Abstract: Rebuilding state capacity is central to addressing contemporary policy challenges that demand not just delivery but deep engagement, adaptability, and co-learning. This talk revisits how state capacity is conceptualized and operationalized, particularly in contexts requiring sustained behavioural change and institutional innovation. Using India’s recent push for agroecological transitions as an empirical lens, the discussion explores the persistent gap between policy ambition and implementation systems.
Focusing on case studies from Rajasthan and Gujarat, the talk argues that top-down schemes, while well-intentioned, often lack the enabling infrastructures necessary for transformative change. The state’s capacity is tested not in its ability to announce newer schemes, but in its ability to nurture knowledge systems, facilitate trust, and sustain participatory processes. This calls for moving beyond managerial fixes to developing what may be termed epistemic state capacity—the ability to recognize and co-produce knowledge with citizens. Agroecology, in this context, illustrates broader questions about how states learn, adapt, and engage with complexity in public policy.
Speaker: C. Shambu Prasad is Professor of strategic management and social sciences at the Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA), with research interests in the interdisciplinary fields public policy, sustainability transitions, livelihoods, innovation and entrepreneurship. He has contributed to national policy dialogues and policies on producer organisations and agroecological innovations and has anchored national level learning alliances to co-create knowledge by academics and practitioners. He serves on the academic councils of a few higher education institutes and on the Boards of a few non-profits. He is also a visiting professor at CTARA at IIT Bombay.