Launch of the South Asian Policy Innovation Forum (February 25, 2025)
On February 25, 2025, the Sundar Singh Institute of South Asian Studies officially launched the South Asian Policy Innovation Forum (SAPIF)—a first-of-its-kind project intended to generate interdisciplinary dialogue and collaborative research between academics, policymakers, public institutions, and civil society actors across South Asia. The SAPIF acted as a dialogue-driven forum to address critical governance concerns where social justice, sustainable development, and equitable economic transformation intersect.
Led by Dr. Rajiv K. Menon, scholar in South Asian political economy, and the Rt. Rev. Dr. Isaac S. Sato, engaged interfaith dialoguer and ethics-driven governance advocate, SAPIF attempted to reconcile the historical breach between academia’s contribution to theoretical policy generation divorced from implementation and governance realities. Their vision sealed SAPIF as a practically driven platform for both policy generation and theoretically driven policy imperatives.
The first session addressed an age-old, structurally embedded problem: economic inequality that has stalled the momentum of addressing equitable development far too long. Economists, sociologists, development practitioners, and experts in economic policy engaged in discourse not only to address the causes of inequality but also to expose new fiscal policies—many advocating for progressive taxation, redistributive justice via deliberate social investment, and fiscal decentralization with inclusive opportunities for all.
Dr. Menon’s keynote posited that South Asia must move away from conventional fiscal policies that prioritize market efficiency over redistributive equity. Drawing from his extensive research regarding taxation ideology, welfare economics, and macro-fiscal policy, Dr. Menon evaluated national budgets to expose options for change and suggested that the most effective long-term social stabilization and economic sustainability utilize universal public services—as most effective in education, health care, and rural/farm infrastructure—as guiding principles.
In agreement, Dr. Sato presented a bulwark against socio-economic sin—an ethical and theological perspective on inadequacies—rooting his analysis in human dignity and social ethical responsibility concerning equitable redistributive efforts. He implied that these efforts must be linked inextricably to transformational human efforts; without claiming inequality through the lenses of dehumanization—feminine issues, transnational identities, indigenous peoples, rural citizens—as they relate to determinable national public policy guidelines, the funds appropriated for redistribution mean nothing.
Throughout the day, small working groups and expert panels allowed attendees to assess pre-existing redistributive measures—direct benefit transfers, microfinance initiatives, conditional cash transfers—not only qualitatively but also quantitatively. The role of international policy covenants was challenged as attendees assessed the World Bank-IMF intersectionality and how foreign relationships advocated for measures that at times fettered fiscal sovereignty in South Asia.
SAPIF then concluded with long-term research opportunities as the forum officially partnered with universities and policy think tanks across the region to gain a regionally based empirical experience of social impact from progressive fiscal action to supplement the discourse.
The Forum also considered elements of the future. A holistic, evidence-based research agenda to be followed for the year with a central committee of researchers on structural inequality. A lobbying effort surrounding tax measures that cater to the socio-economic realities of South Asia. A greater public education effort stemming from future engagement. It was to be an annual SAPIF, and there would be a focus on the policy sector—policy for the environment, digital equity, human rights, and social safety nets.
Creating SAPIF was another giant leap for the Sundar Singh Institute. The ability to create a forum that combined epistemologies, disciplines, and representatives assured the Institute’s presence as a thought leader in ethically driven, research-based, and socially relevant policy for good governance innovations in South Asia.
