Nudge Top Talent To Change Systems In India

Context: The combined objectives of economic recovery and the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals require the coming together of several forces—government, industry and civil society.

Pandemic Response: Government Initiatives

• Welfare steps: Government of India announced a variety of measures to provide food security, direct cash transfers, extra funds for healthcare and relief for states.
• Economic stimulus package: Worth Rs 30 trillion, 15% of India's GDP, with emphasis to make India Atmanirbhar a self-reliant nation.
• National Education Policy 2020: Aimed at building foundational skills among children and youth, it was rolled out to boost the human capital potential of the country.

Need for collaboration with the private sector: The Union Budget 2021 acknowledged a gap that exists between the urban and rural and among different income groups.

Way Forward: Multiple strategies and models of engagement

• Partnership in thought and action
  • Iterative Policymaking: Multiple rounds of consultations and co-creation with external partners who have stake, motivation and capability to contribute to long-range goals.
  • Successful examples of private participation:
    • For E.g. Vidhi legal has helped to make better laws and improve governance through high quality, peer reviewed original legal research.
    • E.g. Institutions like Ekstep and eGov Foundation have combined the power of policy, technology and ecosystem to extend the reach of public services.
• Lateral talent into public administration: Challenge is to combine subject matter expertise and the growth mindset of the corporate sector with the existing strengths of civil servants to manage government programs of population scale.
  • Solution: Provide fellowship as it offers a time-bound opportunity for talent from the private sector to learn from, and contribute to, the government sector.
  • Indian Administrative Fellowship by The Nudge Foundation places senior leaders and high achievers in collaboration with visionary civil servant to work jointly to co-create and implement initiatives.

Conclusion: The combined objectives of economic recovery and the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals require the coming together of several forces—government, industry and civil society.