Since ages, the Rishis and Munis have been playing important role in matters pertaining to policy making and governance. The kings who were enlightened used to consult these people to run the kingdom efficiently and effectively. Thus, the policy took care of the holistic development of the people, Gaumata, animals, trees, plants, rivers and mountains. This approach is possible because the enlightened Rishis and Munis are samdarshi (seeing Bhagwan in each particle of universe).

 

The concepts like sustainable development, CSR, climate change etc are claimed to be developed in West, but we have a higher enlightened version in Bharat. If the development is not sustainable, we should not call it development rather it is devastation. We do not to use phrase “socially responsible” before businesses, because if any business is antithetical to society it should not be categorised as business at all. In Bharat, therefore we need to re-enforce holistic approach to policy making, public management, public governance and in general public leadership which we have been following since ages. For this, till now no educational institution has taken the initiative to look at the Bharatiya research approach to policy making, public management and public governance.

 

In Bharat, among major educational institutions only IIM-Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Calcutta, MDI-Gurgaon, ISB, Xaviers, UPES, and Jindal school offer some type of course on Public Policy, Public Management and Public Governance. None of these offer MBA in Public Policy but are planning to launch shortly. Some of other institutions have started MBA in Public Policy and getting good response. In the practice the Government and Corporate have already been working very closely since government reforms, but academic fraternity in Bharat has not made significant efforts to study them as part of single system.

Banasthali Vidyapith’s core competence lies in the foundations of Dharm and its constant adaptation and application into various dimensions of life. It has preserved the cultural heritage in different areas of academics, cultural and sports domain, this time it is contributing offering MBA with specialization in Public Policy and CSR. Through this it will also contribute to bridge the gap mentioned above. It also plans to setup dedicated center of Public Policy Research for generating research output to share with policy makers at central government, state government, district administration and panchayat level.

The courses are currently offered at graduate level that can orient the students to this emerging field of Policy, Governance and CSR. Through this initiative Banasthali aims to be a pioneer in merging the two dimensions (government-corporate) at academic level and study in a holistic manner through indigenous lens. With emphasis on CSR several opportunities would be available for students in corporate/NGOs and thus creating more employment opportunities.

 

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