Chinmaya Vishwavidyapeeth (CVV) in association with Rashtram School of Public Leadership hosted a webinar discussion titled “How to decide a Career in Public Life” on 7th November, 2020. Shobhit Mathur, Co-founder and Dean of Rashtram School of Public Leadership was the speaker for the day who interacted with the students and faculty of CVV. He addressed the students on various career options available in the field of Public policy and Governance motivating them to make a wise decision.
Mr Shobhit identified four main concerns associated with policies in India: According to him, firstly, there exist ideological and social issues that require immediate attention and a change of mind-sets at large. Caste, Gender, Race-based discrimination are a few of them. Secondly, there is a lack of authoritative laws that can have a significant impact on a policy. RTI and Plastic Ban are examples of successful legislation which have effectively served their purpose in the recent past. Third, he pointed out the poor implementation of existing policies, especially in the Health, Education and Agriculture sectors. Lastly, he also opined that there is a lack of proper understanding of the problem itself. Inadequate research is seen to be one of the main reasons contributing to this situation. Low per capita income, huge population and weak institutions are a few other challenges one has to face while opting for a career in Public policy in India.
However, on the optimistic side, he pointed out that India is one of the fastest-growing economies of the world which possessed tremendous youth potential. The vibrant and restless nature of democracy in the country provides numerous opportunities in the field of Public policy and Governance. The time tested knowledge traditions that existed in India, especially on public administration and governance, have been proven to contain useful insights on contemporary policymaking and governance.
Mr Shobhit highlighted the available career paths in politics, bureaucracy, academic research, think tanks, and NGOs working in the field of Public policy and Governance. These different career paths seem to have varying levels of involvement and impact on the policymaking process. Apart from entering into politics or the bureaucracy, Shobhit explained how Media and IT professionals too can take part in policymaking and governance through App development for the govt., Data Analytics, Development and maintenance of online Policy Advocacy Portals etc. He shared with the students the links and portals to actively track and know more about such career opportunities.
The interactive and informative discussion was followed by a Q/A session where Mr Shobhit clarified the doubts and queries raised by the students. Asst. Prof. Nithin Ramakrishnan moderated the session and thanked Shobhit Mathur for his time and presence. The students actively participated in the session and made themselves clear on choosing different paths and careers in the field of Public policy and Governance.