<p>“By the end of the next decade we will be the world’s largest nation. We already are the world’s largest multi-cultural, multi-religious, multi-ethnic, multi-linguistic democracy. The success of the Indian experiment in nation building and in the social and economic empowerment of a billion people is vital for the very future of mankind in the 21st century.”</p> <p><strong>— Manmohan Singh</strong>,&nbsp;<em>Prime Minister of India</em></p>

<p><strong>Ahluwalia, Montek S.</strong></p> <p>A distinguished economist Montek S. Ahluwalia is presently Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, Government of India. Earlier, he was Director, Independent Evaluation Office at the International Monetary Fund, Washington. His previously held positions include Member, Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, and Finance Secretary, Government of India. Mr. Ahluwalia has published several articles in reputed journals and has numerous contributions in major reports and edited volumes.</p> <p><strong>Ahmad, Aijaz</strong></p> <p>Aijaz Ahmad currently holds the Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan Chair at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. Professor Ahmad has authored several books and is Senior Editorial Consultant for Frontline, Chennai.</p> <p><strong>Bajpai, K. Shankar</strong></p> <p>K. Shankar Bajpai is Chairman of the Delhi Policy Group. He was formerly Secretary to the Government of India, Ministry of External Affairs. From 1970 to 1974 he was the Government of India's Representative in Sikkim, and subsequently Ambassador to the Netherlands, Pakistan, China and the United States. After his retirement, he was Visiting Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and Professor at Brandeis University.</p> <p><strong>Banga, Manvinder Singh (Vindi)</strong></p> <p>Manvinder Singh (Vindi) Banga, has held a variety of positions in Unilever since he joined in 1977. In April 2005, Vindi joined the newly formed Unilever Executive (UEx) and was appointed President (Foods). He is also non-executive Chairman of Hindustan Lever Ltd. and is actively involved on the Boards and Managing Committee of many trade and non-trade bodies.</p> <p><strong>Benegal, Shyam</strong></p> <p>Legendary film-maker, Shyam Benegal is one of the pioneers of the new cinema in India. The Government of India has conferred on him two of its most prestigious awards, Padma Shri (1976) and Padma Bhushan (1991).</p> <p><strong>Bery, Suman K.</strong></p> <p>Suman K. Bery is Director General of the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), New Delhi. Earlier he served at The World Bank, Washington. Beside his expertise in Latin American economies, he has written extensively in the press and elsewhere on current issues in the Indian economy.</p> <p><strong>Bhaskar, C. Uday</strong></p> <p>Commodore Uday Bhaskar is one of India’s leading defence analysts at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi. He has contributed over 50 research articles/papers to professional journals and books published in India and abroad.</p> <p><strong>Bhatt, Mahesh</strong></p> <p>Renowned film-maker Mahesh Bhatt gained acclaim for his bold films Arth ('82), Saaransh ('84), Janam ('90), Daddy ('91), Tamanna ('97) and finally Zakhm ('99)... all of them born from his own experiences. Today, he has moved on to writing books and films. He is Chairman of Vishesh Entertainment and is the creative backbone for Fisheye Network.</p> <p><strong>Chandhoke, Neera</strong></p> <p>Neera Chandhoke is Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Delhi and Director, Developing Countries Research Centre, University of Delhi. She has authored and edited several publications.</p> <p><strong>Chellaney, Brahma</strong></p> <p>Brahma Chellaney is Research Professor of Strategic Studies at the Centre for Policy Research, Delhi. A specialist on international security and arms control issues, Professor Chellaney has held appointments at Harvard University, the Brookings Institution, the Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies and the Australian National University. Until January 2000 he served as convenor of the External Security Group of India's National Security Advisory Board.</p> <p><strong>Chowdhary, Rekha</strong></p> <p>Rekha Chowdhary is Professor of Political Science, University of Jammu. She has been working in the areas of Indian and state politics, specialising in the politics of Jammu and Kashmir. She is currently the coordinator, UGC Special Assistance Programme on Jammu and Kashmir.</p> <p><strong>Dev, S. Mahendra</strong></p> <p>Professor S. Mahendra Dev currently Director, Centre for Economic and Social Studies, Hyderabad, has written extensively on agricultural development, poverty and public policy. He has been a member of several government committees and has also been associated with international bodies like the UNDP, IFPRI, ESCAP and The World Bank.</p> <p><strong>Gandhi, Sonia</strong></p> <p>Sonia Gandhi is the President of the Indian National Congress Party which made a remarkable comeback under her leadership in the 2004 General Elections for the 14th Lok Sabha. She is also the Chairperson of the Coordinating Committee of the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and the Chairperson, Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust.</p> <p><strong>Ganguly, Ashok S.</strong></p> <p>Ashok Ganguly is currently the Chairman of ICICI OneSource Limited and ABP Pvt. Ltd. and has been a Director on the Central Board of the Reserve Bank of India, since November 2000. In addition, Dr. Ganguly heads his own company, Technology Network India Pvt. Ltd. He is a recipient of the Padma Bhushan, one of India's highest honours.</p> <p><strong>Gupta, Dipankar</strong></p> <p>Dipankar Gupta is currently a professor in the Centre for the Study of Social Systems, Jawaharlal Nehru University. He has authored and edited several books. He is also co-editor of Contributions to Indian Sociology.</p> <p><strong>Hasan, Zoya</strong></p> <p>Zoya Hasan is Professor of Political Science at the Jawaharlal Nehru University. She has been recently appointed as a Fellow of the Human Development and Capability Association of the Global Equity Initiative of the Asia Centre of Harvard University. She has authored and edited several books.</p> <p><strong>Hazarika, Sanjoy</strong></p> <p>Sanjoy Hazarika is Managing Trustee, Centre for North East Studies and Policy Research (C-NES); Consulting Editor, The Statesman and Visiting Professor at the Centre for Policy Research. He has written extensively on the Northeast and made documentary films about the region and countries in its neighbourhood. He is an award winning former correspondent of The New York Times.</p> <p><strong>Hoskote, Ranjit</strong></p> <p>Ranjit Hoskote is a poet, art theorist and independent curator of contemporary Asian art. He is the author of seven books, among which three are collections of poetry. Hoskote has received the Sahitya Akademi Golden Jubilee Award for Literature (2004) and Sanskriti Award for Literature (1996). He is currently Assistant Editor with The Hindu, Bombay.</p> <p><strong>Jha, Prem Shankar</strong></p> <p>Prem Shankar has been editor of The Economic Times, The Financial Express, economic editor of The Times of India and editor of the Hindustan Times. Currently he is a columnist for the Outlook magazine, Hindustan Times, Dainik Bhaskar and several other newspapers. He is the the author of many widely acclaimed books.</p> <p><strong>Kakar, Sudhir</strong></p> <p>Psychoanalyst and writer, Sudhir Kakar has been Professor of Organisa-tional Behaviour at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad and Head of Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi. Dr. Kakar's many honours include the Kardiner Award of Columbia University, Boyer Prize for Psychological Anthropology of the American Anthropological Association, Germany’s Goethe Medal, and being elected to the Académie Universelle des Cultures in Paris. Several of his books have been translated into 20 languages around the world.</p> <p><strong>Kanwar, Amar</strong></p> <p>Amar Kanwar is an independent film-maker working from New Delhi. His films were exhibited at DOCUMENTA 11 and in several international film festivals. His films have been essentially on issues of ecology, human rights, sexuality, art and politics. He has received several awards at the International Film Festivals.</p> <p><strong>Karnad, Bharat</strong></p> <p>Bharat Karnad is Research Professor in National Security Studies at the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi, and has authored books on nuclear weapons and India's security. He regularly lectures at various military forums.</p> <p><strong>Khilnani, Sunil</strong></p> <p>Sunil Khilnani is currently Professor of Politics and Director, South Asia Studies at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, in Washington DC. He has authored several well known books, including The Idea of India.</p> <p><strong>Kidwai, Naina Lal</strong></p> <p>Naina Lal Kidwai is the Chief Executive Officer of HSBC in India. Besides being the first woman to head a foreign bank in India, Ms. Kidwai was also the first Indian woman to graduate from the Harvard Business School. Ranked 3rd in Asia by Fortune magazine in their first ever listing of 'the world's top women in business in Asia' in 2000 and subsequently ranked in the 'top 50 women in Business', internationally, by Fortune magazine in the first such listing in 2001 and subsequently in 2002 and 2003. Also listed by Time magazine as one of their '15 Global Influentials' 2002.</p> <p><strong>Kumar, Radha</strong></p> <p>Radha Kumar is Visiting Professor at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, and trustee of the Delhi Policy Group, where she is directing a programme on "Durable Peace Processes and Partners" jointly sponsored by the India International Centre. She is currently writing a book on the India-Pakistan peace process. Her articles have been widely published in reputed national and international journals.</p> <p><strong>Malhoutra, Manmohan</strong></p> <p>Secretary-General of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation since 2001, ‘Moni’ Malhoutra was formerly Assistant Secretary-General of the Commonwealth and later, a member of the Board of Directors of International IDEA – the Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, Stockholm. Educated in Delhi and Oxford, he was a member of the Indian Administrative Service (1961-1978) and served in the Secretariat of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi from 1966 to 1973. He then moved to London to the Commonwealth Secretariat, where he played a leading role in Commonwealth efforts to end apartheid in South Africa.</p> <p><strong>Mehta, Pratap Bhanu</strong></p> <p>Pratap Bhanu Mehta is the President and Chief Executive of the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi. He has published widely in reputed national and international journals. He has been a prolific contributor to public debates and his columns have regularly appeared in The New Republic, Foreign Policy, The Hindu, The Indian Express, The Telegraph, Yale Global and numerous other papers.</p> <p><strong>Menon, Asha (Revathy)</strong></p> <p>Revathy was introduced into films by the veteran director Bharathi Rajaa in the year 1933. Since then she has done more than 95 films in five Indian languages. She has received several national and international awards. Revathy is an exponent in classical Bharathanatyam. She is now involved in many social activities involving people with disabilities and children.</p> <p><strong>Monteiro, Vivek</strong></p> <p>Vivek Monteiro is currently the Secretary CITU, Maharashtra State Committee; Convenor CITU Maharashtra State Coordination Committee for Unorganised Sector Workers. He is also a member of the Maharashtra State Committee of CPI(M). Dr. Monteiro joined the trade union movement in 1977. He has worked primarily on issues pertaining to the unorganised sector. He is also an active member of the Group for Nuclear Disarmament and has written extensively on labour, science and technology and nuclear weapons.</p> <p><strong>Mukherjee, Mridula</strong></p> <p>Mridula Mukherjee is Chairperson and Professor of Modern Indian History at the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She is member, executive committee of the National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT) and the Indian History Congress. She is closely associated with Shantha Sinha's movement for abolition of child labour and for universal school education. She has authored and co-authored some best-selling books.</p> <p><strong>Munjal, Sunil Kant</strong></p> <p>Sunil Kant Munjal is the Managing Director and CEO of Hero Cycles Ltd. He is the past president of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), India's premier business association. Mr. Munjal has been a member of several national level Government committees, is currently a member of the Prime Minister's Council on Trade and Industry, and the Consultative Group on Industry, Planning Commission, among others.</p> <p><strong>Munjee, Nasser</strong></p> <p>Nasser Munjee, a monetary economist, is presently the Chairman of Development Credit Bank. Earlier, he was the Managing Director and CEO of Infrastructure Development Finance Company Limited, India (IDFC) and introduced the concept of private financing of public infrastructure to India. Mr. Munjee is on the Board of many corporates and is deeply interested in development issues. An ardent lover of jazz, Mr. Munjee is the Chairman of Jazz India.</p> <p><strong>Narain, Sunita</strong></p> <p>Sunita Narain is the Director of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), and the editor/publisher of Down To Earth, India's first science and environment fortnightly magazine. She has received many national awards and honours for her contributions to the environmental cause.</p> <p><strong>Narayan, Jayaprakash</strong></p> <p>Jayaprakash Narayan describes himself as a physician by training, a public servant by choice, and a democrat by conviction. He resigned from the IAS in 1996 and in the same year started the Foundation for Democratic Reforms, a non-partisan think tank, to promote political and governance reforms. Dr. Narayan also started Lok Satta, a grassroots movement to exert positive pressure to institutionalise good governance. Lok Satta is now India's largest non-partisan movement for governance reforms, with popular support and credibility.</p> <p><strong>Nayyar, Deepak</strong></p> <p>Deepak Nayyar, formerly Vice Chancellor of the University of Delhi is an eminent economist; has taught at the University of Oxford, the University of Sussex, the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta and Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Professor Nayyar is Chairman of the Board of Governors of the UNU World Institute for Development Economics Research, Helsinki, and Chairman of the Advisory Council for the Queen Elizabeth House at the University of Oxford. He is also a Member of the World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization.</p> <p><strong>Ninan, T.N.</strong></p> <p>T.N. Ninan is the editor and publisher of Business Standard. He is also a familiar figure on national television as a commentator on economic issues. He has won the B.D. Goenka Award for excellence in journalism (1992), and the Sachin Chaudhuri Award for excellence in financial journalism.</p> <p><strong>Parthasarathy, Ravi</strong></p> <p>Ravi Parthasarathy is the Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Infrastructure Leasing &amp; Financial Services Limited (IL&amp;FS). He is on the Board of several companies, including The National Stock Exchange of India Limited. He is also a Member of the Expert Committee on Infra-structure, constituted by the Government of India.</p> <p><strong>Prahalad, C.K.</strong></p> <p>C.K. Prahalad is Paul and Ruth McCracken Distinguished University Professor at University of Michigan. Professor Prahalad is a globally known figure and has consulted with the top management of many of the world's foremost companies. His research specialises in corporate strategy and the role and value added of top management in large, diversified, multinational corporations.</p> <p><strong>Prasad, Chandra Bhan</strong></p> <p>Chandra Bhan Prasad is the first and only Dalit writer to run columns in mainstream newspapers. Author of the famous Bhopal Document (2002) for the Government of Madhya Pradesh, Mr. Prasad is a diversity advocate for Dalits in India. He has written Vishwasghat (in Hindi), detailing landholding patterns in India's 16 major states.</p> <p><strong>Raina, Vinod</strong></p> <p>Vinod Raina worked as a software consultant at Delhi University. He resigned in 1982 to work full-time at the grassroots level for the qualitative improvement of rural school education, and co-founded the Eklavya Group which has done pioneering work in this area since then. He was also associated, from its inception, with the mass literacy campaign model. For this purpose he co-founded the Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti (BGVS), a movement of half a million volunteers working on elementary education, health, women, livelihoods in 250 districts of 20 states. He is currently the General Secretary of BGVS.</p> <p><strong>Rampal, Anita</strong></p> <p>Anita Rampal is working with the Central Institute of Education, University of Delhi. She is a member of the Executive Committee of NCERT and has been closely associated with the development of new textbooks. She was earlier the Director, National Literacy Resource Centre, Lal Bahadur Shastri Academy of Administration, Mussoorie and has been involved in major educational initiatives like the National Literacy Campaign. She has authored several books and academic papers.</p> <p><strong>Ramphal, Shridath</strong></p> <p>Sir Shridath ('Sonny') Ramphal was the Foreign Minister of Guyana before being elected as Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, a post he held for three terms (1975-1990). He was a prominent member of all the independent international commissions of the 1980s. In the 1990s he was Co-Chairman (along with Ingvar Carlsson, the then Prime Minister of Sweden) of the International Commission on Global Governance.</p> <p><strong>Sanghvi, Vir</strong></p> <p>Vir Sanghvi is Editorial Director, of the Hindustan Times. He is an accomplished writer and columnist, and anchors influential and popular programmes on television. He has won innumerable awards for his writings and journalism and was named a Global Leader of Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum in Davos in 1983.</p> <p><strong>Sen, Mrinal</strong></p> <p>"I'm a film-maker by accident and occasionally an author by compulsion," claims Mrinal Sen. He started writing on the aesthetics of cinema, its philosophy, its socio-political relevance, and dreamt of a genre, called New Cinema. He has received numerous awards, national and international. He has served on the juries of many film festivals. For nine continuous years, he remained the Chairman of the International Federation of Film Societies.</p> <p><strong>Setalvad, Teesta</strong></p> <p>Teesta Setalvad has been a journalist since 1983, when she was the editor of Communalism Combat. She is a trustee of the Women's Centre, D.D. Kosambi Trust, Bombay. She has written and directed various documentary films and has received many awards including the Rajiv Gandhi Sadbhavna Award 2002.</p> <p><strong>Singh, Manmohan</strong></p> <p>Dr. Manmohan Singh is the Prime Minister of India. A distinguished economist, Dr. Singh is widely regarded as the principal architect of India’s economic reforms, a process initiated in 1991 when he was the Union Finance Minister.</p> <p><strong>Varadarajan, Siddharth</strong></p> <p>Siddharth Varadarajan is Deputy Editor of The Hindu, with primary responsibility for writing on strategic affairs and internal security. In addition to his academic writings in edited books, he himself edited a volume on the Gujarat violence, Gujarat: The Making of a Tragedy (2002).</p> <p><strong>Vasudev, Aruna</strong></p> <p>Aruna Vasudev is the Founder-Editor of Osian's-Cinemaya, the Asian Film Quarterly, founded in 1988; Founder-Director of Osian's-Cinefan, the annual Festival of Asian Cinema in Delhi, and President of NETPAC (Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema) International. She is a member on the Board of the Public Service Broadcasting Trust in Delhi. She is a regular writer on film for various newspapers and periodicals. She has been a member or President of the international juries of several international film festivals.</p> <p><strong>Vatsyayan, Kapila</strong></p> <p>Kapila Vatsyayan is Chairperson of the IIC-Asia Project, India International Centre and represents India on the UNESCO Executive Board. She is also Vice-Chairperson of the Central Advisory Board on Culture of the Government of India. Dr. Vatsyayan’s work in education and culture has received recognition nationally and internationally, including eight Honoris Causa degrees; the Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana Award 2000, and most recently, the Lalit Kala Ratna Award on the occasion of the golden jubilee of the Lalit Kala Academi.</p> <p><strong>Yadav, Yogendra</strong></p> <p>Prof. Yogendra Yadav is Senior Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), Delhi. He is the Founder Convenor of the Lokniti network. Prof. Yadav has designed and coordinated the National Election Studies from 1996 to 2004—the largest ever series of academic surveys of the Indian electorate. He has contributed about 200 articles in various newspapers and magazines. He is currently the Executive Editor of Samayik Varta, a monthly Hindi magazine.</p> <p><strong>Yechury, Sitaram</strong></p> <p>Sitaram Yechury is a Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) from the Communist Party of India (Marxist). He is a member of the party's Central Committee and Politburo and has authored various publications on communalism, economic policy and social and cultural issues.</p>