April-May 2022
Live projects for policymakers promise to be the most exciting component of the Policy in Action Program. During the course of the program, teams of 4-6 members each are assigned to work on pressing policy issues. Each team is expected to research the assigned policy problem, meet stakeholders and/ or strengthen advocacy campaigns.
For this 2022 edition of the Policy in Action Program, fellows will be supporting the work of the following policymakers:
S. Jothimani is an Indian politician, writer, and social worker. She is a member of the Indian National Congress and was elected to the Lok Sabha from Karur, Tamil Nadu in 2019.
Having joined politics at a young age, Ms. Jothimani served separate terms as the General Secretary and Vice President of Indian Youth Congress and Tamil Nadu Youth Congress respectively. She also served as a Councillor of K. Paramathi panchayat union for two terms from 1996 to 2006 and was Member, Tamil Nadu Censor Board from 2006 to 2009.
Ms. Jothimani holds a Bachelor’s degree from Sri G.V.G. Visalakshi College for Women and a Master’s degrees in both arts and philosophy from Annamalai University.

Mr. Srinivas is from Andhra Pradesh and represents the Vijayawada constituency in the 17th Lok Sabha. He is a member of the Telugu Desam Party. Prior to his foray into public service, Mr. Srinivas built the Kesineni Group - a well established enterprise today in the fields of intercity transportation, logistics and hospitality.
Mr. Srinivas is an active member of the Lok Sabha, having spoken on a number of issues including agriculture, infrastructure development, police reforms in Andhra Pradesh, the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill 2019, the National Medical Commission Bill 2019, the Motor Vehicle (Amendment Bill 2019) among others. He sits on various committees in the Parliament, namely - the Committee on Estimates, Standing Committee on Commerce and the Consultative Committee, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.

Mr. Poddar has been a member of Rajya Sabha from Jharkhand since 2016. He is also the State Treasurer of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and an industrialist from Jharkhand. After graduating from St. Xavier's College, Ranchi, he moved to Bangalore to do his Mechanical Engineering from the M.S. Ramaiah Institute of Technology.
Presently, he serves on the Parliamentary Committees on Finance and Office of Profit. He is also a member of the Consultative Committee of Road Transport and Highways and a Member at the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). Mr. Poddar is very active in Parliament and has introduced a number of private member bills including the Food Waste (Reduction) Bill, 2018 and the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development (Amendment) Bill, 2018.
Mr. Ering is a Member of the Legislative Assembly from the Pasighat West constituency in the East Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh. Until recently, he represented Arunachal in the Lok Sabha. He was also the Union Minister of State for Minority Affairs in the UPA government. He is a member of the Indian National Congress.
He began his political career as a member of the Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly in 1989, where he served two terms. He has also served as a Minister of State in the Government of Arunachal Pradesh and as the Deputy Speaker of the Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly.
While in Parliament, he was a member of the Committee on Ethics, the Standing Committee on Science & Technology, and the Standing Committee on Environment & Forests. He has also been associated with not-for-profits working in the sphere of health and sanitation.

Mr. Vijaysai Reddy has represented the state of Andhra Pradesh from the YSR Congress Party in the Rajya Sabha since 2016. He is a chartered accountant by profession and has played an active role in the politics of Andhra Pradesh for many years.
Mr. Reddy is an active member of the upper house of the Parliament and introduced numerous private member bills over the years across different issues including a bill to make the right to health a fundamental right. He serves on a number of Parliamentary Committees including the Committee on Subordinate Legislation, General Purposes Committee, Joint Committee on Office of Profit, Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Select Committee of Rajya Sabha on the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2019, among others. He is also the leader of the YSR Congress in the Rajya Sabha.