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HomeOpinionCentre for Policy Research's demise will be India’s tragedy. Here’s an insider...

Centre for Policy Research’s demise will be India’s tragedy. Here’s an insider history

It's due to CPR’s success that Delhi now has Carnegie India and Centre for Social and Economic Progress. But CPR stands out nonetheless—it remains distinctly Indian.

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In the summer of 2018, I worked as a research intern at Delhi’s Centre for Policy Research. My experience left such an indelible impact on me that I went back to work full-time as chief of staff for Yamini Aiyar, the president, in early 2020 just when the pandemic lockdown was enforced. I worked there for about 18 months.

Here I narrate the history of a remarkable institution and its incredibly sharp and patriotic members.

Given the fog of politics shrouding the recent actions against the CPR, and murmurs of a sinister foreign conspiracy, it’s important to understand the role of a think-tank in society.

Milestones achieved since 1973

A think-tank creates a space where academia and the government can meet halfway. More often than not, academia represents an ivory tower insulated from the world where scholars ponder and innovate ideas. Governments work to fulfil the duties of the State. However, the larger goals of achieving prosperity and ensuring security often require more detailed planning. It is work that the government might not be best equipped to carry out and academicians not necessarily meant to. It is at this crucial juncture that think-tanks step in. With one foot in the ivory tower and the other in corridors of power, they are able to take a step back, study issues in depth, and make policy recommendations to achieve the goals of the State.

The CPR has been doing that for 50 years now. Founded in 1973 by the economist V.A. Pai Panandiker, CPR employs scholars, diplomats, practitioners, former Army officers, and journalists to conduct research on high-stakes public policy issues. It counts among its alumni and board members three former prime ministers — Manmohan Singh, I.K. Gujral, and Narasimha Rao — a former Chief Justice of India (Y. V. Chandrachud), high-ranking government secretaries, foreign secretaries, distinguished Ambassadors as well as senior editors of India’s top newspapers.

An important part of my role at CPR was to be up to date with the complete range of research being produced at the Centre. Any given day, I would be oscillating between reading briefs prepared by faculty on varying topics — from MNREGA to urbanisation to Delhi’s air pollution problems to Northeast India’s security challenges.


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What CPR prides itself on

The CPR prides itself on housing a spectrum of views on all issues at all points. Take, for example, the 2005 India-US Civil Nuclear Agreement. Not only did the CPR produce stellar research guiding policymaking, but it also provided a dialogue between the hawks, the doves, the comrades, and the opponents of the deal, given that they were all a part of the very same institution.

In the last 20 years, no institution in India has done more to advance the cause of better policy planning than the CPR. Members have regularly served in the National Security Council, the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister as well as a range of state government bodies.

During my brief stint at CPR, our team advised on improving healthcare in Uttar Pradesh, undertaking urban development in Orissa, managing Covid fallouts in Punjab, developing educational reforms in Delhi, advising financial management in Meghalaya and Kerala, tracking state expenditure in Chhattisgarh, and crafting waste management programmes for Rajasthan. It was an engagement that was bipartisan and spread across the political board. This also explains why a substantial portion of the CPR’s funding comes from state governments and Union ministries.

In the last decade, Indian parliamentarians have significantly improved their output and the quality of legislative work because of a special programme called the LAMP fellowship, which was incubated at CPR in 2010. Over 50 members of Parliament are provided with highly trained, incredibly sharp, legislative assistants who help with parliamentary duties.


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Reaching global heights

At the international level, when India undertakes important treaty negotiations, the Ministry of External Affairs frequently brings in CPR scholars for advice. During the 2015 Paris Agreement, not only were CPR scholars part of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) core drafting and advisory team but also deeply embedded into the Indian delegation. It was to ensure favourable outcomes by articulating principles such as Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities (CBDRRC).  In addition to doing the heavy lifting, the CPR is an important part of India’s Track II diplomacy architecture and is a tool to bridge bipartisan divides — away from the spotlight. Members from across political parties often drop into CPR to listen to seminars on cutting-edge policy issues conducted by CPR faculty.

Beyond its policy work, the CPR has also been a much-needed intellectual sanctuary, attracting India’s brightest minds to New Delhi. When Pratap Mehta took over the presidency in 2005, the number of research verticals started to increase, and the CPR saw an influx of Indian scholars, educated in top global institutions, coming back to work for the nation’s growth story.

Distinctly ‘Indian’

The CPR is no university, and yet it is unique because the culture of research and mentorship has produced a steady stream of India’s finest scholars, journalists, and writers in recent years. Its alumni go on to study in the world’s most prestigious programmes and return to effect large-scale changes. It is, after all, due to the CPR’s success that New Delhi now has American think-tanks such as Carnegie India and Centre for Social and Economic Progress (formerly Brookings India). The CPR stands out nonetheless. It remains distinctly Indian—in thought, composition, and outlook.

Let us not be under any illusion. The politics around the CPR pose an existential threat to the institution, which now employs over 80 researchers and faculty members. For many like me, who were moulded by its walls that whispered to us about our intellectual responsibilities, and its faculty members who taught us to think deeply, read widely, and discuss freely, it will be akin to losing a hospice and family.

The CPR has transformed into a nationally indispensable entity and global institution of renown. Its demise will be a national tragedy. There is still time to reverse course, for the CPR must not be understood as a political threat but as a part of India’s growth story.

The author is currently reading for an MPhil in International Relations at the University of Oxford. Earlier he was Chief of Staff/EA for Yamini Aiyar at Centre for Policy Research, Delhi. He tweets @SparshAgarwall. Views are personal.

(Edited by Humra Laeeq)

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