IAS Gyan

Daily News Analysis

ICSSR

23rd August, 2023 Polity

Copyright infringement not intended

Picture Courtesy: icssrnwrc

Context: The Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) to announce the outcomes of research award proposals it had invited. These proposals aimed to examine the impact of various schemes and public policy initiatives of the Union government.

Key Points

  • The Union government has launched several schemes and policy initiatives to address various social and economic challenges faced by the country. These include schemes for providing cooking gas, housing, rural development, irrigation, crop insurance, income support, promotion of millets, health care, affordable medicines, sanitation, manufacturing, infrastructure, education, and curbing black money and benami transactions. But how effective have these schemes been in achieving their objectives? How have they impacted the lives of the people and the society at large? What are the gaps and challenges in their implementation? These are some of the questions that need to be answered through rigorous empirical research based on primary data.
  • To facilitate such research, the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), a premier body under the Ministry of Education for promoting and funding social science research in India, has invited proposals from researchers to study the impact of 31 schemes and policy initiatives of the Union government.
    • ICSSR was founded in 1969 as an autonomous organization under the jurisdiction of the Government of India. Its primary purpose is to foster, assess, stimulate, support, and synchronize research efforts in the field of social sciences.
  • The ICSSR will provide funding to about 500 researchers who will conduct fieldwork in specific geographical regions and assess the outcomes of these schemes and policies. The proposals will be evaluated by an expert committee and the results will be announced soon.
  • The ICSSR has also announced its plan to develop “Indianised research methodology tools” to study the social and economic changes in the country.

PRACTICE QUESTION

Q. How does the systematic evaluation of public policy foster improved comprehension, ongoing learning, and the development of reforms to enhance the efficacy of policy implementation?

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/icssr-to-study-socio-economic-impact-of-centres-schemes/article67220424.ece