MIT World Peace University’s School of Public Policy and The Hindu Education Plus hosted a webinar on Thursday on Understanding Public Policy and its Career Prospects. The session was moderated by R. Sujatha, Deputy Editor, Reporting with The Hindu.
Elaborating on public policy, Narendra Jadhav, Rajya Sabha MP, economist, educationist and author, said, “It is a government chosen course of action with three key dimensions — definition of problems, goals the government would like to achieve, and what policies must be employed to achieve those goals. In any democracy, policymakers are legitimately elected people’s representatives — the PM, Council of Ministers, and their advisors. There are also non-elected officials such as the bureaucracy like the IAS, IPS, IRS, and others who are meant to implement policies announced by the government.”
Mr Jadhav added that reforms weren’t an event, but a process and a continuous one at that. “So, when situations are evolving fast, policymakers must evolve with the times; else the polices they have adopted will become obsolete.”
Global connect
Mahesh Zagade, a former IAS officer, emphasised that “no policy can be successful unless it is formulated keeping the future, changing environments, developments and so on, in mind. Adequate information on existing scenarios must be kept in mind while formulating policies for the future and they must have a global connect.”
He also stressed the need for urban governance stating that, unlike the 1800s, when the urban population was 3%, today, it stood at 56% and is projected to touch 70-75% in the coming years. “The Indian Administrative System is trained to tackle rural problems; it is rural-centric. But we are yet to realise that urban policies are just as important. Thus, there is a need for urban governance to be implemented,” Mr Zagade said.
Interdisciplinary training
Ravindranath Patil, Senior Director-MIT World Peace University and Advisor, KPMG, emphasised the need for interdisciplinary learning to be a policy maker and the need to reconcile industry aspirations with government vision.
“To develop policies, one must have a threshold knowledge of particular sector and an overall knowledge of other related sectors and skills. Managerial skills are important to compile ideas from different stakeholders and draft a policy that can stand the test of time. Aspirants must be able to elicit the right information from different stakeholders. Being equipped with technical skills, data analysis and dashboarding are just as important,” he added.
The session concluded with the speakers fielding questions from the audience. The session can be viewed at https://bit.ly/38clvax
