KOCHI: While graduating as a civil engineer from the Government Engineering College, Thrissur, Vineeta Hariharan was sure of one thing – she was not going to spend the rest of her life designing buildings or bridges. The young stalwart, hailing from the quaint village of Pullut in Kodungallur, had already decided that she was going to be a decision-maker. Twenty-five years later, Vineeta is now a globally renowned public policy expert, who has framed numerous national-level policies and led the implementation of several flagship programmes by the Government of India. Over the last decade, she has worked hand-in-hand with various multilateral and bilateral agencies and is deemed as one of the foremost public policy and programme implementation experts in the county.
Adding yet another feather in her cap, the Indian Achiever’s Forum has now conferred on Vineeta the coveted Woman of Excellence Award, in recognition of her ‘outstanding professional achievement and contribution to nation-building’. “I consider this as a validation of the many silent struggles that women need to overcome in their pursuit of excellence in a male-dominated society. I am truly humbled,” she says.
But what she truly finds gratifying is that she now has the ability to impact millions of deprived lives across the country. “The various national missions I have helped frame for the country – including the slum-free India, self-sustainable rural areas, and competitive Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) – has made me realise that I can actually make an impact,” she adds.
However, it would not have been possible without the switch she made from civil engineering to public policy. “Designing and developing infrastructure projects requires skill, but I knew I did not belong to that world. Instead, I decided to dive deep into the nuances of public policy development, which has made me what I am today.”
This ‘Woman of Excellence’ title has instilled a sense of renewed enthusiasm and energy in me to take this to the next level, she said. “That’s what I want to tell all the young girls out there. Tap your potential to the fullest, set achievable but the highest goals, believe in yourself, work very hard, and success will be yours. Also, never consider yourself less than any man. The world was born out of us and we shall create its destiny too.”
According to Vineeta, the role of public policy in keeping the world afloat is not to be underestimated. Case in point, the Covid-19 pandemic, which has taken the global health and civic systems completely by shock. “Covid revealed that healthcare systems around the world are fundamentally weak and that every country has significant gaps in policy when it comes to pandemic preparedness.”
Vineeta opines that three types of policy measures should be adopted to create a robust healthcare system – short, medium and long term. “Short term are reactive measures such as fiscal stimuli, which most countries including ours have taken.
In the medium run, there should be policies to redirect resources to activities that are feasible during a pandemic, such as reskilling and retraining MSMEs and MGNREGA workers to manufacture ventilators, masks, PPE kits, etc., reconfiguring supply chains to adapt to the distancing norms, redirecting investment to physical capital such as the construction of new hospitals, production of face-masks, etc. Finally, in the long run, the focus should be on strengthening health infrastructure, and research and development (R&D) facilities at multiple levels.”
She also suggests that all governments should consider a Ministry/Department for Pandemics, with separate budgets and staffing. The investment in R&D should be robust so as to be able to forecast a pandemic, just like the expertise we have developed in weather forecasts, she added.
Where the Kerala model went wrong
“It is true that Kerala has a strong healthcare system and policies that make these facilities accessible to all. But the state’s health infrastructure proved inadequate to withstand the influx of migrants from across the globe,” Vineeta said. This has proved that we need to design our healthcare system in such a way that it is always prepared for such large-scale contingencies, she said.
Sankassa Foundation
Grassroot-level deliberations, design, and delivery are vital to bringing about development in any local body, Vineeta said. “The recent lockdown was a period of great introspection and catharsis for me. It resulted in the registration of a social enterprise called ‘Sankassa Foundation’, which aims to attain this ‘holistic development’. I am attempting to connect the micro to the macro through this project. I intend to take up developmental challenges at the local body-level in Kerala through dialogues with ground-level functionaries and attempt to find policy solutions for the same at the state or national level. My focus will be on urban infrastructure, rural development and the economy,” she explained.