Let’s discuss Climate Change – how about some theatrics?

http://www.greengrowthknowledge.org/blog/let’s-discuss-climate-change-–-how-about-some-theatrics\\In the run up to the COP21 in Paris, 150+ countries announced ambitious Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) that aimed at reducing emissions, through a set of voluntary domestic carbon abatement and green growth actions. As a next step in the process, these INDC’s needed to be converted into actionable national targets, which can be achieved by countries through a concerted action involving all key stakeholders to include government, academia, private sector, and most importantly citizens. Given the participatory nature of such actions and transformational nature of some of the low carbon policy actions involved, it becomes extremely crucial to engage citizens in order to have an informed discussion and debate. Several organisations and Think Tanks have already been working toward creating awareness and sharing information in this endeavour.

Over the recent years, Think Tanks and organisations have been attempting to adopt different modes of communication to engage stakeholders to create awareness on issues which are of high importance to society. In today’s world, technology is used as an effective mode of communication by using social media platforms, conducting informed debates through virtual means, publishing blogs and articles, using online portals to propagate, educate and communicate. However, in a country like India, while several people have access to the latest technology, a large part, still rely on non-technology modes of communication. For this purpose, one effective mode of communication could be theatre - including dance, songs, mime - to simplistically communicate complex issues such as climate change, which involve the country and citizens.

Theatre as a developmental Tool

Theatre as a tool, over the years, has helped masses understand complex social issues affecting their lives and find effective solutions. As a powerful communication tool, theatre cuts across literacy skills, reaches to a wide audience (both young and old), and also appeals to the emotions of people while at the same time educating them as well.

Some of the major usages of theatre are:

• Delivering and sharing information
• Encouraging participation of people, who may have not have had the opportunity to engage on the issue
• Challenging people to think and respond
• Providing several alternate narratives rather than recommending one definite solution
• Communicating in a simple manner a complex social and scientific message

In India, theatre is relevant due to the variety of forms which include songs, folk lore, music, dance and drama. It not only touches the emotional aspect of a human being but also is a form of entertainment where the masses respond emotionally and are also open to receiving serious messages in an experiential manner. Much like any other transitioning economy, despite other powerful channels of communication using technology, theatre remains an important medium for disseminating information in India. 

Experimenting a Theatre Production on Climate Change

Since 2012, the Global Green Growth Insitutute (GGGI) and the Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP)  have been working with the Government of Karnataka state in India, to address the challenges of reconciling faster economic growth with environmental sustainability. In December 2014, the Honourable Chief Minister of Karnataka, Shri Siddaramaiah, launched the ‘Green Growth Strategy for Karnataka’, identifying implementation barriers, policy implications, investment requirements and possible funding sources for specific green growth opportunities, and concluding with concrete recommendations for policy makers. Since early 2015, GGGI and CSTEP have been working closely with the government in supporting the implementation of key opportunities – some of which require difficult policy decision as well as behavioural changes in the society. This is where engagement with citizens and awareness building becomes crucial.

With this intent, GGGI and CSTEP partnered with Kriyative Theatre , a group that has been using theatre to educate people about crucial issues, to produce a play called “Carbon Cake” which revolves around ‘Global Warming’. The play has been written after conducting extensive research on the phenomenon of climate change, and also interfacing and dialoguing with several experts. It attempts to communicate the causes and devastating impacts of global warming, and also highlights the responsibility and ownership of masses towards mitigating it. This is done through the story of a man who tries to fight the menace of carbon emissions through an invention of his own, called ‘carbon cake’ – after which the play is also named.

Lessons learned

Perhaps the first such play to be staged on this topic in India, ‘Carbon Cake’ is science fiction, mystery and drama rolled into one. Since this is done through an entertaining thriller, scientific explanations and actual clippings from documentaries on the subject, the play has been tremendously successful in educating the audience about the issue and advocating effective means of countering global warming. Our experience with ‘Carbon Cake’ clearly shows that theatre can become an interesting tool to raise awareness on complex issues such as climate change research, where given the technical nature of the subject and the wide set of stakeholder involved, the message has to be easily communicable, both in terms of language and the mode of communication.

Themes: 

Climate Change, Development

Countries: 

India

The opinions expressed herein are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official views of the GGKP or its Partners.

Indian think tanks: a conclusion to the series

https://onthinktanks.org/articles/indian-think-tanks-a-conclusion-to-the-series/

Based on what we discussed in the previous posts of this series, we can conclude that Indian think tanks are still evolving. Looking at their history, we see that they have grown and expanded out of political need or due to factors that contribute to the socio-political history of India. While there is no obvious pattern that maps the growth of Indian think tanks, we can say that the political history of India has been underlined and supported by think tanks in an indirect way.

It is only recently that think tanks have been consulted on national and institutional policy issues. For example, some think tanks have been commissioned to conduct studies and research to help with innovative and workable solutions to enhance the policymaking process, and some of these solutions have been adapted in government institutions. If greater focus were given to think tanks, along with financial support and policy challenges, it is likely they would arrive at realistic solutions to better the policymaking process and, in turn, help move the nation forward.

Furthermore, think tanks also serve as excellent advisers in policymaking. They work alongside the governments and, some of them, also work with NITI Aayog (the erstwhile Planning Commission) as experts in their field.

The evolution of Think Tanks in India is an ongoing process. Think tanks are slowly becoming an integral part of the government policymaking process. Some ways to ensure this continues could be for think tanks to:

• Pool resources to avoid repetition.
• Strengthen research activities by working in consortiums.
• Network on common grounds by fundraising, in-house capacity building, and by working on multiple government requirements. This is important because a multi-disciplinary approach is imperative and useful for public policy.

There is hope for think tanks in India if they can both ‘think’ about policy matters and also be a ‘tank’ to house and implement several of the ideas they produce.

Indian think tanks: the challenges they face-Part 5

https://onthinktanks.org/articles/indian-think-tanks-the-challenges-they-face/

Due to the nature of their work and the fact that their main client is the government, Indian think tanks face several challenges to continue their work and to ensure they continue to engage with policymakers.+

In the article Why think tanks struggle in India (2013),+ Goyal and Srinivasan demarcate some areas considered as challenges for think tanks in India. These include insufficient funding, lack of skilled staff, and limited support from the government.

While there is a general understanding of the challenges think tanks face, there is not a lot of literature available on these. This analysis is based on the scant literature available, discussions with relevant sources and my own analysis.+

Funding support

Several think tanks in India are facing a funding crisis. Funding is often allocated to a particular aspect and does not cover operational costs such as human resources, communications and visibility activities. Think tanks also find it difficult to develop their own research agendas, as funding is almost always tied to particular research projects. Fortunately, several donors have begun to work as partners to think tanks, allowing them to use core grants freely and effectively. This has not only helped several think tanks focus on specific research topics- it has allowed them to take big steps in identifying challenging and topical issues which respond to the needs of the country.

Funder-led research agenda

Many think tanks face the challenge of complying with the needs of a funder or donor agency when designing their research agenda. This means that, often, research projects are prioritised either based on the funding received for a particular project, or on available funds (which is often rare). A lot depends on the requirements of a donor agency rather than what a think tank wants to research.

Need for appropriate staffing

Lack of funding directly affects human resources. Think tanks with limited funding have to settle with hiring staff who may not have the required background or who are not qualified to conduct rigorous research.

In some cases, think tanks are commissioned by the government to conduct studies. For example, the Centre for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP) works on projects that are of great importance to both the national and state governments. Public Affairs Centre (PAC), a think tank based in Bengaluru, works closely with the state government. As a result, staff hiring is planned to accommodate project needs and leaves no budget for training and staff development. This results in interrupted staff development plans, capacity building activities and strategies to retain staff for longer terms.

When it comes to staff retention, think tanks face other challenges as well. The emergence of research labs and Research and Development (R&D) set-ups in corporate and niche private organisations offer researchers better and more stable employment opportunities. This results in high rotation of staff, influencing the quality of the research produced.

Lack of high-quality research

Given the nature of the work of many think tanks in India, they often interact with various departments in the government and access to data is important for some of the research they conduct. Many of these organisations depend on government departments for their data, which can be a cumbersome process. Several government departments are wary of sharing data and this hampers the quality of their research. This has now reduced considerably due to the Rights of Information Act (RTA), which allows a citizen to request information from a government department, but access to the data is still a cumbersome process.

The lack of appropriately trained and experienced staff also hampers the quality of research. To address this, some think tanks have capacity building workshops focussed on some of the basic skills to enhance the research quality.+

Stakeholder dynamics

Most think tanks are actively working with different stakeholders who can influence what research the organisation conducts. In some cases, an amalgamation of academia, think tanks and government join to work on a common project. However, the uniqueness of the working models of each of these actors sometimes lead to long and overly complicated processes.

Funding challenges and difficulties

There has been significant reluctance from the Indian government and industry to support think tanks. In an editorial in 2010, Anshu Bharadwaj, the executive director at CSTEP, mentioned the following reasons for the lack of government support:

“Seeking government support is hard for most TTs, for several reasons. First, there is a lack of confidence in the abilities of TTs to make high-quality and relevant contributions. Second, there is often mistrust about their ideology and agenda. Finally, even if the government is convinced to engage with a TT, complicated rules and procedures come in the way of providing the desired level of financial support.”+

Hence, the Indian think tank ecosystem has been nurtured significantly by foreign funders. In India, think tanks are required to complete legal formalities to receive foreign funding. Unfortunately, this is not happening across all organisations and, as a result, they miss out on potential funding from foreign agencies. From a legal perspective, Indian think tanks and foreign funding agencies operating in India need to abide by two important legislations:

• Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), 2010 is a legislation that requires all NGOs receiving funding from foreign (non-Indian) sources to register themselves with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). The legislation also mandates these organisations to submit annual financial reports, obtain prior permission for receiving funds and renew their FCRA registration. In 2015, in order to ease the process for NGOs, the government digitised the entire process.
• Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA): Legal requirement for foreign funders to obtain permission for fund dispersal. Thus, even if a funder such as USAID or Ford Foundation is supporting a project that is being carried out by a government-funded TT, it needs to register itself under FEMA.

In 2010, due to ‘lack of transparency among NGOs receiving foreign contributions’, FCRA regulations were strengthened. As a result, in 2012, the Indian NGO sector, including several think tanks, received a major setback: the government cancelled their FCRA certificates and froze their bank accounts. “Citing national security concerns, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has placed major US-based funding agencies under the scanner and directed beneficiary NGOs to get their permits renewed every five years.” In 2014 and then again in 2015, the Narendra Modi government continued the trend by revoking the FCRA certificates of several NGOs including universities and think tanks for lack of complying with financial disclosure requirements.

How can these challenges be overcome?

To overcome some of the challenges they are facing, Indian think tanks have embarked in new initiatives to chart sustainable growth pathways for themselves.

For instance, in India, communication and outreach is a new concept. Not all think tanks have a dedicated communicator/communication team. It is only after the introduction of the PEC-PAC programme by the Think Tank Initiative (TTI) that several think tanks in India +

Gaining credibility and recognition from the government for supporting policy initiatives is a major challenge in India. As a solution, one strategy worth considering is indirect attribution: when a government announces a scheme or policy that is based on evidence provided by a particular think tank, it can start dialogues on social media and via comments on news articles stating their contribution.

Vanesa Weyrauch (2015) points out in a post on Research to Action that there are varying notions of collaboration – it is a very heterogeneous group of vertical and horizontal relationships and experiences, ranging from a tour to learn from another relationship and experience, to a tour to learn from another think tank, to co-organising an event, to implementing a joint research project.+

In today’s globalised age, no country or its government exists in isolation. Public policies in all spheres are successful only when they are in tune with the developments taking place across the globe. Thus, Indian think tanks are entering into collaborative initiatives with different stakeholders including private sector firms, industries, media and civil society organisations to act as agents of cohesion.

In the coming decades, the economic and political integration of nations is inevitable and sound, evidence-based policy research will be required for stable and sustainable development. If India is to maintain the stature it has achieved in the global platform, then research inputs provided by think tanks in every sphere of governance will be essential for formulating strong and holistic policies for the nation.

Indian think tanks: their affiliations and classifications-Part 4

https://onthinktanks.org/articles/indian-think-tanks-their-affiliations-and-classifications/

Although most think tanks in India claim to be non-partisan, many are working as national foundations or trusts in the name of national leaders, ostensibly to consolidate their legacy and to promote their vision of India through research or by promoting scholarships for higher education.

Likewise, many think tanks in India engage with universities in various capacities. An understanding of this partnership can be summarised as:

• University faculty are on the Boards of think tanks or are part of the Research Advisory Committees (RAC) of think tanks and collaborate on joint research papers (the research or academic output of think tanks).
• Universities support training and capacity building activities for think tanks.
• Universities engage with think tanks on policy advocacy activities.
• Think tanks invite experts from academic institutions to share knowledge and understand trends from an academic perspective.

Furthermore, the relationship between the State and think tanks in India is based on contingent collaboration, where think tanks rely heavily on the use of infrastructural power of the State. However, many think tanks have managed to retain a great degree of operative freedom and are largely autonomous. The infrastructural power of the Indian state is more evident in the case of think tanks concerned with international economy, trade, military and security issues, where some of these organisations come directly from a ministry and have ministers and secretaries as ex officio Board members. The strong infrastructural power of the State has been able to keep the influence of international agencies at bay or functioning under the framework dictated by the State.

Classifying Indian think tanks

According to Diane Stone + think tanks can be classified into the following typologies: as independent civil society think tanks established as non-profit organisations; as policy research institutes located within or affiliated with a university; as state sponsored or government think tanks; as corporate created or business affiliated think tanks; and, as political party (or candidate) think tanks (refer to Figure 1). Nevertheless, I will argue that Indian think tanks are a separate species when compared to their global counterparts. International classifications, like Stone’s, rarely hold true in the Indian context. Since the nature of think tanks differ from each other, they do not fit into any one category. Hence, they can also be referred to as research hubs, knowledge houses, civil society organisations, embedded in university departments or as part of government. The image below gives a sense of how Indian think tanks can be categorised:

Indian think tanks: Research topics-Part 3

https://onthinktanks.org/articles/indian-think-tanks-research-topics/

The political scene over the last decade, along with shifts in the administrative cycles of the government and changes in the policymaking process, have led think tanks to focus on a range of issues. Some think tanks have kept a great degree of operative independence despite the fact they are mostly supported by ministries, the government’s Planning Commission, and the Indian Council of Social Science Research ( ICSSR). At the same time, new think tanks, independent of funding from government ages, have emerged. The 2011 Global Go To Think Tanks Report refers to the vibrant Indian think tank ecosystem as capable of engaging in critical research.

When I was researching Indian think tanks for this series, I realised that their areas of research could be classified into groups. To do this, I listed all think tanks from the 1930s until early 2000s and categorised their areas of research into nine main categories (based on the information provided on their websites): advocacy, rural development, defence, education, economics and social public policy, human rights, science and technology and others.

Based on my research and understanding, public policy emerged as the key area of research interest for think tanks between 1930 and early 2000, followed by education and research on different topics. Surprisingly, international relations, politics and economics are less common areas of research interest. These choices could be a result of the changing political scene, funding opportunities, the needs of the country, and the interests of the think tanks themselves. Currently, think tanks in India conduct research work on more trending issues, such as politics, social environment, climate change, science and technology, and the environment, amongst others.

Indian think tanks: a historical background

Part 2-https://onthinktanks.org/articles/indian-think-tanks-a-historical-background/

The rise of think tanks in India began in the 1930s. This section has been divided into different time periods in an effort to understand the history of the think tank sector and the challenges they might face going forward.

1930s to early 1950s

The establishment of think tanks can be traced to India’s pre-independence era. The first Indian think tank was the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics in Pune in 1930, and its main mission was to teach and conduct research in economics and politics. Subsequently, more think tanks were established and their missions widened to serve various issues ranging from education, health, and international relations, to name a few. The Rockefeller Foundation, for instance, set up offices in India to focus on medicine and public health. The Sir Doraji Tata Graduate School of Social Work (later renamed as the Tata Institute of Social Science (TISS)) was established in 1936 with a two-pronged aim: to address social work education and to undertake social research. The Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA) was established close to the country’s independence as a think tank intended to study international relations and foreign affairs and bring visibility to India’s foreign relations.

The National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog (erstwhile Planning Commission) + is a governmental policy think tank founded on January 1, 2015. However, its history goes back to 1953, when the Planning Commission set up the Research Programmes Committee (RPC) to chart a robust research agenda. The committee consisted of leading social scientists and economists who helped design the government’s research agenda. As a result, most think tanks channelled their research agenda to economic growth and ensured that government policies were implemented effectively.

The primary task of these early research institutes was to bring clarity and information on economics and development issues. Most of these research institutes had a government representative on their Board to ensure that they could reach their intended audience: policy-makers.

Indian think tanks: a view on their journey

This is a 4 part series I wrote for On Think Tanks

https://onthinktanks.org/articles/indian-think-tanks-a-view-on-their-journey/

The Indian think tank ecosystem is nearly a century old. Its growth and evolution as a sector designed to help government address public policy is representative of India’s emergence as one of the largest democracies in the world. In the politico-socio scenario, these organisations emerged to cater to the need for evidence informed policy and to support government bodies when introducing public policies.

If we take the common definition of think tanks as organisations that perform research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture, + Indian think tanks fall under it because they work on these domains. However, policy research organisations in India don’t define themselves as think tanks, which makes it difficult to map them according to typologies provided in western literature. One of the articles in this series will provide an alternate approach to understanding Indian think tanks within their context.

As for the history of think tanks in India, literature is by and large scarce. We know that think tanks emerged during the 1930s, a time when the country was still a British colony. A casual conversation with representatives of a funding agency in India during the development of this series revealed that there must be around 280 think tanks in India today. This is a bit confusing as, in India, think tanks can include research organisations, non-profits, academic departments, civil society organisations, and can also be embedded in various government bodies.

To fully understand the evolution of these organisations, it is important to look at major turning points in India’s political history, along with how the government and the people negotiated and responded to these changes. As for think tanks, these changes have come with their own set of challenges, which are not dissimilar to those faced in other regions with a more established think tank community. However, think tanks in India are addressing these challenges in unique ways: through innovative funding models, collaborations and customisation of communication and outreach strategies to suit the demands of the nation and its government.

This series will focus on six aspects of the think tank ecosystem in India: its historical background, characteristics of Indian think tanks, their research topics, types of think tanks in India, the challenges they face, and a conclusion including thoughts on what the future for Indian think tanks might look like.