Abhishek Andasu, Deep Tavker, Dhruv Shah, Siddhanth Reddy, Tejas Srinivasan
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are based on faculty member’s interest. Often such specialisation and degrees of involvement from external stakeholders shapes an identity to the work of these centres while also providing improved avenues for funding. Despite these centres proving to be such a vital part of the institute’s interaction with the world outside, little is known about these centres and their operations. This article aims to provide some of that perspective by analysing the work and activity of a few of these centres.
explosive detections, landmine detections, video analytics for monitoring motions, recognizing faces, tracking from CCTV footage, crime mapping using GIS data and machine learning. The projects are in various states of completion and demonstrable products could be presented in another 3-6 months. Goals In the short term the center is focusing on completing a few projects; the aim is to develop demonstrable prototypes in the next 3-6 months. In the long term the main objective of NCETIS is technology development for state and central police and to develop a focused approach to deal with the unique problems of internal security. Funding MEIT is the main source of funding for the implementation of the projects of the center, and has contributed 85 crore for a five year period. The center is accountable to MEIT and the institute. Center for Policy Studies Institution The idea of instituting an independent academic unit that focuses on policy efficacy and implementation has been in the pipeline for 10 years. It was initially spearheaded by Prof. Anil Kakodkar, an erstwhile professor at IIT Bombay. The Global Business Forum organized last year in Goa, an endeavour by the IIT alumni association was when this endeavour received the impetus it needed. Keen on starting, a proposal was floated
to the board of governors. A resolution passed by them allowed for the institution of CPS. Current structure Right now, it has a head that is chosen as per existing institute procedure; and three students. The core committee formation is in the pipeline. The core committee will comprise of all core faculty from different streams. An advisory committee to direct research of which Prof. Kakodkar has consented to be a part of is in the pipeline. The two committees would work in tandem, one suggesting avenues of research and the other working on execution. Current projects This structure aims to cater to the Centre’s two main objectives - academic and research oriented. On the academic track, the aim is to launch the Doctoral Programme in July 2017 and the Masters Programme in 2018. For a programme to be part of the institute curriculum it has to be approved by the IDPC, PGPC and the Senate. Currently the main goal is to ensure that the programme is in place for incoming students of the 2017 batch, including resources and faculty appointments. Research is largely in doctoral domain, hence the initial push for the Doctoral Programme. At present, the Centre is conducting relevant policy discussions every month. The motive behind this, apart from the galvanisation of interest
on campus, is to gain visibility and credibility. Such credibility would improve Doctoral interest and ease faculty appointments for such a nascent body. The primary target is to provide this concrete structure to the body and undertake measures that would facilitate the same. Long-term goals Monthly sessions on policy are likely to continue. They serve a forum between the social sciences and technology on campus. In January, CPS will be organising the Annual Policy Dialogue, “Coping with COP21”, as a platform to facilitate discussions about policy. On the longer time frame, the goal is to conduct independent evidence based research. The Centre would aim to operate through collaborations with professors and existing policy think tanks and research like Brookings and Centre for Policy Research. Student-faculty involvement As the Centre becomes more established there will be projects that students can contribute to, perhaps even institute projects of their own as final year projects. Current involvement however is quite limited. Funding The institute provides the funds right now. As it is a small group there is no pressing need for large funds. In the future, as it becomes more established, maybe canvass for more funds that can possibly be used to recruit faculty and to direct research. Policy is a specialist’s domain. The idea is to have specialists that can be consulted upon whenever there is a need.