On the 5th of January, ORF hosted a delegation of 45 students as part of the Intern Nation Programme, organised by Chhatra Sansad. The students interacted with Professor Harsh V. Pant Director, Studies and Head, Strategic Studies Programme, and discussed the “Working of the Observer Research Foundation”. Prof. Pant began by laying out a brief account of how think tanks came to play a role in India’s public life and democratic debate. While policymaking in India had traditionally rested in the hands of bureaucrats, the onset of India’s economic liberalisation and globalisation brought a whole new set of needs. It became clear that very few major global governance issues could be tackled with India’s substantive input. As a result, India needed to rapidly upskill and build capabilities in a host of different domains of policymaking. Shortly afterwards, ORF and other policy think tanks came up to help build a corps of experts and inform policy debates in the country.
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