TP Sreenivasan is former Ambassador and Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations, Vienna and Governor for India of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna. His previous postings were as India’s Ambassador to Austria and Slovenia; Deputy Chief of Mission (Ambassadorial Rank) in the Embassy of India, Washington; High Commissioner of India to Kenya and Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations in Nairobi; Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations, New York; Ambassador to Fiji and 8 other South Pacific Island States; and postings at the Indian missions in Tokyo, Thimphu, Moscow, New York and Yangon. TP Sreenivasan served in the Indian Foreign Service for 37 years and has nearly 20 years of experience in multilateral diplomacy and has represented India at a number of international conferences organised by the United Nations, the Commonwealth and the Non-Aligned Movement. He has chaired several UN Committees and Conferences. He was a member of the National Security Advisory Board of the Government of India, and was the Vice-Chairman and Executive Head of the Kerala State Higher Education Council with the rank of Vice-Chancellor. He was a Visiting Fellow on Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institution, Washington in 2009. TP Sreenivasan has a creditable academic record, having stood first in the University of Kerala in B.A. (English) and M.A. (English). He speaks Japanese and Russian, and has authored several books. He was also the host of the well known Malayalam television show on international affairs called ‘Videsha Vicharam’ aired on Asianet News.

Publications by Ambassador T P Sreenivasan 

Hormis Tharakan is former Chief of the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), India’s external intelligence agency (designated as Secretary (R) in the Cabinet Secretariat, Govt of India). He is a retired Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of the Kerala cadre (1968 batch). He was also the Director General of Police of the state of Kerala, India. He had also served as a member of the National Security Advisory Board that acts as an advisory body to the National Security Council of India.

Publications by PK Hormis Tharakan.

Venu Rajamony was Ambassador of India to the Kingdom of the Netherlands from 2017-2020. He was also the Permanent Representative of India to the Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and responsible for India’s relations with the International Court of Justice, the Permanent Court of Arbitration and other legal institutions in The Hague. He joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1986 and had served in Indian missions in Hong Kong, Beijing, Geneva and Washington D.C, and was the Consul General of India in Dubai, UAE. He had served as Joint Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, and the Ministry of Finance, Government of India, and also as the Press Secretary to the President of India, Pranab Mukherjee. He was the Asia Foundation Fellow at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington DC. Ambassador Rajamony has authored two acclaimed books – India and the Netherlands – Past, Present and Future (September 2019), What We Can Learn From The Dutch – Rebuilding Kerala post 2018 Floods (January 2019); a monograph – India-China-US Triangle: A Soft Balance of Power in the Making; a coffee table book – India and the UAE: In Celebration of a Legendary Friendship, and other publications. Venu Rajamony holds an LLB (Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala), Masters in International Studies (Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi) and a Certificate in Chinese Language (University of Hong Kong).

Devi Prasad retired from the Indian Economic Service (IES) of Government of India after an illustrious service of over 30 years (1982 to 2014). He was the Founding Director of Fiscal Policy Institute, Bengaluru, Government of Karnataka and had served as Advisor to Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund, Washington DC. He carries technical and administrative experience from the Departments of Economic Affairs (Budget Division and Capital Markets Divisions), Department of Commerce, Forward Markets Commission Mumbai, Ministry of Rural Development, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Delhi Development Authority, Programme Evaluation Organisation Hyderabad, and Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (now part of Ministry of External Affairs). He holds a PG Diploma in Public Policy (George Mason University, USA), MPhil in Public Administration (Punjab University), LLB (Bombay University), PG Diploma in Population and Development (CDS, Trivandrum), PG Certificate in Demography (IIPS, Mumbai), and MA Economics (Kakatiya University, Warangal). He has been delivering lectures on fiscal policy, budget management, macroeconomic management, public policy, public financial management, military budget, and right to information at several institutions such as ASCI, Hyderabad; IIPA, New Delhi; IIM Lucknow and Bangalore; Indian Business School, Bangalore and Gurgaon; National Institute of Financial Management, Faridabad; Administrative Training Institute, Mysore; NIT Warangal; Centre for Land Warfare Studies, New Delhi.

Mr Balagopal is the former Chairman of the Board of Federal Bank Ltd. He is also a Trustee of Anaha Trust; Member of the Governing Council of the Centre for Management Development, Trivandrum; Member of the Advisory Board of Fourth Wave Foundation; Member of the Board of TIMed Medical Devices Incubator of SCTIMST. Balagopal Chandrasekhar completed his BA and MA from Loyola College, Madras University, and joined the IAS in 1977 and worked in Manipur and Kerala. In 1983 he resigned from the IAS to promote a venture to make hi-tech biomedical devices for the first time in the country. Acquiring the knowhow from Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences & Technology, Trivandrum (SCTIMST) and with the support of National Research Development Corporation and KSIDC, he set up his venture, Penpol Ltd, near Trivandrum. In 1999, Penpol entered into a joint venture with the Terumo Corporation of Japan. Today, Terumo Penpol Ltd is the biggest manufacturer of blood bags in India and one of the world’s biggest makers of high-tech bio-medical devices. In 2012, he sold his stake in the company and turned to investing in startups, mentoring entrepreneurs, writing (four books to his credit), travel, and his many other interests. Mr Balagopal runs a Trust, which supports social projects in Kerala and Manipur in primary health, primary education, and rural livelihoods.

Prof K C Abraham retired as Professor of Political Science from the Department of Economics at Sacred Heart College, Thevara, Kochi, Kerala. He is an orator and writer of contemporary regional and national political and social issues and also serves as the Academic Director at CPPR.

Publications by KC Abraham

Dr Parth Shah is the Founder-President of Centre for Civil Society (CCS), a New Delhi-based market-liberal think tank that advances social change through public policy. Parth’s research and advocacy work focuses on the themes of economic freedom, choice, and competition in education, property rights approach to the environment and new public management. He is a member of the education task force of the governments of Delhi and Karnataka and serves on the Senate of the Central University of Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from Auburn University, and has taught at the University of Michigan and been a visiting faculty at JNU, Delhi and MS University, Vadodara. He has worked for over two decades on education policy and market-based solutions to improving education delivery in India. He has also published extensively in Indian and international journals and has edited several books. Some of his works include Liberalism in India, Morality of Markets, Law, Liberty, and Livelihood and School Vouchers: Direct Benefit Transfers in Education.

Dr G Gopa Kumar is the former Vice-Chancellor of the Central University of Kerala, Kasaragod. A leading political scientist and psephologist, he specialises in the areas of International Relations, Comparative Politics and Indian Politics. He has published 12 books and over 145 research articles. He was earlier Dean of Social Sciences and Professor and Head of the Department of Political Science at the University of Kerala, UGC-Emeritus Fellow, ICSSR Senior Fellow, and has more than forty-one years of teaching experience in Political Science at the University level. He had also served as the Director General of the Institute of Parliamentary Affairs, Government of Kerala, and as Director, V.K. Krishna Menon Study Centre for International Relations. Dr Gopa Kumar has received numerous international and national awards and fellowships like Visiting Research Fellow, University of New South Wales, Australia; Australian Studies Senior Fellow; Salzburg Fellow, Austria; UGC-Indo-French Cultural Exchange Award; Fulbright Fellowship, USA (1998 & 2002); Shastri Mobility Fellowship (2017) and visited the University of Calgary, Canada to study on “Canadian Contribution in Internationalizing Higher Education in the era of Globalization”. He was also Visiting Faculty at Claremont Graduate University, USA and University of Calgary, Canada. Dr Gopa Kumar is also a reputed political commentator on television news and a newspaper columnist where his objective and scientific political analysis is highly valued.

Sandip Ghose is a Business Leader, with over three decades of experience in senior leadership roles across industries – ranging from Consumer Goods (FMCG), Media, Cement and Jute. A Chartered Accountant by qualification, he joined Hindustan Lever (as it was then called) as Management Trainee in 1983.
Sandip was Chief Operating Officer of Birla Corporation, the flagship company of MP Birla Group, where his contribution in the transformation of Birla-Corp is widely acknowledged in the industry and the investor community. Prior to that, he was with Lafarge India as Country Sales Director. He had a 19-year long career with Hindustan Unilever, where he progressed on the fast-track gaining exposure across functions and businesses and went on to become Country Head and Managing Director of Unilever Nepal.
He also had an exciting stint in media, first with the ABP Group (as SBU Head of The Telegraph newspaper and Businessworld Magazine) and subsequently with HT Media Limited, where he was responsible for the launch of Hindustan Times & Mint newspapers in Mumbai. Sandip has eclectic interests. A prolific commentator on current affairs, he is an invited columnist in several publications, a frequent speaker and ICF-accredited Leadership and Life Coach, and he is passionate about mentoring and developing leaders for the future.

Susan Zielinski is former Managing Director of Sustainable Mobility & Accessibility Research & Transformation (SMART), which is a project of the University of Michigan. She co-founded and directed Moving the Economy (MTE), a Canada-wide ‘link tank’ that works to catalyse and support sustainable urban transportation innovation. She has over 15 years of experience in transportation initiatives and policies.

Dr. Lawrence Prabhakar Williams is Author, Researcher & Professor, International Relations & Strategic Studies, Formerly with the Department of Political Science, Madras Christian College. His books are Growth of Naval Power in the Indian Ocean Region: Dynamics and Transformation (2016), The Maritime Balance of Power in the Asia-Pacific: Maritime Doctrines and Nuclear Weapons At Sea (2006), Maritime Security in the Indian Ocean Region: Critical Issues of Debate (2008).
His research fellowships have been at IDSS & RSIS Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (2004-07); The Fulbright Fellowship at University of Michigan Ann Arbor (1996); Policy Research Fellowships at The Henry Stimson Center, Washington DC (2001) & Center for Naval Analysis ,USA (2001).
Other research assignments have been with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington DC; Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, Hawaii (2003); Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, Canberra (2007); Near East South Asia Center-National Defense University, Washington DC 2009-2012; Consultant, Net Assessment Directorate, IDS, Ministry of Defence, New Delhi (2001-04). Adjunct Professor & PhD Supervisor Naval War College, INS Mandovi; China Studies Centre, IIT-Madras

Alex Thomas is the Managing Director of Tierra Food India Pvt Ltd. He co-founded Neptune Readymix Concrete Private Limited in 2003, which was later on acquired by RDC Concrete. Alex has also been active in various industry associations and in many missions of public interest and local development like Vyttila Mobility Hub.

Dr Shakila Shamsu was formerly OSD (New Education Policy), in the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education (MoE). She has been the Secretary to the Committee to Draft National Education Policy. She was also the Nodal Officer of the flagship Government of India (GoI) Scheme of National Mission on Teachers and Teaching (NMTT). New initiatives of Leadership for Academicians Programme (LEAP), Annual Refresher Programme in Teaching (ARPIT) and Faculty Induction Programmes were implemented during her tenure.
Prior to this, she held senior positions such as OSD (XII Plan) in MoE and Joint Adviser (Education) in the Planning Commission. Her core areas cover education planning and policy making, teacher education, ICT and Open & Distance Learning and inclusive education. Her academic career spans over 39 years in teaching and academics in the University of Mumbai and IGNOU and over 14 years in the GoI.
She holds a PhD in Education, Gold Medalist for Masters of Political Science, PG Diploma in Distance Education and a Degree in Law. She has to her credit a number of articles in international journals, book contributions and was involved in the preparation of XI and XII Plan and several government reports on education. She has been a member of various Committees of the GoI, State Governments, UGC, USIEF National Selection Committees for Fulbright fellowships, etc.

Dr. GITA GOPAL
ADVISOR (SPECIAL), GENDER STUDIES

Dr. Gita Gopal brings over three decades of experience in development projects, policy-making, and gender equality. With a Doctorate in International Financial Law from Harvard Law School, she has an extensive background in designing and implementing gender-sensitive development projects. Dr Gopal’s work with the World Bank spans two decades (1991-2011), where she led gender and community-driven development initiatives across Africa and Asia, including in countries like South Africa, India, and Tanzania.

Her tenure as Gender and Child Advisor for the Government of Kerala (2013-2016) was marked by the preparation of a comprehensive gender action plan and multi-departmental monitoring system. Dr. Gopal has also contributed to the development of standards of care for government homes and conducted training on gender-aware project design and implementation.

In addition to her policy work, Dr. Gopal has served as a Lead Evaluation Specialist for the World Bank’s Independent Evaluation Group and has consulted for the Asian Development Bank and International Fund for Agricultural Development. As the Managing Director of Ekatha, a charitable trust, she supports the rehabilitation of survivors of sexual harassment and conducts training on laws protecting women’s rights.

Dr Pillai is a Project Management Expert with more than 38 years of broad-based Oil & Gas, Petrochemical, and Power industry experience in Operations and Project Management in India, Nigeria, the USA, Bahrain, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia. Dr Pillai is an Engineer with a post-graduation in Management and a PhD in Strategic Project Management. He is a Fellow of many leading international organisations. Dr Pillai has spoken in more than 40 international conferences and also chaired many. He has been part of the global director board of many leading non-profit professional organizations.

Publications by Dr Madhu Pillai

Raj Cherubal is the Chief Development Goals Specialist at the SDG Coordination Center, set up in the Planning Dept of Govt of TN in collaboration with UNDP.

Earlier he was CEO of Chennai Smart City Limited for six years. Smart Cities is the flagship initiative of the Government of India, implemented in Chennai by the Government of Tamil Nadu and Greater Chennai Corporation, to improve infrastructure and services of the city, and thereby improve the quality of life of all its citizens.

Earlier he was Director-Projects at Chennai City Connect, a platform for industry associations and civic organisations, envisions vibrant Indian cities that deliver world-class quality of life, infrastructure and services.

He is interested in improving urban governance and sustainable urban quality of life. He has worked on various projects on sustainable transportation, urban planning and integrated, multi-modal public transportation, solid waste management, restoration of urban water bodies, sustainable financing of urban infrastructure, redevelopment of business district and regional planning.

He has written and worked to promote decentralisation and good urban governance. Also
to promote economic freedom for entrepreneurs, especially poor like street vendors and others in the informal sector and for their recognition as profit seeking entrepreneurs.

He holds a M.S. in Physics from the University of Louisville and a M.S. in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He has worked in the software industry in areas like computational physics, visualisation, telecom and finance.