The Indian School of Public Policy (ISPP) organized a first of its kind lecture series titled a “Practitioner’s approach to Public Policy”. The lecture series comprised of three parts and covered aspects of the role of public policy professionals and career prospects in industry, research, not for profits, governments, and media. The sessions also covered the art of policy making and advocacy in emerging markets vis-à-vis developed ones and stressed on the need for practitioners to be up-to-date on policy issues and thought processes of stakeholders. It also covered advocacy tools, narrative building, media and third party advocacy, followed by multiple case studies. The students were also exposed to real life examples and underwent team based workshops to take on the modern day emerging policy challenges.

The workshops were conducted by Mr. Rameesh Kailasam, a well-respected public policy expert and CEO of Indiatech.org, which is considered as the emerging voice of Indian start-ups in the internet space on policy issues. Prior to Indiatech.org, Mr. Rameesh was the Managing Director at APCO Worldwide and has had various stints: IBM, Applied Materials, Oracle and the Center for Good Governance.

Rahul Menon, a public policy scholar at ISPP, who attended the workshop said: “The three part lecture series conducted by Mr. Kailasam provided fascinating insights into contemporary policy issues in India. Several case studies pertaining to corporate firms and government institutions were explored that helped our batch expound two policy issues, in a nuanced manner, during the concluding session.”

Tushar Meshram, another scholar at ISPP commented: “During the series, one important take-away, among many others, was to understand the crux and nuances of advocacy; advocacy is a hard sell and one must be aware of the ‘bargaining power’ of the other party as well. Discussions must be carried out in such a manner that one’s personal preferences don’t get in the way; awareness about the environment in which, and the regulations within which policy discussions happen, can enhance the position of the policy professional.”

Giving his feedback on the series, Mr. Kailasam mentioned: “With India at the cusp of a regulatory evolution triggered by globalisation, geo-political and national issues, further driven by disruptive innovations in consumer technology, and industrial as well as social spaces, it is imperative for India to evolve a segment of public policy professionals to support such regulatory challenges. The workshop was aimed at helping the students experience and understand real-life practical approaches towards public policy.”