Aiming to explore ideas and public policies, English daily The Hindu is setting up 'The Hindu Centre for Politics and Public Policy' in Chennai for promoting dialogue and debate and holding Track-II round tables on conflicts.

President Pranab Mukherjee will inaugurate the centre at a function here on January 31 through video conferencing from Rashtrapati Bhavan.

The centre will function as a credible and independent platform for exploration of ideas and public policies and will contribute to rebuilding of public faith in India's democratic process, a statement from the daily said.

"Public confidence in India's democratic institutions and political processes are at an all-time low and there is a rising danger of Indian public becoming alienated from the electoral process, angered by the failure of politicians to deliver on basic expectations," it said.

The Hindu Centre will be guided by an advisory board comprising eminent scholars and intellectuals.

Its board of management will comprise N Ram- former Editor-in-Chief and publisher of The Hindu, Frontline, Business Line and Sportstar and former Editor of The Hindu newspaper N Ravi and headed by Malini Parthasarathy as the director.

The advisory board of the centre will include Zoya Hasan, Dean of School of Social Sciences, JNU; Pratap Bhanu Mehta, President and CEO, Centre for Policy Research; Sunil Khilanani, director of King's India Institute, London and Martha Nussbaum, Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics University of Chicago.

Yogendra Yadav, Senior Fellow, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies; Navin Chawla, former Chief Election Commissioner of India; and Gurcharan Das, management expert, author and commentator on public affairs, will also be the advisory board members.

The centre will seek to establish stronger and credible roots for Parliamentary democracy, pluralism and economic betterment. It will also work towards increased understanding of various aspects of the challenges today.

It will also embark on the task of building research that will revisit key Constitutional concepts and examine validity of post-Independence set of political values to asses their relevance and utility in terms of crisis of confidence besetting the system today, the statement said.

"The centre's exploration will include the manner in which certain concepts like secularism and social justice have become such contentious items of political discourse. As a public resource, our goal is to enlighten Indian public and to increase their awareness on political and social choices," it said.

The centre will have a view distinct and independent of the editorial perspective of the Hindu Group of publications.

"We will function as a public policy resource and not a journalistic resource," said the statement.

The centre will conduct seminars, discussions, dialogues and debates on various issues concerning public policies and current political environment.