‘Base poll agenda on research’

While professor Dileep Mavalankar of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) has taken the initiative to develop election manifestoes to be offered to political parties for use in their campaigns and to actualise them after the elections, other professors of the institute have appreciated the initiative, saying that a hand-in-hand effort between political parties and researchers would be lead to a better nation.

Chair professor of rail transport and infrastructure management at IIM-A, G Raghuram, said “It is a good idea to suggest the manifestoes to the political parties for their election campaigns. The association of researchers and their understanding in creating agendas for their election campaigns is a good idea. It would at least help them think about more realistic manifestoes.”

Expressing a similar view of appreciation for the timely effort, chairman of the Centre for Management in Agriculture at IIM-A, Vasant Gandhi, said, “It is a good initiative. The professors of IIM-A always have been closely involved in research on serious and important issues in various sectors of the country. I have conducted deep research and study into topics including an improvement in the growth rate of the agricultural sector, how to improve the income of farmers by improving the efficiency of the supply chain from farms to consumers and how to create fair and better income for farmers.”

Gandhi further said that the findings of this research, which if taken into the agendas of the major parties, would go a long way in improving the condition of development in the country. “The association of political parties with researchers in institutes would be fruitful in creating a good agenda, further leading to greater benefit for the country, especially the rural areas where a majority of the population resides,” he said.

The professors of the premier business school also agreed that, while many political parties divert their focus from their manifestoes after coming into power, it was still important for them to have good and proper agendas. “There have been questions on how to make the political parties implement the manifestoes. But, we should first make them accountable to the public, with realistic manifestoes. Later, organisations should review the progress as per the manifestoes put forth during the elections,” Raghuram said.

Laying emphasis on proper agendas for political parties, Gandhi said, “Having the right idea and the dream is the first step. Having taken a vow in front of the people, there should be some impact and implementation of the agendas.”