It took nearly 30 years before for this committed group of liberal nationalists led by D V Gundappa, a renowned writer and philosopher, could establish the Gokhale Institute of Public Affairs (GIPA) in 1945 – Bengaluru’s first think tank – “to promote education for and in the conscientious practice of democratic citizenship”. The institute formalised the activities of the so-called ‘Gokhale group’ of intellectuals and public officials of the erstwhile Mysore state that realised that a free and democratic India needed a non-partisan forum to discuss ideas on which the new nation-state would be founded. Indeed, the very first article in its journal argued that the draft Constitution of India did not secure individual liberty as well as it ought to. After Independence, though, institution-building shifted focus from public education to education, as Mysore (later Karnataka) provided a conducive environment for the establishment of private professional colleges that serviced the demands of the new country. There were a few exceptions, though. Prof VKRV Rao founded the Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC) in 1972 to promote research in social sciences relevant to public policy, and Dr Raja Ramanna persuaded JRD Tata to create the National Institute for Advanced Studies (NIAS) in 1988 to not only engage in multidisciplinary research, but also serve as a common watering hole for administrators, managers and researchers. These institutions illuminated intellectual and social life of the city in the decades before liberalisation sparked an economic boom from which a new generation of public policy institutions emerged. Prof Samuel Paul’s Public Affairs Centre (PAC) not only took up policy research and advocacy relevant to a by-then fast-growing metropolis, but attracted outstanding young talent to civil society. PAC engaged with the first generation of Bengaluru’s tech entrepreneurs, who happened to be both idealistic and resourceful, and laid the ground for what I have called the ‘Bengaluru Model of Civic Engagement’. This model involves working with (not against) the govt; generally engages in non-partisan, non-ideological ways; is open to experts from various domains; and is funded by high-integrity philanthropists. The captains of the IT and biotech industry generously channelled the city’s newfound wealth into public causes, setting an example for the rest of the country. Over the past three decades, several outstanding organisations have emerged along these lines. Prominent among them are the Centre for Budgetary and Policy Studies (CBPS), Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP), Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), Arghyam, Azim Premji University (APU), Indian Institute of Human Settlements (IIHS), Bangalore International Centre (BIC), Indian Software Product Industry Round Table (iSpirt), Independent And Public-Spirited Media Foundation (IPSMF), Bangalore Political Action Committee (BPAC), ReapBenefit and Takshashila Institution (which I cofounded). These cover a broad range of topics, local to global. Thus, you will find Bengaluru’s fingerprints on international and national policies ranging from urban governance to genetics, climate change to outer space, national security to digital public infrastructure, but you will have to look carefully, because the Bengaluru model tends to downplay its own contributions and rightly give credit to the political leaders and policymakers who implement them. This is not to say that all civil society organisations in the city follow this model. There are the fierce critics of govt policy, the fearless activists pursuing civic rights and other just causes, non-governmental organisations engaged in social work and partisan ideologues engaged in public discourse. Bengaluru has emerged a global public policy hub because the city attracts outstanding talent across disciplines. Consider for instance, my colleagues: a semiconductor engineer, a microbiologist, a failed actor, a PhD-holding retired general, a spy, an investment banker and a former bartender. Many of them have come back to India after having studied and worked abroad. That’s not all. It is relatively easy to assemble outstanding experts in almost any field because they are available in and around the city. Very few cities in the world can draw on the varied talents of such a diverse intellectual community. On the flip side, think tanks do find it hard to attract good talent because the city is booming and non-profits have to compete with global companies for talent. After all, even the most passionate scholars must pay off their rents and EMIs. Also, unlike in New Delhi, Bengaluru does not have institutional areas where non-profits can be housed at reasonable cost. This means, they are spread out across a city divided by traffic, and dampening interactions across institutions. Being distant from the national capital has another downside: there is a tendency for organisations to focus on local issues, limiting the mental landscape of talented people. In recent years, one issue – climate change – has attracted extraordinary amount of funding, pushing talented young people into an increasingly crowded field. This is not to say that the cause is unimportant, but India needs to invest in brain power to address the challenges of geoeconomics, global security, information-age governance, political philosophy, science and technology policy, economic growth and other fields critical to our future. It would be a pity if the city’s intellectual and creative capacity neglects grappling with the complex policy issues facing the state, nation and planet today. In many ways, Bengaluru is both a complement and a counterpoint to New Delhi. It often focuses on issues and ideas that the national capital is yet to be concerned with, and that the political system thinks is unimportant or impossible. It also shows that a different approach to citizenship is possible, and the distance from Delhi often allows a different perspective of national interest.
