Think Tank

India has a growing number of institutions calling themselves think tanks, yet few combine research independence, policy relevance and public accessibility in the way the term implies. This piece examines the funding and incentive structures that shape Indian policy research, and what distinguishes the institutions that manage to do it credibly.

Good policy requires reliable data and an institutional willingness to publish evaluations that show a scheme has not worked. India's record on both fronts is mixed, marked by genuine statistical capacity alongside recurring controversies over withheld or delayed data. This piece examines why evidence-based policymaking remains harder in practice than in slogan.

Citizens' assemblies, in which randomly selected residents deliberate on a specific policy question and produce recommendations, have been used successfully in countries such as Ireland and Canada. India has its own deliberative traditions in gram sabhas and ward committees, but rarely applies structured deliberation to complex urban or state-level policy questions. This piece examines whether the model could work here. `.trim(),