Pre-autumn Reflections – 2022 was the theme of the 17th international conference on public policy and management conducted by the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Bangalore on August 22. The head of the international conference was former diplomat and governor of West Bengal Gopalkrishna Gandhi. The IIM Bangalore’s International Conference on Public Policy and Management attracts academics and presents the most recent advances in policy research and practise each year.
After giving the welcome remarks, Professor Arnab Mukherji of the Centre for Public Policy led the conversation. Students studying public policy and management, researchers, instructors from IIM Bangalore, alumni, and board members, including Ms. Vinita Bali, all attended the opening session.
In his inauguration address, Gopalkrishna Gandhi said, “We have seen how successfully public policy supported by public involvement has brought about transformation in India. Aadhaar, computerised voting, and immunisation are all outcomes of public policy. The biggest changes in India are mental and intellectual, not physical. Both the raising of the consent age and the outlawing of untouchability are extraordinarily successful initiatives. Important shifts in public perception and behaviour have been made possible by policy.
In his speech at the conference, Mr. Gandhi discussed his thoughts on whether the world is a good or evil place, noting that the inspiration for his reflection came from a query a young woman had posed to him back in 2001. Because it was difficult to describe happiness and its pursuit, he admitted to the audience that he had yet to come up with a satisfying response. He remarked, “Remember your humanity, and ignore the rest,” paraphrasing Martin Rees’ book “Our Final Hour” and the Russell-Einstein Manifesto in reference to threats to mankind like war and weapons.
He stated that the quality of the policy’s aroused reception, which includes substantial criticism, should be used to determine the policy’s success rather than “the quantum of its compliant acceptance.”
The director of the IIMB, Professor Rishikesha T Krishnan, discussed the lengthy history of the Institute’s involvement in public systems and public policy. Health, law, education, agriculture, economic-social-rural-urban development, and other sectors of public policy are among those that the Centre for Public Policy works on and has an impact on. The Center has collaborated with the Government of India and the Government of Karnataka to help formulate policies at various levels. I have no doubt that every participant in this conference will gain a lot from each track.
On August 21, a panel discussion titled “Indian Public Finance,” based on Professor M. Govinda Rao’s most recent book on the same topic, was presented as part of a pre-conference event.
Professor NR Bhanumurthy, Vice Chancellor of the Babasaheb Ambedkar School of Economics, Vinod Vyasulu, President of the CBPS, and M. Govinda Rao participated in the panel discussion, which was moderated by Professor Rajalaxmi Kamath from the Centre for Public Policy.
Prof. M. Govinda Rao discussed his experiences and identified as a “self-taught economist.” He discussed what it was like to be an academician and an economist, how public finance differs from more widely accepted classical economics, and how research has evolved over the past 40 years.
