 We are delighted to have with us Hemant Bhatra, a global law and public policy expert and thought leader to share his scholarly views on some key public policy issues. Welcome Hemant, thanks for joining in. Hemant, how do you evaluate and determine the impact of any public policy? Well, Kathi, it's really a good question, rather I would say a fundamental question. Evaluation is the essence of any public policy to ascertain whether a specific policy has achieved a given set of objectives, goals or not. Now, evaluation leads to the determination of a policy's impact for the purposes of making decisions about the prospects and future and viability of the program or policy for the future purposes, whether it should be kept ongoing. Now, evaluation is done by methodical systematic and scientific methods, including research and surveys and investigations to determine how effective the implementation of public policy and its outcome has been. There are multiple ways by which one could do evaluation, depending on the nature of the public policy under evaluation, under scrutiny for its impact. Predominantly, there are three kinds of evaluation to gauge the impact of a public policy or its success. First is the administrative evaluation, where you evaluate the functioning of the administration which implements the said policy at the field level or at the level of target population for which that public policy is made. You examine here as to whether it is actually manageable or not in a practical sense by the executive arm of governance, how workable is it in terms of its execution process. The second is the result and effect evaluation. The result and effect evaluation, this is where one conducts surveys, interviews and research programs and do diligence exercises and also collects beg your pardon real time data to gather actual facts, figures and statistics of people who availed this policy or did not avail and the ones who availed how satisfied were they on a scale of let's say 1 to 10. Now, I am Cathy obviously explaining to you in simple words. Now, finally and quite significantly, the third evaluation is the budget and time evaluation. The cost and time factor, whether the implementation of policy led to cost efficiency and limiting the delays in terms of all the stakeholders, be it people as well as the government. Cathy. Hemant, what socio-economic policy is suitable for mitigation of poverty? Right. Well, Cathy, as per World Bank and IMF research reports, economic growth is the most significant factor influencing poverty. Now, several statistical studies have concluded that there is a strong association between national per capita income and national poverty indicators using both income and non-income measures of poverty. Now, I think any stable and sustainable macroeconomic policy will yield results of poverty alleviation and reduction. Now, I would say socio-economic policies such as efficient public investment in the country's health, education, civic infrastructure and other priority social service sectors are key to poverty curtailment. Also, popular measures as privatization, trade liberalization, banking and financial sector reforms, labor markets, the regulatory environment and the judicial system all are key in this segment. Hemant, how can one boost the effectiveness of environmental policy? Well, you know, not giving a very technical answer to your question and also, as you told me, the time is short for this session. I would say that effectiveness of environmental policy can be ensured by Troika or three tier system of governance. The first tier is bringing about wider educative awareness amongst all sections of the society about the implications of environmental policies, laws and regulations, which directly deal with environmental protection and preservation. The second tier of effectiveness could be by signifying, you know, the professional and scientific sustainable management of the environment, climate changes, natural resources and so on. And third tier, Kathy, according to me could be about the strict regulatory regime imposing harsh penalties in terms of physical and fiscal punishments upon the defaulters of environmental policies and laws. Hemant, is the public policy meant to reduce consumption in any segment, having short supply actually viable and implementable? Yes. Well, you know, public policy for the reduction of consumption is viable, you know, I feel when there is no other alternative, obviously. And when there is a realization amongst those affected by it, it sometimes does work as a double-edged weapon and at times as a deterrent or preventive means as well. For instance, you know, when you impose higher duties and taxes and rationing measures on the tobacco products, you know, like cigarettes, etc., it does lower sales and in a way reduces the consumption of tobacco health risk. But at the same time, it also causes dent to the revenue of the government and opens floodgates for black marketeers and mafia for, you know, smuggling these banned goods or if not banned, you know, the goods which are regulated and also, you know, getting some standard illegal production in the market. Thus, proper enforcement machinery has to be in place for such public policies. Now, however, on the other hand, if we have to work for the attainment of sustainable development goals, you know, we have no choice, absolutely no choice but to make these policies viable. You know, it is, I would say, eventually and essentially inevitable, you know, such public policies. Thank you so much, Hemant. Look forward to more such sessions. Bye.