Interaction Held between PRI’s Executive Committee Members and Advisors

As part of its regular activity on organizational development and consolidation, PRI, on 1st March 2021, organized an interaction between its Executive Committee Members and Advisors to discuss institutional achievements and the way forward.

Present in the interaction were Mr. Suryanath Upadhayaya, Prof. Suresh Raj Sharma, Prof. Yogendra Prasad Yadav, Prof. Meena Vaidya, the Advisors to PRI and, Dr. Bishnu Raj Upreti, Executive Chairperson of PRI and Prof. Dr. Surendra Labh Karna, PRI Executive Committee Member.

PRI Executive Chairperson opened the interaction with a brief presentation on programmatic and organizational developments of PRI and some outstanding issues to be fixed. Mr. Suryanath Upadhayay, expressing his happiness that PRI is moving ahead, advised PRI to keep in mind its purpose of policy research. He also suggested working on the issues that the Government of Nepal considers vital for the country.

Prof. Yogendra Prasad Yadav advised undertaking policy reviews by considering Constitutional and legal provisions governing specific issues, such as language and culture, that have direct bearing on a large section of the population. Expressing concern on the dependence of borrowed languages in the fields of science and technology, he advised considering this to be one of the areas of policy research.

Prof. Suresh Raj Sharma underscored the importance of evolutionary policy making that gives a policy the life and continuity it deserves. Expressing concern over the current practice of frequent policy changes, he advised PRI not to be too ambitious to prioritize policy research. He suggested to link policy research to the broad goal of nation-building.

Expressing happiness over the fact that PRI has made headway over months, Prof. Meena Vaidya emphasized professional neutrality and integrity on research works. She also advised taking into consideration the socio-economic reality of the country while undertaking policy research.

Prof. Surendra Labh Karna extended a vote of thanks to the Advisers for their constant advice and support to the Board and PRI in general. Their advice, he added, would be taken and responded to seriously. How to get research outcomes implemented to effect the change expected might be challenging. However, Prof. Labh suggested, with the experience and wisdom of the advisors and the inhouse expertise of PRI the challenge can be addressed practically.

Also present in the interaction representing PRI departments and clusters were Dr. Deepak Kumar Khadka, Dr. Mukti Ram Rijal, Dr. Mukunda Kattel, Mr. Laxman Prasad Bhattarai, Mr. Dipendra Prasad Pant and Mr. Bimal Chandra Sharma.