Promoting Sustainable and Inclusive Growth (PROSAIG)

1. Promoting Sustainable and Inclusive Growth (PROSAIG) Ist Meeting of the Project Advisory Committee (PAC) Thursday, 19th May, 2011, Oslo Pradeep S Mehta, Secretary General 1

2. Outline • Project: Goal, Purpose and Tools • Intended Beneficiaries • Prosaig: Overview • Prosaig I: Projects, Partners and Outcomes • Prosaig II: Proposed Projects and Partners • PAC: Role and Schedule of meetings

3. Project: Goal, Purpose and Tools Goal • Rapid, inclusive and lasting growth in the Indian economy Objective • Generation of awareness about ways and means in diverse fields for achieving the mentioned goal so as to induce needed action by diverse stakeholders • Corporate social responsibility and norms for corporate governance • Sector regulation • Environmental standards Tools • Research, awareness generation, advocacy and capacity building based on research outputs

4. Intended Beneficiaries • In India • Government, especially policy makers • Research organisations, academics and civil society organisations working on issues relating to the Indian economy • Ultimately Consumers and Producers • In Norway • Research organisations and academics • Government especially development actors and policy makers • Existing and potential Norwegian consumers • Existing and potential producers/importers of goods/services to and from India 4

5. Overview of Prosaig CUTS submitted a core grant proposal to Royal Norwegian Embassy (RNE): package of proposals geared towards the promotion of sustainable and inclusive growth in the Indian context but with a global perspective PHASE I • Exploring the interplay between business regulation and corporate conduct in India • A Study of Environmental Standards and their Trade Impact on Indian Textiles & Clothing Sector • Competition and Regulation in India, 2011 PHASE II • The role of investment policy reforms in South Asia’s economic development • Trade and poverty linkages in South Asia • Political economy of regulation and competition in South Asia • Climate change, food security and trade linkages in South Asia PHASE III • Public transport in India • Governance and regulatory challenges in public utility services in urban areas of South Asia • Regional disparities in agriculture and rural development performance and policies -- A comparative assessment • Examining the contribution of competition policy reforms to economic development in developing countries: An empirical approach • Corruption in electricity and healthcare in India - Dropped

6. Prosaig- IProjects and Partners

7. BRCC Project • Goal • Encourage better business behaviour to achieve sustainable development objectives • Purpose • Stimulation of government and private sector action regarding business regulation, corporate governance and CSR • Status • Launch meeting and 1st meeting of PRC organised in Delhi in April, 2011 • Outline of the Thematic Research Report prepared and is being reviewed • 02 regional dialogues to discuss the draft thematic research report: July, 2011 • Future Activities • 04 state level research papers on Business Regulation • 02 Sectoral papers on Corporate Conduct • State level and National Policy Discourse • Capacity building of stakeholders in States Research inputs would feed into the Planning Commission of India’s Steering Committee on Industry: Two Working Groups on Business Regulatory Framework http://www.cuts-ccier.org/BRCC/

8. ICRR Project, 2011 • Goal • Enhance the quality of regulation and level of competition in select sectors of the economy • Purpose • To provide suggestions and thereby stimulate actions by governments (Central and State) and their agencies in regard to regulatory reform • Status • Organised 1st National Reference Group Meeting in January 2011 • Authors presented the draft papers/outline during 2nd CUTS/CIRC International Conference on Economic Regulation organised in April, 2011 in Delhi • Perception survey of relevant stakeholders have started with support of partner organisations across India, one-to-one interviews and through internet. • Future Activities • External review and finalisation of papers by authors • Compilation and analysis of perception survey data • Organising 2nd NRG meeting to present the revised papers http://www.cuts-ccier.org/icrr2011/

9. SESTI Project • Goal • Promotion of optimal use of eco-labels for enhancing environmental sustainability and economic welfare • Purpose • Improving understanding of the communicative power of environmental labels for enhancing consumer welfare and environmental sustainability • Status • Literature review has been completed • Launch meeting in Oslo (Friday, 20th May, 2011) • Future Activities • Inventorisation of existing environmental standards for Indian T&C products • Internet and field surveys to be organised in select north european markets and India • Preparation of Research Report

10. Envisaged Outcomes from PROSAIG -I • Generation of awareness among Indian stakeholders about the requirements for inclusive growth in the Indian context • Stimulation of an integrated approach which meets the above requirements • Enhancement of the capacity of Indian researchers to work on developing country issues • Generation of awareness among Norwegian business, consumers and other stakeholders about the opportunities relating to synergistic engagement with India

11. DESCRIPTION OF FOUR PROJECTS (PROSAIG - II)

12. Prosaig (II) : Projects/Ideas Project I: Political Economy of Regulation and Competition in South Asia • Two research cycles will be conducted – on energy and on transportation • Gather research-based policy lessons from various parts of the world and analyse the political economy issues affecting effective implementation of competition and regulatory laws • Key research questions would address issues such as • What are the current levels of competition in the markets • Is there support for competition policy and regulatory reforms from key constituents? If not, why? • What are the existing political-economy and governance constraints which come in the way of successful implementation of competition and regulatory laws? • Countries: Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka • Proposed Norwegian Partner: Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration (NHH) & SNF

13. Projects, contd….. Project II: Climate change, Food Security and Trade Linkages in South Asia • Analyse impact of climate change on food security at the household level in South Asian countries • Focus on how trade policy instruments can be used to mitigate possible negative impact of climate change on food security? • Build capacity of CSOs, government officials, etc • Proposed Norwegian Partner: National Institute for Consumer Research (SIFO) Project III: Trade and Poverty Linkages in South Asia • Analyse value chain of a number of tradable sectors in South Asian countries which can have significant impact on poverty. • Key research areas: importance of flanking macroeconomic policies in making trade policy more effective; governance aspects of trade policy-making process; trade complementarities among the South Asian countries and their spatial dynamics, etc. • Build capacity of CSOs, trade practioners, officials of various departments/ministries • Proposed Norwegian Partner: NUPI

14. Projects, contd….. Project IV: The Role of Investment Policy Reforms in South Asia’s Economic Development • What kind of reforms are required in South Asian countries to get people out of agriculture (where a majority is unproductively engaged) and engage them productively in non-agricultural sectors (including in rural non-farm economy)? • Analyse changes required in investment policies in South Asian countries along with other important flanking policies • Draw lessons and best practices from countries such as China and Vietnam • Build capacity of CSOs, Government officials and community based organisations • Proposed Norwegian Partner: NUPI

15. PROJECT ADVISORY COMMITTEE ROLE AND SCHEDULE OF MEETINGS

16. Role of the PAC • Contribute to the implementation of the project. PAC members will participate in discussions on both the process and content of the project. Their contributions will be duly noted and will be incorporated suitably into project documents. • Participate in PAC meetings alongwith project events, training programmes, as and when convenient. • Reviewing major process decisions during the course of the project.

17. PAC Meetings Schedule

18. Thank You Pradeep S. Mehta Secretary General, CUTS psm@cuts.org http://www.cuts-international.org