The Centre has undertaken research in sectoral as well as cross-sectoral themes with a focus on assessing and promoting democratic values and pro-people concerns, especially with a focus on protecting and promoting the interest of the most disadvantaged sections of society. For example, the research on regulatory institutions aims at developing an index of democratic governance of regulatory agencies, whereas the research on risk regulation has a focus on the knowledge state, perception, attitude and practice aspects of governing technological risks and their impact on the marginal and vulnerable sections of the society such farmers and agricultural labourers in case of pesticides.

The Centre has a long-term engagement in water sector regulation with a focus on procedural justice, equitable water tariffs, and resource allocations. This research is now being expanded into other infrastructure and public utility sectors such as electricity. Based on the research work, the Centre faculty has been invited on several occasions for contributions in government and regulatory policies. Recently, the Centre has embarked on an analysis of regulatory institutions with a focus on democratic processes and citizen engagement in regulatory processes. These research themes are elaborated further.

Democratization of Regulatory Process

The democratic deficit in developing countries has a critical bearing on the regulatory processes and their outcomes. With this understanding, the Center has initiated a study on assessing the regulatory authorities and agencies in India on specific indicators of democratic quality, such as transparency, accountability, and public participation. A paper comprising an assessment of 16 federal regulatory agencies from different sectors in India was presented at the IIPA’s International Conference on Public Policy held in Barcelona. This work is now being expanded into sub-national regulatory functioning. A paper comprising an assessment of the level of citizen engagement in electricity grievance regulation in 10 States in India was presented at the ECPR Biennial Conference of the Standing Group on Regulatory Governance held in Belgium.

Equitable and Sustainable Infrastructure and Public Utility Policies and Regulation

Independent regulatory agencies in public services like water and electricity provided opportunities for public interest regulatory advocacy for the politically underrepresented service users. The Centre has been engaged in the research around such democratic spaces created after the regulatory reforms. The Centre has published papers and book chapters on the themes of repoliticization through independent regulatory proceedings with a focus on representation by unorganized consumers such as farmers. The Centre has also undertaken a study on regulatory challenges of equitable inter-sectoral water allocations and water tariff regulation. This research work is now being expanded into electricity and other utilities with a focus on financial regulation with price as an instrument of economic and social equity.

Efficient Risk Regulation of Food System

With techno-scientific development, manufactured risk has emerged as an integral feature of modernity. Today’s society is dominated by scientific risks and technological hazards. Often these risks are a product of the unanticipated or unintended consequences of technological advancement. No sector or section of society has escaped the omnipresence and impact of such risks. This has necessitated social, political, and institutional reforms and regulatory responses to govern these risks.

Governance of risks to human health and the environment with a focus on sustainable food systems has emerged as one of the focal thematic areas of research conducted at the Centre. In particular, the Centre is interested in characterizing the sociological elements (for example, risk perception and attitude of stakeholders such as consumers), knowledge states (for example, hazard data and information asymmetry), technical elements (for example, standards and exposure analysis), institutional elements, and the politics shaping the food system risk governance.

The Centre has conducted research to identify the determinants of knowledge and practice of pesticide handling by farmers and farm workers. The study was triggered by the large-scale, unintentional pesticide poisoning events in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra state. The insights gained from the project played a significant role in the submission of detailed comments on the ‘Pesticide Management Bill, 2020’ to the Standing Committee on Agriculture of the Parliament of India by the Centre faculty and alumni. At present, the Centre is conducting a detailed study on developing a multi-attribute criterion to evaluate the pesticides registered in India. In another significant intervention by the Centre faculty, a submission was made to the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India to improve the risk communication potential of the Health Star Rating system proposed for packaged food.