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LIST Lecture Series

LIST — Lectures for India's Social Transformation
A CRISP Friday knowledge series

CRISP Lectures for India’s Social Transformation

CRISP Lectures for India’s Social Transformation (LIST) is a weekly lecture series that brings eminent practitioners, researchers, policymakers and other professionals from the social and development sector into conversation with the CRISP team. Sessions are held every Friday and range across gender and social inclusion, rural livelihoods, governance, public systems, health, nutrition, education, climate, social protection and other contemporary debates in development practice.

Each lecture is documented as a publication-standard written piece, reviewed with the speaker and published here on the Monday following the session. Together these pieces form a growing repository of ideas, evidence and learning for CRISP and for the wider development community.

Every Friday, 12:00–1:30 PM New write-up every Monday
6 lectures
2 Oct 2026 Rural livelihoods and poverty alleviation

Two Approaches to Livelihood Intervention : Greenhouse versus Blueprint

Professor MS Sriram
Professor MS Sriram
Professor, Centre for Public Policy, Indian Institute of Management Bangalore

This session explores two approaches to livelihood programme design: the centralised “blueprint” model, illustrated by Operation Flood, and the community-driven “greenhouse” model, exemplified by Self-Help Groups (SHGs), SERP and NRLM. Prof. M. S. Sriram draws lessons from these experiences on designing effective subsidies, balancing standardisation with local needs, and scaling programmes while preserving community ownership and financial discipline.

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25 Sep 2026 Health and nutrition

On the Front Lines of Public Health Policy - Communities and Street Level Bureaucrats

Mr. Rajeev Sadanandan (IAS Retd.)
Mr. Rajeev Sadanandan (IAS Retd.)
Former Additional Chief Secretary (Health & Family Welfare), Government of Kerala, and former CEO of the Health Systems Transformation Platform (HSTP)

Mr Rajeev Sadanandan examines the role of street-level bureaucrats and communities in shaping public health programmes, highlighting the gap between policy design and implementation on the ground. He argues for meaningful community participation, greater discretion for frontline workers, and a shift from activity-based monitoring towards outcomes to ensure that programmes reach the most marginalised.

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18 Sep 2026 Social protection and entitlements

Social Audits: A Pursuit for Participatory Democracy

Sowmya Kidambi
Sowmya Kidambi
Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Social Work and Research Centre (Barefoot College)

In this lecture, Sowmya Kidambi traces the evolution of social audits from a grassroots, people-led practice to a statutory mechanism for participatory governance in India. Drawing on her extensive experience, she explains how social audits enable citizens to verify public spending and service delivery, while highlighting the importance of community participation, institutional independence, transparency, and government accountability for the process to remain effective.

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11 Sep 2026 Education

Foundational learning and beyond: Where are we today

Dr Rukmini Banerji
Dr Rukmini Banerji
Senior Advisor to Pratham Education Foundation and its former CEO

In this lecture, Dr Rukmini Banerji examines India’s foundational learning journey under NEP 2020, highlighting progress in early childhood education and foundational literacy and numeracy, alongside persistent learning gaps in middle school. Drawing on ASER, NIPUN Bharat and PARAKH data, she explores Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) as an approach to improving learning outcomes and discusses key priorities for strengthening early childhood education, inclusive learning and education system implementation.

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4 Sep 2026 Social protection and entitlements

Designing Citizen Centric Grievance Redressal Frameworks

Mr Nikhil Dey
Mr Nikhil Dey
Social Activist and Founding Member, Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS)

The session with Mr. Nikhil Dey explored how grievance redressal systems can be designed to be truly citizen-centric, responsive and accountable. Drawing on the RTI movement and grassroots experiences, the discussion highlighted social audits, institutional accountability, accessible processes and the need to ensure that technology does not exclude citizens from accessing their rights.

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28 Aug 2026 Public policy and public systems

You Can Make It Happen

Mr. Anil Swarup (Retd. IAS)
Mr. Anil Swarup (Retd. IAS)
Former Secretary, Ministry of Coal, Government of India

The inaugural LIST lecture by Mr. Anil Swarup (Retd. IAS) explored how good ideas can be translated into effective action by understanding the political, social, administrative and institutional context in which they operate. Drawing on his experience in public service, he highlighted the importance of building trust, communicating effectively and creating the conditions necessary for ideas to succeed.

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