The Indian government has awarded one of its highest honors to Sajid Farid Shapoo Ph.D. ’23, a decorated senior Indian security and counterterrorism official who earned his doctorate in public affairs with a concentration in security studies at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs.
The President’s Medal for Distinguished Service recognizes Shapoo’s exceptional commitment to duty and is the highest honor reserved for high-ranking officers.
“It’s a humbling experience,” Shapoo said, adding, “Your work should speak for itself.”
Shapoo currently serves as chief vigilance officer under India’s Ministry of Defence. Throughout his 28-year career in the Indian Police Service, Shapoo has twice been awarded the President’s Medal for Gallantry, India’s highest award for bravery in police service, and has worked on counterterrorism and counterinsurgency challenges in some of India’s most fraught regions.
“Princeton has shaped not only my academic life, but my professional life. It’s taught me how to ask the right questions,” he said.
While he was a student, Shapoo studied the effectiveness of surrender-and-rehabilitation policies in counterinsurgency efforts around the world. When he returned to India and was charged with heading anti-Maoist operations in central India, Shapoo introduced a similar policy.
As a result, more than two dozen Maoist insurgents have surrendered and were rehabilitated, he said, with other Indian states starting to adopt the policy.
In addition to studying at Princeton SPIA, Shapoo has taught at the School and helped expand the university’s M.S. Chadha Center for Global India (CGI) to advance information sharing and collaboration among Princeton faculty and students and Indian policymakers and private sector leaders.
“I think CGI has been doing great work in not only putting India in the focus in the U.S. but also working out strategies to help curate solutions for India's problems,” he said.
Given his long career in public service, Shapoo offered some advice for students embarking on that track at this moment.
“Public service is a field that will always require a lot of well-read and smart people,” he said, adding that it’s important to bridge the gap between academia and policy. “If you are in a policy school, be sure that whatever you are being taught there has a lot of significance for practical implementation in the field.”
Learn more about the Security Studies cluster of the Ph.D. in Public Affairs at Princeton SPIA.
Headshot courtesy of Sajid Farid Shapoo, Ph.D. ’23.