IIT Bombay launches ‘Ashank Desai Centre for Policy Studies’

The Centre’s work comprises interdisciplinary research, providing evidence-based, collaborative, and critical research in various policy fields.

The Indian Institute of Technology Bombay launched the ‘Ashank Desai Centre for Policy Studies (ADCPS)’, during a virtual event held at the Institute.

The IIT Bombay’s Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) was set up in 2016 to create capacity for policy studies in India, by positioning itself as a leader in the study of Public Policy. The Centre’s work comprises interdisciplinary research, providing evidence-based, collaborative, and critical research in various policy fields, with a special focus on policy formulation and evaluation in India. CPS continues to make significant contributions to the field of Policy Studies and has achieved multiple milestones by establishing the PhD and Masters in Public Policy programmes.

The launch was presided by distinguished personalities Prof. Kaushik Basu, Professor of Economics and Carl Marks Professor of International Studies at Cornell University; Dr Naushad Forbes, Co-Chairman of Forbes Marshall, Yamini Aiyar, President and Chief Executive of the Centre for Policy Research; and Ashank Desai, an IIT Bombay alumnus and Founder, Vice-Chairman and MD of Mastek Limited whose donation to the Centre for Policy Studies at IIT Bombay, has provided a much-needed boost to this nascent field.

The funds from Desai’s donation will be utilised for building the Centre’s infrastructure and its subsequent maintenance over a period of 10 years. This support is also expected to enable the Centre to focus on research in key areas of Digital Societies, Structural Inequalities, Environment, Energy and Natural Resources, Markets and Governance Processes and Technology and Society.

While speaking about ADCPS, Dr Forbes said, "Good public policy must bring together solid theoretical understanding and academic work in the subject with a policy perspective. This Centre can play a very valuable role because it is at IIT Bombay – within one of our leading research and education institutions. By working collaboratively with other departments on campus, we can develop policy that is both theoretically right and doable."

Prof. Basu said, “I congratulate IIT Bombay for having the foresight of setting up a Policy Studies institute and Ashank Desai for his generosity and farsightedness in helping establish this institute. I have believed for a long that we need top quality technical research and policy centres that can bridge the gap between the world of technical research and policymaking and IIT Bombay epitomizes that. I am delighted that the ‘Ashank Desai Centre for Policy Studies has been set up at a top place like IIT Bombay.”

Aiyar, who was the discussant for the event, said, “Strengthening the institutional foundations for undertaking credible research and policy dialogue is critical for India. India needs an ecosystem of robust, rigorous and independent institutions in the university and civil society that contribute to knowledge building, knowledge creation and simultaneously interface with policy. ADCPS is thus a really important contribution to the public life of India and I'm really looking forward to future interactions with researchers and the cohort of students from the centre."