Dear reader,
This week has been interesting - an MDR on UPI, an increase in PF’ ceilings, a record 30 lakh beneficiaries for the PM Vishwakarma scheme!
The Policy Post this week brings to you a few interesting subjects:
The Maple Bridge Research Fellowship - applications open!
EPFO’s raised wage ceiling
Events happening this September!
Interacting through trade (and petroleum)
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!
🗞️What’s In The News This Week?
The wage ceiling for mandatory coverage under the EPFO was raised from Rs.15,000/month to Rs.25,000/month.
What this means: Workers earning up to Rs.25,000 a month are now mandatorily liable to contribute to their PF and eligible to encash a lump sum upon retirement.
For a worker earning Rs.15,000 to Rs.25,000 a month, it could mean a formal entry to the social security system and a higher retirement fund, while also having lesser cash in hand.
🗓️Events to look out for!!
🎉PAFI’s 13th Annual Forum on Engaging for Growth in a disrupted world, happening September 24-25!
🎉Student Conference on Conservation Science, happening September 28-October 1!
🎉CDPG Annual Conclave, alongside CDPG National Student Case Competition 2026, on September 30!
💬Policy Charcha - one thing to learn this week
Petroleum is India’s biggest import (32%) and its biggest export (20%).
This article discusses imports, exports and how countries interact in the global economy through trade.
🏙️Applications open for Maple Bridge Research Fellowship!
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE MAPLE BRIDGE RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP:
A 4-month Indo-Canadian Research Fellowship
Explore how AI is reshaping policy and publish under your name!
Open to all students in India and Canada (UG and PG), across disciplines
Apply by September 25, 2026!!!
📍 Keep an eye on your chapter’s WhatsApp group for all updates
Not in a chapter yet? Find and join your city chapter here →
👀What caught our eye
Lotteries used to promote London elections.
An experiment was designed to test whether a lottery increases voter registration.
Two groups of 20,000 randomly-selected households were placed into a prize draw of £5000 and £1000 each. All other households were made the control group.
The results:
The registration rates were 46.2% in the £1000 group and 46.6% in the £5000 group compared to 44.7% in the control.
The study found that households in poorer locations are more receptive to the lottery offer, while the lottery did not incentivise richer households.
⚡The Catalyst Corner
In Partnership With Swasti, The Health Catalyst
Agricultural systems often fail farmers not due to productivity gaps, but because decisions around capital, markets, and risk are structurally misaligned.
Commons.farm is an end-to-end decision platform for agriculture, designed to reposition farmers as entrepreneurs and villages as economic centres.
💼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!
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See you next week!