Hyderabad to get national institute of public policy

To be set up in collaboration with Harvard University and Johns Hopkins

Leaders of government, educational institutes and industry are teaming up once again to establish another institute of global standards in Hyderabad. This time dedicated to public policy. Hyderabad already has a premier management school "" Indian School of Business.

Expected to be announced shortly, the national institute of public policy, a public-private partnership initiative, would be set up in collaboration with Harvard University and Johns Hopkins, two of the oldest American universities and in association with people like Rajat Gupta of McKinsey and Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, sources close to the development told Business Standard.

It is likely to be located near the ISB, they added.

Though the country has world-reputed Indian Institutes of Management, the need for an institute of public policy has been long felt.

Sources said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh himself had taken the lead to fill this gap in training and research in public policy through establishing this institute.

According to information, the Government of India, Andhra Pradesh government and Bill & Milinda Gates Foundation would contribute Rs 25 crore each to the proposed Rs 100-crore corpus for the public policy institute.

Sources said Satyam Computer's chief Ramalinga Raju too has joined the initiative to partly contribute to the corpus on his own and through others in the industry. Even Rajat Gupta, who is also the chairman of ISB, is expected to contribute to the institute, they added.

The proposed institute is expected to focus on training and research in a range of areas of public policy covering public health and public services among others. Chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy is keen to see that an institute of this nature is established in the state capital so that the state could directly benefit from the experience and expertise of those associated with the institute.

Among others who are actively involved in shaping the project, which involves finalising the collaboration and association with the two American universities, include Planning Commission vice-chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.

Contrary to the publicity and competition witnessed with regard to choosing Hyderabad to locate ISB, in 2002, when N Chandrababu Naidu, then chief minister, had to bargain hard to beat the competition from states like Maharashtra and Karnataka, the announcement of the establishment of this institute is expected to be a low key affair.

According to sources, the Prime Minister himself is expected to make the announcement some time during the last week of this month.