Welcome back to The Policy Post. It’s Another Beautiful Friday and last week we officially crossed over into the final one-thirds of 2020’s 🤯

With that, onto this week’s edition :D

We are trying to understand better a few interesting subjects:

• Legal Metrology (Indian Standard Time) Rules, 2026 - what are these and why?

• India’s 5-year window for reform - what exactly does it mean and how?

• Unemployment doesn’t affect health in Denmark - really?

As always, we wrap up with a curated list of career opportunities and policy updates.

If you want regular access to similar updates and opportunities in your city and local policy ecosystem, you can join our City Chapters: here!

Reading time: 4 minutes. Let’s get into it!

🗞️What’s In The News This Week?

What?: The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution notified the Legal Metrology (Indian Standard Time) Rules, 2026, making Indian Standard Time (IST) the single official time reference across official, commercial, and legal operations.

How?: Stakeholders, including telecom operators, financial exchanges, power grids, and tech companies, have been given a 180-day transition window to synchronize their digital systems and hardware clocks with IST.

Why?: Using Indian timing systems, including atomic clocks and NavIC, will reduce India’s dependence on foreign satellite-based time sources for critical infrastructure. This can help reduce potential national security risks to critical digital infrastructure. However, smaller enterprises and regional banks will face compliance costs upgrading legacy server hardware.

What next?: This has reignited the long-standing debate on whether Northeast India needs a separate time zone.

⁉️PPI’s Policy or Parody?

💬Policy Charcha - one thing to learn this week

The world is distracted, India can now build its strength in peace.

This video discusses how India should refocus within and why this is the right time!

👀What caught our eye

Studies examining the impact of job loss on health in Austria, the USA and elsewhere have found that unemployment is associated with higher mortality rates and negative effects on mental health and children’s health.

Unemployed people in Denmark did not experience these health effects.

What did Denmark do differently?

In Denmark, unemployment insurance replaces 90% of lost wages, with a cap, which was roughly equivalent to US$628 per week. Unemployed people can receive these transfers for up to four years. They also have access to job search assistance, training programmes and other active labour market policies. This support is complemented by universal health insurance.

Read more!

⚡The Catalyst Corner

In Partnership With Swasti, The Health Catalyst
Small farmers often struggle with financial barriers that limit their ability to invest in their farms. These barriers include a lack of collateral, limited credit history, and complex banking processes.

Small farmers require working-capital loans, infrastructure financing and revolving credit lines to achieve productivity. For this growth to be sustainable, financial literacy, financial planning and insurance solutions are essential.

V-Life has supported 11,000+ families through different forms of financial assistance.

Read how here!!

💼Careers Corner: 100s of opportunities across the policy and impact space every week!

A curated list of some of the best jobs and internship opportunities this week from the world of public policy, the development sector, impact consulting and communications at large.

📩 Best bit - if you know of a job/internship opening that’s not listed here, kindly just add that as a comment on the sheet: giving 20,000+ people immediate access to it!

Jobs/Internships Master Database

⁉️Policy or Parody?

Do you think every law should be debated after a certain time-period? Tell us in the comments below!

🌷PPI Referral Program: Help us grow our community

Thank you for taking the time to read The Policy Post this week. If you find what we do at PPI to be of value, please spread the word.

The Policy Post delivers new career opportunities, interesting policy ideas, and useful policy giveaways every Friday!
Know a friend who might find this useful?

Refer the newsletter to them and earn fun rewards!!

• 5 successful referrals - get access to the Policy Organisations database that lists over 1,300 organisations working in different policy domains across India!

• 10 successful referrals - have a 30-minute policy and careers chat with Yash Agarwal (Founder, PPI and STRIDE)!

Refer a friend

Make sure to use the above link while referring for automatic rewards upon referrals! :D

See you next week!

Over the last six years, one question has shown up in our inboxes, community groups, events and conversations more than any other:

“How do I get started in public policy?”

The answer has never been straightforward. Opportunities are scattered, resources are often hidden behind the right networks, and for many people, the policy ecosystem can feel far more inaccessible than it actually is.

So we’ve put together the resources we wish every aspiring policy professional knew about on Day One. Whether you’re exploring policy for the first time, considering a career transition, preparing for higher studies, looking for organisations in your state, or simply trying to understand where you fit into this ecosystem, everything below is designed to make that journey a little easier.

Let’s dive in ;))))

🏛️Start Here

One of the biggest misconceptions about public policy is that it’s a single career path. In reality, people enter and contribute to the sector in very different ways, depending on their interests, skills and motivations. That’s exactly why we built:

Policy Career Navigator, a free tool that helps you explore possible pathways and understand where your interests might align within the policy ecosystem.

Explore here!!!!!!!

🚀The Resource We’d Recommend to Almost Everyone

For years, many people, including members of our own community, assumed that meaningful policy opportunities existed only in a handful of cities.

Building our State-wise Directory of Policy Organisations challenged that assumption completely. From grassroots organisations and research institutions to advocacy groups and implementation-focused organisations, incredible work is happening across the country.

If you’re trying to discover organisations near you, understand regional policy ecosystems, or simply expand your understanding of the sector, this is one of the most useful places to start ;p

Explore the Directory

💼Looking for Courses, Fellowships, Policy Schools or Organisations?

Over the years, we’ve built and curated FREE databases covering fellowships, policy schools and programmes, learning resources, podcasts, organisations working across sectors, and regional directories from across India for our community.

Instead of spending hours searching through dozens of websites, you can begin with a single repository built specifically for people interested in public policy ;))))

Explore All the Databases!!

🗳️Learn from Practitioners

Some of the most useful insights about policy don’t come from textbooks; they come from listening to people doing the work.

Through Policy Panchayats, we’ve hosted conversations with policymakers, researchers, founders, bureaucrats and practitioners working across sectors.

An attempt at answering some of the most common questions about public policy and building careers in this space!!!!!!

📅Read, Explore, Understand

Public policy is ultimately about people, places and systems. If you’d like to go deeper, explore The Many Indias, a collection of stories and perspectives from across the country, or browse our collection of research reports and e-books covering governance, policy and public affairs.

Explore Many Indias Here!

We've also researched and curated a library of free e-books, policy resources and reports, including the first edition of the State of Policy India Report, to help you better understand the ideas, institutions and trends shaping the sector.

Review the Resources Here:))

Find Your Community

Careers are built through opportunities, but they’re sustained through communities.

Over the years, thousands of students, professionals, researchers and practitioners have joined PPI City Chapters to discover opportunities, exchange ideas and meet others navigating similar journeys. If you’re looking to stay connected to the ecosystem, this is one of the easiest ways to begin.

Join Your City Chapter!!!

You can also explore initiatives such as Policy Circles, Showcase, Spotlight, Pathfinders, and PPI Executive, all designed to help members of the community learn, connect and grow in different ways.

💼Looking For Jobs, Fellowships & Internships?

A curated list of some of the best jobs and internship opportunities this week from the world of public policy, the development sector, impact consulting and communications at large.

📩 Best bit - if you know of a job/internship opening that’s not listed here, kindly just add that as a comment on the sheet: giving 20,000+ people immediate access to it!

Jobs/Internships Master Database

💜Before You Go

If this edition resonates with you, send it to one person who is curious about public policy. Someone looking for their first opportunity. Someone considering a career transition.

Share

Someone who keeps saying, “I’d love to work in policy, but I don’t know where to start.”

There’s a good chance they’ll find something useful here :)))))

See you next Friday.

Team Public Policy India💜

Six years. 150,000+ people. 40+ city chapters across India’s 25+ largest cities. A community that’s 55.6% women and 80% under 30. One special edition capturing what this community has built together.

Public Policy India recently completed six years (!!!), and over the last few weeks, we’ve found ourselves reflecting on what that journey has made possible. On 14 August, at the India International Centre, New Delhi, we launched the State of Policy in India Report 2026 and STRIDE, our new research and consulting vertical. Both emerged from something that has always been at the heart of PPI: the belief that communities don’t just consume knowledge, they create it.

In this edition, we’re sharing the report with everyone, highlighting an opportunity to contribute to the National Youth Policy 2026, and, as always, bringing together useful resources, opportunities and events from across the policy ecosystem :)))))

Let’s dive in.

🏛️The Report Written By This Community

Over the last few months, 413 members of the PPI community participated in an extensive survey exploring some of the most important questions shaping India’s future, from education and public health to technology, sustainability, governance and youth participation.

Alongside that, more than 18,000 responses across our community polls helped us understand not just what people think, but where opinions converge, where they differ and where the biggest questions still remain.

Together, those insights became the State of Policy in India Report 2026. So today, we’re opening it up to the community that made it possible.

👉 Read the State of Policy in India Report 2026

The State Of Policy In India Report 2026

12.5MB ∙ PDF file

Download

Download

🚀Introducing STRIDE

One thing we’ve learned over the last six years is that communities generate incredible ideas.

The harder part is making sure those ideas don’t end when the conversation does.

Every chapter discussion, survey response, webinar question and community conversation carries insights that deserve a life beyond a single event or WhatsApp thread.

That’s why we’ve launched STRIDE — the Strategic Research and Impact Development Enterprise.

STRIDE is PPI’s research and consulting arm, built to transform community insights into research, research into action and action into impact.

The State of Policy in India Report 2026 is the first major piece of work to emerge from STRIDE. It won’t be the last :)))

🗳️Help Shape National Youth Policy 2026

The Government of India is currently inviting public inputs for the National Youth Policy 2026.

Whether you care about education, employability, entrepreneurship, mental health, leadership, civic participation or the future of young people in India, this is an opportunity to contribute directly to a national policy framework.

Learn More!!!!

📅Looking For Policy Events?

Finding good policy events shouldn’t feel harder than attending them.

To make things easier, we’ve put together a Public Policy Events Tracker that brings together conferences, consultations, workshops, dialogues and ecosystem events from across the country.

If you’re looking to learn, network or simply stay plugged into what’s happening across the policy landscape, this is a good place to start.

Access the Tracker Here!!!

💼Looking For Jobs, Fellowships & Internships?

A curated list of some of the best jobs and internship opportunities this week from the world of public policy, the development sector, impact consulting and communications at large.

📩 Best bit - if you know of a job/internship opening that’s not listed here, kindly just add that as a comment on the sheet: giving 20,000+ people immediate access to it!

Jobs/Internships Master Database

💜Before You Go

One of the things we’ve always loved about this community is that people rarely wait to be asked.

They share opportunities before someone requests them. They make introductions. They answer questions. They help complete strangers navigate careers they themselves were once trying to figure out.

The report, STRIDE and every resource we’ve shared in this edition exist because people chose to participate.

So thank you for reading, contributing and building alongside us over the last six years.

And if you’d like more regular access to events, discussions and opportunities in your local policy ecosystem, consider joining your nearest PPI City Chapter.

Join Your City Chapter!!!

See you next Friday.

Team Public Policy India💜

The Policy Post this week brings to you

• Rwanda’s use of drones to bypass mountains and roads for blood delivery

• The structural crisis facing the Indian middle class

• Building businesses: how to build and how to verify growth

As always, we wrap up with a curated list of opportunities.

If you want regular access to similar updates and opportunities in your city and local policy ecosystem, you can join our City Chapters: here!

Reading time: 3 minutes. Let’s get into it!

⁉️PPI’s Policy or Parody?

💬Policy Charcha - one thing to learn this week

The middle class is the fastest-growing major segment of the Indian population in both percentage and absolute terms, rising at 6.3% per year. It now represents 31% of the population and is expected to be 60% in 2047.

This video discusses the structural crisis the Indian middle class faces. It examines collapsing job prospects, falling real wages, and the shift from corporate careers towards entrepreneurial thinking in India today.

👀What caught our eye

Rwanda tripled its blood donation rates between 2000 and 2018 using drones.

One of the country’s major challenges in providing blood to those in need, especially in rural and remote areas, is the country’s terrain - including impassable mountains and damaged roads.

Rwanda uses a drone technology called ‘Zipline’ which cuts blood delivery times down from four hours to just 15 minutes in some cases. It avoided the cost of stable road networks and electrical grids by leapfrogging to drone deliveries.

Read more here!

⚡The Catalyst Corner

In Partnership With Swasti, The Health Catalyst

How do we know a business is thriving?

Increased turnover, reduced costs, improved supply chains, and secure livelihoods for the workers.

What are some ways an organisation can help a business thrive?

By providing

• Marketing assistance: Onboarding support to small and large businesses on major B2B and B2C e-commerce platforms to amplify profits.

• Financing Services: Easy access to unsecured term loans for small and large businesses.

• Digital services: Providing automation software to help increase productivity and reduce the cost of doing business.

These are a few strategies used by the Business Catalyst program to assist 500+ factories, 5000+ women-owned businesses, and 50,000+ MSMEs.

Read how Business Catalyst works!

💼Careers Corner: 100s of opportunities across the policy and impact space every week!

A curated list of some of the best jobs and internship opportunities this week from the world of public policy, the development sector, impact consulting and communications at large.

📩 Best bit - if you know of a job/internship opening that’s not listed here, kindly just add that as a comment on the sheet: giving 20,000+ people immediate access to it!

Jobs/Internships Master Database

⁉️Policy or Parody?

🌷PPI Referral Program: Help us grow our community

Thank you for taking the time to read The Policy Post this week. If you find what we do at PPI to be of value, please spread the word.

The Policy Post delivers new career opportunities, interesting policy ideas, and useful policy giveaways every Friday!
Know a friend who might find this useful?

Refer the newsletter to them and earn fun rewards!

• 5 successful referrals - get access to the Policy Organisations database that lists over 650 organisations working in different policy domains across India!

• 10 successful referrals - have a 30-minute policy and careers chat with Yash Agarwal (Founder, PPI and STRIDE)!

Refer a friend

Make sure to use the above link while referring for automatic rewards upon referrals! :D

See you next week!

The Policy Post this week brings to you

• Scholarship Giveaway for MA in Public Policy and E-Governance program at RV University: up to 50% scholarship

• Generating employment through repurposing and recycling plastic

• DPI from a socio-technical lens

• New Zealand’s wellbeing budget

As always, we wrap up with a curated list of opportunities.

If you want regular access to similar updates and opportunities in your city and local policy ecosystem, you can join our City Chapters: here!

Reading time: 3 minutes. Let’s get into it!

⁉️PPI’s Policy or Parody?

💬Policy Charcha - one thing to learn this week

Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) is often positioned as puzzle pieces that seamlessly slot into existing infrastructure in the Global South. It is not.

This essay discusses how to frame DPI in a way that keeps social and political questions front and centre, instead of treating them as afterthoughts to implementation.

Read the full article here!

🎓 Scholarship giveaway: up to 50% of tuition fee

In partnership with RV University.

The MA in Public Policy and E-Governance program at RV University is:

🟣 Open to graduates from all academic and professional backgrounds

🟣 Two years

🟣 Has interdisciplinary curriculum (digital innovation, sustainability, development, and public policy) backed by hands-on fieldwork exposure

🟣 The UPSC Advantage: The school supports civil services aspirants, offering collaborations with leading coaching institutes to assist in preparation.

🟣 It expands students’ reach through international collaborations and exchange programs.

Apply now!!

📌 If you apply via PPI, be sure to mention us as your reference to be considered for the waiver.

👀What caught our eye

New Zealand’s Wellbeing Budget

The Wellbeing Budget is founded on the idea that financial prosperity alone is not a sufficient measure of the quality of a nation’s life.

New Zealand, hence, prepared a budget for five priority areas:

Taking mental health seriously, improving child wellbeing, supporting Māori and Pasifika aspirations, building a productive nation, and transforming the economy.

⚡The Catalyst Corner

In Partnership With Swasti, The Health Catalyst

Plastic pollution is a serious problem. So is unemployment.

Noble Plastics works on solving both. It creates jobs and sustainable livelihoods, by employing local communities to reduce plastic use, plant trees, and repurpose and recycle plastic.

Doing so, it has generated over INR 90 lakh in wages for marginalised groups, planted 20,500 trees, and kept away 600+ tonnes of plastic from landfills and waterways.

Read on Noble Plastics!

💼Careers Corner: 100s of opportunities across the policy and impact space every week!

A curated list of some of the best jobs and internship opportunities this week from the world of public policy, the development sector, impact consulting and communications at large.

📩 Best bit - if you know of a job/internship opening that’s not listed here, kindly just add that as a comment on the sheet: giving 20,000+ people immediate access to it!

Jobs/Internships Master Database

⁉️Policy or Parody?

🌷PPI Referral Program: Help us grow our community

Thank you for taking the time to read The Policy Post this week. If you find what we do at PPI to be of value, please spread the word.

The Policy Post delivers new career opportunities, interesting policy ideas, and useful policy giveaways every Friday!
Know a friend who might find this useful?

Refer the newsletter to them and earn fun rewards!!

• 5 successful referrals - get access to the Policy Organisations database that lists over 650 organisations working in different policy domains across India!

• 10 successful referrals - have a 30 minute policy and careers chat with Yash Agarwal (Founder, PPI and STRIDE)!

Refer a friend

Make sure to use the above link while referring for automatic rewards upon referrals! :D

See you next week!

The Policy Post this week brings to you

• Scholarship Giveaway for MA in Public Policy and E-Governance program at RV University: up to 50% scholarship

• Finland’s ‘Housing First’ Policy

• Fair compensation for farmers - an alternative to FPCs

• Why India is betting big on nuclear when countries like Germany are shutting theirs down?

As always, we wrap up with a curated list of opportunities.

If you want regular access to similar updates and opportunities in your city and local policy ecosystem, you can join our City Chapters: here!

Reading time: 4 minutes. Let’s get into it!

⁉️PPI’s Policy or Parody?

💬Policy Charcha - one thing to learn this week

India's Union Budget 2025 announced a ₹20,000 crore Nuclear Energy Mission with a target of 100 GW by 2047. That's 12x where we are today.

This video discusses why India is betting big on nuclear when countries like Germany are shutting theirs down.

🎓Scholarship giveaway: up to 50% of tuition fee

In partnership with RV University.

The MA in Public Policy and E-Governance program at RV University is:

🟣 Open to Graduates from all academic and professional backgrounds

🟣 Two years

🟣 Has interdisciplinary curriculum (digital innovation, sustainability, development, and public policy) backed by hands-on fieldwork exposure

🟣 The UPSC Advantage: The school supports civil services aspirants, offering collaborations with leading coaching institutes to assist in preparation.

🟣 It expands students’ reach through international collaborations and exchange programs.

Apply now!!

📌 If you apply via PPI, be sure to mention us as your reference to be considered for the scholarship.

👀What caught our eye

Finland’s ‘Housing First’ Policy!

Unlike traditional homelessness models that many countries use - which often require people to address their problems with substance abuse or mental illness before being assigned housing - stable housing comes first in Finland's initiative. Once participants in the program have a place to stay, they receive other support services to help them deal with substance abuse or other challenges.

By providing shelter without preconditions, Finland reduced homelessness by 76% from 2008 to 2017.

Read more here!

⚡The Catalyst Corner

In Partnership With Swasti, The Health Catalyst

With confidence in Farmer Producer Companies decreasing, smallholder farmers often find themselves indebted to traders and are compelled to sell their produce at unfavourable margins.

Catalyst Livelihood Ventures (CLV) Farm is an agri-marketing initiative that works with smallholder farmers to improve produce quality and procure their commodities, facilitated by the FPC. CLV sells these commodities to large buyers and brands at a premium generated through value-added activities, ensuring the farmers receive fair compensation for their risk and effort.

Read more on CLV here!

💼Careers Corner: 30+ new listings this week

A curated list of some of the best jobs and internship opportunities this week from the world of public policy, the development sector, impact consulting and communications at large.

📩 Best bit - if you know of a job/internship opening that’s not listed here, kindly just add that as a comment on the sheet: giving 20,000+ people immediate access to it!

Jobs/Internships Master Database

⁉️Policy or Parody?

🌷PPI Referral Program: Help us grow our community

Thank you for taking the time to the read The Policy Post this week. If you find what we do at PPI to be of value, please spread the word.

The Policy Post delivers new career opportunities, interesting policy ideas, and useful policy giveaways every Friday!
Know a friend who might find this useful?

Refer the newsletter to them and earn fun rewards!!

• 5 successful referrals - get access to the Policy Organisations database that lists over 650 organisations working in different policy domains across India!

• 10 successful referrals - have a 30 minute policy and careers chat with Yash Agarwal (Founder, PPI and STRIDE)!

Refer a friend

Make sure to use the above link while referring for automatic rewards upon referrals! :D

See you next week!

The Policy Post this week brings to you

• Reimagining City Budgets Through Citizen Participation

• State Of Policy In India, 2026 Report

• Crows used to pick up litter - a cost-cutting drive

As always, we wrap up with a curated list of opportunities.

If you want regular access to similar updates and opportunities in your city and local policy ecosystem, you can join our City Chapters: here!

Reading time: 3 minutes. Let’s get into it!

⁉️PPI’s Policy or Parody?

💬Policy Charcha - one thing to learn this week

Municipal budgets, collectively handle between ₹1.5 and ₹1.8 lakh crore annually.

This essay discusses how municipal budgets are perhaps the most neglected documents in Indian democracy.

Read on participatory budget here!

👀What caught our eye

We can teach crows to pick up cigarette butts but we can’t teach people not to throw them on the ground.

New Caledonian crows, a member of the corvid family of birds, are as good at reasoning as a human seven-year-old. The Corvid Cleaning Company has now recruited these crows to pick up discarded cigarette butts from the streets and squares of a Swedish city as part of a cost-cutting drive.

🏙️State Of Policy In India, 2026 Report

What does it actually take to build a career in Indian policy right now? Nobody’s put that on record yet.

We’re building the first honest record of what it’s actually like to work in Indian policy, the entry points nobody warns you about, the pay nobody talks about, why you’re still here or thinking about leaving.

Your answers become ‘State of Policy in India’ 2026, STRIDE’s first flagship report.

10 minutes. Fully anonymous. Due July 25, 2026.

Everyone who responds gets a curated, exclusive list of career opportunities and resources from PPI, sent to your inbox.

Beyond that:

🟣 10 respondents get 1 on 1 chat on all things policy and careers with our Founder, Yash Agarwal

🟣 3 respondents get invited to the launch event with travel/stay covered by PPI

🟣 The most insightful respondent gets invited to join PPI for a paid, remote, fixed term fellowship role

🟣 PPI merch for some of the best respondents

And so much more!!!

Take the survey here!

⚡The Catalyst Corner

In Partnership With Swasti, The Health Catalyst

Unless we address how the health system is experienced, a life of well-being may remain a distant dream for the marginalised. This is the foundational understanding behind Swasti’s flagship program, Invest4Wellness (i4We), as well as, their incubation of the CPHC Alliance.

i4We is a system innovation in primary healthcare. It combines health and wealth interventions, and focuses on well-being for the poor and marginalised communities. It is intentionally designed to be affordable, quality-assured, and scalable.

It is currently delivered in four settings: urban, rural, factories, and sex workers’ collectives, and is adapted to each of these contexts.

Read more on Primary Health here!

💼Careers Corner: 50+ new listings this week

A curated list of some of the best jobs and internship opportunities this week from the world of public policy, the development sector, impact consulting and communications at large.

📩 Best bit - if you know of a job/internship opening that’s not listed here, kindly just add that as a comment on the sheet: giving 20,000+ people immediate access to it!

Jobs/Internships Master Database

⁉️Policy or Parody?

Thank you for taking the time to the read The Policy Post this week. If you find what we do at PPI to be of value, please spread the word.

You can also check out our City Chapters: here where we share career opportunities, events happening, and other policy-related information.

See you next week with more opportunities! :)

The Policy Post this week brings to you

• Musical stairs in Kochi metro

• Homicide trends in India

• Founder Hours - ask your questions to Yash

• Assisting smallholder farmers

As always, we wrap up with a curated list of opportunities.

Reading time: 2 minutes. Let’s get into it!

⁉️PPI’s Policy or Parody?

🏙️Founder Hours

Do you have a policy question but don’t know who to ask?

Yash Agarwal, the founder of Public Policy India, is an educator, community builder, and a professional in tech-policy. With 8+ years of experience across Parliament, Twitter India and South Asia, consulting, and ICANN, Yash has extensive experience in different areas of the policy space.

And you can ask him all your policy-related questions!

We are hosting Founder Hours on the 3rd Friday of every month from 5.30pm to 7pm on YouTube live.

Follow the steps to chat with Yash:

🟣 Watch this YouTube video that answers FAQs on the policy space:

🟣Fill this form with your questions: click here

🟣Join the YouTube live on the 3rd Friday at 5.30pm

Ask your questions now!

👀What caught our eye

Musical stairs at Kochi Metro Station

How can stairs be more fun? Add music to it!

Kochi Metro Rail Ltd, in its effort to attract footfalls and promote its motto “Health with enjoyment”, did just that!

It added laser beam lights and music to the stairs to make it into a functional, large-scale keyboard.

Read more about the musical stairs here!

💬Policy Charcha - one thing to learn this week

The number of female victims of murder has remained virtually unchanged over the last 25 years, even as the number of male victims of murder fell by over 30% over the same time period.

This essay discusses trends in homicides in India.

Read the article here!

⚡The Catalyst Corner

In Partnership With Swasti, The Health Catalyst

Smallholder farmers often lack integrated services, have limited access to diversified income opportunities, and operate without the institutional support needed to reduce risks. 3Fold addresses these gaps by creating a sustainable ecosystem at the cluster level that provides integrated solutions, diversified livelihood options and strong market and institutional linkages.

How Vrutti Impact Catalysts Covers 42,500 Farming Families?

3Fold starts with each farmer developing a personal growth plan and a business plan for farm, allied and non-farm enterprises. Based on this plan, farmers receive advisory support, mentoring, capacity building and access to the integrated 6C Services.

Read more about Vrutti's work here!

💼Careers Corner: 30+ new openings this week!

A curated list of some of the best jobs and internship opportunities this week from the world of public policy, the development sector, impact consulting and communications at large.

📩 Best bit - if you know of a job/internship opening that’s not listed here, kindly just add that as a comment on the sheet: giving 20,000+ people immediate access to it!

Jobs/Internships Master Database

⁉️Policy or Parody?

The Policy Post this week brings to you

• A survey for you to contribute to the State of Policy in India, 2026 Report

• Sameer Shetty and Neelkanth Mishra’s discussion on Indian economy

• How communities can be developed by investing on women

• YLAC Policy Collective - Applications open now

As always, we wrap up with a curated list of opportunities.

Let’s get into it!

🏙️PPI’s State of Policy in India, 2026 Report

What does it actually take to build a career in Indian policy right now? Nobody’s put that on record yet.

We’re building the first honest record of what it’s actually like to work in Indian policy, the entry points nobody warns you about, the pay nobody talks about, why you’re still here or thinking about leaving.

Your answers become State of Policy in India 2026, STRIDE’s first flagship report.

10 minutes. Fully anonymous. Due July 15, 2026.

Everyone who responds gets a curated list of free tools from PPI, sent to your inbox.

Beyond that:

🟣 10 respondents get 1 on 1 chat on all things policy and careers with our Founder, Yash Agarwal

🟣 3 respondents get invited to the launch event with travel/stay covered by PPI

🟣 The most insightful respondent gets invited to join PPI for a paid, remote, fixed term fellowship role

🟣 PPI merch for some of the best respondents

And so much more!!!

Take the survey here!

📍 Keep an eye on your chapter’s WhatsApp group for all updates

Not in a chapter yet? Find and join your city chapter here →

🎥 Video of the Week

India remains among the fastest-growing major economies in the world, with its growth projected at 6.6% in FY27.

In this video, Sameer Shetty speaks with Neelkanth Mishra to explore the evolving state of India’s economy and what lies ahead. Together, they examine what slowed growth in 2025 and why those headwinds are now easing.

📈What Does 25 Years of Community-Led Development Look Like?

For 25 years, Cohesion Foundation Trust has worked with a simple belief: when you invest in women, entire communities thrive.

As it marked its silver jubilee this June, the organisation reflected on stories of resilience, leadership, and locally led change - from women farmers and community leaders to stronger Anganwadi systems built in partnership with HCL Foundation.

Looking ahead, Cohesion has set an ambitious vision for 2030:

• building climate-resilient communities,

• strengthening women’s leadership,

• improving youth wellbeing,

• influencing policy, and

• reaching one million lives through community-owned development.

  

  Read more on Cohesion's work here!

🎓 YLAC Policy Collective - Apply now!

What if your campus became one of the most vibrant spaces in India for debate, dialogue, and democratic leadership?

That’s what the YLAC Policy Collective is building. And YLAC wants you to lead it.

Last year, in their pilot, YLAC had 16 chapters, across 4 cities with 400+ members, and engaged 3,500+ students.

These students reached out to Members of Parliament, ran debates and policy discussions, led research projects, and turned their campuses into real spaces for civic engagement.

This year, YLAC is going national and are on the look out for the next generation of founders.

Eligibility: Any UG/PG student in India, with 9+ months left before graduation. No prior policy experience needed. (Applying with a founding team of 3–6 strengthens your shot, but solo applications are welcome too!)

Apply by: 2nd August 2026

Decisions by: 21st August 2026

Apply now!

Will your campus be next?

🏙️Want to become a leader in the policy ecosystem from your home city?

Public Policy India has built 40+ chapters across India’s 25 largest cities. And if you’re an individual enthusiastic about policy and impact, you have the opportunity to build the policy ecosystem in your city, emerging as a leader!

PPI is looking for City Policy Chapter Leaders. We are looking for persons who would commit a couple of hours every week to build our policy community.

Being a CPCL gives you the opportunity to build a community in your city, build your communication and leadership skills, and emerge as a leader recognised in the policy ecosystem of your region and across India.

Apply now!

Deadline: 12th July, 2026.

🔎 Databases and Guides:

Discover your ultimate career resource sheets for everything related to public policy! Our comprehensive mega-lists include 150+ hiring organisations, 200+ scholarships, and 150+ courses, podcasts and a lot more. Dive in and unlock your next big opportunity!

100s of resources

🌍Climate + Health Corner

In Partnership With Swasti, The Health Catalyst

Enhanced flash flood Risks in Hindu Kush Himalaya due to erratic monsoon and high temperatures: ICIMOD

The communities in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region could face enhanced risks from flash floods due to bursts of extreme rainfall and cloudbursts during the southwest monsoon season along with high temperatures which could lead to accelerated glacier and snow melting, according to scientists from the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD).

Read the full article here!

💼Careers Corner

A curated list of some of the best jobs and internship opportunities this week from the world of public policy, the development sector, impact consulting and communications at large.

📩 Best bit - if you know of a job/internship opening that’s not listed here, kindly just add that as a comment on the sheet: giving 20,000+ people immediate access to it!

Jobs/Internships Master Database

The Policy Post this week brings to you

• What Can a Glass of Milk Teach You About Policy?

• How Volkswagen made a lottery out of speeding tickets

• What plastic is doing to the ocean

As always, we wrap up with a curated list of opportunities.

Let’s get into it!

⁉️The PPI Policy Question: Policy or Parody?

A government is developing new offices in the middle of the jungle for digital nomads who are tired of sitting back at home.

Is this a real policy or a total parody?

👉 Answer at the bottom of the newsletter.

👀What caught our eye

The Speed Camera Lottery

Volkswagen conducted an experiment that saw the average speed drop from 32kmph before the experiment to 25 kmph during the experiment.

If you are someone who enjoys an innovative take on daily civic issues, this video is for you!

📝Policymaking Challenge By India House:

A glass of milk is never just a glass of milk. Behind almost everything that shapes our everyday lives lies a web of policies and systems most of us never notice. Policy thinking helps you see them.

The Start Thinking in Policy Challenge (STIP-C) by India House is a 7-day online challenge that helps you develop a policymaker’s lens: one real-world challenge at a time.

What to expect: 7 days | 60 minutes a day | Online | Certificate upon completion

As the Community Partner for this cohort, Public Policy India (PPI) members are also eligible for exclusive India House goodies, with rewards for the top-performing participants.

It started with a glass of milk. Soon, you’ll start seeing policy everywhere.

🗓️ Applications close: 12 July.

Register Here!

🔎 Databases and Guides:

Discover your ultimate career resource sheets for everything related to public policy! Our comprehensive mega-lists include 150+ hiring organisations, 200+ scholarships, and 150+ courses, podcasts and a lot more. Dive in and unlock your next big opportunity!

100s of resources

🌍Climate + Health Corner

In Partnership With Swasti, The Health Catalyst

Plastic as marine litter

Plastics are the largest component of human-generated solid waste entering the seas and oceans. This essay discusses the dump of plastic, its consequences, and the lack of action taken.

Read the full article here!

💼Careers Corner

A curated list of some of the best jobs and internship opportunities this week from the world of public policy, the development sector, impact consulting and communications at large.

📩 Best bit - if you know of a job/internship opening that’s not listed here, kindly just add that as a comment on the sheet: giving 20,000+ people immediate access to it!

Jobs/Internships Master Database

⁉️Policy or Parody?

Answer: It is a real policy. Madhya Pradesh Tourism Board is working to develop new offices in the middle of the jungle for digital nomads who are tired of sitting back at home.

The Policy Post this week brings to you

• How Volkswagen made trash bins fun (and effective)

• The increasing heat, its effects on India’s agriculture and Europe’s economy

• A wrap of PPI’s Policy Circles

As always, we wrap up with a curated list of opportunities.

Let’s get into it!

Read more

The Policy Post this week brings to you

• The ban imposed by the Government of Argentina on attending the World Cup

• Climate-fuelled landslides leading to the death of 58 of world’s rarest great apes in 4 days

• PPI’s latest policy circle in Bengaluru

• Paper at Bonn Climate Conference 2026 warns that Earth’s vital signs are deteriorating at an unpre…

Read more

The Policy Post this week brings you

• Two Giveaways!

• Upcoming Policy Circle in Delhi (20th June)

• A DIY guide to build a community

• A study on how Climate change may expand chikungunya risk in North America, Europe and Asia

As always, we wrap up with a curated list of opportunities.

Let’s get into it!

Read more

The Policy Post this week brings to you

• Upcoming Policy Circle in Bengaluru

• “State of India’s Environment: In figures” Report

• PPI Executive - a focussed community for policy professionals with 5+ years of experience

As always, we wrap up with a curated list of opportunities.

Let’s get into it!

Read more

“Population” has always been a dynamic and multidimensional subject of study. Population decline is an issue, but so is population explosion. Replacement migration is viewed as a solution, but also as an issue of its own.

The Policy Post this week brings to you

• The vanishing of the youth - an essay on decline of birth rates

• The upcoming Polic…

Read more

Policy is an emerging space in India. Nonetheless, there are 600+ think tanks in India that are looking for policy professionals. With only 2,000 policy graduates produced annually, there is plenty of policy careers open and waiting to be explored. This week’s edition focusses on empowering you with the data, tools, and information needed t…

Read more

The Policy Post this week brings to you

• PPI Executive

• Giveaway for the community!

• Common Mid-Career Mistakes That Limit Advancement And Growth

• Chronic indoor heat exposure: an under-recognised climate threat

As always, we wrap up with a curated list of opportunities.

Let’s get into it!

Read more

Policy is vast, interdisciplinary and all-encompassing. An action in a single domain can have ripple effects across several others, all of them unitedly affecting the end user - the people.

This week’s edition brings to you an in-person Policy Careers workshop in Guwahati curated by PPI, in partnership with ISDM. It also investigates how Ahm…

Read more

Across cities and sectors, policy conversations are increasingly being shaped by lived experiences, how people engage with systems, access opportunities, and navigate constraints in real time.

This week’s edition reflects that ground-up perspective. From Policy Circles in Bhopal and Chandigarh and upcoming ones in Kochi and Bhubaneswar to research on digital financial inclusion among women street vendors in Pune, the focus is on how policy plays out in everyday contexts.

We also spotlight Aditi Chugh, a practitioner whose work sits at the intersection of food systems, research, and policy implementation, alongside a piece on Bhutan’s climate burden raising broader questions around responsibility, capacity, and regional coordination.

As always, we wrap up with a curated list of opportunities.

Let’s get into it!

Policy Charcha 💬

The best of Podcasts, Videos, Essays, Fellowships and other Career resources from the world of Policy and Governance from the week gone by!

🏙️ PPI Policy Circle: Bhopal and Chandigarh

Last week, Policy Circles were hosted in Bhopal (24th April) and Chandigarh (25th April), bringing together individuals exploring careers in public policy for an evening of conversations, peer exchange, and shared learning.

Designed as an in-person policy workshop, these circles focused on building community, creating room for participants to engage with each other, reflect on their journeys, and navigate questions around policy careers in a grounded way.

The conversations continue this week, with Policy Circles coming to Kochi (1st May) and Bhubaneswar (2nd May).

We’re bringing Policy Circles to more cities, with more conversations ahead!

📍 Keep an eye on your chapter’s WhatsApp group for all updates

Not in a chapter yet? Find and join your city chapter here →

🎓 Thinking About Structured Learning in Policy?

Policy Circles are a great starting point — but if you’re ready to go deeper, the Master’s Programme in Public Policy (MPP) at the Kautilya School of Public Policy is currently accepting applications.

This two-year residential programme focuses on understanding how policies are designed, implemented, and shaped by political and institutional realities.

KSPP offers scholarships for eligible candidates, and applicants applying through PPI may be considered for fee waivers depending on the school’s evaluation, including academics, interview performance, and financial background.

Apply Now!

📌 If you apply via PPI, be sure to mention us as your reference to be considered for the waiver.

Spotlight of the Week

Bridging research and real-world impact is often at the heart of effective policymaking. In this week’s Spotlight of the Week, we feature Aditi Chugh, an agriculture policy practitioner and researcher at the International Food Policy Research Institute.

Her work focuses on the practical implementation of food policies across global contexts, with particular attention to input subsidies, food fortification, and agricultural commercialization. Having previously worked with the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare on MSP systems and data frameworks, she brings a unique perspective that connects policy design with on-ground realities.

Her journey reflects the value of interdisciplinary thinking combining economics, politics, and data to better understand how institutions and incentives shape outcomes, and to build more effective, sustainable policy solutions.

Read the full spotlight on LinkedIn!

📝 Essay of the Week

Empowering Women Street Vendors: UPI and Financial Inclusion

Financial inclusion, a critical component of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), has emerged as a cornerstone of economic development. This study examines the potential of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) as a cost-effective and scalable FinTech solution to enhance financial inclusion among women street vendors in Pune, one of the most financially excluded segments of the informal economy.

Using a mixed-methods approach combining surveys, interviews, and triangulation, the research finds that while UPI adoption contributes to social empowerment, seamless access remains a privilege. Statistically significant links between education, income, and adoption indicate that lower literacy and income reduce the likelihood of usage. The study identifies social exclusion as a major barrier to financial inclusion, underscoring the need for governments and regulators to make UPI more inclusive and ensure a more equitable distribution of its benefits.

Read the full paper here

🔎 Databases and Guides:

Discover your ultimate career resource sheets for everything related to public policy! Our comprehensive mega-lists include 150+ hiring organisations, 200+ scholarships, and 150+ courses, podcasts and a lot more. Dive in and unlock your next big opportunity!

100s of Resources!

🌍Climate + Health Corner

In Partnership With Swasti, The Health Catalyst

Bhutan’s Climate Debt: A Regional Challenge

Bhutan, a carbon-negative country, is facing severe climate impacts—from drying water sources to glacial risks despite contributing little to global emissions.

The piece highlights a key tension: the costs of adaptation are high and underfunded, making Bhutan’s “climate debt” not just a national issue, but a shared regional concern for South Asia especially given its interconnected river systems and economic linkages.

Read the article here!

Careers Corner 💼

A curated list of some of the best jobs and internship opportunities this week from the world of public policy, the development sector, impact consulting and communications at large.

📩 Best bit - if you know of a job/internship opening that’s not listed here, kindly just add that as a comment on the sheet: giving 20,000+ people immediate access to it!

Jobs/Internships Master Database!

You won’t believe it, but it’s cheaper than a cup of coffee to support our work ☕

We're a community-driven platform dedicated to delivering fresh policy insights, creating career opportunities, and helping thousands thrive in India's policy space. To keep all our work free and accessible, we need your support. A small contribution of just Rs. 80 can help sustain and grow our mission. Please consider buying us a coffee and powering our work. Thank you!

Buy us a coffee

Policy today is increasingly being shaped at the intersection of governance, public finance, and institutional capacity.

This week’s newsletter explores these themes through the lens of systems and scale, from a Policy Careers Workshop in Mumbai centered on exploring pathways into the policy space to reflections on India’s urban governance and the need for stronger local institutions.

Also in this edition: a closer look at direct cash transfers and their role in welfare delivery, alongside a piece examining whether tools like debt-for-nature swaps can address broader questions of inequality and development finance.

As always, we wrap up with a curated list of opportunities.

Let’s get into it!

Policy Charcha 💬

The best of Podcasts, Videos, Essays, Fellowships and other Career resources from the world of Policy and Governance from the week gone by!

🏙️ PPI Policy Circle: Mumbai

We hosted an engaging in-person Policy Careers Workshop and Community Meetup in Mumbai on 17th April, in collaboration with Kautilya School of Public Policy, bringing together a vibrant group of aspiring policy professionals and practitioners.

From meaningful conversations to actionable insights, the meetup created a space for learning, exchange, and community building.

We’re bringing Policy Circles to more cities, with more conversations ahead.

📍 Keep an eye on your chapter’s WhatsApp group for all updates

Not in a chapter yet? Find and join your city chapter here →

🎓 Thinking About Structured Learning in Policy?

Policy Circles are a great starting point — but if you’re ready to go deeper, the Master’s Programme in Public Policy (MPP) at the Kautilya School of Public Policy is currently accepting applications.

This two-year residential programme focuses on understanding how policies are designed, implemented, and shaped by political and institutional realities.

KSPP offers scholarships for eligible candidates, and applicants applying through PPI may be considered for fee waivers depending on the school’s evaluation, including academics, interview performance, and financial background.

Apply Now!

📌 If you apply via PPI, be sure to mention us as your reference to be considered for the waiver.

🎥 Video of the Week

India’s Urban Governance – Past and Future

Featuring insights from Vijay Kelkar in a fireside chat hosted by Indian Institute for Human Settlements, the discussion reflects on the evolution of India’s urban governance framework and the challenges shaping its future. The conversation offers a sharp policy perspective on the need for empowered local governments, stronger financial autonomy, and institutional innovation to make Indian cities more resilient, accountable, and growth-oriented.

📝 Essay of the Week

Direct Cash Transfers: Evidence & Caveats

Published by The Nudge Institute, this report examines the growing role of direct cash transfers as a tool for poverty alleviation in India. Drawing on global and Indian evidence, it highlights how cash transfers can improve income stability, asset creation, and human development outcomes such as education, nutrition, and well-being. At the same time, the report cautions against viewing them as a silver bullet.

The piece makes a nuanced case for treating cash transfers as a complement not a substitute for public services and infrastructure, arguing that their effectiveness ultimately depends on context, institutional capacity, and careful policy design.

Read the Report Here

🔎 Databases and Guides:

Discover your ultimate career resource sheets for everything related to public policy! Our comprehensive mega-lists include 150+ hiring organisations, 200+ scholarships, and 150+ courses, podcasts and a lot more. Dive in and unlock your next big opportunity!

100s of Resources!

🌍Climate + Health Corner

In Partnership With Swasti, The Health Catalyst

Debt-for-Nature Swaps

Debt-for-nature swaps aim to ease sovereign debt while funding environmental protection, but their impact remains small and uneven.

The piece raises a key question: can such instruments scale to address global inequality and climate finance needs, or are they ultimately a limited, niche solution?

Read the Full Article Here!

Careers Corner 💼

A curated list of some of the best jobs and internship opportunities this week from the world of public policy, the development sector, impact consulting and communications at large.

📩 Best bit - if you know of a job/internship opening that’s not listed here, kindly just add that as a comment on the sheet: giving 20,000+ people immediate access to it!

Jobs/Internships Master Database!

You won’t believe it, but it’s cheaper than a cup of coffee to support our work ☕

We're a community-driven platform dedicated to delivering fresh policy insights, creating career opportunities, and helping thousands thrive in India's policy space. To keep all our work free and accessible, we need your support. A small contribution of just Rs. 80 can help sustain and grow our mission. Please consider buying us a coffee and powering our work. Thank you!

Buy us a coffee