New Delhi: Omidyar Network India Tuesday said it will provide Rs 16 crore (USD 2.3 million) grant to Brookings India, NCAER and NIPFP to conduct research on issues related to property rights in the country. The grant would be utilised to create a multi-organisation research consortium that will focus on issues linked to secure rights to assets, Omidyar Network said in a statement. The Rs 16-crore fund includes an innovation fund of Rs 3.5 crore (USD 500,000) to back proposals from across the country.
Brookings India, National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) and National Institute of Public Finance Policy (NIPFP) would develop “evidence-based solutions to address chronic challenges in providing secure access to land, housing and property rights”. Omidyar Network India is part of a global network funded by the philanthropic capital of Pierre Omidyar, the founder of eBay, and his wife Pam Omidyar.
“The aim is to have these institutions, and hopefully other collaborators in the future, develop in-house expertise on important issues that are relevant for policy makers, build evidence around these issues and propose solutions that can truly improve the lives of people on the ground.” said Shreya Deb, Director, Investments, at Omidyar Network India.
NIPFP’s Professor Ila Patnaik said the consortium brings together many research institutions and experts and the knowledge it will generate will break new ground, and have a far-reaching impact. “I expect that the work we do as a whole will add up to more than the sum of the parts. And as the consortium grows, we will be growing India’s research capacity to deal with challenging land issues. Our own NCAER Land Policy Initiative will break new ground on gauging how the Indian states are doing on modernising their land records.” said Shekhar Shah, Director-General, NCAER.
Shamika Ravi, Director (Research) at Brookings India said well-defined and secure property rights are fundamental to the economic progress of a society. All participating institutions in the consortium will share their knowledge, as well as their networks and data sets, to enable more collaborative learning and research. Omidyar Network India makes equity investments in early stage enterprises and provide grants to non-profits in the areas of digital identity, education, emerging tech, financial inclusion, governance and citizen engagement, and property rights.