Alumni Feature | Anirban Paul, Master’s in Public Policy ‘21

Inquisitive and tenacious by nature, Anirban Paul is a 24- year old individual hailing from the north-eastern hill station of Shillong. He graduated in 2017 from School of Communication, Manipal University, as a gold medallist in Journalism and Communication. In his early years of college, he took up a part-time job with a local news organisation and following his graduation, he eventually joined Reuters News as a Correspondent where he got a taste of the global political economic world. Following his journalism stint, he joined the Master’s in Public Policy (MPP) at National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bengaluru. The fresh appeal of the MPP course, driven in a good way also by a qualitative approach through various disciplines, is what attracted Anirban to join the course. “The education of public policy is necessary today to understand a developmental paradigm that is based on understanding the needs of involved stakeholders,” he believes. Living up to this, prior to joining NLS, he was also involved as a pro-bono communications adviser for an educational start-up in Meghalaya where he worked closely with school children to understand resource necessities. As a part of the coursework, Anirban pursued his fieldwork in Bhim Rajasthan with Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS), an organisation known for its struggle leading to the Right to Information (RTI) Act. He conducted a social audit, while working with MKSS, to investigate the implementation of the Building and Other Construction Workers Act. His policy interest to understand the evolving urban landscape also drove him to take up an internship with Ola Mobility Institute where he worked to understand revenue scopes from shared mobility. An avid debater, Anirban has won accolades in many national tournaments. His most recent achievement was at Ramaiah Intervarsity Debating Championship 2019, Bengaluru, where he finished as a semi-finalist. Most recently, his team was also selected by the Geneva Centre for Security Policy for participating in the Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge.