speakers

charcha 2021

Aarti Mohan

Co-founder and Head

Research, Advisory & Programmes

×

Aarti Mohan

Co-founder and Head

Research, Advisory & Programmes

Aarti is a co-founder and Partner at Sattva Consulting and she heads the Research, Advisory & Programmes Practice at Sattva, that works closely with Foundations, Multi-laterals, and their ecosystems to deliver impact. Aarti has over 12+ years of experience spanning consulting, research, content creation and business leadership at Sattva. As part of her earlier role leading Research Advisory, Aarti has led the creation of several flagship research and knowledge reports and multiple engagements curating knowledge exchanges in the sector bringing together funders, philanthropists, foundations, and non-profits; she has also spoken and curated discussions at leading conferences. Aarti supports the government advisory engagements that Sattva executes in multiple states in India on critical programmes. Aarti has led several research, programmes and ecosystem engagements looking particularly at women’s economic empowerment. Aarti has a degree in computer engineering from BITS, Pilani and is an alumnus of the Management Programme for Women Entrepreneurs (MPWE) at IIM-Bangalore

Abha Thorat Shah

Executive Director, Social Finance

British Asian Trust

×

Abha Thorat Shah

Executive Director, Social Finance

British Asian Trust

Abha is the Executive Director, Social Finance and a founding member of The British Asian Trust and led the development of the $11m Quality Education India Development Impact Bond at the Trust with partners including Michael and Susan Dell Foundation and UBS Optimus Foundation. She is a fellow of the Government Outcomes Lab at the Blavatnik School of Government ,University of Oxford and is passionate about approaches to finance and grant making that enables positive impact on the ground. Abha lives in London, grew up in Mumbai and is currently trying the balance children at home with work!

Abhina Aher (she/her)

Transgender Activist

×

Abhina Aher (she/her)

Transgender Activist

Abhina Aher is a transgender activist in India working in the HIV and human rights since last 24 years in India. She is post graduate in NGO Management from S.I.E.S College Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra and holds diploma in software engineering from Boston Computer Institute. She started her social work engagement with the oldest LGBTI organisation called The Humsafar Trust empowering LGBT organizations and queer networks across India under the leadership of Ashok Row Kavi, first Gay activist who came in media as queer person. In her career as social activist she has worked on crucial HIV programme including BMGF Impact programme, Aastha Project, USAID Impact programme, Pehchan The Global Fund programme, Global Fund Advocacy Network initiatives and currently working on the Sunshine programme led by ITECH-Inadia in North East supported by CDC and HRSA. In her professional work she has worked with SOSVA-FHI, Johns Hopkins University Centre for Communication Program (JHUCCP) and India HIV/AIDS Alliance. She was awarded with the Rex Award in 2014, Global Innovator in 2017 and Enby Round Table Award in 2020 for her community work. She started first trans led dancing group for queer advocacy in India called ‘Dancing Queens’ and established first collaborative organization between transwomen & transmen in India called TWEET – (Transgender Welfare Equity and Empowerment Trust) Foundation in India. She was instrumental in providing technical support to National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) and State AIDS Control Organizations in key population (MSM, TG, PWID, Women in sex work and PLHIV) In country. Internationally she supported WPATH – World Professional Association of Transgender Health, World Health Organization (WHO), UNAIDS and The Global Fund on advancing issues related to the sexual minorities and HIV work. She has worked as an advocate for The Global Fund Advocacy Network (GFAN) Asia in putting forward gender priorities on health & HIV work and was an important advocate to raise 14 Billion resources for The Global Fund in 6th replenishment cycle. She is former chair of Asia Pacific Transgender Network (APTN), starring committee member of International Trans Fund (ITF), Vice president of Innovative Response on Global Transgender HIV work (IRGT) and health champion for HIV and TB with GFAN AP. Currently she is working as technical expert on key population with I-TECH India.

Abhishek Dutt

Vice President

Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee and Municipal Councillor, Andrews Ganj, New Delhi

×

Abhishek Dutt

Vice President

Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee and Municipal Councillor, Andrews Ganj, New Delhi

He is a two-time councillor of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation from the Congress. Mr. Dutt has managed to develop his ward considerably, even being selected as a model ward to achieve complete waste segregation. He has a Post Graduate Degree in Executive MBA (Marketing Management) from Eastern Institute of Integrated Learning in Management University, Sikkim In 2011

Abhishek Pathak

Founder

Greenwear

×

Abhishek Pathak

Founder

Greenwear

A textile designer by education, an entrepreneur by passion and fervent admirer of traditional arts and crafts; Abhishek has 9+ years of professional experience including designing for home fashion, working with artisans, skilling rural communities, business development and exploring e-commerce as market place for marginalised artisans. After graduating as ‘Textile Designer’ from ‘National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT)’, Abhishek started his professional journey as ‘Design and Product Development’ head of a US based luxury home fashion brand. Within two years of this journey, he got inclined towards traditional textiles and founded a company named as ‘Prakritii’ and started working with hand block printing artisans of Rajasthan. Later, He worked as Lead Business Development of Textile and Craft in Drishtee Foundation. He was invited to present his research paper on ‘Significance of CSR Initiatives in Indian Handicrafts’ in UGC national level seminar held at Kirorimal College of Commerce in University of Delhi. In 2016, he decided to dedicate his professional life to explore Solar Charkha initiatives and joined Bhartiya Harit Khadi Gramodaya Sansthan as its CEO. In 2019, he founded Greenwear Fashion Private Limited with incubation support of IIMCIP to provide forward linkage support to the Mission Solar Charkha. For Abhishek, design is a process of providing purpose to art and intention. He aims to empower artisan and rural communities so that they become self sustainable and make a positive impact on the society. His passion lies in bringing design, innovation and technology to underprivileged and unorganized artisan clusters and marginalized communities.

Abhishek Singh

CEO, MyGov with additional charge of President & CEO NeGD and MD & CEO Digital India Corporation.

×

Abhishek Singh

CEO, MyGov with additional charge of President & CEO NeGD and MD & CEO Digital India Corporation.

Shri Abhishek Singh is an officer of the 1995 batch of IAS with diverse experience of administration, managing law and order, implementing development programs, and of policy formulation at Central Government with regard to use of Technology for improving Governance. He is presently posted as CEO MyGov with additional charge of President & CEO NeGD and MD&CEO, Digital India Corporation. MyGov is the Citizen engagement platform of Government of India and enables participative governance. In his role at National e Governance Division, he coordinates projects relating to Digital India, specially Digilocker, UMANG, Geo-Informatics. He has also been leading the efforts on Communications on COVID19 and is actively involved with Aarogya Setu – the contact tracing App of Government of India. He has done Masters in Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School of Government as a Mason fellow in May 2013. He is a B Tech and M.Tech in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Kanpur. He has worked in diverse Indian States of Nagaland and Uttar Pradesh. He has also worked in close coordination with international and multilateral agencies like World Bank, DFID, UNICEF and WHO.

Aditi Mukherji

Principal Researcher

International Water Management Institute

×

Aditi Mukherji

Principal Researcher

International Water Management Institute

Aditi Mukherji is a Principal Researcher at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI). Prior to this, she led the Water and Air Theme at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) in Nepal. She is the coordinating lead author of the water chapter of the 6th Assessment Report team of the IPCC. She has over 18 years of experience working on policies and institutions of water resources management with a special focus on water-energy-food nexus. Aditi is a human geographer by training and has a PhD from Cambridge University.

Aditya Chopra

Senior Manager

Samagra

×

Aditya Chopra

Senior Manager

Samagra

Aditya Chopra is Senior Manager at Samagra | Transforming Governance, a mission-driven governance consulting firm in India. He leads the firm's education programmes with the Governments of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. These programmes are focused on improving learning level outcomes for around 3 million government school children. He previously worked as an Associate Equity Analyst at Trefis where he was catering to top investment banks. Aditya holds an MBA from the University of Oxford and BTech in Mechanical Engineering from YMCA Faridabad.

Adritha Subbiah

Energy and Green Growth Policy Manager

British High Commission

×

Adritha Subbiah

Energy and Green Growth Policy Manager

British High Commission

Adritha is passionate about sustainable development and has built her career around climate change mitigation and adaptation with a strong focus on marginalised communities. She has over 9 years of experience and has worked with civil society, bilateral, and multilateral agencies on resource mobilisation, programme design and evaluation, implementation, policy advocacy, and communication. Currently she works with the UK Governments’ Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office managing bilateral projects across energy security, climate change, and sustainable low carbon development.

Adwait Joshi

Chief Executive Officer

Clean Energy Access Network

×

Adwait Joshi

Chief Executive Officer

Clean Energy Access Network

Adwait Joshi is the CEO of CLEAN, an industry accelerator representing 200+ decentralised renewable energy organisations in India, committed to advance clean energy integration for sustainable development in underserved communities. CLEAN in collaboration with its member organisations creates access to improved quality of life, uplifting communities from poverty and combat climate change by leveraging DRE. Localised clean energy democratises the power of choice - of better healthcare, education, livelihoods - and transforms communities to sustainable societies.

Aijaz Dhebar

Mayor

Raipur

×

Aijaz Dhebar

Mayor

Raipur

Aijaz Dhebar is the youngest Mayor of Raipur Municipal Corporation. He is also the State Secretary of the Chhattisgarh Congress Committee. Earlier he was the first N.S.U.I. President of Chhattisgarh State. With his efforts swami Vivekananda Sarovar 'Budhatalab' has been transformed, TelibandhaTalab is being made smart, Kotwali police station is being made high-tech. He also launched an initiative to create a world-class sports center in Raipur and done many other developments. His youthful and progressive thinking has been benefitting the Raipur city in times of COVID-19.

Akshetha Ashok

Co-founder

Sama

×

Akshetha Ashok

Co-founder

Sama

Akshetha is the co-founder of SAMA, an enterprise that is resolving disputes in a totally new way: fully online, in a fast and cost effective manner. She is also the Chief Coordinator of Indian Mediation Week. Over the last few years, SAMA has enabled hundreds of young citizens, particularly students, to be case managers and embody new roles in this new way of resolving disputes. Akshetha Ashok_Everyone Making Justice: Why only population-scale citizen agency can close the justice gap in India

Alok Verma

Project Director

HCL Foundation

×

Alok Verma

Project Director

HCL Foundation

Alok Varma is associated with HCL Foundation as Project Director. He leads HCL Samuday – a rural development flagship program of the Foundation, and Clean NOIDA – a municipal waste management initiative. Having played key role in conceptualization and creation of these programs, he oversees their strategy and management aspects. Alok started his career as a civil servant in the state of Uttar Pradesh and holds a post-graduate diploma in Management from IIM, Lucknow. He also has rich experience of giving consultations on various infrastructure and development projects to several state governments, international governments, and international development institutions.

Amit Chandra

Managing Director

Bain Capital Private Equity

×

Amit Chandra

Managing Director

Bain Capital Private Equity

Mr. Chandra joined Bain Capital Private Equity in 2008 as a member of it’s Asia-Pacific leadership team. He is the founder and Chairman of its India office. Prior to joining Bain Capital, Mr. Chandra spent most of his professional career at DSP Merrill Lynch, a leading investment bank in India. He retired from DSP Merrill Lynch in 2007 as a Board Member & it’s Managing Director. Prior to his MBA, Mr. Chandra worked at India's leading engineering & construction firm, Larsen & Toubro. Over the years Mr. Chandra has served on the Boards of many leading corporates and not for profits including Tata Sons, Genpact, Ashoka University, Piramal Enterprises, Emcure Pharmaceuticals, Akanksha Foundation, Tata Investments, and Give India. His wife Archana and he received the “Asia Heroes of Philanthropy Award” in 2016. Mr. Chandra received his MBA from Boston College, and was awarded the school's Distinguished Alumni in 2007, a year in which he was also named by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader. He received his undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering from VJTI, Bombay University.

Amitabh Kant

CEO

NITI Aayog

×

Amitabh Kant

CEO

NITI Aayog

Mr. Amitabh Kant is presently CEO of National Institution for Transforming India (NITI). He is a member of the Indian Administrative Service, IAS (Kerala Cadre: 1980 batch). He is the author of Branding India - An Incredible Story. Mr. Kant has been a key driver of the “Make in India”, Startup India, “Incredible India” and God’s Own Country” initiatives that positioned India and Kerala State as leading manufacturing and tourism destinations. These campaigns have won several international awards and embraced a host of activities – infrastructure development, product enhancement, private-public partnership and positioning and branding based on extensive market research. Mr. Kant also conceptualized the “Atithi Devo Bhavah” – “Guest is God” campaign to train Taxi Drivers, Guides, immigration officials and make them stake holders in the tourism development process. Mr. Amitabh Kant was also the National Project Director of the Rural Tourism Project of UNDP which made a paradigm shift in spreading tourism to Indian villages which had core-competency in handicrafts, handloom and culture. In his capacity as Secretary (Industries) Govt. of India, Mr. Kant drove the Ease of Doing Business initiative and ranking of States on outcome parameters. He is the Chairman of the Committee to implement Digital Payment in India. Mr. Kant has been the recipient of Economic Time Policy Change Agent of the Year Award, the Bloomberg TV Personality of the year Award, the NDTV Administrator of the year Award and the Distinguished Fellowship of the Institute of Directors. He is the recipient of One Globe Award-2016 for leadership in Transforming Governance for the 21st Century. He is a Member of the Steering Board of “Shaping the Future of Production Systems” of World Economic Forum. He is also the recipient of the Sir Edmund Hillary Fellowship award by the Prime Minister of New Zealand. He is also the recipient of the Golden Peacock Award for leadership in Economic Transformation - 2017.

Amitav Virmani

Founder & CEO

The Education Alliance

×

Amitav Virmani

Founder & CEO

The Education Alliance

Amitav is the Founder and CEO of The Education Alliance (TEA), a non-profit organization focused on improving the quality of education in Government schools. TEA works with the state governments of Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Tripura, Gujarat, Delhi and the South Delhi Municipal Corporation. Prior to founding TEA, Amitav was Country Director, ARK India. Amitav and his team launched several programmes focused on school leadership, english language literacy, school vouchers and school quality assessments. Amitav was educated at the Doon School and went on to study Economics at St. Stephens College, Delhi University. He has an MBA from UNC Chapel Hill, USA. He sits on the board of AVPN India, Childrens Book Trust, Virmani Education Trust, Kamala Nehru College, Teach for India (Delhi), The Blind Relief Association and Shri Ram Schools. Amitav is a member of the CII Education Task Force and also a member of the International Board of Advisors for Kenan Flagler Business School, UNC, Chapel Hill. Amitav is an Aspen, Ashoka and N/Core Fellow.

Anand Kutre

Founder

True Consultancy Assistive Technology

×

Anand Kutre

Founder

True Consultancy Assistive Technology

Anand is a dynamic mechanical engineer with more than 25 years of in-depth experience across product innovation, product strategy, development, consulting and delivery; business development; sales and marketing; strategy and negotiations; and lean team management. He is the founder of True Consultancy Assistive Technology which is a disability inclusion company focusing on creating assistive tech products for mobility. He has couple of patents for some of the innovative products that he has developed. TurnPlus is one such product which is award winning, patent pending and addresses the very important aspect of easy commute for the PWDs. He believes that, People with Disabilities (PwDs) should have solutions that will help them make choices of stepping out and being independent. He plans to add new products to the portfolio which will help in disability inclusion. He wants to create solutions for PwDs which will enable them to go from their home to office desk with ease, thus empowering them. At True Assistive Technology, we develop Assistive tech products of International standards that enable disability inclusion. We want to make in India, quality and standardized products for India. We want to emerge as leaders in Assistive Technology and contribute positively to the upliftment of PwDs.

Aniket Doegar (he/him)

CEO and Co-Founder

Haqdarshak

×

Aniket Doegar (he/him)

CEO and Co-Founder

Haqdarshak

Aniket Doegar is the CEO and co-founder of Haqdarshak, a social enterprise. He has more than 10 years of experience in the development sector. He was a Teach For India fellow, and has worked with the Gyan Prakash Foundation and Indus Action. He was also an Acumen India Fellow 2018, and was selected for Forbes 30 under 30, Asia. Aniket is an alumnus of SRCC, Delhi.

Anindita Mukherjee

Senior Researcher

Center for Policy Research

×

Anindita Mukherjee

Senior Researcher

Center for Policy Research

Anindita Mukherjee works on the project, Scaling City Institutions for India (SCI-FI): Sanitation as a Senior Researcher. Her role focuses on informing and supporting the formulation and implementation of GOI’s urban sanitation programmes and investments through research in urban sanitation. Her key sectors of experience are urban economics, slum upgradation, inclusion, housing & urban basic services (water & sanitation) for the poor and other marginalized section of the society

Anisha Gopi

Team Lead

Nyaaya

×

Anisha Gopi

Team Lead

Nyaaya

Anisha is the team lead at Nyaaya, an open access digital resource that provides simple, actionable and authoritative legal information to help solve day to day legal problems and create awareness about rights so that people feel empowered to seek justice. She holds a BA-LLB (Hons) from the National Law School of India University, Bangalore and an LLM in International Law and Human Rights from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. She has spent the past decade working with various civil society organisations in the areas of gender-based violence and access to justice. Some of her previous roles have been at the Office of the Secretary General at Amnesty International in London, the Harvard Law School Gender Violence Programme and the Harvard South Asia Institute, in Cambridge Massachusetts and The Majlis Legal Centre and Amarchand Mangaldas in Mumbai

Anita Nawle

Secretary

Ekal Mahila Sanghtana, Osmanabad, Marathwada

×

Anita Nawle

Secretary

Ekal Mahila Sanghtana, Osmanabad, Marathwada

Anita Nawle leads a campaign of ‘Ekal Mahila’ (Single women) in Marathwada that has more than 19000 women as its members. Married at the age of 16, and widowed at the age of 22 with two daughters to care for, Anita’s stories were tales of grief, poverty, helplessness, humiliation, and anxiety. Anita’s introduction to a local NGO, ‘Sheti va Gramin Vikas’ enabled her to interact with other women and motivated her to mobilize them. Her realization about her potential to be a change-maker and her own experiences of being a ‘single woman’ led her to lead the fight against the stigma and violence against single women. Anita has also successfully set up a saree shop at the block place (Paranda) that has grown from her tiny business of trading in sarees and clothes a few years ago in search of livelihood.

Anita Sharma

Research Scientist

Peoples Science Institute, Dehradun

×

Anita Sharma

Research Scientist

Peoples Science Institute, Dehradun

Ms. Anita Sharma has been in the development sector for more than a decade. She is working on water quality issues particularly its management at the grassroots level with Peoples Science Institute. Currently, she is managing a community-based fluorosis mitigation program in Dhar district Madhya Pradesh supported by Frank Water UK. She is also coordinating the project on water security through community-based springshed development in the Indian Himalayan Region funded by MoEF under the National Mission on Himalayan Studies. In the past, she has assessed the impact of tanneries on groundwater quality in Jajmau, Kanpur; Impact of rice mill effluents on water quality in Mahasamund, Raipur; Impact of kumbh mela on the water quality and benthic diversity of river Ganga at Haridwar; Groundwater quality monitoring in some of the industrially affected areas of Saharanpur district in Uttar Pradesh. She has developed a low cost, portable water quality testing kit and has also been involved in designing course content and delivering training on water quality.

Anjali Bansal

Founder Avaana Capital

Chair NITI Aayog Women Entrepreneurship Platform Investment Council

×

Anjali Bansal

Founder Avaana Capital

Chair NITI Aayog Women Entrepreneurship Platform Investment Council

Anjali Bansal is the Founder of Avaana Capital investing in start-ups for catalysing impact at scale while delivering commercial returns. Anjali was previously Chairman Dena Bank, Partner at TPG Private Equity, and at McKinsey &Co. She has invested in and mentored various successful start-ups including Delhivery, Urban Company, Lenskart and Nykaa. She serves on the boards of Tata Power, Delhivery, Kotak AMC. She is closely associated with NITI Aayog’s Women Entrepreneurship Platform and Digital Initiatives, is on the Expert Advisory Committee for the Start Up India Seed Fund Scheme.

Anjum Shaikh

Team Leader

Right to Pee-CORO India

×

Anjum Shaikh

Team Leader

Right to Pee-CORO India

Anjum Shaikh is amongst the 15 finalists of the Women Exemplar Award 2020 of the CII foundation. She works on the issues of women and sanitation in an area of 2.5 lakh population in Mumbai. The formation of local vigilance committees to monitor community sanitation with heavy involvement of women and building capacities of members of these committees to be impactful is core to Anjum’s work. Anjum challenged many gender norms in her personal and collective life. Having divorced her abusive husband and demonstrating courage to stand against any abuses, harassment, violence against women in her communities she is now a role model and support to many women and girls in her communities.

Ankiti Bose (she/her)

CEO & Co-Founder

Zilingo

×

Ankiti Bose (she/her)

CEO & Co-Founder

Zilingo

Ankiti co-founded Zilingo in 2015 at the age of 23. Ankiti is strongly driven by the goal of offering small merchants easy access to technology, working capital and economies of scale so that they can grow and build global businesses. Under her leadership, Zilingo has expanded to 8 countries with over 500 employees and has raised US $308 million from several investors including Temasek, EDBI, Sequoia Capital, Burda Principal Investments and SIG.

Anshu Gupta

Founder

Goonj

×

Anshu Gupta

Founder

Goonj

Popularly known as the Clothing Man and the recipient of 2015 Ramon Magsaysay award, Anshu Gupta founded Goonj with a mission to highlight some basic but ignored needs of people on the development agenda, using clothing as a metaphor. Anshu studied mass communication apart from doing a Masters in Economics and started as a freelance journalist. He left a corporate communication job in 1998 and initiated Goonj.. Under his leadership Goonj has taken the alarming growth of urban waste and turned it into a tool to trigger large scale work on various rural development issues. An Ashoka and Schwab Fellow for entrepreneurship, Anshu is creatively and flexibly matching and seamlessly weaving urban surplus into the changing priorities & realities of rural marginalized communities. He has built the genesis of a parallel trash based economy by creating barter between efforts of rural communities and urban surplus material as two new currencies. Using the discard of the cities and efforts and knowledge of the poor as a new resource for eliminating poverty, Anshu’s work offers the world a sustainable economic model. By prioritizing the dignity of the receiver and putting the decision making back into their hands. Anshu has also added ‘dignity’ as an important lens to define development for people. Under Anshu’s leadership Goonj has done massive disaster relief and rehab work pan India, turning every disaster into an opportunity to reach resources and attention to the most ignored communities. Listed by the Forbes magazine as one of India’s most powerful rural entrepreneurs, Anshu and Goonj have received a series national and international recognition on innovation, entrepreneurship, governance and public service including World Bank's development Market place award, Changemakers Innovation award to Jamnalal Bajaj Award for Fair Business Practices A foody, an entrepreneur, a thinker, a doer, an avid traveler, photographer and a journalist by heart, Anshu often pens prose and poetry, giving vent to his feelings and opinions on the issues that bother him about the world around him.

Antarin Chakrabarty

Senior Researcher and State-lead

Centre for Policy Research

×

Antarin Chakrabarty

Senior Researcher and State-lead

Centre for Policy Research

Antarin Chakrabarty is a Senior Researcher and State Team Lead, JAGA (Odisha Liveable Habitat) Mission at the Scaling City Institutions for India (SCI-FI) initiative at the Centre for Policy Research. Prior to this he worked on the technical development of digital tools for spatial decision making & participation at GIZ, India and as an advisor to the Housing & Urban Development Department, Government of Odisha in the planning and execution of the Odisha land rights to slum dwellers initiative.

Anu Aga

Board Member

Teach For India

×

Anu Aga

Board Member

Teach For India

Ms Anu Aga is an Indian billionaire businesswoman and social worker who led Thermax, an energy and environment engineering business, as its chairperson from 1996 to 2004. In 2007 was part of 40 Richest Indians by net worth according to Forbes magazine. She was awarded with the Mumbai Women of the Decade Achievers Award by ALL Ladies League, the all ladies wing of ASSOCHAM. After retiring from Thermax, she took to social work. In 2010, she was awarded the Padma Shri for Social Work by the Government of India, and in 2012, she was nominated to the Rajya Sabha.

Anurati Tandon

Engagement Manager

Arete Advisors

×

Anurati Tandon

Engagement Manager

Arete Advisors

Anurati Tandon works with Arete Advisors, a boutique management and impact advisory firm. Before joining Arete, Anurati worked with PwC, and Dalberg Advisors. Over 10 years, Anurati has worked across seven countries in the Middle East and North Africa, South and East Asia, and North America - specifically in healthcare, climate change and gender. In 2019 she moved back to India to pursue her passion of contributing to India’s development sector. Anurati has a background in Economics (St. Stephen’s College) and Management (Yale University). Anurati serves as Engagement Advisor to the India Climate Collaborative

Anushka Shah

Founder

Civic Studios, Researcher MIT Media Lab

×

Anushka Shah

Founder

Civic Studios, Researcher MIT Media Lab

Anushka founded the Civic Entertainment project at the MIT Media Lab and now runs a production house titled Civic Studios in Mumbai. Civic Studios creates entertainment in the form of films, web series, and short-form digital content to inspire citizen participation and help build better democracies. Anushka has a background in applied statistics and digital text analysis, and has previously worked with non-profits and political parties in India. She divides her time between Mumbai and Chicago.

Anustup Nayak

Project Director

Central Square Foundation

×

Anustup Nayak

Project Director

Central Square Foundation

Anustup now leads the Classroom Instruction & Practice team at Central Square Foundation. Anustup brings close to two decades of on-ground experience in education reform. He left a corporate career in the United States in 2002 to pursue his interest in education. Over the last decade, he has played key roles in building various aspects of XSEED Education's work spanning advocacy, assessment, product development and talent management. Anustup's work has been published by the Harvard Business Review online, the MIT Journal of Innovation, Forbes and Times of India.

Anvar Sadath

CEO

KITE Kerala

×

Anvar Sadath

CEO

KITE Kerala

Mr. Anvar Sadath is the CEO of Kerala Infrastructure & Technology For Education (KITE – erstwhile IT@School Project), established by by Govt of Kerala to foster ICT education and infrastructural developments in school education. He is also heads ‘ViCTERS’, which is the first complete educational channel in India. Under his leadership several programmes including “Hi-tech School project” converting 10K+ schools in the state in to Hi-tech, the pedagogy based class room transactions portal 'Samagra’, and Broadband Internet to 15000 schools. He started his career with CDAC , a Govt of India Institution as Scientist in 1998 and then worked with Information Kerala Mission, Kerala State IT Mission, IT@School etc. Anvar was the Executive Director of IT@school etc. He is the first Indian to receive ‘International Contributions Award’ for his contribution to Educational technology, instituted by US based AECT (Association for Educational Communications & Technology ) in 2018.

Anwari Khan

Team leader

Women Empowerment program, CORO India

×

Anwari Khan

Team leader

Women Empowerment program, CORO India

Anwari Khan is a team leader working on combating violence against women and girls in low-income communities of Mumbai and received the ‘Woman achiever award’ in 2016. Married at the age of 13, Anwari migrated to Mumbai many years ago. Her relentless attempt to be a ‘good, tolerant, unquestioning’ woman crumbled down when she saw her daughter going through the vicious cycle of marital violence. Her act of openly supporting her daughter and acting against all odds in doing so later led to her deep work with women and girls on combating violence. Anwari has been in the team of co-researchers in academic research on ‘Meanings of women’s empowerment. A firebrand leader as she is known today, Anwari has emerged to be a huge support within and outside of her family.

Aparna Khandelwal

Energy Program Advisor

ICC

×

Aparna Khandelwal

Energy Program Advisor

ICC

Aparna is a Sustainability Strategy & Finance professional with more than 14 years of experience. Specifically, her work has revolved around conceiving, testing and deploying market-driven solutions to sustainability challenges in emerging economies like India. Her expertise lies in identifying market opportunities and framing solutions based on the intersection of business, technology and finance. She has worked across multiple domains of Sustainability focussing on GHG mitigation, renewable energy, energy and water efficiency, waste management, responsible finance and impact investing. She is an economics graduate from Delhi University and MBA finance from TAPMI, Manipal.

Aprajita Pandey

Founder and CEO

Haiyya

×

Aprajita Pandey

Founder and CEO

Haiyya

Aprajita is the founder & CEO of Haiyya, a youth-led feminist organizing and movement building organization established in 2015 in India. She has been organizing on gender, sexuality, health, climate and political participation issues for the past 10 years. She studied Leadership, Organizing & Action courses in 2016 and has been working closely with Professor Ganz and Leading Change Network to develop organizing infrastructure in India and South Asia. She also chairs a global Youth Climate Fund at Urban Movement Incubation Fund. She has been the core team member of Mobilisation Lab and Campaign Academy India. She was recently selected as the founding member of Indian Women Social Entrepreneurs Network of ANDE and Amani Institute. Other than social justice, feminism and human rights, she is passionate about cooking, plants, sunsets and obsessed with her niece and her 6 year old beagle.

Arghya Sengupta

Founder and Research Director

Vidhi

×

Arghya Sengupta

Founder and Research Director

Vidhi

Dr. Arghya Sengupta is Founder and Research Director, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy. Vidhi is an independent think-tank doing legal research to make better laws and improve governance for the public good. Arghya’s specific areas of focus are constitutional law, judicial reforms and growth of the digital economy. He develops his original ideas through a monthly column at The Telegraph and The Times of India. He has served on numerous government committees including the Committee of Experts to draft a data protection law for India. He has recently authored a book “Independence and Accountability of the Indian Higher Judiciary” (Cambridge, 2019) which builds on his doctoral work at Oxford University. Prior to founding Vidhi, he was at Oxford University as a Lecturer in Administrative Law at Pembroke College.

Arif Ekram

Manager

Global Partnerships

×

Arif Ekram

Manager

Global Partnerships

Arif Ekram is a Manager of Global Partnerships at Candid. He uses his expertise, both domestically and internationally, to manage programs and projects that strengthen philanthropy’s capacity and engages philanthropy with other development actors. He focuses on data collection, data sharing, and data literacy as well as facilitating partnerships to ensure collaboration across the field. His work also promotes accountability and transparency in the philanthropic sector. Arif also leads various philanthropic research projects to create knowledge that benefits the sector. Prior to joining Candid, Arif worked in the private sector and brings significant experience to the table that helps navigate in complex multidimensional and multi-stakeholder settings. He is based in New York and holds a graduate degree in public policy from Stony Brook University

Arun Maira

Former Member of Planning Commission of India

×

Arun Maira

Former Member of Planning Commission of India

Arun Maira has an unusual combination of experience as a hands-on leader in the business, public, and social sectors, as well as a consultant to leaders, and also a thought-leader on subjects of leadership and institution transformation. He has written several books on institutional transformation and the future of India, including A Billion Fireflies: Critical Conversations to Shape a New Post-Pandemic World;; The Solutions Factory: A Consultant’s Handbook for Problem-Solving;; Transforming Systems: Why the World needs a New Ethical Toolkit;; and Transforming Capitalism: Improving the World for Everyone. Arun was a Member of India’s Planning Commission from 2009-14, prior to which he was Chairman of the Boston Consulting Group India, and previously had worked with the Tata Group in India and abroad for 25 years.

Arun Raste

Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer

NCDEX

×

Arun Raste

Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer

NCDEX

He has over 3 decades of experience across BFSI, corporate and social development sectors. In his prior assignment he was associated with the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) as an Executive Director. He has also served as a Director on the Board of Indian Immunological Limited (Hyderabad), Mother Dairy Fruit &Vegetable Private Limited (Delhi) and IRMA, Anand. In his banking career he worked with private sector banks like IDFC First Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and financial inclusion behemoth NABARD handling commercial lending, product development, distribution network, branding, communication and CSR. His previous stints also include working with ACC cement and an NGO IRFT (International Resources for Fairer Trade). As an NGO delegate, he participated in the UNCTAD summit in Brazil, WTO Ministerial in Mexico, and Hong Kong. He had been invited to speak at prestigious events and presented papers in conferences held at countries like Australia, Belgium, Brazil, France, Holland, Japan, Senegal and the UK. He was also invited by the US State Department for International Visitors Leadership Programme. Apart from representing Asia at the International Fair-Trade Forum he also chaired the think tank of the Asian forum for CSR in SMEs. He has over a dozen publications in national and international journals to his credit.

Arun Seth

Trustee

NASSCOM Foundation

×

Arun Seth

Trustee

NASSCOM Foundation

Mr. Arun Seth. He is a founder member of our Board, ex-Chairman of British Telecom India and Alcatel-Lucent. He is a trustee at NASSCOM Foundation, and was the founding chairman of the BPO Forum for NASSCOM, India's leading industry association for IT and BPO. He is the co-chair for the Sustainable Development Council and is on the board of TERI and TERI University. Arun also serves on several boards like Dominos India (Jubilant Foodworks), Cadista Pharma, Balmer Lawrie, Narayana Hrudalaya and HelpAge India. Arun is an alumnus of IIT Kanpur and IIM Calcutta.

Ashif Shaikh

Co-Founder

Jan Sahas

×

Ashif Shaikh

Co-Founder

Jan Sahas

Ashif Shaikh is an Indian social activist, known for his role in Rashtriya Garima Abhiyan, a campaign for the eradication of manual scavenging. He is also a co-founder of Jan Sahas, a human rights organisation. Since 2000, Jan Sahas has been working to end caste- and gender-based slavery and violence through the eradication of manual scavenging, caste-based sex work, forced labour, and trafficking. He has won several awards for this work, including the Sadbhavana Award and the Times of India Social Impact Award.

Ashish Dhawan

Founder, Chairman

Central Square Foundation

×

Ashish Dhawan

Founder, Chairman

Central Square Foundation

Mr. Ashish Dhawan is a private equity investor and philanthropist who co-founded and ran one of India's leading private equity funds, Chrysalis Capital. In 2012, he founded Central Square Foundation (CSF), a grant-making organization and policy think tank focused on transforming the quality of school education in India that brings a fresh impact based approach to philanthropy in India.. In 2014, he spearheaded the launch of India's first liberal arts university, Ashoka University. He sits on the Board of several nonprofits including Akanksha Foundation, 3.2.1 Education Foundation, Teach for India, Centre for Civil Society, Janaagraha and GiveLife. He has been recognized as the NextGen Leader in Philanthropy by Forbes India and placed 15th on the 2014 Hurun India Philanthropy List.

Ashish Karamchandani

President

The/Nudge Foundation

×

Ashish Karamchandani

President

The/Nudge Foundation

Ashish is president of The/Nudge Foundation. He focuses on using market-based solutions to drive sustainable social change. His emphasis has been on multi-year programs that seek to build and scale inclusive business models to address sector-specific development challenges. Ashish was the founder of Monitor Inclusive Markets (MIM), a social action unit within Monitor. He pioneered MIM’s market-based approach to addressing the world’s development challenges. Ashish led an extensive effort to facilitate a new ownership housing industry to serve low-income urban households, working with entrepreneurs, developers, finance companies, major corporations, and the government. In 2018 this had scaled to a USD 4 billion loan portfolio and over 230,000 new houses. Ashish has also helped catalyze the clean drinking water market for low-income urban households and private sector supply of toilets in Bihar. Prior to founding MIM, Ashish started, developed, and led Monitor Group’s consulting business in India. Ashish has a PhD from Stanford University, an MS from the University of California, Berkeley, and a B.Tech. from IIT Bombay. Ashish is also actively involved with Ummeed, a nonprofit that helps children with, and at risk of, developmental disabilities.

Ashok Kamath

Chairman

Akshara Foundation

×

Ashok Kamath

Chairman

Akshara Foundation

Ashok Kamath is currently the Chairman of Akshara Foundation, a public-private partnership that aims to have ‘Every Child in School and Learning Well’. In the past five years alone, Akshara’s work has impacted over 4,500,000 children at both the pre-school and primary school levels in Karnataka, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. Ashok has been conferred with the prestigious 'Namma Bengalurean' award for exemplary work in education. His alma mater, IIT-Bombay, presented him with its Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2013 for his various initiatives and contributions to the field of child education. Ashok is also a Co-Founder and Trustee of Pratham Books and Trustee of Shreyas Foundation, Ahmedabad.

Ashwin Gambhir

Fellow

Prayas (Energy Group)

×

Ashwin Gambhir

Fellow

Prayas (Energy Group)

Ashwin Gambhir is a Fellow at Prayas (Energy Group) and leads the work on renewable energy policy and regulatory research and advocacy. He has played a key role in the development of the “solar feeder” model for irrigation in Maharashtra. Ashwin also works on electricity storage and energy modeling. His larger interest is in the social and environmental sustainability of energy systems and its interaction with society.

Ashwini K Swain

Fellow

Centre for Policy Research

×

Ashwini K Swain

Fellow

Centre for Policy Research

Ashwini K. Swain is a Fellow at Centre for Policy Research. His research interests include political economy of electricity and water-energy-food nexus. He holds a PhD in Politics from University of York and MPhil and MA degrees in Political Studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Atul Satija

Founder 2.0 and CEO

GiveIndia

×

Atul Satija

Founder 2.0 and CEO

GiveIndia

Atul is the Founder & CEO of The/Nudge Foundation and the Founder 2.0 & CEO of GiveIndia. After 17 years of starting, scaling and turning around various businesses in some of the largest and most respected organisations globally, he decided to start The/Nudge Foundation in 2015 to fulfill his passion of working on inequality and social issues facing India. Atul is now serving both The/Nudge and GiveIndia as their CEO. Atul was previously responsible for global sales, marketing, business-development and operations as Chief Revenue Officer at InMobi. Over his 5- year stint at InMobi, Atul helped scale the organisation from a small start-up to a global leader in mobile advertising. Prior to InMobi, Atul was the Head of Mobile Business for Japan & Asia-Pacific, and Head of Business Development for India at Google. Atul has also done various sales, consulting and business development assignments across telecom and technology companies including Adobe, Samsung and Infosys. Atul served EndPoverty, another non-profit as Chairperson for two years, working on various poverty related issues including water, sanitation, education, skill-development, sustainability and women empowerment. Atul has been named in the #40underForty list by The Economic Times in 2017. Atul holds a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from Indian School of Business and B-Tech from National Institute of Technology.

Avijit Michael

Managing Trustee & Executive Director

Jhatkaa.org

×

Avijit Michael

Managing Trustee & Executive Director

Jhatkaa.org

Avijit Michael has worked at the intersection of campaigning and digital technology for the past decade. He worked with the team that pioneered online petitions and digital mobilisation in India with Greenpeace. He then worked at Change.org as Country Director to set up their India operations before moving to a role as Global Development Director where he built strategy for user engagement globally. He currently leads Jhatkaa.org, with a mission to build the tools that will enable citizen engagement in democracy and increase government accountability.

Azeez Gupta

Co-Founder

Rocket Learning

×

Azeez Gupta

Co-Founder

Rocket Learning

Azeez Gupta is co-founder of Rocket Learning, an ed-tech non-profit that impacts 200,000 children across 4 states and has been profiled by Harvard, UNESCO and Forbes. He serves on working groups of the central government and UNICEF on foundational learning. Azeez was a management consultant at McKinsey before spending several years leading a 1200 member team as part of Pratham’s senior leadership. He graduated as a Goldsmith Fellow from Harvard Business School, and did his B.Tech from IIT Delhi.

Barkha Dutt

Mojo Story

×

Barkha Dutt

Mojo Story

Barkha Dutt is an Indian television journalist, author and owner of YouTube news channel MoJo Story. She is an opinion columnist with The Hindustan Times and The Washington Post. Dutt was part of NDTV's team for 21 years, until she left the channel in January 2017. Barkha emerged as a prominent figure after her frontline war reporting on the Kargil Conflict between India and Pakistan in 1999. Dutt has won many national and international awards, including the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian honour. Dutt was one of the journalists taped in the Radia tapes controversy. At NDTV, Dutt was the host of the weekly, award-winning talk-show We The People as well as the daily prime-time show The Buck Stops Here. She has done her BA from St. Stephen's College, Delhi (BA), MA from Jamia Millia Islamia (MA) and MS from Columbia University.

Ben Piper

Senior Director

Africa Education for RTI International

×

Ben Piper

Senior Director

Africa Education for RTI International

Benjamin Piper is the Senior Director, Africa Education for RTI International based in Nairobi. He provides support to large scale education projects across sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Dr. Piper was previously the Chief of Party of the Kenyan national literacy program called Tusome, the set of RCTs in Kenya called PRIMR, and the National Tablets Programme. He is currently the Principal Investigator for Learning at Scale, a multi-country study of highly effective large-scale education programs with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and an external evaluation of programs increasing playful pedagogy at large scale with funding from the Lego Foundation. He is also the PI for Science of Teaching, an effort funded by the Gates Foundation to increase what is known about the technical details of how to improve pedagogy at large scale. Dr. Piper has a doctorate in international education from Harvard Graduate School of Education and Masters’ degrees in international education policy and school leadership from Harvard Graduate School of Education and Furman University, respectively. He has lived in East Africa since 2007 and current lives in Nairobi.

Bindi Dharia

Deputy Director

Centre for Social Impact & Philanthrophy, Ashoka University

×

Bindi Dharia

Deputy Director

Centre for Social Impact & Philanthrophy, Ashoka University

Bindi has previously worked with the Tata Trusts for Grant Relationships Management. Before that she was at the Piramal Foundation for Education Leadership as their program director for Technology. She holds a master's degree in engineering from the University of Michigan and an MBA from Harvard Business School, with a focus in social enterprise and education. Her earlier experience is in the space of engineering and operations with ArcelorMittal.<br> <br>

Bonny Dave

Founder

Trestle Labs

×

Bonny Dave

Founder

Trestle Labs

Bonny Dave, Co-founder of Trestle Labs has a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Nirma University and is a fellow at the Royal Academy of Engineering under their Leaders in Innovation Fellowship program. During his engineering, a visit to a blind school crystalized his expectation from his education. He looked at engineering as a means to bridge the gap between human aspirations and resources, translating this to Trestle Labs, where their vision is to ‘Make world’s resources inclusive’.

Chhavi Rajawat

Ex-Sarpanch

Soda Village, Rajasthan

×

Chhavi Rajawat

Ex-Sarpanch

Soda Village, Rajasthan

Chhavi Rajawat, an Aspen fellow, has served as the Sarpanch of Village Soda in Rajasthan’s Tonk districton two occasions. She is India’s first MBA Sarpanch. She has earned various honours for her commitment to community service, including the Bharat Ratna Rajiv Gandhi Yuva Shakti National Award and an honorary Ph.D. in Rural Development. Chhavi enhanced her constituency by giving electricity and toilets, better farming facilities, improved medical services, adequate roads, and a bank during her time as Sarpanch. Chhavi is the current principal of Eminent Girls College, where she seeks to develop and influence young women.

Dayoung Lee

Associate Partner

Dalberg

×

Dayoung Lee

Associate Partner

Dalberg

Dayoung Lee is an Associate Partner and a co-lead of the Education to Employment Practice at Dalberg, an impact-driven strategic advisory firm with offices in over 20 countries worldwide. Based in Mumbai, she leads many engagements across Asia to empower women and children. She focuses on strategy and policy development, innovative finance and Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning (MEL). Her recent work includes designing a tool for private sector companies to become inclusive workplaces for women, and assessing the cost effectiveness of education interventions and drawing lessons from pivots to remote learning during COVID. She led a study on the impacts of COVID on student learning in India with UNICEF. She has designed interventions to engage men to improve nutrition and family planning outcomes in India

Debjani Ghosh

President

NASSCOM

×

Debjani Ghosh

President

NASSCOM

Deeohn Ferris

President

Institute for Sustainable Communities (ISC)

×

Deeohn Ferris

President

Institute for Sustainable Communities (ISC)

Deeohn Ferris is President of the Institute for Sustainable Communities whose global mission is unleashing the power of communities and local leaders to build a better future shaped and shared by all. She is an environmental lawyer, racial and social justice practitioner, and systems change thought leader. Her career is rooted in the tenets of racial, economic and environmental justice. She began her career at US EPA, founded the Sustainable Community Development Group and was VP for Equity, Diversity & Inclusion at National Audubon Society.

Deepa Gopalakrishnan

Associate Director

Implementation

×

Deepa Gopalakrishnan

Associate Director

Implementation

Deepa Gopalakrishnan is a development sector professional passionate about causes for women, children and informal sector workers. She is part of the Impact Achievement team at Samhita Social Ventures and leads the implementation of the REVIVE program. She is also a member of the senior leadership team at St. Jude India ChildCare Centres, an NGO working with children undergoing treatment for cancer. Prior to crossing over to the development sector, Deepa has spent 12 years in technology delivery management roles in leading corporates such as Dell, Morgan Stanley and ICICI Bank. She is a graduate in Information Systems from BITS Pilani and an MBA from SPJIMR Mumbai.

Deepali Khanna

MD, Asia Regional Office

Rockefeller Foundation

×

Deepali Khanna

MD, Asia Regional Office

Rockefeller Foundation

Deepali Khanna is the Managing Director of the Asia Regional Office of the Rockefeller Foundation overseeing the foundation's policy, advocacy, grant-making, and strategic partnerships in Asia. She previously managed Smart Power for Rural Development, Foundation’s flagship initiative in India, Myanmar, and Africa. Deepali comes with over three decades of experience, across Asia, Africa and North America, leading social impact and initiatives for organizations like The MasterCard Foundation, Plan International and UNICEF.

Devendra Gupta

Co-Founder and Director

Ecozen

×

Devendra Gupta

Co-Founder and Director

Ecozen

Devendra is an alumnus of the prestigious IIT Kharagpur. He has an in-depth understanding of the cleantech, agri-value chain and aspires to disrupt the way perishables are handled today. He heads product management, strategy &amp; finance for the company. He has marshalled product development initiatives and has lead product design and market study for the product launches. He has been instrumental in building the team, strategic partnerships &amp; raising funds at Ecozen. He is an Unreasonable Fellow. He is also a part of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Taskforce for cold chain, &amp; part of renewable energy committee of National Center for ColdChain Development (NCCD). He has also been time and again a part of various agriculture &amp; cold chain forums chaired by key leaders in the country. It is under his leadership that the company has been recognized with numerous awards such as the “CII award for Innovation in Cold Chain” in the year 2017, Fedex Small Business Grant in 2018, Rabo Food Loss Challenge in 2018, Best Startup in Pune, Pune-Connect 2014. He was chosen also amongst “50 Most Influential Sustainability Leaders list in 2017”. He believes that we live in one of the most exciting times in the history, where technology enabled business models will address the long standing issues.

Dhanya Rajendran

Editor-in-Chief

The News Minute

×

Dhanya Rajendran

Editor-in-Chief

The News Minute

Dhanya Rajendran is the Editor-in-Chief of the digital portal www.thenewsminute.com that brings in-depth and incisive reports from south India. TNM, in a short span of time, has established itself as one of the most credible sources of news from the five southern states. Dhanya is also the chairperson of DigiPub, India's biggest association of digital media publishers. Previously, she worked as South India head for the English news channel Times Now.

Divya Varma

Programme Manager, Centre for Migration and Labour Solutions, Aajeevika Bureau

×

Divya Varma

Programme Manager, Centre for Migration and Labour Solutions, Aajeevika Bureau

Divya leads Aajeevika Bureau’s policy and partnerships work, engaging with a range of stakeholders, from industry to government. Divya is a public policy professional with wide-ranging experience in policy analysis, advocacy and research; non-profit strategy, management and fund-raising. Most recently, she led a multi-locational policy research study that looked at examining the extent to which migrant workers in cities have access to basic public provisioning. A Fulbright Scholar, Divya holds a degree in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and a Postgraduate Diploma from the Institute of Rural Management, Anand.

Donald Lobo

Executive Director

Chintu Gudiya Foundation

×

Donald Lobo

Executive Director

Chintu Gudiya Foundation

Donald Lobo serves as Executive Director of the Chintu Gudiya Foundation, a private family foundation based in San Francisco, CA, that funds US-based NGOs and organizations developing open source software for the public good. Their current focus is working with NGOs in India. Donald is also the Co-Founder and Lead Developer of CiviCRM, an organization founded with the goal of giving the sector a free, liberal, and open alternative to their software needs. Moving from Mumbai to the US in the early 1990s to pursue a postgraduate degree in computer science, Donald Lobo subsequently joined Yahoo’s founding team as the “Technical Yahoo.” Lobo began thinking about investing his time & resources in causes close to his heart early in his life and started his philanthropic journey 15 years ago when he founded the Chintu Gudiya Foundation. Understanding pressing and neglected issues on the ground and taking big bets on organizations with the most effective solutions are integral parts of Donald’s philanthropy.

Dr Abhijeet Singh

Associate Professor

Stockholm School of Economics

×

Dr Abhijeet Singh

Associate Professor

Stockholm School of Economics

Dr. Abhijeet Singh is an Associate Professor at the Stockholm School of Economics. His research focuses on education and nutrition in developing countries, with a particular focus on India, including audit studies on the reliability of large-scale state assessments and the potential for technology-enabled improvements. He is affiliated with JPAL, the Centre for Global Development, CES-Ifo and the Young Lives study (Oxford). He received his BA(Hons) from the University of Delhi and his MSc and DPhil from the University of Oxford.

Dr Amit Chandra

Senior Consultant

Central Square Foundation

×

Dr Amit Chandra

Senior Consultant

Central Square Foundation

Dr Amit Chandra is a social development professional with expertise in research and advocacy in public policy space. His work in the past has been deeply focused on school education, urban livelihoods, and governance. Amit has worked with the Delhi based think tank Centre for Civil Society (CCS) as ‘Associate Director’. He has also spent a year in Kabul working with The Asia Foundation (TAF) providing knowledge and technical support to the Ministry of Education, Afghanistan. Amit has played a crucial role in developing, strengthening, and scaling up National Independent Schools Alliance (NISA), the national federation of associations of low-cost private schools, as ‘National Coordinator’.

Dr Anant Bhan

Adjunct Faculty

Dept. of Forensic Medicine, Kasturba Medical College and Site-Principal Investigator, Sangath

×

Dr Anant Bhan

Adjunct Faculty

Dept. of Forensic Medicine, Kasturba Medical College and Site-Principal Investigator, Sangath

Dr. Anant Bhan is a physician with a masters’ degree in bioethics from the University of Toronto. He is a researcher in global health, bioethics and health policy. He is also Adjunct Professor, Yenepoya (deemed to be University), Mangalore, India and Adjunct Faculty, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal, India. Anant is Immediate Past President, International Association of Bioethics. His work is focused on ethics and equity in health, mental health, digital health, public health ethics, research ethics, community engagement, ethics of innovative technologies and ethics training for professionals. Anant is based at Bhopal, India.

Dr Arundati Muralidharan

Policy lead

WaterAid India

×

Dr Arundati Muralidharan

Policy lead

WaterAid India

Arundati is a public health professional with more than 15 years experience. Arundati currently works with WaterAid India, and leads the organization's work on integration of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) into allied sectors of health, nutrition and education and on hygiene behaviour change. She is a passionate advocate of hygiene, and her work on this issue lies at the intersection of programs, evidence generation and policy advocacy. Her work seeks to inform policy and program directions at a national and sub-national levels, and with a range of non-Government stakeholders. She is a strong proponent of collaboration, cross learning and joint advocacy. Arundati has a Masters in Medical and Psychiatric Social Work and a Doctorate in Public Health.

Dr Ashok Kumar Ghosh

Chairman

Bihar State Pollution Control Board

×

Dr Ashok Kumar Ghosh

Chairman

Bihar State Pollution Control Board

Dr. Ashok Kumar Ghosh is Chairman of Bihar State Pollution Control Board. He is also working as Professor and HoD, Research at Mahavir Cancer Institute and Research Centre, Patna. The main areas of his research is ground water quality and quantity. Dr. Ghosh has worked extensively ground water arsenic contamination and its health impact. He is the PI of DST supported project INNOWATER. Dr.Ghosh is also working on International Project DELTAP supported by NWO Wotro of Netherlands, Project NUTRI-SAM supported by DST-UKIERI and Project FAR-Ganga supported by DST-NERC. He has active research collaborations with Technical University of Delft, The Netherlands, University of Manchester, UK and University of Salford, UK.

Dr Debajit Palit

Director

Rural Energy

×

Dr Debajit Palit

Director

Rural Energy

Dr Debajit Palit is Senior Fellow & Director of the Rural Energy and Livelihoods Division in TERI and has around 24 years of experience working with projects related to renewable energy technologies and DRE. He has led several projects in over 15 countries across India, South and Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. The notable programmes and projects include the Lighting a Billion Lives (LaBL) Initiative, OASYS South Asia and SMILE project. He has more than 70 research publications in scholarly journals, conference proceedings & books. Dr Palit also holds a master’s degree in Physics and a PhD in Energy Policy and has written widely on energy access, DRE, rural electrification & energy-gender-poverty nexus.

Dr Deepak B. Saxena

Indian Institute of Public Health Gandhinagar

×

Dr Deepak B. Saxena

Indian Institute of Public Health Gandhinagar

Dr Deepak Saxena is Physician by training and MD in Community Medicine. He is also PhD in Epidemiology and Post Doc in Public Health from Centre of Global Health (IHCAR), Krolinsika Institute, and Stockholm Sweden. At IIPHG he is a member of NIDHI-Techno business Incubation center and Regional Resource center for Health Technology Assessment. He is also a team member for generating Evidences to WASH in Health Care Facility at WHO-HQ.

Dr Deepak Sanan

Senior Adviser

Indian Institute of Human Settlements Bengaluru and Senior Visiting Fellow

×

Dr Deepak Sanan

Senior Adviser

Indian Institute of Human Settlements Bengaluru and Senior Visiting Fellow

Deepak Sanan is a Senior Visiting Fellow at CPR. Major areas of his interest include public policy in the areas of state capacity, land governance, public finance, water and sanitation. He is a former civil servant, living in Himachal Pradesh. He retired from the Indian Administrative Service, the centrally recruited senior civil service of India in January 2017. He was allocated to the state of Himachal Pradesh. His other current affiliations include advising at the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), Delhi and the Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS), Bangalore on a variety of subjects related to his experience and special interests. In particular, he heads the Centre for Land Governance at the IIHS and the Land Policy Initiative at NCAER. Sanan has published regularly on public policy issues with an interest specially in creating incentives to more effectively use Central funds to overcome State budget constraints and improve governance. He has a special interest in designing schemes of inter-governmental financial transfers that can improve institutional arrangements at state and local government level to enhance the effectiveness of these transfers and service delivery especially in basic services.

Dr Devi Shetty

Chairman and Founder

Narayana Health

×

Dr Devi Shetty

Chairman and Founder

Narayana Health

Dr. Devi Shetty is a cardiac surgeon and Chairman and Executive Director of Narayana Health, which he founded in 2000. He initiated the concept of "micro health insurance scheme" in Karnataka, which eventually led to the Karnataka government implementing the Yeshasvini scheme, a micro health insurance scheme for rural farmers. Dr. Shetty is a professor at Rajiv Gandhi University of Medical Sciences, Bengaluru, India and University of Minnesota Medical School, USA. He is an active member of the European Association for Cardio- Thoracic Surgery since 1996 and a life member of the Indian Medical Association. He is the recipient of a number of awards and honours most noteworthy being 'Padma Shri' and 'Padma Bhushan' awards, the 'Rajyotsava Award' in 2002 conferred by the Government of Karnataka, the 'Outstanding Social Entrepreneurship Award' by the Confederation of Indian Industry, 'The President’s Award' by the American College of Cardiology, and the 'Lifetime Achievement Award' by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

Dr E. Revati

Professor and Director

Centre for Economic and Social Sciences

×

Dr E. Revati

Professor and Director

Centre for Economic and Social Sciences

Dr Revathi Ellanki is a Development Economist. She attained her M Phil and PhD degrees from Kakatiya University, Warangal. She was an ICSSR doctoral fellow in ‘Women’s Studies’ during 1988-91 and worked on ‘Women, work and technology in agriculture’ for her PhD. She was a professor in the department of Economics, Kakatiya University from 1992 until 2004. She was a Visiting Fellow at CESS during 2004-09 and joined at the Centre as full time Professor in 2012 teaching Agriculture (Structural Issues), Development Economics and Gender Studies. She was a member in the curriculum development group for Economics constituted by the Telangana State Public Service Commission in 2015. She contributed to the Group of Ministers appointed by Govt. of India on Bifurcation of the State of AP on Special needs of the Backward Districts of Telangana (2013). yet to add mission bhagiratha related background.

Dr M Prakasamma

Executive Director

ANSWERS (Academy for Nursing Studies and Women's Empowerment Research Studies)

×

Dr M Prakasamma

Executive Director

ANSWERS (Academy for Nursing Studies and Women's Empowerment Research Studies)

Dr Prakasamma is the Founder and Executive Director of ANSWERS (Academy for Nursing Studies and Women's Empowerment Research Studies). She was previously a Professor and Head of the Department of Reproductive Health Studies at the Indian Institute of Health and Family Welfare. Dr Praksamma is known for spearheading the normal birth campaign in India. She has been advocating for women’s rights to safe birthing for over 25 years. She launched the society of midwives to sensitize and advocate for the introduction of midwifery as a profession in India.

Dr Manvita Baradi

Director

Urban Management Centre

×

Dr Manvita Baradi

Director

Urban Management Centre

Manvita Baradi, the director Urban Management Centre, has over 25 years of technical experience in developing and administering programs to local governments in the areas of service delivery, local governance, urban planning, heritage management, citizen participation, capacity building of local government associations, development of urban indicators and performance measurement and international development. She has served as Director-South Asia for the International City/County Management Association (ICMA), been technical consultant for United Agency for International Development (USAID) and served as an expert on World Bank funded programs for local governance, association development and urban planning programs in post-conflict regions like Afghanistan, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. In her role as director of UMC, she provides expert guidance to the various projects undertaken by the organization. She is the Gujarat State Convener of Indian National Trust of Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH).

Dr Meera Mehta

Professor

CEPT University

×

Dr Meera Mehta

Professor

CEPT University

Meera Mehta is a Professor Emeritus at CEPT University and the Executive Director of the Center for Water and Sanitation. She has over 45 years of experience in water, urban development and infrastructure finance. Her experience spans countries in Asia and Sub- Saharan Africa. She served as the Director of School of Planning at the University in 1992, before joining the USAID’s FIRE-D Project in India, and later the World Bank and its Water and Sanitation Program in Africa. She has consulted widely for national and international agencies including UNICEF, World Bank, ADB, WaterAid, HIC, Government of Netherlands. She has written widely and published papers on housing, urban development, water and sanitation and financing. She is currently one of the Editors for the IWA’s WASH development journal.

Dr PV Ramesh

Former Health Secretary

Andhra Pradesh

×

Dr PV Ramesh

Former Health Secretary

Andhra Pradesh

Dr PV Ramesh is a physician by education and an international development professional by practice. Held senior leadership assignments for 35+ years in national, international organisations, including Government of India, UNOPS, UNFPA, IFAD, REC Ltd. Provided high-value strategic, operational, technical inputs on sustainable development to governments across Asia-Pacific, Africa, West Asia, Arab States, Europe. He has substantive experience in humanitarian relief, rehabilitation, reconstruction of conflict and post-conflict countries throughout the globe. Led hundreds of multi-disciplinary missions that designed regional/ national development strategies and programs for sustainable, inclusive development; appraised, monitored and evaluated development programs/ projects.

Dr Pavitra Mohan

Secretary

Basic Health Services

×

Dr Pavitra Mohan

Secretary

Basic Health Services

Dr Pavitra Mohan is a community health physician, pediatrician, and public health practitioner. He is a co-founder of Basic HealthCare Services (BHS) that provides high quality, low cost primary healthcare services in rural Rajasthan. Dr Mohan also serves as Director, Health Services, Aajeevika Bureau, working to improve the health of the families dependent on labour and migration. He was also a senior health specialist at UNICEF’s India Country Office, and has an MBBS and an MD from Delhi University, and a master’s in public health from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Dr Purnima Menon

Senior Research Fellow

International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)

×

Dr Purnima Menon

Senior Research Fellow

International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)

Dr. Purnima Menon is a Senior Research Fellow in IFPRI’s Poverty, Health and Nutrition Division, and is based at IFPRI’s Asia office in New Delhi. She conducts applied nutrition research in the South Asia region, with a focus on programs and policies to improve maternal and child nutrition. Currently, Dr. Menon leads the team that is conducting impact and process evaluations of Alive and Thrive, a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation-supported initiative to improve infant and young child feeding and child nutrition in Bangladesh, Viet Nam and Ethiopia. She also co-directs POSHAN (Partnerships and Opportunities to Strengthen and Harmonize Actions for Nutrition in India), a new 4-year initiative to build evidence, partnerships and communications to improve nutrition policy and program actions for nutrition in India. Dr. Menon holds a Ph.D. in International Nutrition from Cornell University, USA and a Master of Science in Nutrition from the University of Delhi.

Dr Rasheed Hussain

South-East Asia Regional Advisor, Water and Sanitation

WHO

×

Dr Rasheed Hussain

South-East Asia Regional Advisor, Water and Sanitation

WHO

Dr. Rasheed Hussain is the South East Asia Regional Advisor for WASH and Climate Change at the World Health Organization. He was the Minister of State for Health, Maldives from 2014 to 2018, where he was overseeing the Policy, Planning and International Relations Division of the Ministry of Health and the development of National Health Master Plan, Monitoring and Evaluation of Implementation Progress of the 10 year Master Plan 2016-2026. Dr Hussain served on various councils, committees, and task forces to coordinate department activities and facilitate agency goals and initiatives and was Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Gender, Family and Human Rights in Male’, Maldives.

Dr Ravi Kannan

Oncologist

Cachar Cancer Hospital, Assam

×

Dr Ravi Kannan

Oncologist

Cachar Cancer Hospital, Assam

Ravi Kannan R is an Indian Surgical oncologist based in Assam, India. He is the Director of Cachar Cancer Hospital and Research Centre (CCHRC), a non-profit hospital dedicated to treatment of cancer. He has been the former Head of Department of surgical oncology at Adyar Cancer Institute in Chennai. His vision has turned a small cancer center into a full-fledged hospital in Assam’s Barak valley, a remote area on the Indo-Bangladesh border in Assam with limited access to medical care. He was running this hospital with few resources to provide better patient care to the cancer patients. The Hospital Society is also raising funds to support cancer patients free of cost treatment including patient/family accommodation, food, and an employment center where able patients and attendants can work.

Dr Robin Kumar Dutta

Professor of Chemistry

Tezpur University

×

Dr Robin Kumar Dutta

Professor of Chemistry

Tezpur University

Dr Robin Dutta is a Professor of Chemistry at the Tezpur University, Assam. Arsenic and Fluoride removal from drinking water are among his specific areas of interest. Dr Dutta has made visible impact through research and development works aligned to rural technologies of Arsiron Nilogon and Fluoride Nilogon for the removal of arsenic and fluoride, respectively, from drinking water. He is also known for his works on traditional science, viz., study of traditional manuscript writing technology and restoration of traditional woodcrafts.

Dr Rukmini Banerji

CEO

Pratham Education Foundation

×

Dr Rukmini Banerji

CEO

Pratham Education Foundation

Rukmini Banerji is CEO of Pratham Education Foundation. She has been with Pratham for over 25 years. Over the years she has learned a lot from children, parents and teachers in rural and urban communities across India. Originally from Bihar, she now is based in Delhi and Pune. She loves being a grandmother and telling and writing stories for children.

Dr Shagun Sabarwal

Director - Policy, Training and Communications

J-PAL

×

Dr Shagun Sabarwal

Director - Policy, Training and Communications

J-PAL

Shagun Sabarwal is Director of Policy, Training, and Communications at J-PAL South Asia. She leads J-PAL SA’s engagements with governments, donors, and civil society organizations to initiate new research, disseminate policy lessons, and scale up evidence-based programs. Shagun provides technical and strategic direction to partnerships, including the Development Monitoring & Evaluation Office (DMEO) at NITI Aayog, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), and the State Governments of Odisha, Tamil Nadu, and Punjab. She is currently leading J-PAL South Asia’s role as a knowledge partner to the Government of Bihar for the scale-up of the Graduation approach. Shagun completed her doctorate in public health at Harvard University.

Dr Sunderrajan Krishnan

Executive Director

INREM Foundation

×

Dr Sunderrajan Krishnan

Executive Director

INREM Foundation

Dr Sunderrajan Krishnan is the Executive Director of INREM Foundation. He has a B Tech in Civil Engineering from IIT Bombay and a PhD in Geological and Environmental Sciences from Stanford University. Currently, he is a member of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Water Quality Committee for the Handbook of Water Resource Management. Dr Krishnan’s work has mainly been in the two areas of Water harvesting and groundwater management, and in Water quality and health. Within these areas, he has been involved in several projects, ranging from policy analysis, impact analysis, to designing field interventions and communications. The path breaking work of reversing Fluorosis is something that Dr Krishnan and INREM are known for. His main work currently is in the area of water quality problems in India and the diseases linked with these.

Dr Syed Sultan Kazi

Director & CEO

CSDD

×

Dr Syed Sultan Kazi

Director & CEO

CSDD

Dr Kazi has experience working in the development sector since 2002. He was associated with the Centre for Agriculture and Rural Development, One World South Asia and Digital Empowerment Foundation. He has worked in key programmes of ITU, NISG, UNDP, BMGF, EU, NASSCOM Foundation, Govt. of Telangana and others. He has also founded the North East Development Foundation (http://nedfindia.org/), a not-for-profit society, working for sustainable development in North East India. He has founded ‘eNorth East Award’ (http://enortheast.in), a regional platform for digital innovations and practices in North East India. He has a masters, an MPhil and PhD from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi.

Dr Thelma Narayan

Senior Advisor

Academics & Health Policy Action, SOCHARA

×

Dr Thelma Narayan

Senior Advisor

Academics & Health Policy Action, SOCHARA

Dr. Thelma Narayan is an epidemiologist, health policy analyst and scholar activist who was the Director SOCHARA School of Public Health Equity and Action (SOPHEA). She is a member of the Advisory Group on Community Action for Health of the National Health Mission. She is currently a member of the Lancet Citizens Commission on Reimagining India's Health System to reach Universal Health Care. She has written extensively on health and has to her credit a large number of reports, publications and papers. She has a Degree in Medicine from St John’s Medical College, Bengaluru, a Master's degree in Epidemiology and a Doctorate in Public Health Policy, from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

Dr Vandana Shiva

Scholar, Environmental Activist, Food Sovereignty Advocate, and an Ecofeminist

×

Dr Vandana Shiva

Scholar, Environmental Activist, Food Sovereignty Advocate, and an Ecofeminist

Dr. Shiva is a trained Physicist and did her Ph.D. on "Quantum Theory” from University of Western Ontario in Canada. Later on, she shifted her focus on interdisciplinary research in science, technology and environmental policy, which she carried out at IIIM Bangalore. She is the founder of Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology based in Dehradun which is dedicated to high quality and independent research to address the most significant ecological and social issues of our times. She also founded Navdanya, a national movement to protect the diversity and integrity of living resources, especially native seed, the promotion of organic farming and fair trade. In 2004, she started Bija Vidyapeeth, an international college for sustainable living in Doon Valley in collaboration with Schumacher College, U.K. In 2010, Dr. Vandana Shiva was identified as one of the top Seven Most Powerful Women on the Globe by the prestigious Forbes Magazine. Dr. Shiva has been the receipt of many national and international awards and honorary doctorates. She has won the Alternative Nobel Prize (Right Livelihood Award, 1993), Order of the Golden Ark, Global 500 Award of UN and Earth Day International Award, Lennon ONO grant for peace award by Yoko Ono in 2009, Sydney Peace Prize in 2010, among many others.

Dr Venita Kaul

Professor

Ambedkar University Delhi

×

Dr Venita Kaul

Professor

Ambedkar University Delhi

Dr Venita Kaul is Professor Emerita (Education) Ambedkar University Delhi from where she retired in 2016 as Director of School of Education Studies and Founder Director of Center for Early Childhood Education and Development (CECED). Prior to this Prof Kaul was a Senior Education Specialist in The World Bank after having served as Professor and Head of Department of Preschool and Elementary Education at NCERT for over twenty years.

Dr Vinitaa Malhotra Jha

Executive Vice President – Research & Academics, Clinical Directorate

Max Healthcare

×

Dr Vinitaa Malhotra Jha

Executive Vice President – Research & Academics, Clinical Directorate

Max Healthcare

Experienced Senior Vice President at Max Healthcare with a demonstrated history of working in the hospital & health care industry. Skilled in Healthcare Consulting, Healthcare Information Technology (HIT), Healthcare Management, Healthcare, and Clinical Research. Strong healthcare services professional with a CCT focused in Psychiatry from Royal College of Psychiatrists.

Dr. Akkai Padmashali (she/her)

Transgender Activist

Founder of Ondede

×

Dr. Akkai Padmashali (she/her)

Transgender Activist

Founder of Ondede

Dr Akkai Padmashali is a male to female transwoman, social activist. Her journey is one of courage and determination. From begging on the streets and participating in sex work for two square meals a day, she is now an activist that has inspired many. In 2012, Akkai became the first male to female transgender in Karnataka to complete her sex reassignment surgery counseling process and underwent a sex change surgery and set an example to other transgender community members. Akkai was part the decision body for the recommendation of Sexual Assault law based on Nirbhaya rape case constituted by UPA government in 2013. In 2014, she founded Ondede, an organization of feminists, activists, thinkers, writers, philosophers and academics who recognized the need to converge the interests of three movements in the country – children’s rights, women’s rights, and the rights of sexual minorities.

Dr. Anand Bang

Joint Director

SEARCH

×

Dr. Anand Bang

Joint Director

SEARCH

Anand Bang is a physician trained in public health from Johns Hopkins University. He is the Joint Director at Society for Education, Action & Research in Community Health (SEARCH), a non-profit working in the Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra for the past 35 years on health service delivery, training, research and advocacy for influencing policy in the field of tribal health, mother/newborn & child health, chronic diseases and substance abuse. Dr. Bang is also associated with the Tata Trusts and the Chief Minister, Maharashtra as Advisor, Health.

Dr. Anirudh Krishna

Professor

Duke University

×

Dr. Anirudh Krishna

Professor

Duke University

Anirudh has Ph.D. in Government, Cornell University, 2000; Masters in Economics, Delhi University, 1980) is the Edgar T. Thompson Professor of Public Policy and Political Science at Duke University. His research investigates how poor communities and individuals in developing countries cope with the structural and personal constraints that result in poverty and powerlessness. His most recent book, The Broken Staircase: The Paradox and the Potential of India’s One-Billion (Cambridge University Press and Penguin Random House India), won the A. K. Coomaraswamy Award of the Association for Asian Studies. Krishna has authored or co-authored five other books, including the noticed, One Illness Away: Why People Become Poor and How they Escape Poverty (Oxford University Press, 2010), and more than seventy other journal articles and book chapters. He received an honorary doctorate from Uppsala University, Sweden in 2011 and several academic awards. Before returning to academia, Krishna spent 14 years with the Indian Administrative Service, managing diverse rural and urban development initiatives.

Dr. Asyia Kazmi

Global Education Policy Lead

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

×

Dr. Asyia Kazmi

Global Education Policy Lead

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Asyia is the Global Education Policy Lead at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, leading the global education team on instructional practices, education advocacy and edtech. Before joining the Gates Foundation, Asyia was a management consultant in PwC leading the Girls’ Education Challenge, a $1bn fund set up by the UK to support the education of 1.5 million girls in 17 countries. Asyia has worked in three UK Government departments: as a senior education adviser in DFID, a senior Her Majesty’s Inspector in Ofsted and a project director in the Department for Education. Her areas of expertise include teaching, learning and formative assessment; school improvement; and large-scale programme management. Asyia has a Masters in Applied Mathematics from Imperial College London and a Doctorate in Education on teaching and learning mathematics from Institute of Education, University College London. She has a PGCE in Leadership development and educational consulting, and a PGCE in mathematics teaching.

Dr. Avneet Kaur

Head – Corporate Strategy & International Collaborations

NSDC

×

Dr. Avneet Kaur

Head – Corporate Strategy & International Collaborations

NSDC

Ms. Avneet is a Public Policy, Development and Human Resources specialist with over 15 years of international experience. She is currently associated with National Skill Development Corporation as the Head of International Relations and Corporate Strategy. She is an expert in Skills Development policy and programme interventions and Organisation Management strategies. Research interests include conceptualisation and measurement of Skills Development, and related policy interventions; Organisation Behaviour; Gender norms in Development; Human Development and Capability Approach, Behavioural Economics and Institutional models.

Dr. Chitra Rajagopal

Former DS and DG (R&M)

DRDO

×

Dr. Chitra Rajagopal

Former DS and DG (R&M)

DRDO

Dr. G R Chintala

Chairman

NABARD

×

Dr. G R Chintala

Chairman

NABARD

Dr. G R Chintala is the Chairman of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), the Apex Development Financial Institution of the country. He is also the Chairman of Asia Pacific Rural and Agricultural Credit Association (APRACA), an association of 24 countries comprising of members which include Central Banks, regulatory authorities, ARDBs, Cooperative Banks, Federation, Commercial Banks, Agri finance related government agencies, etc. on rural and agricultural finance that helps promote productivity, inclusive growth, self-reliance and welfare of the rural poor in the Asia-Pacific region. He was recently awarded Asia’s Most Promising Business Leader Award 2020-21 by The Economic Times. He is also serving as the Chairman of NABARD Consultancy Services (NABCONS) Ltd., NABVENTURES Ltd., NABFOUNDATION, NABSANRAKSHAN and the Governing Council of Bankers Institute of Rural Development (BIRD), Lucknow. He is also on the Board of prestigious institutions like Institute for Rural Management (IRMA), DICGC and also on the Advisory Board of IIM-Ahmedabad. He has been awarded honorary doctorate in Science by Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University, Hyderabad. After his graduation from the prestigious agriculture college, Bapatla, Shri Chintala did his Post Graduation in Seed Science and Technology from the world renowned Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi. He joined NABARD as an officer and over the last three and a half decades, has worked in various capacities at NABARD, Head Office in Mumbai and its Regional Offices including Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, New Delhi and Bengaluru. Over his vast experience of 35 years, he has donned many hats. Prior to taking over as Chairman, Shri Chintala was the Managing Director of NABARD Financial Services (NABFINS) Ltd., the microfinance lending subsidiary of NABARD. He was also the Director of BIRD, Lucknow, one of the Premier institutes of the Developing World which offers Training, Research and Consultancy services in the field of agriculture and rural development banking. Shri Chintala was also a Director on the Board of Agriculture Insurance Company (AIC) as also on the board of several RRBs/State Cooperative Banks across the country and National level NBFCs of GOI. As the State level head of NABARD, he has worked very closely with various State Governments and banks at the highest level on matters relating to credit planning and monitoring, funding for Rural Infrastructure and in implementing innovative and pioneering projects. In Karnataka, Shri Chintala has been the driving force in promoting and nurturing Farmer Producers Organizations (FPOs), Livelihood Enterprise Development Programs, Area Development Schemes and Alternative energy models. While in Port Blair, he was instrumental in driving the Agriculture growth in the Islands of Andaman and Nicobar by encouraging the import of quality equipment leading to a three-fold increase in price of Copra. He has also been instrumental in establishing an Agriculture Research Centre in collaboration with CARI in the northern islands of Andaman and initiated many development & plantation projects in Campbell of Great Nicobar. Shri Chintala clearly understood the importance of last mile delivery of Institutional Credit and worked towards the incorporation and growth of Financial Inclusion in the country. While heading the Micro Credit Innovation Department (mCID) in NABARD, Shri Chintala conceptualized, designed and rolled out the digitization of the world’s largest microfinance program under project ‘e-Shakti’ and also played a vital role in driving the world’s largest poverty alleviation cum women empowerment program, the SHG movement comprising 10 million groups, covering 100 million members. Shri Chintala has handled several prestigious consultancy assignments including a significant one on “Roadmap for Amalgamation of Regional Rural Banks” in 2006 that led the way for the consolidation of 196 RRBs. He also undertook a consultancy assignment on “Efficacy of SGSY in meeting the aspirations of SCs/STs” commissioned by the Ministry of Rural Development, GOI, whose recommendations helped in launching National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) throughout the country and phasing out the SGSY. Shri Chintala had also successfully introduced the Producers Organisations model in Andaman & Nicobar Islands. As part of his official engagements, Shri Chintala has travelled extensively and visited more than 20 countries including USA, China, European nations, Bolivia, Brazil, Peru, Kenya, Senegal, South Africa, Indonesia, Bangladesh etc. for presenting papers on various topics and other assignments covering agriculture and rural development.

Dr. Gagandeep Kang

Professor

Christian Medical College, Vellore

×

Dr. Gagandeep Kang

Professor

Christian Medical College, Vellore

Gagandeep Kang is the first woman from India to be elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. She is also the first Indian woman to be elected to the Fellowship of the American Academy of Microbiology and the only physician-scientist to receive the Infosys Award in Life Sciences. Gagandeep Kang received her training in medicine and microbiology at the Christian Medical College, Vellore in southern India and is Professor of Microbiology at the Christian Medical College (CMC) in Vellore, India. She works on enteric infections in children, particularly on transmission and immune responses, in order to design effective interventions. Current studies include active hospital and community based surveillance and clinical trials of new and existing vaccines, with use of molecular based assays to study the diversity of pathogens and the immune response of children with viral and parasitic enteric infections.

Dr. K. Rajeswara Rao

Special Secretary

NITI Aayog

×

Dr. K. Rajeswara Rao

Special Secretary

NITI Aayog

Dr. K. Rajeswara Rao, holds a Doctorate Degree in Social Sciences, M.Phil in National Security, M.A. in Sociology, Degree in Basic Sciences and PG in Journalism. Dr. K. Rajeswara Rao belongs to the Indian Administrative Service (Tripura Cadre) 1988 Batch, presently posted in NITI Aayog as Special Secretary in charge of Managing Urbanization (Urban Development) & Urban Poverty Alleviation, Skill Development, Labour & Employment, UTs etc. He was Chief of National Urban Health Mission and prepared ground work/guidelines for launch of PM Jan Arogya Yojana during 2014 and 2016. Dr. Rao is a development professional. During the long span of 32 years of administrative experience, he has dealt with Six Ministries of Government of India, i.e., Women and Child Development, Food Processing, Railways, Vigilance, Health and Mines and two State Governments i.e., Tripura and Andhra Pradesh. In States, Dr. Rao worked in Urban Development, Education and Social Development sectors, among others.

Dr. K.P. Krishnan

Former Secretary

MSDE

×

Dr. K.P. Krishnan

Former Secretary

MSDE

Dr Krishnan leads a group focused on research and policy outreach in the broad area of regulatory and public economics, including concerns about investor protection and financial sector reforms, land policy and records, public finance and public administration, and law, economics, and justice. He Joined the Indian Administrative Service in 1983 and has served in various field and secretariat positions in India. Trained in economics, finance, and law, Dr Krishnan has chaired or served as a member of several GoI committees. He has taught as a visiting professor at the ISB, at Ashoka University, etc. & he regularly lectures at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration in Mussorie. He has published on a range of public policy issues in books, journals, and the mainstream media. Dr Krishnan holds a B.A. (Hons) in Economics from St Stephen’s College and an LL.B. degree from the University of Delhi, an M.A. in Economics from the University of Mysore, and a FPM/Ph.D. in Economics & Finance from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.

The/Nudge Forum | charcha 2021

With the development sector grappling with shrinking resources, the way forward requires a coming together of all stakeholders - nonprofits, government, corporates, foundations, academia and philanthropists. Engaging them in a dialogue on the most pressing issues of our time.

We invite you to sign up and attend events in your area of interest.

Welcome to charcha 2021, let’s talk.

© 2022 The/Nudge. All rights reserved.