The evening was a celebration of young leaders who have driven change in India’s public systems.

October 10, New Delhi: In a moment that marked both celebration and aspiration for the next generation of youth leaders in India, Shri Shailesh Singh, Secretary, Rural Development, Government of India, and Anish Kumar, Co-lead, Transform Rural India, conferred the Post Graduate Certificates in Public Policy Management upon the founding cohort of the Public Policy in Action (PPiA) Praxis Residency Programme.

The ceremony, held at the India International Centre (IIC), New Delhi, honoured the pioneering batch completing this academically rigorous and practice-centred public policy learning programme. The certification is jointly awarded by Hindu College, University of Delhi and Transform Rural India, reflecting a unique academic–practice partnership aimed at strengthening community-centred leadership in some of India’s most underserved geographies.

This evening of reflection, celebration, and dialogue was a culmination of an immersive two-year learning journey to study public policy and its implementation. The Public Policy in Action (PPiA) Praxis Residency Programme is a two-year postgraduate certificate residency designed to meet the pressing need for a globally benchmarked public policy programme that is firmly contextualized within the democratic, developmental, and institutional realities of rural India.

Incubated within Transform Rural India (TRI), a development design organisation working on transforming India’s bottom 1,00,000 village, the PPiA Praxis Residency Programme encompasses rigorous academic learning and field-based work in India’s most resource-constrained geographies. Here students learn to address systemic barriers, and find ways to foster equal access to opportunities, resources and decision-making processes.

Speaking at the event, TRI co-lead Anish Kumar said amid the growing public policy field in India and the world, there is a need to reflect on who is this education for and what purpose does it serve? “Much of the public policy education in our reflection has remained urban, classroom based, and often removed from the lived realities of public service delivery.” The PPIA Praxis Residency was born out of this gap and our deep conviction that the next generation of public leaders must learn within the system and not outside of it, he said. 

Addressing the Praxis Learners, Kumar said, “Within the application of theory to experience, have urged you to reason what there should be for action-oriented policy in context of a changing society.” 

Chief guest Shri Shailesh Kumar Singh, in his keynote address, congratulated the founding cohort and likened public policy practitioners to John Maynard Keynes’ “master economist” – requiring a rare combination of analytical, philosophical and statesman-like qualities, but with the added dimension of grappling with real-world challenges on the ground. Stressing the need for innovative solutions amid rapid changes in technology, society and polity, and the Ministry’s work through flagship programmes (MGNREGA, NRLM, housing, roads, Lakhpati Didi, etc.), Singh discussed challenges like convergence across schemes, marketing of SHG products and access to individual credit, and urged the cohort to contribute to Viksit Bharat @2047.

He also praised the Praxis curriculum as “truly remarkable”. Singh, an alumnus of Harvard University, USA, highlighted the Adaptive Leadership component taught by eminent faculty from the prestigious university: “making you understand what all leadership entails in terms of your personal values, your own aspirations and what you see across the world and what challenges come up and how you have to adapt to them.”

Highlighting the embedding within district administrations, he said, “it is very heartening to see that you could go and experience first-hand the kind of challenges that we face in such places where there are so many difficulties in terms of implementing our programs and in terms of the lack of access that people have to several things that we take for granted.”

Following the speeches, Anish Kumar and Shri Shailesh Singh conferred the Post Graduate Certificate in Public Policy Management to the 11 Praxis Learners. 

Following the ceremony, guests, including faculty members, were invited to an interactive walkthrough of the Learners’ booths, where each Learner presented and explained their district-level interventions.

Unique Public Policy Education

Apart from covering a rigorous curriculum spanning economics, sociology, political theory, public policy management, and policy design, the future leaders are also embedded with the district administrations to co-create innovative, context-driven solutions grounded in the lived realities of communities. Their goal is to positively impact public systems in the future, serve marginalized communities and ensure that the benefits of economic and social progress are shared by all segments of society.

The programme is implemented with close collaboration with Sambodhi Research and Communications Pvt. Ltd., Ministry of Rural Development, NITI Aayog Aspirational Districts and Blocks Programme. The Axis Bank Foundation and the Walmart Foundation are its financial partners. 

Guided by distinguished faculty from academia, bureaucracy and the development sector, the PPIA Praxis Residency Programme blends rigorous theory with frontline exposure, shaping young professionals into adaptive, action-oriented leaders.

On completion, learners are awarded the Post Graduate Certificate in Public Policy Management. With more than 50 young leaders already engaged with district administrations and the fourth cohort launching soon, the PPIA Praxis Programme is building a vibrant community of practitioners determined to break systemic barriers and expand access to opportunities, resources, and decision-making across rural India.