Abstract: Public policy – understood famously as what governments do or do not do – is typically sought to be placed into ideological boxes. Government actions, including inactions, are associated with the Left or the Right, and when they are a mix of both they are assumed to be pragmatic. The practice of tracing government actions to a foundational principle reflects the deep influence of substance philosophy on both the formulation of policy and how it is perceived. These actions have consequences that are not always what was originally intended.
This talk will explore the philosophical roots of Indian public policy, particularly in relation to political economy. It will make a case to recraft Indian public policy as interventions in an ongoing and continuously changing process. It will draw from process philosophy to develop a lens to identify the most effective public policy interventions in the continuing process of social transformation.
About the speaker: Prof. Narendar Pani is JRD Tata Chair Visiting Professor and Dean of the School of Social Sciences, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru, where he also heads the Inequality and Human Development Program. After a Ph.D. in economics, he moved into transdisciplinary research which allowed him to explore diverse, but interconnected, aspects of Indian reality. His work over the last four decades has thus ranged from agrarian reform to urban processes, confronting challenges of the method along the way. His books include Inclusive Economics: Gandhian Method and Contemporary Policy (2002) and The City as Action: Retheorizing Urban Studies (2022).