Alumni Feature | Prerit Shukla, Master’s in Public Policy ‘22

Born in Ajmer and raised in multiple cities, Prerit had a chance to experience cultural diversity from a young age. Having done a few years of his schooling in Mumbai, Prerit attended the Bachelor of Commerce, Honours Programme at Delhi University. His deep connect with societal issues and the ability to articulate them made him join the debating club in his college. Prerit has been an avid debater throughout his college, winning numerous national parliamentary debates.

This approach drove him to better participate in discourses in society and inclined him towards the study of their policy. Having ample exposure in Commerce and an active inclination towards public policy, Prerit looked towards the domain of finance. As an introduction to the world of finance, he worked for a year as an Assurance Associate, auditing financial statements of US real estate companies. Having gained industry insights and work experience, he decided to pursue a Master’s in Public Policy Programme to further his interest in the policy domain. While at NLS, Prerit did his client-led project with Infrastructure Development Corporation (Karnataka) Limited (iDeCK) where he worked on the formulation of the new state agriculture policy for the Government of Karnataka. His work looked at adequacy & access to credit for farmers and made policy recommendations for affordable and inclusive insurance support for the farmers. During this time, he was also a finalist at Cicero, a national level Public Policy Competition organised by IIM-Indore. Master’s in Public Policy at NLS provided him with ample opportunities to hone his skill sets. Prerit interned with organisations like Janaagraha where he worked on the councillor leadership programme to establish leadership opportunities for grassroots politicians, along with improvements in municipal governance structures. He is currently associated with Sattva, where he is working with the livelihood team to create sustainable living opportunities for MSMEs with a specific focus towards low-income households. Being of the cohort that has experienced COVID-19 extremely closely as a part of their course, as a part of his dissertation, Prerit decided to look at the policy coverage by newspapers during the pandemic to understand how policies are framed and information is communicated to citizens in times of health emergencies. With a diverse range of experiences and a sharp focus, Prerit is looking to make deep inroads into the policy sector.