<div>Making a policy is not easy. Making an informed policy is tough. And making a policy that has been informed by the appropriate inputs is perhaps the toughest task that decision makers in the government face. <br /> <br />This was painfully evident during the recent debate in India’s Parliament on allowing foreign direct investment in retail. The decision included several complex issues including linking farmers to markets, protecting domestic manufacturing, mitigating job losses, creation of sustainable employment, monitoring of cheap imports. <br /><br />The debate was peppered with many questions, facts, truths, half-truths and falsehoods. For most people following the debate it was impossible to tell fact from fiction. In fact many policy makers themselves were confused and perplexed with the complexities. It is never easy to balance all interests while taking a reform forward. <br /><br />India and developing countries will increasingly face such situations when critical decisions on complex issues have to be taken. This type of policy making requires a steady flow of independent research and studies to equip government to take an informed decision. <br /><br />Not only that. It is also important to make such research available to civil society so that the process is transparent and inclusive. <br /><br />There is an old adage that advises us to look before we leap. Unfortunately, lack of adequate information means that most policy makers leap before they can take a good look. <br /><br />Recently I attended an experts’ roundtable that discussed supporting research to inform agricultural policy in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. This roundtable was organised by Global Development Network (GDN) in partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations.<br /><br />While organisations like FAO have been directing policy at a multilateral level for decades, newer entities like GDN are creating much needed capabilities in research. GDN is an international organisation that focuses mainly on strengthening skills of researchers in developing and transition countries. GDN also brings together researchers and their work so that the best results can be shared. Its programmes are supported by several global foundations and governments. Refreshingly, this global organisation is based in New Delhi, in the heart of developing world, and not in a western capital. <br /><br />GDN supports sharing of knowledge within the developing world. There are many successful policies in South Asia and Africa that can be replicated across the region. With some research based effort, adapting such policies can save developing countries a lot of time and resource. <br /><br />While governments in these countries share their experience, it is often lost by the time it percolates to ground levels workers. Connecting research agencies and those that work at grassroots is an efficient way of sharing knowledge.<br /><br />Therefore a debate on FDI in retail and subsequent implementation has to be guided by research based knowledge. Research shows that while agriculture may be about 20 per cent of GDP in India, it supports 50 per cent of the workforce. Therefore any effort that claims to help farm sector and employment for youth must integrate this fact while drawing up the policy. <br /><br />Policy makers at the central and state level will have to step up their intake of research based studies to strengthen decision making. In fact, even corporations and industry bodies will have to deploy independent research to improve their credibility while lobbying for change. <br /><br />Though in the end, unless such inputs are also shared with the civil society, critical reform will never find public acceptance. <br /><br />It is time for India to set an example for developing countries by deploying independent research in a transparent manner while setting policies that affect livelihoods of hundreds of millions of its citizens. <br /><br /><br /><em>(Pranjal Sharma is a senior business writer. He can be contacted at pranjalx@gmail.com) </em></div>