The Centre for Social and Economic Progress hosted a seminar titled “Policy Options for Urban Health and Education: Insights from Karnataka (2014–2024)” on Wednesday, June 25, 2025.

The seminar featured a presentation by Priyadarshini Singh, Fellow, CSEP based on the CSEP Working Paper titled Drivers of Primary Healthcare and Elementary Education Initiatives in Karnataka (2014–2024). The presentation was followed by a conversation with Sudha Chandrashekar, Advisor, HSTP and Senior Consultant, World Bank; Former Executive Director, NHA and Sanjay Kaul, Member, State Education Policy Commission, Karnataka; Former Secretary, School Education, Government of Karnataka. Laveesh Bhandari, President, CSEP gave the Opening Remarks. Closing Remarks were given by Sandhya Venkateswaran, Senior Fellow, CSEP.

About the event

The seminar discussed the CSEP Working Paper titled Drivers of Primary Healthcare and Elementary Education Initiatives in Karnataka (2014–2024) by Priyadarshini Singh, Research Fellow at CSEP. This paper is part of a three-state study that examines the drivers of state-level initiatives in primary healthcare and elementary education, focusing specifically on urban areas from 2014-2024.

The paper investigates three questions in the case of Karnataka – a) What have been the key initiatives that focus on the overall primary health and elementary education system? b) What kinds of ground-level issues in the working of UPHCs (Urban Primary Health Centres) and schools do they focus on? c) What drove the emergence of these initiatives? The study is based on extensive fieldwork in two urban municipal corporations – one each in North and South Karnataka. The study highlights that to provide government funded primary health and elementary education to all in Karnataka, and not just the poorest, Karnataka needs to widen the range of state-level initiatives and the stakeholders who are driving them. To this end, the paper makes recommendations and additional pathways from which new state-level initiatives can emerge.

The event brought together an esteemed panel with deep expertise in Karnataka’s health and educational systems to discuss the implications of these findings for improving urban public services in health and education in Karnataka and beyond.

Presenter

Priyadarshini Singh

Priyadarshini Singh is a Fellow with the Human Development research program at CSEP. Her research work focuses on political economy of policymaking with a focus on education, history of public institutions and grassroots political ideas and politics. At CSEP, she is leading a three-state study on the “Drivers of state-level initiatives for primary healthcare and urban elementary education (2014-2024)”. Her recent publication is ‘Ideas, Policies and Practices: Tracing the evolution of elementary education reform from 1975’ (2023 PE05- RISE program at University of Pennsylvania). Priyadarshini is currently a member of the Karnataka State Education Policy Commission (2024 onwards). She completed a PhD at the Department of Politics and International Relations at SOAS, University of London as a Felix Scholar.

Discussants

Sudha Chandrashekar

Sudha Chandrashekar is a public health expert with over 25 years of experience in health systems, financing, and policy implementation at national and international levels. She is the former Executive Director, Health Policy and Hospital Engagement, National Health Authority, Ministry of Health, Government of India. She was also the Director, Medical, Suvarna Arogya Suraksha Trust, Department of Health and Family Welfare, Government of Karnataka. She currently works as an Advisor for the Health System Transformation Platform and is a Senior Consultant for World Bank India and Ghana.

Dr Chandrashekar has deep experience in primary health care and has advised the Government of Karnataka and various states like Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Meghalaya, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala on Universal Health Coverage with a special focus on Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana and its linkages with the Health and Wellness Centers (HWCs). Dr Chandrashekar has received the Global Health Leadership Award from IDRC and completed her PhD in Health Economics from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Sanjay Kaul

Sanjay Kaul is a former IAS officer (1979-2007), corporate leader (2008-21), development policy analyst and author. During his long tenure as a civil servant, Kaul worked in leadership positions across sectors – education, development, health, nutrition, child development, food & agriculture, and industry, including as Commissioner of Schools and Secretary of School Education, Karnataka. He is currently a Member of the State Education Policy Commission, Government of Karnataka, and has served as Chairman of the Government of India Task Force on Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE). He also serves as a member of the Managing Committee of several schools managed by the Delhi Public School Society. He also serves as a trustee at Karnataka Health Promotion Trust (KHPT), a health nonprofit, and at the WFP Trust of India. He has published extensively on food and nutrition, education, health, and poverty-related issues and made presentations at national and international seminars. His book “An Alternative Development Agenda for India”, has been published by Routledge. Kaul’s present interests are in the areas of education, health, nutrition, and livelihoods.

Opening Remarks

Laveesh Bhandari

Laveesh Bhandari is President and a Senior Fellow at CSEP.  Dr Bhandari has published widely on subjects related to sustainable livelihoods, industrial, economic, and social reforms in India, economic geography, and financial inclusion. He received his PhD in economics from Boston University for which he was awarded the Best Thesis in International Economics. He has taught economics at Boston University and IIT Delhi. Apart from applied economics research, Dr Bhandari has built, seeded, and exited from three companies in the research, analytics, and digital domains, including Indicus Analytics, a leading economic research firm. Currently, he is conducting research on issues of inclusion, India’s energy transition, and how it will impact the government as well as the economy.

Closing Remarks

Sandhya Venkateswaran

Sandhya Venkateswaran is a Senior Fellow at CSEP and leads the Human Development work at CSEP, with a specific focus on Health Policy.  Spanning a career over three decades, she has worked on a wide range of issues in the social sector spanning health, nutrition, gender, natural resources, urban development and others, and has authored books, multiple articles and other publications on varied social sector issues.  Over the last 15 years her focus has been on policy issues, developing and leading the policy and advocacy portfolio in organisations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition and CARE. She has worked with grassroots campaigns and civil society organisations, as well as with government and international organisations. She is currently a member of the Lancet Citizens Commission on Reimagining India’s Health System.

All content reflects the individual views of the speakers. The Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP) does not hold an institutional view on any subject.

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