A Case for Non-profit Finance + The Wipro Education Fellowship!
Policy Post #189
Dear Reader,
This week’s Policy Charcha brings you a fresh lineup of insights and opportunities from the world of public policy. We dive into how nonprofits can turn finance from a stressor into a strategic lever for impact, and why regulatory exit barriers may be slowing India’s manufacturing growth. Our Research Highlight makes a strong case for smarter reforms that boost productivity and jobs.
In the Opportunity Corner, don’t miss the Wipro Education Fellowship for early-stage founders aiming to transform India’s public school systems, especially in rural regions.
Our Video Highlight takes you through ISRO’s awe-inspiring journey from coastal churches to lunar success stories.
And in our Climate + Health Corner, we unpack India’s fall in the Global Gender Gap Index and what that means for women’s political representation.
As always, thank you for reading and championing better policy.
Do consider supporting PPI by buying us a coffee ☕ (or two!) if you’ve found our work to be valuable :)
With that, we bring to you: Policy Post #189!
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!
💡 Article Highlight:
As nonprofits tackle urgent social challenges, they’re often weighed down by complex financial rules and compliance burdens. This piece explores why finance shouldn't be seen as just a back-end function, but as a strategic driver of sustainability. Can better training, simpler tools, and peer support transform financial systems from a stressor into a strength?
📚 Research Highlight:
The paper No Country for Dying Firms: Evidence from India uncovers how exit barriers, like regulatory hurdles and institutional rigidities, contribute to India’s sluggish manufacturing growth by trapping resources in inefficient firms. Through a dynamic model, it finds that easing these barriers boosts both efficiency and employment, especially when reforms are well-sequenced. The study also shows that exit subsidies outperform entry subsidies in improving productivity.
🚨 Fellowship Highlight:
Applications are now open for the Wipro Education Fellowship Program, which supports early-stage educational organisations working to strengthen India’s public school system.
The fellowship aims to drive systemic change in K-12 education, especially in rural and non-metro areas. It focuses on areas such as foundational literacy and numeracy, education for children with disabilities, nature education, and computational thinking.
The fellowship is open to full-time founders or core team members of organisations (ideally less than 3 years old) with a long-term commitment to the sector.
🔎 Databases and Guides:
Discover your ultimate career resource sheets for everything related to public policy! Our comprehensive mega-lists include over 150 organisations that are always on the lookout for talent, 200+ scholarships for Indian students, and 150+ public policy courses. Dive in and unlock incredible opportunities!
▶️Video Highlight:
👉🏽 How did India go from launching rockets from a church to landing on the Moon? This Real Engineering video traces the inspiring journey of ISRO, from bicycles carrying rocket parts to building one of the world’s most reliable launch systems. Discover how India mapped the Moon, reached Mars on a shoestring budget, and is now preparing to send astronauts to space.
Perfect watch if you're curious about space, innovation, or simply love underdog stories done right.
Climate + Health Corner
In Partnership With Swasti, The Health Catalyst
👉🏽 India Slips in Gender Gap Ranking
India has slipped two spots to rank 131 out of 148 in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index 2025, with a gender parity score of just 64.1%. While there’s been slight progress in economic participation, education, and health, the political empowerment category has seen a decline — with a drop in women’s representation in Parliament and ministerial roles. This has pulled down India’s overall standing and left it among the lowest-ranked South Asian nations.
The passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill in 2023 was historic, but its delayed implementation till 2029 limits immediate change. True gender parity can’t wait for bureaucratic processes alone — political parties can and must act now to ensure greater representation. India’s goal shouldn’t just be to climb global rankings, but to create a more equitable and inclusive democracy for its citizens.
👥 Community Updates:
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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!
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