Public policy · research · strategy
Suhani Bhatia
Where policy meets the person it is supposed to serve.
I diagnose where policy, institutions and implementation come apart, and recommend what can actually be done under real constraints.
Mumbai, IndiaMA Public Policy and Law, TISSAvailable full-time from December 2026Open to relocation across India
Public programmes rarely fail at the point where they are written. Their difficulties emerge later, in the ordinary transactions through which a person is expected to claim what the state has already promised.
The journey
How a public promise travels
01LawA right is written.
02InstitutionA cell or office is created.
03FrontlineOrdinary administration takes over.
04CitizenA person has to claim it.
05OutcomeA result they can actually use.
Selected work
Five problems
- Telangana PoliceWhen a rights law meets a police stationWhy a rights-based law can fail at the point of implementation.
- Transform Rural IndiaWhy a public service reaches one community and not anotherWhat produces uneven last-mile delivery inside the same district.
- Independent · NFHSFinancial inclusion is not the same as agencyWhether financial inclusion is a sufficient proxy for women’s agency.
- Independent · MumbaiOn the lists, not at the counterWhere a ₹5 crore grant can change migrant welfare outcomes inside 24 months.
- FounderBuilding an education business from zeroWhat it takes to price, staff and retain a service when the fee has to arrive every month.
From the record
What the numbers show
Independent · NFHS-4 to NFHS-5
Accounts moved. Agency did not keep pace.
Own-use bank or savings account53.0% to 78.6%
+25.6 ppThree household decisions84.0% to 88.7%
+4.7 ppWomen 15–49. Decision-making is currently married women. Source: IIPS / MoHFW.
Independent · Drèze and Khera, 2025
About 9 in 100 births.
Effective PMMVY coverage, 2023–24. Source: The Hindu, 11 March 2025.
Availability
Available full-time from December 2026
Open to strategy, public-sector advisory, policy research and implementation work.