Research Initiatives

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Accountability Initiative

Who We Are We are a research group which works on strengthening transparency and accountability in governance which is responsive to citizen need. We do this through evidence-based research on state capabilities and factors affecting efficient public services delivery in India. We provide the evidence to policymakers, development practitioners, academics, the media and work on increasing citizen engagement in policy making and implementat...

India Infrastructures & Ecologies Program

Large infrastructure projects are seen as a critical part of modern societies for the provision of basic services, creation of jobs and to boost economic growth. Infrastructural and industrial projects in modern democracies like India are subject to a complex terrain of federal arrangements, legal compliances, environmental sustainability, cultural appropriateness and public participation. The political and economic importance of such projects also influence...

Governance & Public Policy Initiative

The Governance and Public Policy Initiative (GPPI) seeks to foster a strategic community that brings together Indian law makers, scholars, bureaucrats, and civil society leaders to discuss pressing issues of public policy. It works in partnership with national and international think tanks and partner institutions to convene roundtables, seminars, and conferences on a range of issues including democratic processes, national security, urban governance and dev...

Initiative on Climate, Energy & Environment

The Initiative on Climate, Energy and Environment at the Centre for Policy Research (CPR-ICEE) aims to stimulate an informed debate on the laws, policies and institutions shaping climate, energy and environmental governance in India. Our research focuses on an improved understanding of climate, development and environmental challenges – and pathways to improved outcomes – in three key areas: climate policy and institutions, the political economy of energy tr...

Land Rights Initiative

India faces serious challenges in constructing development paths that are socially inclusive, ecologically sustainable, politically feasible, and in accordance with the Rule of Law. Current resource intensive growth strategies have caused serious environmental degradation and endangered the livelihoods of many vulnerable groups, particularly the scheduled tribes and other traditional communities. These vulnerable groups rely solely on land and the environmen...

The Politics Initiative

Politics often dictates the dynamics of policy making and implementation, especially in a socially diverse and developing economy like India. As a policy research institute, the Center for Policy Research (CPR) believes that understanding political exigencies and priorities is critical. The Politics Initiative, set up in 2019 has been envisioned to provide high quality research to understand the rapid changes in India’s political economy landscape which is n...

Scaling City Institutions for India Initiative (SCI-FI)

The Scaling City Institutions for India (SCI-FI) programme aims to better understand ‘governance scale’ in Indian cities in tandem with ‘sector specific socio-economic scales’. Through research, the programme aims to inform stakeholders, including the three tiers of the government, to develop better informed policies and programmes enabling improved governance and service delivery. It has two key thematic focus in areas of Land, Housing and Planning, and Wat...

State Capacity Initiative

The State Capacity Initiative at CPR is an interdisciplinary research and practice programme focused on addressing the challenges of the 21st-century Indian state. The purpose of this initiative is to place the critical challenges of building state capacity at the heart of the field of policy research in India, where it has always belonged but remains surprisingly marginalised. We therefore start with first principles and ground ourselves in existing realiti...

The Jobs Initiative

A Partnership between the Centre for Policy Research and the JustJobs Network Recognising that the availability of good jobs on the scale that India requires is one of the biggest challenges confronting the nation, CPR partnered with the JustJobs Network (JJN) to launch The Jobs Initiative. This programme aims to generate fresh and innovative ideas to help tackle the nation’s employment crisis. Sabina Dewan, President & Executive Director of JJN and S...

The Technology & Society Initiative

Recent technology-powered advances – artificial intelligence and deep learning ecosystems, drones, the app economy, blockchain and crypto-currencies, and quantum computing, to name a few – have transformed interactions between States and citizens, and relations inter se private entities and individuals. On the regulatory front, governments worldwide face the unenviable task of directing innovation by optimally balancing risks and rewards. When deployed for g...

TREADS: Transboundary Rivers, Ecologies & Development Studies

TREADS programme encompasses and echoes our research and policy interests in transboundary political ecologies, river water governance and development studies. We are interested in politics and ecologies (relationships) across boundaries - after Neil Smith’s “markers of difference” - at different scales. We pursue our interests in this generic sense of transboundary political spaces, at present focused primarily on transboundary river water governance. TR...

Initiative on Cities, Economy & Society

Urbanisation is a key barometer of India’s social and economic transition, and understanding its complexity is imperative for public policy. To this end, the Initiative on Cities, Economy, and Society at CPR engages with the process of urban transition in India, tracking its evolution in spatial, economic and social terms, focusing on how urbanisation is managed and how it effects people’s engagement with the state. Scholars work on a range of subjects, ...