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Profile of Speakers

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Seshadri ChariMember, Governing Council, RIS

Mr. Seshadri Chari, is the Former Consultant (2006-2009) UNDP, Southern Sudan, Project: Facilitation of participation of women in post-conflict democratic set up and capacity building of political parties in Southern Sudan. Presently he is Member, RIS Governing Council and Joint Director, (International Affairs) Institute for National Security Studies (INSS). He is also Secretary General, Forum for Integrated National Security (FINS). Presently working on land and maritime security challenges. Some of his publications are A New Era in Indian Polity,’Jananayak’ a Pictorial Biography of the then Prime Minister Mr. A B Vajpayee, “Nepal Emerging Republic”2008,

Economic Federalism” Issues before Smaller States, Need to revisit India’s Nuclear Doctrine, Anagharika Dharmapala Dhamma Dharma Confluence.

Mr Mukund VasudevanManaging Director, Ecolab, Co-Chair of FICCI Water Mission

Mukund is the Vice-President and General Manager of all Ecolab businesses in the sub-continent. He is responsible to drive operational excellence and the overall growth of Ecolab’s businesses (Ecolab, Nalco and Nalco Champion) in India.

With more than two decades of experience, Mukund has held increasingly complex and impactful business focused positions in the water and oil & gas industries. He began his career as an engineer at Schlumberger Wireline and Testing and spent six years as an engagement manager for McKinsey & Company, where he launched several global and local initiatives to drive business growth for various

customers. He was previously associated with Pentair Valves & Controls, where he served as the Vice President and was instrumental in growing Pentair business for Middle East and India. He also served on the board of directors of Infinite Water Solutions, a joint venture between Pentair and Eureka Forbes. Mukund is a Bachelor of Technology from Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai and he has a Masters degree in Finance and Strategy from University of Chicago, Graduate School of Business.

Prof. Amitabh KunduDistinguished Fellow, RIS

Dr. Amitabh Kundu is currently Distinguished Fellow at the Research and Information System for Developing Countries. He is chairing the Committee overvieing the survey for Swatch Bharat Mission (Rural) He was Regional Advisor on Poverty at UNESCWA, Beirut during 2017 and Consultant to the Government of Sri Lanka during 2016. Until January 2014, he was Professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He has been the Dean of the School of Social Sciences and has served as a member of National Statistical Commission during 2006-08. He has been chairperson of the post Sachar Evaluation Committee, set up by

the Ministry of Minority Affairs and was a Visiting Professor at the University of Amsterdam, Sciences Po and Maison des Sciences de L’homme in Paris, University of Kaiserslautern and University of Wuerzburg in Germany. He has worked as Director at various institutes in India

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and is in the Editorial Board of Manpower Journal, Urban India, Journal of Educational Planning and Administration, Indian Journal of Labour Economics. He has about thirty five books and three hundred research articles, published in India and abroad, to his credit.

Dr Kumar V. PratapJoint Secretary (IPF), Ministry of Finance, Government of India

Kumar V Pratap is Joint Secretary (Infrastructure Policy and Finance), Ministry of Finance, Government of India (GoI). Earlier, he has worked with the Prime Minister’s Office, Ministries of Finance and Urban Development, and Planning Commission (all at New Delhi), and the World Bank and Embassy of India (both at Washington DC). He has lectured at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor), London School of Economics, Singapore Management University, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (Singapore), Duke University (North Carolina), University of Maryland (College Park), University of South Carolina (Columbia), World Bank (Washington DC), Indian Institute of Management (IIM, Lucknow), IIM (Indore),and National

Academy of Administration (Mussoorie). He takes a series of ten lectures every year on ‘Infrastructure and the Private Sector’ at the Indian School of Business (Hyderabad and Mohali).

He has been part of many GoI committees in the infrastructure sectors including the Task Force for setting up a Road Regulator, and the chair of the Committee writing the Model Concession Agreement for Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) in the Urban Water Supply sector. He is on the Board of Directors of IIFCL, IRFC, ONGC Videsh Limited and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (Beijing). He has published with Oxford University Press, World Bank, University of Melbourne, Economic and Political Weekly, and the popular press including Economic Times and Business Standard. He has written a book ‘PPPs in Infrastructure - Managing the Challenges’ that has been published by Springer (Singapore) in Jan 2018. He is a recipient of University of Melbourne’s Emerging Leaders Fellowship, University of Maryland’s John J Sexton and Doctoral Fellowships, a letter of appreciation from the Indian Prime Minister, and the National Talent Search Examination (NTSE) scholarship. He has a MBA from IIM, Lucknow (1987) and a PhD from University of Maryland, College Park, USA (2011).

Mr Parameswaran IyerSecretary, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Government of India

Mr. Parameswaran Iyer is Secretary, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Government of India and is leading its flagship Swachh Bharat Mission and the National Rural Drinking Water Program. A 1981 batch IAS officer, he joined the World Bank in 2009. Prior to his current appointment, Mr. Iyer was serving as Manager for Water in the World Bank based in Washington DC. He has over 20 years of experience in the water supply and sanitation sector. He is known for initiating and implementing the “Swajal Program” amongst other initiatives in the sector. During his stint at the World Bank he has also worked in Vietnam, China, Egypt and Lebanon.

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Jyoti VijDy Secretary General, FICCI

Jyoti is a business economist by training with over 2 decades of experience with Industry Associations. Her main areas of specialisation are Financial Sector, Corporate Laws, Corporate Governance and Economic Affairs. She has done several joint projects with World Bank, European Commission, IMF and other UN organisations. She has also been on some important committees of RBI, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Corporate Affairs. She was part of the Rules Committee of Companies Act 2013 including that on CSR provision as FICCI representative. With her strong Industry and Government network, she has been instrumental in

influencing several policy reforms.

Mr Sonmoni BorahSecretary, Water Resources Department, Government of Chhattisgarh

Mr. Sonmoni Borah is A Chhattisgarh cadre IAS officer of 1999 batch. His educational qualification include a M.A. Honours (Political Science) From : Centre for Poltical Studies, Jawahar Lal Nehru University, New Delhi. Previously he has served as Commissioner, Raipur municipal Corporation and Bilaspur Municipal Corporation, CEO, Raipur development authority and Bilaspur development authority, Chief Executive Officer, Zila Panchayat , Bilaspur.

He has also held the position of Registrar, Guru Ghasidas (Central) University, Bilaspur, Collector & District Magistrate of - Raipur, Bilaspur, Janjgir-Champa,

surguja (Ambikapur) and Kabirdham, Director, Department of Public Relations (Jansampark) Chhattisgarh, Director & Joint Secretary, Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection Department. Commissioner, Chhattisgarh Housing Board, Divisional Commissioner, Bilaspur Division, Secretary, Govt. of Chhattisgarh, Women & Child Development Deptt., Secretary, Govt. of Chhattisgarh, Social Welfare Department, Sports & Youth Welfare Department & State Commissioner, Persons with Disabilities He is a two times National Award for Excellence in Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) implementation at the Hands of Prime Minister of India. (Year 2007-08 & 2008-09) Raipur & Bilaspur districts.

As an IAS officer he has a wide experience in Handling the current responsibilities, ranging from land revenue management, management of Rural and Urban issues, Women Empowerment, Women and child Development, Facilities Judicial Matters for handling Law and Order Situation in the District, Housing and Habitat issues, Affordable Housing, Food Security, etc

Jingmin HuangPrincipal Urban Development Specialist, Urban Development and Water Division, South Asia Department, Asian Development Bank

Dr. Huang has twenty-five-year experience in the fields of urban planning, water, wastewater and solid waste management and project development. She has rich project operational experience, strong technical knowledge in urban planning and infrastructure development within and outside ADB.

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She is leading several ADB loans and Technical Assistance processing and implementation in East and South Asia including large-scale water supply project in sixty small towns in Madhya Pradesh in India (approved in May 2017) and the first ADB financed high level technology desalination plant (24,000 m3/day) using design-build-operate contract in Jaffna in Sri Lanka (approved in Nov 2017). Previously, she was responsible for ADB urban initiatives including ADB’s sanitation and wastewater management revolution, the green city initiative, the smart city initiative and the solid waste management sector. Prior to joining ADB, she was a lecturer at Oxford University, UK. She holds a PhD degree in Water Engineering form Oxford University, UKG; and two Bachelor’s degrees in Environment Engineering and Industrial Economic both from the Tianjin University, China.

Professor Ganesh KawadiaProfessor, School of Economics, Devi Ahilya University, Indore

Dr. Ganesh Kawadia has been Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, Professor of Economics and completed superannuated age on 31st October, 2017 from, Devi Ahilya University, Indore, Madhya Pradesh (An ‘A’ Grade State University accredited by NAAC).He has joined as Professor in March, 1994 and worked as Head at the School of Economics from 2006 till his date of superannuation. Before joining Devi Ahilya University in 1989, he was associated with Rani Durgawati University, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh (1980 - 1989). He also served on deputation as the Director of Vidya Bhawan Rural Institute, Udaipur, Rajasthan (1995 – 97). Presently working

as Chair Head, State Planning Commission Chair, School of Economics, Devi Ahilya University, Indore.

Mr Arun LakhaniCMD, Vishvaraj Infrastructure Ltd.

Arun Lakhani is a Technocrat and Social Entrepreneur. He is pioneer in 24x7 water distribution program for 2.7 million population town of Nagpur. This project was acknowledged as best practice by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. He is also promoter of first of its kind PPP, in Sewage treatment and reuse project of 200mld on 100% private funding. Both these unique projects are acknowledged widely at international and national forums and are being emulated by many towns and in the Govt policies.

He believes in taking PPP to 4P model – the 4th P being People as citizens, without whose on-boarding and active participation, social projects like water are difficult to

succeed. For sharing the unique Nagpur experience in the Sustainable Urban Water Management, Vishvaraj has been recently appointed as Advisor to NITI Ayog for Urban Water Supply Projects & Wastewater Treatment and Reuse PPP project modelling.

He is President of Maharashtra Badminton Association & Vice President Badminton Association of India. He is President of Laxmanrao Mankar Trust - an organisation operating 500+ single teacher schools in remote adivasi areas. He is President of Runadhar Trust – an organisation working in skilling the suicide affected farmer families in Vidarbha. He has been awarded One of 50 Most Impactful Leaders in Water and Water Management Internationally by World CSR Day. He has been recently been awarded as Economic Times “The Most Promising Business Leader in Asia” at Asian Business Conclave 2017 held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

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Mr Arunavo MukerjeeVice President, Advisory Tata Cleantech Capital Limited

Currently associated with Tata Cleantech Capital Ltd (TCCL), a joint venture of Tata Capital and International Finance Corporation (IFC), he has extensive experience in the area of climate change spanning the energy / water / waste management sector. He has been with the Tata group since 1991 and has worked in India, USA, Europe and Africa. In July 2008, Mr Mukerjee was selected to lead the Tata group effort to combat climate change across its 100 companies. In early 2013, he was transferred to TCCL to establish the advisory business. He lead the seminal work on water foot printing of major Tata manufacturing facilities in India. Lately he has

been working on waste water re-use in the hospitality and power sector with WRG 2030, a part of the World Bank.

His academic credentials include a BS in Engineering and a MBA from the Indian Institute of Technology and Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota, USA, respectively. Further he completed the Executive program in sustainability leadership conducted by University of Cambridge, UK. He has been the recipient of a green banking scholarship from the German Government for a train the trainers program conducted at Berlin, Germany, in May’17. Subsequently, he completed the green finance specialist program conducted by the Renewable Academy (RENAC) AG, Berlin, Germany, under the International Program of the German Environment Ministry for combating climate change.

Dr Riddhi SinghAssistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Bombay

Riddhi Singh is a hydrologist working on hydrologic modelling and decision analysis in data scarce regions undergoing environmental change. At present, she holds the position of Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. Before this, she worked as Assistant Professor in Department of Civil Engineering at Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad. She also gained post-doctoral research experience while working at the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute, the Pennsylvania State University, US. She completed her PhD from Department of Civil Engineering at the Pennsylvania

State University, US.

She works on multi-stakeholder analysis of water resources systems, assessing the impacts of climate change on water resources, and prediction in ungauged basins. She has expertise on hydrological modeling under changing climatic and land use conditions, with a focus on developing modeling approaches in the presence of large uncertainties. In this context, her group develops approaches to characterize vulnerability of hydrologic systems and methods to quantify vulnerability using models. She has also contributed towards decision making frameworks for managing ecological systems with limited resources that need to be shared among multiple stakeholders.

Her present work includes development of multi-stakeholder decision frameworks for water management in India, catchment classification to understand dominant hydrologic controls, and developing frameworks to predict future water availability in data scarce regions. For her research efforts, she has been awarded the Water Advanced Research Internship jointly funded sources from Indian ad United States. She is also currently Principal Investigator for a project awarded by Department of Science and Technology, India. She is a reviewer for several water resources related journals and has presented in both national and international conferences.

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Mr Romit SenAssociate Director, WWF-India

Mr. Romit Sen is an environment professional with experience across development organisations, international aid agencies and industry chamber working in the area of water and sanitation, industrial water management and rural development. A Masters in Natural Resource Management, his expertise lies in areas of training and capacity building, programme management, research, documentation and public policy. In his current capacity as Associate Director of Rivers, Wetlands and Water Policy at WWF India, Mr. Sen anchors the Water Stewardship and Communication initiatives of the Rivers and Wetlands division. Romit has authored several

publications on various aspects of water resource management. He is currently engaged in addressing the impacts of industrial and urban activities and engaging with stakeholders to address the threats across Ganga, Ramganga and Bhavani river systems.

Mr V.K. MadhavanChief Executive, WaterAid India

Following a Master’s in International Politics from Jawaharlal Nehru University in 1991, Madhavan commenced working with the Urmul Rural Health Research and Development Trust in Bikaner district of Rajasthan where he worked in various capacities till 1998. Subsequently, Madhavan worked with Action Aid and The Hunger Project for four years. For eight years commencing in 2004, Madhavan was the Executive Director of Central Himalayan Rural Action Group (Chirag) in Nainital District of Uttarakhand. In over two decades as a development professional, Madhavan has worked on an integrated approach to rural development - community

health, primary education, natural resource management, on and off-farm livelihoods and investing in young people. Prior to assuming his role as Chief Executive of Water Aid India, Madhavan was Managing Director of Skills Education Private Limited, a company that provides youth with access to information, skills and opportunities leading to employment.

Mr Pinaki BhaduryBusiness Head, Wipro Water

Pinaki Bhadury is Head of Water Business in Wipro. He did his Mechanical Engineering from Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, India in 1983 and his Masters in Management Science (Marketing) from Pune University, India in 1993. Pinaki brings along with him over 35 years of experience in the field of Energy, Environment and Water. He spent 26 years with Thermax Limited working in various functions from Sales & Marketing to Head of Corporate Strategy. After Thermax, he worked briefly at Doshion Veolia Pvt. Ltd. and later at Frost & Sullivan India Pvt. Limited as Vice President, Business Consulting, before joining Wipro Water in September 2012.

Pinaki is very close to energy, environment and water related issues of the country. He has been an active member on various Committees of CII both at the Regional as well as at National level, advising them on issues related to Energy Security, Conservation, Management, Rural Energy, Rural

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Electrification and integration of Rural Development to Energy and Water Management. He has been invited by some of the world bodies like World Alliance for Decentralized Energy (WADE) USA, International Energy Agency (IEA), Paris and Association of Energy Managers (AEM), Czech Republic and European Union to advise them on various energy and environment related policy issues. He was one of the collaborators for the G8 sponsored World CHP initiative through IEA, Paris. On water, he has been invited by Bengal Chamber of Commerce, CII, FICCI and others to speak on Water and Waste Water and its implication on the India.

Mr Arun BarokaJoint Secretary, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Government of India

Currently working as Joint Secretary, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Govt of India and looking after Swachh Bharat Mission (Clean India Programme) for rural India, and which is the flagship mission mode programme of Govt of India. After a short stint in private sector joined the administrative services (Indian Administrative Service(IAS)) of Government of India in the year 1990 and still part of the organized service .

Dr Bindeshwar PathakFounder, Sulabh International Social Service Organisation

Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak founded Sulabh International in 1970 to spearhead a movement for restoration of human rights and dignity to the former untouchables and for providing safe and hygienic human waste disposal system for millions of Indians who defecated in the open. In both these areas, his struggle and achievements over the years have been outstanding—emancipation and rehabilitation of thousands of scavengers, and his invention of Sulabh pour-flush, on-site compost toilet (recognized by the UNDP and WHO as one of the best global technologies for disposal of human waste) and construction of 1.5 million household toilets as

well as 8,500 pay-and-use toilet complexes being used daily by 20 million people. Dr. Pathak also invented, innovated and developed the technology of two pit flush ecological compost toilet and named it as Sulabh Shauchalaya.

Dr. Pathak is a winner of several national and international awards—Padma Bhushan from the Government of India (1991); the International Saint Francis Prize for Environment (1992); the Stockholm Water Prize by Stockholm International Water Institute (2009), the LEGENDE DE LA PLANETE Congres Fondateur Jeux Ecologiques at UNESCO, Paris; (2013).

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Professor Sharad P. KaleDistinguished Scientist

S. P. Kale joined Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in 1976 through 20th batch of Training School after completing his M. Sc. (Microbiology) in Pune University. He joined Biology and Agriculture Division of BARC in 1977 and is has worked for last 40 years in this Division. Recently he retired as Associate Director, Bioscience Group, Head, Nuclear Agriculture and Biotechnology Division and Head, Food Technology Division. He was also Professor at Homi Bhabha National Institute. The main thrust of Dr. Kale’s work has been research and development. He is engaged in research on pesticide degradation and environmental pollution. He initiated work

on solid biodegradable waste processing in 2001 and has developed NISARGRUNA technology for this purpose. Government of India has conferred on him PADMASHREE AWARD in Science and Engineering in 2013.

Mr A.K. TiwariPrincipal Exe. Dir/ Environment & Housekeeping Management, Railway Board, Ministry of Railway, Government of India

Ms Pratima JoshiExecutive Director and Founding Member, Shelter Associates

Pratima has worked in the area of affordable housing and sanitation for the urban poor for nearly 25 years. Having completed her Masters in Architecture from Bartlett School of Architecture and Planning, University College (London) in ‘Building Design for Developing Countries’, she is widely recognized as a leading planner and designer of slum infrastructure. She is one of the co-founders of Shelter Associates (SA), which aims to convert slums into housing societies for the poor by giving access to basic services like water, sanitation, electricity etc. which often urban slums lack.

Over the last 25 years, SA has facilitated successful social housing projects and community sanitation. However the data collected for slums across cities, pointed out that access to safe sanitation was missing. The launch of Swachh Bharat Mission in 2014, gave impetus to our work. This led to SA focusing on household sanitation by launching its ‘One Home One Toilet’ (OHOT) model.

She has participated in policy discussions and advised government programs including the Rajiv Awas Yojna (RAY). Pratima, an Aga Khan scholar, Ashoka fellow and Google Earth Hero (only Indian to have received it) has received great recognition and awards from HUDCO, NASSCOM, ISC-FICCI to name a few for her work at SA. She has been invited as a Speaker at conferences at Stanford University, World Bank, and other countries like Singapore, Hong Kong, Bangladesh, Indonesia & Sri Lanka.

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Dr. Amita BhideTata Institute of Social Sciences

She did her MA in Social Work, specializing in Urban and Rural Community Development in 1990 and has been engaged in teaching at the Institute for over twenty years. She has been deeply involved in issues related to urban poor communities, community organization and housing rights movements and advocacy groups. Professor Bhide’s recent work at the School of Habitat Studies has been on issues of urban development , in particular those concerning urban transformations and their link to inclusive and sustainable development. She has extensively researched urban local governance and planning, water and sanitation, housing and land

issues. She attempts to develop a theoretical and action model of urbanisation that is relevant for the global south through an engagement with several transformative groups at the city, provincial and national scales.

The geographic focus of her work is Mumbai while more recent engagement is with small and medium towns. She also heads the M East Ward Social and Economic Transformation Program, an action research project that seeks to create a model of inclusive urban development in M East Ward, the poorest municipal ward in Mumbai. Her recent publications include – ‘Colonising the Slum’, ‘ The regularising state’, ‘ Comparing Informalities’, ‘Directed Decentralisation- the experience of JNNURM in Maharashtra’. A book co-edited with Himanshu Burte on ‘Parallax: Contemporary Urban Policy in India is in the process of publication

Mr Hrishit ShroffExecutive Director, Excel Industries

Hrishit A Shroff is qualified as a Chartered Accountant in the year 2005. During his course, he articled with two of the leading accounting firms in India namely - Arthur Andersen & E&Y. Hrishit is currently President – Environment & Biotech Division & Corporate Services of Excel Industries Limited. Excel is a pioneer in the area of Waste Management focused on Organic Waste Management. Excel offers solutions in Centralized as well as Decentralized Waste Management. Excel is spearheading efforts to make waste management more inclusive, convenient and affordable by creating innovative products. Excel also plays a stewardship role in completing the

rural-urban symbiosis by facilitating the completion of the waste to compost circular economy. Prior to this, Hrishit worked with Excel Crop Care Limited, a leading agrochemicals solution provider.

He established a Enterprise Risk Management framework for the Company which included a strong governance framework resulting in valuable risk mitigation measures for the future. He successfully spearheaded the implementation of SAP – ERP for Excel Crop Care. Recognizing the need to have a firm grasp on technology, operations, product and people, Hrishit lead operations spanning 6 years at 2 locations. The metal phosphides manufacturing site grew by 300% employing 95% local workforce and developed a local supply chain economy by raising vendors within a 50km radius of a of the remote village in Kutch. At larger technical and formulations facility, Hrishit led the site to a turnaround at the time it received a major setback by identifying and producing new products, finding

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and implementing measures to redeploy production infrastructure which was rendered idle. He played a key role in product stewardship. The site vastly improved its industrial relations and public relations. Succession planning was implemented in order to feel the gap created due to the retirement of key Senior Personnel. In 2014 Hrishit moved to Mumbai Corporate Office as VP Commercial focusing on building strong supply chain which extensively depended on China sources, improvement in the planning & order fulfillment cycles, product pricing, new products positioning, marketing, and international business. From August 2015- Oct 2016, Hrishit served as Executive Director on the Board of Excel Crop Care Limited. Hrishit is also currently pursuing an executive management course at Harvard Business School.

Mr N.K. MathurMember (D&R), Central Water Commission

NK Mathur, Member(D&R), Central Water Commission has done graduation in Civil Engineering from MBM Engineering College, Jodhpur and Post Graduation in Water Resources Engineering with Honors from University of Roorkee(Now IIT Roorkee) and joined Central Water Engineering(CWE) Group ‘A’ Service (Central Water Commission) CWC in April, 1984.

He has worked in various capacities in CWC, Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation(MOWRRD&GR). He worked in

various capacities in CWC in various fields such as Hydrological Observation, Flood Forecasting, Monitoring and Appraisal of Projects. He worked in Hydrology Study Organisation at various levels for about 12 years. Prior to the assignment of Member(D&R), he worked in Ministry of Water Resources , River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation as Commissioner(FM) and Chief Engineer in Godavari River Management Board. He has co-authored about 10 technical articles in different national & international seminars/conferences, delivered various lectures in different training/workshops. He has taken over as Member(Design & Research) in CWC on 2nd May, 2017.

Professor M.G. ChandrakanthDirector, Institute for Social and Economic Change

Prof MG Chandrakanth, is a MSc, and a PhD in agricultural economics along with a Post Doc from UCBerkeley. He is the Director of Institute for Social and Economic Change in Bangalore. He was formerly Professor and University Head of Agricultural Economics, Ciriacy-Wantrup Fellow, DAAD visiting professor, Erasmus Mundus visiting scholar, and a Member of Academic Council, University of Agricultural Sciences.

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Mr Rajeev Kumar VasudevaChief Engineer, Technical Cell Urban Development and Housing Department, Government of Jharkhand

Mr Rajeev Kumar retired has an experience of over 36 years and has held many posts across different government departments. As an Assistant Engineer in the Roads Design Division, Mr. Vasudev was reposbile for reviewing the design and specialization of different road projects in Bihar. He was assigned the responsibility of supervising the school buildings and houses for weaker sections in different blocks of Patna District. He retired as as EIC, Rural Works Department, Government of Jharkhand.

Mr Raghava NetiSenior Water and Sanitation Specialist, The World Bank

Raghava Neti has about 26 years’ experience in Urban Development, Rural and Urban Water and Sanitation, Natural Disaster Risk Mitigation sectors. He worked in diverse set of development projects and Technical Assistance activities, supporting the central and state governments in India. He is currently working with the World Bank as a Senior Infrastructure Specialist, in Water Global Practice, based at New Delhi. Raghava Neti has led many of the innovative projects in the World Bank, some of them are conceived for the first time in India. He is the Team Leader for the country’s first Program-for-Results (PforR) lending program that was designed

to disburse funds only upon achievement of results in the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation (RWSS) Sector in Maharashtra. He is also the Team Leader of the World Bank’s largest Rural Sanitation Program, the US$ 1.5 billion, Swachh Bharat Mission Support Operation. In the Urban Water Sector, he has successfully led to completion, the India’s first 24x7 urban water supply project of the World Bank, that has for the first time demonstrated improved and sustainable 24x7 urban water services in Karnataka. The same is being scaled up now. He has Masters in Environmental Engineering from Victoria Jubilee Technical Institute, Mumbai, and a Master in Business Administration from Melbourne University. In the Urban sector, he is working on the first Green Field Capital City development project of the World Bank in India, for the formation of new capital city Amaravati, in Andhra Pradesh.

Ms Namita VikasGroup President & Global Head- Climate Strategy & Responsible Banking, Yes Bank

Namita Vikas is a senior business leader with over 27 years of well-rounded diverse global experience in Banking, Technology, FMCG domain with particular focus on Sustainable Finance, Climate Action, Environment Social Governance Risk Management and Corporate Citizenship. Namita has a strong track record of leadership development & building innovative products, solutions & institutions with deep understanding of Green banking and mainstreaming sustainability across verticals. She is experienced in strategically running large business units to create sustained stakeholder value by intrinsically linking economic, social and

environmental parameters to business.

A certified independent director, she has been instrumental in maintaining gender diversity in the current business role and handling sustainability management covering ESG compliance, public

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policy and research, triple bottom-line accounting and facilitating sustainable finance/investing, CSR and social entrepreneurship.

In March 2017, she was recognized as one of the ‘Leading Women in Business Sustainability’ from across the globe by World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). More recently in October 2017, Namita was also awarded the ‘Sustainability Leader of the Year’ by Ethical Corporation, UK. Elected as Chairperson of UN Natural Capital Finance Alliance, Chairperson of United Nations Global Compact, West & serves on boards of YES FOUNDATION, Asia Venture Philanthropy Network (AVPN), UNEP-FI Banking Commission, World Resource Institute - India GHG Program, and Indian Centre for CSR (ICCSR). Namita is a regular speaker at United Nations, International Conferences and academic institutions. With a BA (Hons) from Mumbai University & Advanced Management in Leadership and Sustainable Development from Svenska Institutet, Sweden and currently pursuing Advanced Management in Business, Strategy & Finance program from Columbia Business School.

Professor Meera MehtaProfessor Emeritus, CEPT University

Dr. Meera Mehta is Professor Emeritus and Joint Director of the Centre for Water and Sanitation at CEPT University. She has over 40 years of experience in water and sanitation, urban development and infrastructure finance. She leads the work on SBM strategies, and Sanitation and FSSM Financing. She was on the board of the Global Water Partnership (GWP) and is currently on the board of Dutch NGO IRC. Dr. Mehta has worked with the World Bank in India and its Water and Sanitation Program in Africa (2000-2006). She was a member of the USAID FIRE-D program for Urban Infrastructure and led the work on Municipal Bonds. She studied Architecture,

Urban Planning and has a Ph. D. in economics

Amb. S.T. Devare, ChairmanResearch Advisory Council, Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS)

Mr. Sudhir Devare joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1964 and served in India’s Missions in Moscow, Washington and Yangon. While serving in the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations in Geneva, he was the alternate delegate to the Committee on Disarmament. He has also served as Consul General in Frankfurt, Germany and was India’s Ambassador to the Republic of Korea (1985-89), Ukraine, Georgia and Armenia (1992-94), and Indonesia (1994-98). From 1998 till his retirement from the I.F.S in June 2001, he was the Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi. He was a Member of the National Security Advisory Board of India

in 2002-03. He was a Visiting Professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in 2002 and was the Vice-Chairman of the Research and Information System of Developing Countries (RIS), New Delhi. He has authored India and Southeast Asia: Towards Security Convergence (2006) by the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, (ISEAS) Singapore and Capital Publishing Co. Delhi and A New Energy Frontier: the Bay of Bengal region published by ISEAS, Singapore (2008). He was the Director General of the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA) New Delhi. Currently he is the Chairman of Research Advisory Council (RAC) of RIS.

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Dr Sabyasachi SahaAssistant Professor, Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS), New Delhi

Dr. Sabyasachi Saha is Assistant Professor at the Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS) since May 2014. He had joined RIS as a full time Consultant in March 2013. He obtained his PhD in Economics (2013) from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi at the Centre for International Trade and Development. His academic qualifications include M.A. in Economics (2007) and M.Phil. in International Trade and Development (2009) from the same centre/institution. His research interest spans across areas of development and trade primarily focused on technology, industrial policy, multilateral trading systems

and international development.

He has published his research in academic journals, working paper series, edited volumes, research reports and as policy briefs. He has participated in prestigious academic conferences and high level policy dialogues in India and abroad. Previously, he has worked with premier academic institutions and think tanks in India as senior research staff. As a young scholar he received the WIPO Prize, DAAD funded junior fellowship for research in Germany, and Government of India Travel Grant. He was also selected for internship at the Planning Commission (now NITI Aayog), Government of India.

Mr Deepak MukhiHead, FICCI Maharashtra State Council

Deepak has over 18 years of experience in the field of Trade promotion and policy formulation. He has been working with FICCI – Maharashtra state council for the last 14 years and leads FICCI’s initiatives on trade promotion, capacity building and issues pertaining to various policies at state level. He is also alumnus of the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP), U.S. Department of State.

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