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Prof. Abhijit Sen has a Ph.D. in Economics from
the University of Cambridge. He has joined Planning Commission
on leave as Professor of Economics in Jawaharlal Nehru University.
He earlier held teaching posts at the Universities of Sussex,
Oxford and Cambridge and is currently on the Senate/Executive
Committees of University of Delhi, IIT(Delhi) and National Centre
for Agricultural Policy. Prof. Sen has also been Adviser / Consultant
with UNDP New York; ILO Geneva; FAO Rome; OECD Paris; UN University
World Institute of Development Research, Helsinki; IFAD Rome;
ADB Manila. |
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Dr Narendra Jadhav has the rare distinction of being
a member of the Planning Commission and the National Advisory
Council at the same time. An educationist, an economist a social
scientist and an author, he can be a great inspiration to people
across the world, specially those not born with a silver spoon.
DevelopedNation.org has done a special CD with Dr Jadhav on the
Value of Education and is available free |
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Dr. Mihir Shah is Co-Founder, Samaj Pragati Sahayog
(SPS), one of India's largest grass-roots initiatives for water
and livelihood security, working with its 122 partners on a million
acres of land across 72 districts in 12 states. A Ph.D. in Economics
from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, Dr. Shah was
Adviser to the Commissioner appointed by the Supreme Court of
India in the Right to Food case from 2002-2009. |
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Prof M S Swaminathan has been acclaimed by the TIME
magazine as one of the twenty most influential Asians of the 20th
century and one of the only three from India, the other two being
Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore. He has been described
by the UNEP as "the Father of Economic Ecology" because
of his leadership of the ever-green revolution movement in agriculture. |
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Mr Madhav Gadgil has spent most of his professional
life in field ecological studies amidst the forests and farms
and streams and savannas of Western Ghats in India. He obtained
an M.Sc. in Zoology at Mumbai, and took to scuba diving to do
a Ph.D. thesis on fish behavior at Harvard University, did a thesis
in mathematical ecology that won him the IBM Fellowship at Harvard
Computing Center. He has been a Lecturer on Biology at Harvard,
a Distinguished Indo-American Lecturer at UC Berkeley and a Visiting
Professor at Stanford. |
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Dr. Naresh C. Saxena has worked as Secretary, Planning
Commission, Secretary, Rural Development and Director of the National
Academy of Administration, Mussoorie. On behalf of the Supreme
Court of India, Dr Saxena monitors hunger based programmes in
India. He chaired the GOI Committee on identification of the poor
in 2009. Currently he is chairing a GOI Committee to look at the
implementation of the Forest Rights Act, 2006 |
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Mr Deep Joshi received a Bachelors degree in mechanical
engineering from MNNIT Allahabad, a Masters degree in mechanical
engineering from MIT, USA and an MBA from the Sloan School of
Management at MIT. Deep Joshi conceived the idea of setting up
PRADAN, an NGO dedicated to promoting rural livelihoods and presently
works with about 225,000 families, about 60 percent of them from
tribes. Deep was conferred the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2009 and
the Padma Shree in 2010. |
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Farah Naqvi has worked extensively on minority rights,
gender issues and women’s education. Most recently, she has been
engaged in advocacy, in partnership with other activists, for
amendments in the Communal Violence (Prevention, Control and Rehabilitation
of Victims) Bill, 2005. She is also engaged in advocacy for reforms
in sexual assault laws. Her current focus is on development concerns
of the Muslim community, particularly women, in India. |
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Mr Harsh Mander is a social worker and writer. He
founded and works with Aman Biradari, a people’s campaign for
secularism, peace and justice; Nyayagrah, for legal justice and
reconciliation for the survivors of communal violence; and Dil
Se, which works with street children, and homeless people. He
is Special Commissioner to the Supreme Court of India to advise
it in the Right to Food case on hunger. He worked formerly in
the Indian Administrative Service in Madhya Pradesh and Chhatisgarh
for almost two decades. |
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Ms Mirai Chatterjee is the Director of Social Security
at SEWA, responsible for its Health Care, Child Care and Insurance
programmes. Ms. Chatterjee serves on the Boards of several organizations
in India and was an advisor to the National Commission for Enterprises
in the Unorganized Sector and is in the Advisory Group of the
National Rural Health Mission. She was also a Commissioner in
the World Health Organization’s Commission on the Social Determinants
of Health. She holds B.A. from Harvard University in History and
Science and a Masters from Johns Hopkins University’s School of
Public Health, U.S.A. |
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Dr Madhav Chavan is the Founder of PRATHAM, the
largest education focused NGO in India. He holds a Masters degree
in Inorganic Chemistry from Mumbai University and a Ph.D. degree
in Chemistry from the Ohio State University. He served in the
Prime Minister’s National Advisory Council in 2004-08, and, is
a member of the Governing Council of a new initiative to rate
educational institutions created by the Indian rating agency CRISIL.
Dr. Chavan has been a visiting fellow to the Chinese Academy of
Sciences, Queensland University of Technology and has lectured
on issues in education at various universities outside India.
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Dr Kirit S. Parikh has a Doctor of Science in Civil
Engineering and a Master's Degree in Economics from MIT, USA.
He has been a Professor of Economics since 1967. He is a former
member, Planning Commission, Government of India and former chairman,
Integrated Research and Action for Development (IRADe) and founder
director of Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research. He
was honoured with Padma Bushan by the President of India in March
2009 |
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Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan, known as JP, is a noted
Indian politician, political reformer and columnist. He is the
President of Lok Satta Party and currently an MLA from Andhra
Pradesh. He is also a former Indian public administrator. He is
well known for his role in bringing electoral reforms and for
his columns on democracy in leading Indian daily newspapers. JP
is also a former member of the National Advisory Council. |
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Dr Shantha Sinha is the chairperson of National
Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR). She is known
for her pioneering work on the issue of child rights. In recognition
of her efforts, she was awarded the Padmashri in 1998 and the
Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership in 2003. |
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Arvind Kumar Kejriwal is a social activist fighting
for greater transparency in Government. He was awarded Ramon Magsaysay
Award for Emergent Leadership in 2006, for activating India's
Right to Information movement at grassroots and social activities
to empower the poorest citizens to fight corruption by holding
the government answerable to the people. He is a major participant
of Team Anna, which is fighting for Jan Lokpall Bill. |
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Bindheshwar Pathak is the founder of Sulabh International,
which works to promote human rights, environmental sanitation,
non-conventional sources of energy, waste management and social
reforms through education. His work is considered one of the pioneer
in social reform especially in the field of sanitation and hygiene.
He was recognised with a Magsaysay Award, Stockholm Water Prize,
Padmabhushan and Energy Globe Award. |
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Dr Harish Hande is an engineering graduate from
IIT, Kharagpur. He earned his doctorate in energy engineering
at the University of Massachusetts, specializing in solar energy.
Hande originally started his PhD thesis in heat transfer, but
he changed his academic focus after visiting the Dominican Republic
where he saw areas with poverty worse than India using solar energy.
Upon returning to Massachusetts, he flung his heat transfer thesis
into the river and started anew on solar electrification in rural
areas, conducting much of his research in India, Sri Lanka and
the Dominican Republic. The Schwab Foundation recognised him with
the Social Entrepreneur of the Year 2007. In 2011, he was recognised
with the Ramon Magsaysay Award. |
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Dr. Madhav Chitale has played a major role in getting
India’s decision makers and strategic planners to think of water
as a key resource. He is one of the originators of a mammoth project
to improve the water of the Ganges, the Ganga Action Plan (GAP).
This was developed into a nationwide programme covering several
rivers. In January 1993 he was appointed Secretary-General of
the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID).
Dr. Chitale was awarded Stockholm Water Prize in 1993 for his
contribution to the conservation of the worlds water resources
and public education programmes. |
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A founding member of the Gandhi Peace Foundation,
Mishra is working to bridge the gap between modern water management
technology and india's heritage of water harvesting, so that every
community is self-sustainable and efficiently safekeeping an increasingly
scarce and precious resource.
Views
of Shri. Anupam Mishra |
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Dileep Ranjekar is the Chief Executive Officer of
Azim Premji Foundation, a unique organisation which works with
the government, has its own university and plans to open a school
in each district of India. He is also a member of the working
group on private sector participation including PPP in school
education - 12th five year plan |
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Ramesh Ramanathan is co-founder of Janaagraha Centre
for Citizenship and Democracy, a non-profit organisation focused
on improving urban governance. He is the Founder Chairman of Janalakshmi.
Ramesh has to his credit strong international banking experience,
creating innovative institutional products, working with cutting
edge technology and risk management systems. He possesses an Honors
degree in Physics from BITS Pilani, and an MBA from Yale University's
School of Management. |
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Pravin Patkar is the founder director of PRERANA,
an NGO working against commercial sexual exploitation & human
trafficking. He is also founder Network Against Commercial Sexual
Exploitation & Trafficking - NACSET. He was nominated by the
U. S. Government as U. S. Nominee for the global position U.N.
Special Rapporteur on Human Trafficking and was the Vice Chairperson
of ECPAT Intl (End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography &
Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes) for 2002-2005. |
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Dr. Arun Kumar has been an economics Professor in
Jawaharlal Nehru University since 1984. He has specialized in
Development, Public Finance, Public Policy and Macroeconomics.
His book ‘The Black Economy in India’ has broken new ground in
Macro-economics and on thinking about the Indian Economy and development.
He has just completed his second book entitled ‘Indian Economy
Since Independence: Tracing the Dynamics of a Disrupted Society’.
He has been involved in creating a public awareness on economic
issues and has written extensively in the popular press in addition
to writing academic journals.. |
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Dr. Ashish Satav, is presidet of MAHAN Trust and
is working for the health care of Tribals in Melghat. His engagement
in the Melghat region for the past 11 years has been to provide
medical facilities to the tribals in the region. Dr. Satav has
reduced under 5 children mortality and prevalence of severe malnutrition
by more than 50% and age specific mortality (16-60 years) by 18%
in 17 villages of Melghat through home based child and adult care
with the help of village health workers using randomized control
trial method. Dr. Satav has also presented papers at national
and international level. |
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Mihir Bhatt is the founder director of All India
Disaster Mitigation Institute, which works to bridge the gap
between policy, practice and research related to disaster risk
mitigation and reduction. Mihir Bhatt received the Russell E.
Train Institutional Fellowship from the World Wildlife Fund
(1997) for building an action-focused research institution focused
on risk reduction in the global South, and an Ashoka International
Fellowship (2004) for his innovative approach to using social
enterprise for long-term recovery of disaster victims. |
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Medha Patkar, known for her role in Narmada Bachao
Andolan, has given her voice to many activists led movements.
She is recognised with Right Livelihood Award, M.A. Thomas National
Human Rights Award from Vigil India Movement, Deena Nath Mangeshkar
Award, Mahatma Phule Award, Goldman Environment Prize, Green
Ribbon Award for Best International Political Campaigner by
BBC, and the Human Rights Defender's Award from Amnesty International. |
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Anjali Gopalan is the Founder and Executive Director
of The Naz Foundation , an NGO dedicated to the fight against
the HIV/AIDS in India. Anjali began working on issues related
to HIV/AIDS and marginalized communities in the United States.
On returning to India in the early 90’s she was frustrated at
the lack of government response, and even civil society response,
to the burgeoning HIV epidemic. Since founding Naz India, Anjali
has spoken in numerous international venues about the importance
of advancing research to aid HIV prevention, and also on the importance
of providing quality care to those living with the HIV infection.
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Mathew Titus is the Executive director of Sa-dhan,
the Association of Community Development Finance Institutions.
Sa-dhan works with existing community development financial institutions
in identifying areas of work that will contribute to the development
of the sector. Mathew Titus is a Board Member of Microfinance
Development and Equity Fund, NABARD Mumbai, and of The Bellwether
Microfinance Fund in Hyderabad. Titus has done post-graduate research
with the Department of Economics and International Development
at the University of Bath, England, and has a Masters from Jawaharlal
Nehru University, New Delhi . |
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Sheela Patel is the founding director of the Society
for the Promotion of Area Resource Centers (SPARC), which she
organised in Mumbai in 1984 as an advocacy group for the pavement
dwellers of Mumbai. SPARC continues to this day to play a major
role in the politics of slum development in India and throughout
the Third World. She is the chair of Shack/Slum Dwellers International
(SDI) and has been recognised with the prestigious David Rockefeller
Bridging Leadership Award for her work with urban poor communities. |
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Himanshu Thakkar, educated as an engineer from Indian
Institute of Technology (Mumbai), is currently coordinator of
South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers & People and editor of
magazine “Dams, Rivers & People”. He has been formerly associated
with the work of the World Commission on Dams, Centre for Science
and Environment and Save Narmada Movement. |
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Dr. Gladwin Joseph is the Director and Senior Fellow
at ATREE (Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment).
Gladwin also serves as the Convenor of the Academy for Conservation
Science and Sustainability Studies. He has served in senior leadership
positions at ATREE since 2000. Gladwin has done his B.Sc (Agriculture),
from the University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS), Bangalore
in 1986, and M.S (Entomology) and Ph.D (Forest Science) from Oregon
State University in 1996. He has various publications to his credit. |
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Prashant Bhushan is an advocate practicing in Delhi
and is a social activist. In his career of 15 years he has worked
on around 500 PILs. He is a strong supporter of a Clean Judiciary.
He, along with Arvind Kejriwal, is involved in the Anna Hazare-led
anti corruption movement in India. He was a member of the joint
committee constituted in April 2011 by India to draft the Lokpal
Bill. He, along with other members of Team Anna, clashed with
government ministers on the bill. |
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Anil Bairwal works with the Association of Democratic
Reforms. He has worked in the software industry in US in senior
positions for close to a decade. After coming back to India in
2003, he headed India operations of a multinational software firm
for few years. He started his own business in Bangalore and later
sold it to work full time on development issues. He is an alumnus
of IIM, Ahmedabad and holds a BE Computer Science from MNNIT,
Allahabad. |
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Himanshu Kumar, a Gandhian human rights activist
from Meerut, has been working in Dantewada, Chattisgarh in the
midst of an old triangular war between the State, the Naxals,
and the Adivasis split from within by the infamous government-sponsored
Salwa Judum. He is also the prime mover of Vanvasi Chetna Ashram
(VCA), an organization that has been serving as a nerve-connection
between Adivasis and the State. Hailing from a distant Meerut,
Himanshu and his wife have been travelling on foot into villages
deep inside the forests, where they focused on teaching tribals
about their entitlements, slowly tugging isolated communities
into the democratic system. |
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Prof Suryanarayana has a Ph.D in. Economics from
Indian Statistical Institute, 1986. His research interest areas
are Research Interests: Development Economics, Applied Econometrics
and Consumer Demand Analysis. |
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Belinda Wright is the founder and executive director
of WPSI. She travels the length and breadth of India to assist
and support wildlife conservation efforts and to help federal,
state and local Indian Police Service authorities and Game wardens
of state forest departments to enforce wildlife laws, especially
those affecting wild tigers, for which Belinda has had a life
long-passion. In June 2003, Belinda followed in the footsteps
of her parents and was awarded an OBE for her "services to
the protection of wildlife and endangered species in India". |
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Bharati Das Gupta is one of the Founders of CSA
and is the Managing Trustee. Fomerly an eminent banking administrator
heading Management Services at the Indian Banks’ Association,
Mumbai, she was also, the former HR head of Kale Consultants.
As a Consultant, she was associated with organizations such as
Saudi British Bank, Red Hat (I) Pvt. Ltd., and Datapro. For the
last few years she has been the missionary for adoption. She is
also, involved with the cause of Animal Welfare. |
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Dr. Rashmin Gandhi completed his medical degree
from P S Medical college Gujarat in the year 1993. He cleared
his FRCS Glasgow in May 2000 and FRCS Edinburgh in September ,
2000. International Council of Opththalmology Cambridge Clinical
assessment in 1999. He is currently Associate consultant with
Sankara Nethralaya. |
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Ashok Rau, one of the most visible and compassionate
faces of India's campaign against HIV/AIDS, is the founder of
Freedom Foundation, the Bangalore based NGO working in the field
of Substance Abuse and HIV/AIDS. A highly resourceful and experienced
psychotherapist he established the Foundation in 1992 in Bangalore
to address the needs of people suffering from substance abuse.
Dr. Rau is a distinguished expert and international consultant
on care & support for PLWHAs. He has served in various capacities
at all levels- state/ national and international levels. He has
contributed immensely in terms of developing the national response
to HIV/AIDS. |
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D.R. Mehta is a former chairman of Securities and
Exchange Board of India. He is a founder and chief patron of Bhagwan
Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti (BMVSS), the world's largest
organization for the handicapped in terms of free fitment of artificial
limbs/calipers etc. Mehta is a recipient of Padma Bhushan, one
of the highest Indian civilian awards, for his contribution to
social cause |
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Shanti Raghavan, Founder and Managing Trustee of
EnAble India, an NGO with the mission to empower people with disabilities.
A multi-faceted woman with an MS in Computer Science from Monmouth
University, NJ, Shanti gave up a lucrative career in GE Aircraft
Engines as Program Manager and Engineering Manager to concentrate
full-time on nurturing EnAble India. She uses her 12 years of
experience in the software industry to give substance to her vision,
and manage its affairs. |
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Ravi Agarwal is a Communications Engineer and MBA
by training. Ravi pioneered public advocacy based work in the
area of chemicals and waste, after over 15 years of professional
experience as an entrepreneur and engineer. He has been part of
several policy and legislative processes in India as member of
Standards Expert Groups on Biomedical Waste, Hazardous Waste technologies,
Plastics Waste management, amongst others. He has led the campaign
for the fight for the Delhi Ridge Forest for over 15 years, and
is a member of the Ridge Management Board and the Delhi Tree Authority |
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Mr Akhil Paul is the director of Sense International
(India). He is also a member of Drafting Committee, constituted
by the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment (Govt of India)
to draft the new disability act- Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Bill-2011. He has also been awarded with the HSBC-Indo British
Award in 2003 and the prestigious “Karmveer Puraskar” in 2010
for outstanding services to deafblind people in India.
Views
of Akhil Paul |
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Chandra Bhushan is Deputy Director General of CSE
and the head of the industry and environment programme. He crunches
climate numbers and demystifies climate technologies. |
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Anumita Roychowdhury is Executive Director - Research
and Advocacy and head of the air pollution and clean transportation
programme of CSE. She campaigns for clean air and public health. |
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Dr. Prashant Agarwal is Managing Trustee & Director
of Narayan Sewa Sansthan. Of the 80 to 100 operations done at
the NGO every day, about 60% are for polio. Till date, Narayan
Sewa Sansthan has done 131 539 polio operations, distributed 199
909 crutches, and organised marriages of 725 physically challenged
couples. |
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Merry Barua is the Director of Action For Autism
in India. Merry Barua is widely acknowledged around the world
as a pioneer and tireless worker in the cause of autists. She
is an educator, communicator and social and political activist.
Above all, she is an inspiring role model for many despairing
parents. |
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Dr. Joy Deshmukh-Ranadive holds an M.A. and Ph.D
in Economics from the University of Mumbai. She has twenty years
of experience in economics and gender development. She is a prolific
writer and has may books and research papers to her credit. Prior
to joining Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), she was the Director
of Indian School of Microfinance for Women, Ahmedabad. She is
currently the Global Head - Corporate Social Responsibility. TCS
is one amongst the only two Indian companies to be listed on Dow
Jones Sustainability Index.
Views
of Dr Joy Deshmukh |
