Alumni Feature | Beni Chugh, Master’s in Public Policy ‘17

Development Theories and Experience, an elective course in her undergraduate economics degree, was an inflexion point for Beni. It made her see how academic-looking policy decisions had a bearing on individuals’ and countries’ human development and income growth. From then on, she would never divorce policy announcements from the person on the last mile. After pursuing her undergraduate in economics from Jesus and Mary, she went on to pursue Development Economics at the South Asian University. That training helped her appreciate the differences in the starting points of the developed and developing nations. Inclined to put her academic training to use, she pursued the Master’s Programme in Public Policy at the National Law School (of India University). Beni recalls her training at the MPP Programme a necessary complement to her economics background. The MPP Programme made the issues of development real to her. It taught her how to diagnose policy issues, create solutions and socialise them. These skills availed her in her role of research associate at Dvara Research Foundation. Her role required her to conduct rigorous, apolitical quantitative and qualitative research. Training at the MPP Programme that focuses on academic rigour, research methods and setting aside political biases when making policy choices benefitted Beni immensely. Four years on, Beni has graduated to become the Research Manager of the Future of Finance Initiative at Dvara Research. Her role requires her to have a pulse on policy problems arresting financial inclusion, customer protection and financial stability concerns that arise from the rampant spread of digital finance and providing solutions to them. She has been able to contribute to policy movements surrounding data protection, digital payments, fintech. Beni shares that the “multidisciplinary training at the MPP Programme reformed my approach to policy. I learnt authentic empathy for the marginalised and began to observe the intersectionality that characterises different groups. They train you to be inclusive by default. The academics apart, the perspective that you form at the Programme through constant debates and discussions, sets this experience apart.