignored or unpunished throughout the years, which in itself was a reflection of how societies function on a daily basis - with immense tolerance to bad behavior!

The statistics in the end are disheartening as they state rapes and crimes against women not only in India but all around the world: with global average of assault being as high as 1 in 5 women. There was dreadful silence in the hall as the documentary ends. The emcee wound herself on the stage slowly, still recovering as she asked very pertinent questions to Leslee, which were answered in great detail. I shall not be able to reveal everything on this blog since the movie was banned in India, and the reasons were shocking to know for the first time ever!

My takeaway was the appreciation for Leslee - on how she built the courage to make this spine-chilling documentary and stopped making films to solve the 'problem'. She cited 'how lack of education' was the main reason for this feeling of 'power' and 'control' men seek over women, which is irrespective of a man's social, economic, educational or marital status. She explained her findings of how a "mindset" at 6 years of age continued till one is 60; and why right education in the formative years must focus on empathy, human values and developing social skills. The last question of the evening was by an Indian man, who spent 3 years in the US - he confessed he still did not understand 'consent'. To this Leslee replied that just asking this question was a good start, of some morals and perhaps good upbringing! As an Indian, I wished many of my Indian colleagues, past dates and friends did this loving, harmless, retrospective and mindful soul-searching with a positive and action-oriented intent.

As I booked my cab, I walked out towards the exit, following an elderly gentleman with a walking stick. As he saw me rushing, he opened the door and said 'First you miss'. I could not hold back my tears anymore. As my cab arrived - the driver greeted me with - How are you doing today? I nodded 'Okay', and was dropped by the driver at the destination, ensuring it was the 'exact' spot in the dark lonely lane. I know the driver was raised well too :)         

Multi-stakeholder perspective of the documentary "Katiyabaaz' in electricity deficit of Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh

As part of the course 'Engineering, economics and regulation for energy access in developing countries' at MIT, we were recommended to watch a documentary titled 'Katiyabaaz' by our course instructor Prof. Ignacio. Having spent most of my growing up years in urban or 'Lutyens' Delhi, the term Katiyabaaz didn't ring a bell! However, I was intrigued by the documentary, especially since it did not seem to have a detailed review online, yet had won many awards at the time of its launch in 2014. I requested the very kind TA (SL) of the course to let me borrow the DVD and on a bright sunny afternoon, booked a desktop in Hayden Library, playing the DVD. SL and I had tried capturing the gist earlier during the recitation class, however, the documentary's far too many dimensions got lost during our selective scan.

The documentary began with a scene that is typical to a semi-urban Indian landscape, spatially, and with regard to other physical and social settings. The statistics cited that out of 150 million people without electricity in the world, 40 million were in India: 3 million living in the city of Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. The city also has been one of the largest industrial centers of the country, yet out of a population of 2.7 million in need of electricity connection, the local distribution company KESCO could provide connections to only 0.5 million people. Kanpur also has been among the 10 most polluted cities in the world. The documentary showcased the interplay of the many stakeholders around the problem of availability of electricity to end users.

The various stakeholders that I identified are the following:

1. KESCO
2. MD, KESCO
3. MDs family/ children
4. KESCO employees
5. Patrol team
6. Linemen
7. MLA - Irfan Solanki
8. Local police
9. Various political parties that campaign during 2012 elections - Congress, BSP etc. (Rahul Gandhi, Mayawati)
10. PM of India
11. Consumers
12. Fined electricity consumers
13. Bill defaulters
14. Loha Singh - Katiyabaaz
15. Loha Singh's family
16. Loha Singh's supporters
17. Loha Singh's relatives
18. Poor population - daily wagers (Rakesh)
19. Large businesses
20. Business that shut shop
21. Small businessmen
22. Shopkeepers
23. Women - crying, praying to god for electricity
24. Little children - on road at night due to lack of electricity 
25. Other sleepless population due to lack of electricity 
26. Old people
27. Muslim family - Ramadan
28. Young girls and boys who learn katiya

Context

The backdrop of severe electricity shortage in the city of Kanpur gave rise to Katiya - meaning plugging in wires in the existing connections to get electricity illegally. The person who at the cost of his life did Katiya - fueled by a vicious social pressure rather than monetary incentive was called Katiyabaaz, played by Loha Singh that translated to Iron man - a locally stylized yet strong youth who decided to stand up for the society that promoted his profession.

Measures for curbing losses

When the MD - Ritu Maheshwari, played by a real-life IAS officer took over KESCO, she gave bold orders to deal with mass electricity theft to recover part of the Rs. 2 billion losses. Immediate steps included identification of locations of theft, FIRs and penalties for stealing electricity, vigorous campaigns in areas with maximum transmission losses including raids and early morning patrols as katiya was done during late night and removed in the mornings: this was to to basically ensure that carelessness in revenue collection and lapse in customer service was not tolerated. The MD took the stand that electricity could not be provided free of cost, and theft was done by both the poor and rich. With huge losses to the department, the government was unable to pay for the electricity produce. Some of  the other consumer-centered steps taken by her were: establishing a call center for quick repairs and electricity restoration, having 'town hall' meetings with consumers and stakeholders, facilitating electronic bill payments, sending mobile alerts to registered numbers for power cuts, among few others. This was to improve the credibility of KESCO, which had the reputation of cheating and robbing consumers, who ultimately relied on 'god' for provision of reliable electricity. These steps also built a sense of ownership in employees, improving the inter-personal relationship between the consumers and KESCO.

Adversities 

However, the above steps remained short-lived! When temperature soared to 47'C during summers, people returned to stealing power fearlessly and more aggressively. They blamed the MD for making them suffer, as power cuts exceeded the promised time limits. Stakeholders questioned, verbally attacked and threatened the MD, and infrastructure is observed to be crumbling due to overloading. The employees and linemen of KESCO are manhandled as consumers believed that power cuts were due to lack of electricity generation, with KESCO lacking the ability to provide power as promised in the first place. This leads to a law and order situation, as people take to the streets with anti-government slogans, burning effigies of the MD. The documentary also captured the divide between the local politician, with a populist stance and the MD, who stood like a rock to act on her principles. 

The reaction and assessment of various stakeholders is done in the matrix below:    

Conclusion and way forward      

The end of the documentary is predictable as the MD is transferred to a central government posting within a year. She made a statement that if she took bold steps, 'she would be gone', hence she must take steps that are doable or incremental in nature. Her incremental actions reduce the losses of KESCO by 30%. As a women, she is shown balancing her professional and personal life with two very young children.   

Ritu Maheshwari's story was covered as an inspiration for spearheading several other power system initiatives in the country. From her message, I wonder, what is the right time for a civil servant to take the bold steps - which stakeholder among the above could be relied for support at a time when the government's tendency is to be risk-averse in the short-term?

Why write a policy brief - an Indian perspective!

During my Masters at the London School of Economics and Political Science, we spent an entire semester acquiring skills to write policy brief, also known as policy memo. It was a rigorous exercise. Just understanding a problem clearly took a month! We relied on credible sources of information i.e. the documents published by the Home Office of the Government of United Kingdom, which was headed by Ms. Theresa May in 2014. Often, documents known as "Consultation Papers" published by administrative ministries seek public opinion or stakeholder engagement, where sophistical tools like policy briefs could aid decision-making within the government. In India, the practice of public consultation has not been new: many regulatory agencies, line ministries and houses of parliament seek comments from public on matters of national importance. 

Generally, there is no format for responding to the consultation papers, so stakeholders send their comments as notes or opinion pieces, which may be published on the websites of these agencies. Even the country's prime and refurbished think tank, NITI Aayog does not have any section for publishing or accepting policy briefs, like many of the international counterparts and development agencies. Given this backdrop, one must ask if it is of use to learn and acquire skills in writing policy briefs in India.

Policy briefs internationally do not have a standardized format or acceptable length. Some may go in for a 700-word brief, while others mandate a piece that could be up to 2,500-3,000 words long. However, India being a democracy that cherishes opposing views, and off-late disruptive ones, objective or critical policy briefs are more suited for India's environment. What this essentially means is that the author(s) must critically evaluate both sides of the views and present recommendations that are thoroughly analysed and scientifically backed. It would be an interesting exercise to check some of the policy briefs of Indian think tanks that are mandated to publish policy briefs since they are funded by international funding agencies, which find this task a good think tank/ policy advocacy outcome/ practice. However, streamlining this practice in the government machinery still remains a challenging task as till date decision-making is intrinsically an internal activity. Social media is a close influence to policy choice, however, evidence lacks this claim to date.

So the question remains: how does a common citizen, researcher or a policy entrepreneur engage with the government in a transparent manner and influence government decisions? 

Among other official and unofficial approaches, investing time in writing a policy brief is an effective exercise! It not just brings clarity in complex problems of public policy, but also facilitates decision-making. Many times, government engages with stakeholders behind closed doors. Under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, one could question the intent of the government, however, it remains a cumbersome process. The discretion and perception of the designated official(s) attending to the RTI prevails. Social media has made a remarkable change in governance in many countries. However, it continues to lack confidence as authenticity of social media account holders cannot be verified in many cases, so the genuineness of information is under question. Participating in policy-making in a more scientific and creative manner could thus be a win-win for both the government and external member. There is however, a need to communicate with the government as a trained professional, to gauge their interest yet being precise. This is the skill where writing a policy brief comes handy.

Since there is no standard practice for writing policy briefs, a tested analytical framework for problem solving known as the Bardach's Eightfold Path for policy analysis is highly useful and recommended for beginners for writing a policy brief. While there are a number of think tanks and international agencies like IDRC, ICPA and the FAO that attempt to provide a practitioner's view in writing policy briefs, Bardach's academic approach breaks the policy problem into clusters that could be objectively followed like an algorithm, providing rational set of solution(s). The 8 steps are as follows:

1.    Define the problem

2.    Assemble some evidence

3.    Construct the alternatives

4.    Select the criteria

5.    Project the outcomes

6.    Confront the trade-offs

7.    Decide

8.    Tell your story

Mastering writing a policy brief using the above framework could be done by referring to the book: 

Bardach, E. (2012). A practical guide for policy analysis: The eightfold path to more effective problem solving (4th ed.). Los Angeles: Thousand Oaks: Sage; CQ Press.

One must get the brief reviewed by a qualified policy practitioner before submitting to the correct stakeholder.

Some FAQs on Policy Brief that compiled from a workshop I had taken at Bangalore, India last year are shared for more insights on the topic:

FAQs on Policy Brief

1.           Where can policy briefs be published?

Since policy briefs express your position about an issue or area of interest, the most common medium for publishing it would be online. Many organisations with an active interest in policy matters have a dedicated section of their website to policy briefs. As an individual, you can publish it on the website of a government agency in response to their request for stakeholder comments. You can also send these directly to the respective government/ state heads through the offline/ official route.   

2.           Who is the audience for policy brief?

Ideally, the main audience for policy briefs are decision-makers within the government as they form part of the 'executive' or facilitate implementation of policies. Policy briefs can also be addressed to 'elected representatives' who currently hold an official position in the government. However, since the issues addressed in policy briefs affect people at large, it must be written in a clear and concise manner, in a language that could be understood by a layperson.     

3.           What should be the length of policy brief?

Generally, policy briefs should not exceed 2,000-2,500 words or 7-8 pages. It is however, a good idea to keep it restricted to 1,500 words or up to 4 pages.

4.           Which are the online/ offline mediums where policy briefs can be sent in India?

Since policy briefs are an instrument to communicate with the policy-makers, there   are a number of government websites where these can be submitted. For e.g. the website of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) regularly publishes consultation papers for comments from various stakeholders. Similarly, NITI Aayog, the think tank of the Government of India, the Ministry of Finance and several other government agencies publish various reports and papers, where 'policy   enthusiasts' could use policy briefs as a tool for communicating with the government.

At present, there is no format for submitting your comments on policy matters to the central or state governments India. Both private sector and individuals use their own online/ offline formats that run into pages, losing essence for the reader. Policy brief can, therefore be an effective and powerful tool, given the current scenario in India and many other countries. 

5.           What are some of the common formats for preparing policy briefs?

Although there is no international standardized format for preparing policy briefs, the 8-fold tool taught discussed in the blog is one of the most effective techniques in providing an evidence-based solution to a given policy problem. A number of international organisations, think tanks, NGOs and private sector agencies use their own formats.

Some of them can be viewed below for reference:

·     Australian National University

·     CTA Publishing

·     OECD    

Agencies in USA also publish policy briefs in a format that will be discussed in future.