Aspirational Urban Local Bodies + Applications open for "Election on Wheels" by School of Politics!
Policy Post #139
Editor’s Note ✍️
Hello there,
Hope you’re well :)
This is Yash here. A rather common point of discussion in policy meet-ups these days - What led to the boom in the public policy and social impact space boom in India around 2013-14 onwards?
Just a few rough notes below. of course, not a definitive answer, but observations and learnings from the past few years.
1) Enactment of the CSR act in August, 2013 which broadly mandated India's largest, most profitable companies to spend a certain portion of their profits on social impact projects. That facilitated the rise of an entire ecosystem of organisations planning, designing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating these impact interventions across India!
2) The Lokpal movement in 2012, which in a sense awoke an entire generation of Indians to the ideas of why politics matters, policies matter, institutions matter etc.
3) Far higher openness of the newly elected union government and it's numerous bodies/institutions (that assumed office in 2014) towards hiring young people within the government in the form of contractual appointments, internships, young professionals etc.
4) The 'professionalisation' of politics, in the sense the dramatic rise of the broader political campaigning/strategy space which has facilitated a range of opportunities for those interested in policy-making as well, especially as some of these political aspirants get elected and assume the role of policymakers.
5) India crossing the USD 1,500 per capita income around that same period of time. unable to locate the exact publication, but remember reading this research deep dive on something we’ve witnessed globally - the rise of a policy function as the national economy grows, becomes far more complex and the need for structured interaction between non-government stakeholders and the state grows manifold.
What would you add to this list? Would love to hear your thoughts on perspectives we may have missed out on!
To reiterate - for furthering our goal of democratising the policy and social impact space, we’ve started policy chapters across 20 cities in India! The idea is to facilitate exchanges and learning via conversations on WhatsApp (and beyond!) while also facilitating interactions, meet-ups and career opportunities outside of New Delhi. Join the chapter for your city today and we’re also onboarding leaders for these communities as well :)
In this edition of The Policy Post, we cover:
🔹 A look into why urban cities need better planning and aspirational Urban Local Bodies.
🔹An interesting op-ed on why dedicated lanes for the public transport can be more economical than Metro networks.
🔹Exciting opportunities with the CRISP Fellowship, Teach for India and Election on Wheels!
🔹Volunteer to be a policy community chapter leader in your city!
🔹Our weekly curation of some of the best essays, podcasts, career resources etc. from the world of Policy in the week gone by.
Do consider supporting PPI by buying us a coffee (or two!) here, if you find our work to be of value :) With that, we bring to you: Policy Post #139!
- Team PPI
This Week’s Policy Focus 🔎
According to various reports, urban cities are planned quite poorly. With rapidly growing urban populations, Indian governments need to re-look at urban planning.
Policy Charcha 💬
The best Podcasts, Videos, Essays and Fellowships from the world of Policy and Governance for this past week!
🎥 Video: What is Voluntary Carbon Market? How does it work in India?
📝 Op-Ed: Why Indian cities must take the bus.
🔔 Weekly Opportunity Highlight: The Teach for India Fellowship
🔎 Databases and Guides: Click Here!
Fellowship Spotlight✨
CRISP Fellowship
👉🏽A one-of-its-kind experiential learning model in India that involves strategic collaboration between CRISP and State/Central governments. Provides a platform for young talent to drive impactful large-scale projects while working closely with the public administration.
👉🏽 Work on domains like policy implementation, data analysis, high-quality report writing and strengthening existing government initiatives.
🕰️ Apply by 5th Feb, 2024
Election on Wheels by School of Politics
👉🏽 A unique experiential learning opportunity to experience the 2024 Indian General Elections. 10-day immersive travel plus learning experience across 6 Indian states.
👉🏽Acquaint yourself with the Indian electoral system and interact with different stakeholders such as political leaders, political strategists, media persons, psephologists, party cadre, vendors and most importantly the voters.
🕰️ Apply by 5th Feb, 2024
📢Introducing Policy Communities!
Psst! We’re also looking for volunteers to help lead and grow these city chapters.
Join our WhatsApp Communities through the links below 👇🏼
Ahmedabad | Bangalore | Bhopal | Chandigarh | Chennai | Delhi | Hyderabad | Jaipur Kolkata | Lucknow | Mumbai | Pune | Thiruvananthapuram | Nagpur | Bhubaneswar | Guwahati | Visakhapatnam
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.
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