Alumni Feature | Shubham Prakash, Master’s in Public Policy ‘22

Born in Prayagraj and raised in Gurugram, Shubham has actively looked for challenges throughout his 27 years of life, reinforcing ethics, integrity, and values, as a core attribute to his personality, early on in his life. Having a passion towards professional cooking led him on the path of Hospitality Management. His graduation led him to realise the importance that Ecotourism and Sustainable Tourism play towards environmental degradation and restoration. The interdisciplinary course helped him to pursue a career in Food Production as a chef, inculcating important skills and life long lessons in determination, hard work, and importance of an unrelenting attitude. In 2017, pursuing the path of Civil Services Examinations, a gradual interest rose in the policies made at multiple levels and helped him achieve indirect engagement with a plethora of policy issues. The preparations also increased his curiosity towards the paradox surrounding environment and sustainability, and it’s intertwined nature led him to pursue Post Graduate Diploma in Environment and Sustainable Development through a distance learning platform from IGNOU. Growing interest in the multifaceted nature of public policies led Shubham to reflect on their significance, design, implementation and analysis. Introspecting his nature and values, combined with his intrigue in policy formulation and genuine apprehension towards the environment, helped him pinpoint his career requirement to further his qualification through a Master’s in Public Policy.

Being part of the 7th MPP cohort has allowed him to interact with his peers, enhancing learning outcomes, he says. The interdisciplinary course has broadened his understanding towards complex policy issues and deepened his interest in it. Various courses in the programme allowed him to immerse himself into the environmental sector from various perspectives. His Client Led Project with Dakshin Foundation allowed him to explore the issue of ‘Children’s Right’. The in-depth research involving multiple dimensions was then aimed towards formulating a multi-stakeholder workshop in Andaman and Nicobar Islands to highlight the aspect and impart knowledge at ground level. Representing the institute in the 2021 NASPAA-BATTEN Public Policy Simulation Competition, Shubham’s team secured 5th place in the Asia-Pacific round. “The opportunity allowed me to broaden my perspective and interact with like-minded students in the same field from around the globe. It provided exposure to complex pandemic-based policy simulation and experience of the issues associated with it.” His interest in the environmental and climate change regime has led him on the path to pursue his thesis around it, all the while exploring the interlinked aspect influencing the policy domain of the same.