Dialogues

Enjoy a fun Sunday evening connecting with the CCS alumni network at a picnic in Cubbon Park!

Whether it's through Liberty and Society Seminars, ISPP, ipolicy or internships, what we value most about our journey over the past two decades is the continued support of our alumni. We'd love to hear what you've been up to, your favourite memory from a CCS program, and what you'd like to see more of from us at CCS.

We're excited to invite you to a Sunday Picnic at Cubbon Park, for CCS ALUMNI on 30 April at 4pm. What better way to spend an evening than catching up on old times, meeting friends, walking down the memory lane, discussing ideas and munching on some great food! Please spread the word among your fellow batchmates who were a part of your group at CCS Academy programs and mark your calendars. Feel free to bring a friend along.

RSVP

Invite fellow CCS alumni on the Facebook event page

Launch of
Liberalism in India: Past, Present and Future

and Panel Discussion: Crisis of Liberalism in India
with Jerry Rao, Gurcharan Das, R Jagannathan and Hindol Sengupta

Despite 67 years of political independence and democracy, India is throttled by political practices that stifle individual liberty, the license-permit quota raj that still exists for the poor, and ill-informed public policies that curtail entrepreneurship, restrict opportunities for growth, and stunt economic development. Current socio-political attempts to deal with these issues have seen the growth of a prominent anti-corruption movement and subsequent passing of a watered down anti-corruption bill, the birth of the populist Aam Aadmi Party, and most significantly the rise of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party. However, none of these have identified or addressed the core issues within the Indian political system – a large and opaque bureaucracy, an overwhelmed and ineffective judiciary, an alarmingly pliant Constitution, deeply entrenched interest groups, and a culture of dynastic politics.

Over the last three decades, public choice theory has emerged as a prominent research agenda in economics and political science that addresses central themes in this tradition with the tools of economic analysis. Specifically, public choice theory has focused on the working properties of alternative political arrangements in an effort to understand constitutional features that are most likely to advance individual autonomy and flourishing as understood by the individuals who must live under a given constitution.

This conference for academics will focus on the leverage that the public choice approach has given political scientists and economists over understanding how democracy works and how institutions such as constitutions can be constructed to produce better social outcomes. We hope to discuss the impact that this school has had both within the academy and in the real world of politics, with a special focus on the Indian context.

CCS Colloquium is a two-day (three nights) residential program and forum for in-depth discussion centred on a chosen theme/policy. The Colloquium provides participants an opportunity to disentangle themselves from the distractions of everyday life to reflect on issues of fundamental and enduring importance. Our hope is that participants will go on to share their advanced understandings and to develop innovative ideas and approaches for bringing specific policy solutions to advance liberalism today.

The colloquium will address the following themes:

1. Politics and Constitutionalism
2. Majority Rule, Voting Cycles, and Democracy
3. Democratic Deficiencies
4. Federalism
5. The Generality Principle
6. Constitutionalism and Credible Commitment

Eligibility: Participation to the Colloquium is by invitation only. For any details, contact manasi@ccs.in

YOU, our alumni, represent the future of liberalism in India and we want to hear from you on how you’ve been working to promote choice and accountability in your circles! Catch up with us over high tea on 9 October 2016 at the CCS office.

Vrinda Bhandari will be giving a keynote on the Role of Privacy with respect to states and markets. The talk will be followed by high tea.

Vrinda Bhandari is an alumnus of the University of Oxford where she read for the BCL and the Masters in Public Policy, after being awarded the Rhodes Scholarship. She completed her B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) from National Law School of India University, Bangalore. She is currently practicing as an Advocate in the Courts in New Delhi. Vrinda has a deep interest in issues related to free speech and privacy and in criminal law, and has worked extensively on issues involving defamation and sedition law.

Network with other graduates from across over a 100 programs conducted in policy research and training—a strong cohort of individuals passionate about creating a freer society. If you are a graduate of our Internships, or the LSS, ISPP or ìpolicy courses – Register NOW for the meet up!

For more information, contact Manasi Bose (alumni@ccs.in | +91 9810772964)

Centre for Civil Society is organizing a colloquium on ‘Maximum Governance, Minimum Government.’ The colloquium aims to facilitate a robust discussion and dialogue on this theme and most importantly will help bring a clearer understanding on how best to bring a paradigm shift in the role of the government—from controller to facilitator, from producer to financier, and from an inspector to informer to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

The focus of the Colloquium is not so much on what but how to fulfill this commitment that the government has undertaken. We will have less than 20 participants and like a typical colloquium, there will be a set of readings to guide the discussion. There will be five thematic sessions of two hours each, based on the selected readings. The last session would be on Next Steps, which will help organise the ideas and suggestions that came up earlier and delineate some steps to work further on them.

• Session I: Delineate Policy Formulation & Policy Implementation
• Session II: Consolidate, Delayer, Devolve & Exit
• Session III: Leveraging Expertise: Capacity Building, Lateral Entry & Performance Incentives
• Session IV: Empowerment Needs Growth: Taking Care of Business
• Session V: E-government: A Route to Efficient, Transparent & Inclusive Government?
• Session VI: Next Steps

The Colloquium hopefully furthers and deepens the dialogue and understanding of the idea of ‘maximum governance, minimum government.’ Since its focus is more on how, it should offer concrete, actionable steps to achieve citizen-centric, accountable and effective governance.

Eligibility: Participation to the Colloquium is by invitation only. For any details, contact samta@ccs.in or click here