Centre for Public Policy (CPP)

• On September 20, 2024, the National Centre for Good Governance (NCGG) hosted the inaugural session of its "Webinar Series on Good Governance: Policies and Practice." Prof. Kshitij Awasthi, Convenor of the Centre for Public Policy at IIM Lucknow, served as the lead speaker, sharing his insights on the critical interplay between health beliefs and education in shaping healthcare relationships.

  The NCGG, an autonomous institution under the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, New Delhi, aims to enhance public policy and governance through action research, capacity building, and national and international studies.

  The webinar, titled "How Health Beliefs Shape Education-Healthcare Relationships," also featured Dr. V.S. Prakash Attili from IIM Lucknow as the second lead speaker. The session provided a platform for in-depth discussions on how health beliefs influence educational outcomes and healthcare access, particularly in underserved communities.

  Participants included esteemed academics, NCGG alumni from both national and international backgrounds, and civil servants, contributing to a rich exchange of ideas. The webinar underscored the necessity of integrating health beliefs into educational policies and healthcare frameworks to foster better health outcomes and promote effective governance.

  The Centre for Public Policy at IIM Lucknow is committed to advancing research and dialogue on public policy issues, and this webinar series marks an important step in fostering collaborative efforts in good governance.

• On September 19, 2024, the Lucknow Management Association hosted a thought-provoking panel discussion titled "Is or Should Happiness Be a Part of Public Policy and Governance." This engaging event featured Prof. Kartik Yadav from the Centre for Public Policy, IIM Lucknow, who provided valuable insights into the intersection of happiness and governance. Shri Shivashish Tripathi, Administrative Officer at CPP, IIM Lucknow also participated in the event.

  The discussion was expertly moderated by Shri Alok Ranjan, Former Chief Secretary of the Government of Uttar Pradesh and Past President of LMA. He was joined by a distinguished panel; Shri R. Ramani, Chairman of the UP Regional Branch of IIPA and former Chief Secretary of UP; Prof. Madhurima Pradhan, Founder Director of the Happy Thinking Laboratory at the University of Lucknow; and Dr. Manju Agarwal, Director of the Centre of Excellence for Happiness at Amity University Lucknow.

  The panel delved into innovative ideas that serve as "happiness boosters" and offered an in-depth analysis of the various attributes of happiness in Public Policy and Governance. The event received accolades from attendees across different sectors, highlighting the growing recognition of happiness as a crucial element in effective governance. The discussions emphasized the need for a holistic approach to policy-making that prioritizes the well-being of citizens.

• The centre in partnership with GDi Partners, joined hands together, to brainstorm through a Round Table on ‘Viksit Bharat’, the vision to make India a developed nation by 2047, the 100th year of independence. The round table on Jun 24, 2024. encompassed two panel themes on Education namely Primary/Secondary Education and Higher Education/Skilling. The event showcased valuable insights from the policymakers, consultants, industry representatives, students and academicians. It has been a key step towards initiating the process of engaging youth and experts to share their ideas and suggestions for Viksit Bharat @2047.
• Hosted a panel discussion as part of the Vikshit Bharat@2047 series, centred on the theme “Fostering future-ready universal healthcare and wellness through innovation.” Held at IIM Lucknow Noida Campus, the panel emphasized the importance of integrated health data, leveraging global collaborations, and innovative strategies for operational efficiency. Distinguished panellists delved into critical issues at the intersection of technology and public policy to shape the future of healthcare in India.

• Hosted a roundtable on the role of E-commerce in the growth of MSMEs in partnership with Flipkart. Shri Pankaj Chaudhary, Minister of State for Finance, Government of India, was the Chief Guest and emphasized the role of e-commerce in the current economy. The event was attended by many top policymakers, industry representatives, and academicians, and the consultations were documented in the report. (May 2023) https://storiesflistgv2.blob.core.windows.net/stories/2023/05/English-IIM-Lucknow-X-Flipkart-Roundtable-Release-on-USD-1-trillion-economy.pdfIIM Lucknow also created a report based on deliberation.
• NITI Aayog in collaboration with Government of Uttar Pradesh appointed IIM Lucknow as the 'Lead Knowledge Institute' to conduct studies, stakeholder consultations, workshop and conferences for strengthening functioning of planning department of Uttar Pradesh. transformation.
• IIM Lucknow as lead academic institution also completed the critical Arth Ganga project and presented findings to the National Mission for Clean Ganga towards the ecologically sustainable economic development and live hood generation plans of the 53 districts along Ganga River spread across five states.
• Performed the Report of the Independent Evaluation of the Activities carried outby the Ganga Task Force (137 CETF Bn- a Unit of the Territorial Army which was raised under the public participation component of the Namami Gange Program to work for cleaning and rejuvenation of Ganga) during the Phase-I project under the National Mission for Clean Ganga
• MGNF Program Closure and Valediction: Successfully completed the prestigious Mahatma Gandhi National fellowship (MGNF) program on October 28, 2023. IIM Lucknow has the largest cohort MGNF the program which was taken up in collaboration with Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. 105 MGNF fellows representing districts from Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Himachal Pradesh and Mizoram were awarded the certificate in Public Policy and Management in the valedictory ceremony with Shri Durga Shankar Mishra, Chief Secretary as the chief guest of the ceremony. Medals for the top three position were secured by the girl students from three different states.
• IIM Lucknow also launched a coffee table book names 'Skill se Samriddhi' documenting some of the stories of social transformation enabled by our MGNF cohort. https://www.iiml.ac.in/sites/default/files/2023-09/Revised%20_%20Coffee%20Table%20Book.pdf
• Training & Capacity Building: Organised a training program for policymakers to accelerate the Just Transition for MSMEs in partnership with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the School of Public Governance. (Feb-Mar 2024). IIM Lucknow, in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the School of Policy and Governance (SPG), conducted a workshop and capacity-building program for the policymakers to enable the Just Transition of MSMEs. Policymakers from 8 states, along with the UNDP team, participated in this specifically designed program. The UNDP team also met director Prof. Archana Shukla, Director, IIM Lucknow and discussed the key issues. https://twitter.com/IIML/status/1765640030218002656
• Completed the series of Training and capacity-building programmes for Principals of UP Government inter colleges to effectively manage school and provide highest quality of education to the students of the state. Also initiated and finished series of workshops for Principals of ITIs of the Uttar Pradesh.

Media

MSMEs face issues related to market reach, financial resources and management, skills, technology, which are more pronounced for early-stage ventures and micro-entrepreneurs. Prof. Kshitij Awasthi, Convenor, CPP argue in this article how e-commerce can be leveraged for growth by MSMEs. https://www.businesstoday.in/opinion/columns/story/leveraging-e-commerce-for-growth-by-msmes-391386-2023-07-26

Collaborations:

• Partnered with the School for Public Governance for the Net Zero Fellowship, wherein selected fellows were provided training on policy aspects of climate change-related challenges.
• Partnered with the Grameen India Foundation for the North Zone hackathon event on financial inclusion, and
• Collaborated with the CM Urban fellowship program related to the 100 aspirational Urban Local Bodies plan of the Government of Uttar Pradesh called Akanshiya Nagar Yojana.
• Signed MoU with Suzuki India Foundation for the conduct of study pertaining to increasing competitiveness of Manufacturing sector by understanding in detail the challenges they face.

Post-Doc

First post-doc of the institute, Dr. Nakagawa Kozi joined Centre for Public policy in December 2023. Dr. Nakagawa KoJi obtained his Bachelor's in Business and Commerce, in 2002 from Keio University, Japan, Master’s in Management Science, in 2008 from Guanghua School of Management, Peking University, China and Ph.D. in Strategic Management in 2012 from Peking University, China. His research focuses on 1) Economic security as an external environment affecting multinational and domestic firms, 2) Comparison of firm's behaviours within democratic and authoritarian social regimes, 3) Corruption in business, government and political sectors, and 4) Differences in innovation in Homogeneity and Heterogeneity organizations.

Highlights:

• • In meeting with Shri Yogi Adityanath, Chief Minister, Uttar Pradesh Prof. Archana Shukla, Director IIM Lucknow assured support in development of the state.
• IIM Lucknow through various actives, continued supporting UP government in its endeavour for taking the state towards 1 tn USD economy.

MGNF Activities:

The Mahatma Gandhi National Fellowship (MGNF) is the flagship programme of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) with IIM Lucknow as one its academic partners. The programme aims to strengthen the district skill landscape of the country through effective and collaborative engagement of Fellows. IIM Lucknow has 105 fellows across four states: 32 in Assam, 11 in Mizoram, 51 in Uttar Pradesh, and 11 in Himachal Pradesh. MGNF is a two-year certificate programme in Public Policy and Management. The programme comprises four academic modules and six district immersion modules. This year we conducted Academic Modules 3 and 4 of the Mahatma Gandhi National Fellowship (MGNF).

• Institutionalized Faculty Mentor support by engaging faculty mentors in the programme to provide focused academic mentoring to fellows
• Facilitating collaborations with various organizations including HCL e-Haat for onboarding of traditional products on e-commerce platforms, NITI Aayog for ATL Labs, Tata Strive for career counselling and others
• Collaboration with National Skills Network for sharing stories and experiences of women fellows on International Women’s Day
• Practitioners’ Insight blended in Academic Training through sessions by speakers from UN Women, Head Held High Foundation, UNDP, NSDC and Azim Premji University and others. The topics ranged from Inclusive approach in skill development, apprenticeship, DSDP, NEP, PLFS and NSSO data analysis, quality assurance in skill development, entrepreneurship, and others.
• Engagement with Alumni Network of the Institute for providing mentoring support to fellows

Five editions of ‘Skill Varta’, the quarterly newsletter of MGNF at IIM Lucknow have been published. The newsletter besides serving as a knowledge repository of the programme also provides a platform to appreciate and acknowledge good-performing fellows for their initiatives. The addition of new sections on traditional crafts and experience sharing by faculty mentors, alumni mentors, and fellows have been well appreciated.

• Engagement with Your Dost platform and sessions on mental health by experienced health practitioners are constant features in the academic modules that have been well appreciated by the fellows as well.
• Facilitating Career Transition of fellows’ post fellowship through sessions like work areas in social sector, resume writing, interview skills and others. Following is a glimpse of the kind of initiatives that were taken by the fellows:
• Designing of Application Dashboard for effective planning, monitoring, and promotion of all the skill related schemes in the district. (Basti- UP)
• • Engaged in establishing India’s first Rural Space Laboratory under the sphere of ISRO in Hasudi Ausanpur in collaboration with Vyomika Space Pvt. Ltd. (Siddharth Nagar- UP)
• Facilitated the formation of first of its kind Self-Help Group for LGBTQ Community in the district. (West Karbi Anglong and Karbi Anglong- Assam)
• Facilitated collaboration with CSRBOX to provide students with access to the online e-learning platform – IBM Skills Build. Awareness campaigns in 60 educational institutions of 6 districts covering more than 15,000 students. (Aizawl, Lunglei, Serchip, Kolasib, Mamit & Satitual- Mizoram)
• In collaboration with UK-based Royal Society of Chemistry, facilitated teacher training programme for fostering better student engagement and making science an inspiring subject (Kolasib - Mizoram).

Training & Capacity Building:

• Started a series of Training and capacity-building programmes for Principals of UP Government inter colleges to effectively manage school and provide highest quality of education to the students of the state.

Invited Talks:

• Prof. Kshitij Awasthi, Convenor, CPP, IIM Lucknow delivered a presentation on “Increasing Education services sector export from state of Uttar Pradesh” in an interactive workshop organized by Uttar Pradesh Export Promotion Council.

Collaborations:

• Signed an MoU with Basic Education Department, Government of Uttar Pradesh for being Knowledge Partner for Chief Minister’s NIPUN Bharat Associates Program.
• Signed an MoU with Capacity Building Commission, Government of India in fields of training, consulting and research.
• NITI Aayog choses IIM Lucknow as ‘State Institution of Transformation’ for capacity building of the planning department of Uttar Pradesh. This will be a tripartite agreement between NITI Aayog, IIM Lucknow and UP Government for economic development and to help fulfil SDG goals for the state.

Seminars & talks at IIM Lucknow:

• • Dr. Sumantra Pal (Economic Advisor to the Ministry of Women and Child Development) delivered a seminar on “Mobile health interventions: A policymakers’ note on the World’s largest Nutrition Surveillance in India” at IIM Lucknow.

• Dr. Pallavi Awasthi, Faculty of Public and Non-profit management, Nova South Eastern University, USA visited IIM Lucknow and had an interaction with faculty and PhD students in areas of public policy.