People

Aditya likes to see the physical form of cities change slowly like a fluid. A trained civil engineer and urban planner with a little over 8 years in urban development, he owes much of his on-ground know-how, to the formative experience in consulting. He noticed that finance is but one aspect in planning, as he negotiated with state governments and city governments, on infrastructure planning and development, and land-use planning. His most significant experience was in consulting with Diu, under the Smart Cities Mission, where the city is entitled to receive grants more than 16 times its annual budget. As a Manager at Janaagraha, he is involved in development of a national portal to improve transparency in municipal budgets and accounts; property tax reforms, and building capacities and capabilities of cities. He reads fiction when he can and can be good company for walks outdoors.

Aditya Verghese works as an Associate Manager in the Public Finance Management team. He has more than 8 years of experience in the development and private sector. Prior to Janaagraha, he has worked in public policy and governance consulting in the fields of livelihoods, public health and education. In his spare time, he likes to read up on topics related to history and also conducts heritage walking tours for likeminded enthusiasts.

Aishwarya R joined Janaagraha in 2021 as an intern and now scaled up to being an Associate – Councillor Leadership Programme as part of the Advocacy and Reforms team. She is one of the core members of Janaagraha’s City Leaders Programme (CLP). She specifically focuses on CLP research, and module design and takes care of CLP delivery in Tamil Nadu. Janaagraha’s City Politics is also her domain of work.

Aishwarya holds a Master’s in Development from Azim Premji University, Bangalore and a Bachelor’s in Corporate Economics from Women’s Christian College, Chennai.  She has previously worked with Citizen Matters as an intern and has written on civic issues. Alongside, she has also conducted a research project on the social and economic factors affecting the use of contraceptives among married women in an urban setting. Aishwarya’s interests are diverse in nature. They span across governance, the intersection of gender and health and more.

A good book and dessert is Aishwarya’s definition of a break. She enjoys watching period dramas and loves trivia on history and politics.

Alisha is part of the Public Finance Management Team at Janaagraha. She is a trained economist with an MSc Financial Economics degree from Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Pune. She has 4+ years of experience in finance, economics and policy.

Amaresh Belagal works as the Senior Associate – Environmental Sustainability at Janaagraha since 2022. His work has been substantial in moving the team forward.

Amaresh holds a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering and a Master’s degree in Environmental Engineering from Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU), Belagavi. Additionally, he has completed his Post Graduation in Developmental Leadership from the Indian School of Development Management (ISDM), Noida. He has previously worked with Tide Technocrats as a Senior Environmental Engineer and also with the Centre for Policy Research based out of Bhubaneswar as a Public Health Engineering Expert.

It is highly likely that you will get to listen to his travelogues or a synopsis of the movies he watches often.

Anindya’s ikigai is to tackle the most significant issues of our times. Anindya, a part of the Advocacy & Reforms team at Janaagraha, is presently driving efforts to design & implement Shared Municipal Services to drive efficiency and enhance quality in delivering municipal services. Anindya is a seasoned professional in development finance and fund management and earned a Master of Public Policy from the University of Minnesota focused on building resilient cities. Before graduate school, Anindya supported an infrastructure fund in India, where he gained expertise in innovative finance and structuring large-scale energy and infrastructure projects. Anindya also worked as a researcher at the Center for Urban & Regional Affairs, undertaking community-based research on affordable housing & sustainable food systems.

Ankita has 10+ years of work experience in the development sector wherein she has worked on multiple projects with the Odisha Government. She has worked with Cuttack Municipal Corporation as a sanitary expert, and also with the Tata Trusts Foundation as a Consultant looking after project implementation. She is a Bachelor of Civil Engineering from Bhadrak Institute of Engineering & Technology

Apula Singh is a Manager in the Public Finance team. She joined Janaagraha in 2018 as part of the ASICS team. She thereafter worked with the Odisha government’s Housing & Urban Development Department on Municipal Strengthening reforms, and led the efforts on performance management of solid waste management system. She continues to support the state on FSSM reforms aimed at financial sustainability of the sector. Currently, she is developing a public finance fellowship for women professionals and supporting development of a grant management system.

Prior to Janaagraha, she has worked with the Haryana CM’s office on priority areas of urban development, doubling farmers’ income and environment sustainability. She is deeply passionate about environment preservation and enjoys learning about history and civilizations.

Aravinda is Senior Manager responsible for fundraising, developments and partnerships at Janaagraha.Aravinda is a Socio-Economic Development sector professional with 20 years of experience in different thematic areas especially in Inclusive Livelihoods, Inclusive Education, Financial Inclusion, Disability Inclusion, Integrated Rural Development, Natural Resource Management, Environment and Renewable Energy.

During his professional journey, he has served for-profit & non-profit organizations based in India, US, UK, Kenya, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. He is the winner of Manthan South Asia Award in 2008 under the category of “Best e-content Development” and is an Ambassador for Sustainability Procurement and Supply Chain (SPSC).He believes that creativity is his Passion, Skill-sets are his Strengths, Experience is his Knowledge and Professionalism his Tool

Astha Joshi comes with five years of experience as a combination of a Development professional, Project Management, and IT – Telecom BSS subject matter expert. She has previously worked with Wipro Technologies across India and other countries in the Asia-pacific region and with District administration Deoghar- to implement projects under the District mineral foundation trust. Astha has B. Tech in computer science & engineering and an M.Sc in Urban Policy and Governance from TISS, Mumbai. Her hobbies include travelling and exploring new places, and cooking.

Balaram is a Senior Associate in the Municipal Finance program. He is an electronics engineer from JNTU, Kakinada and a rural management graduate from NIRD.

Prior to Janaagraha, he was with Swaniti Initiative as a Development and Policy Associate with the Department of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, AP strengthening implementation of schemes like MGNREGA, IWMP, UNNATI, RURBAN, RYTHU BHAROSA and PMAY. He has also worked in ARSERP as a Young Professional in APRIGP World Bank project and as a city coordinator with Vijayawada Needs You – an NGO working on youth empowerment. His hobbies include listening to music, and adventure sports.

Bandish has an MBA in Energy and Environment from Symbiosis Institute of International Business. His areas of interest are climate policy, climate financing, and sustainable urban development. He was recently associated with the “OPTIMISM project” at Ahmedabad University alongside senior scientists from IPCC, which focused on addressing Sustainable Development Goals through low carbon transportation in two Indian cities. His previous experience includes an internship at ICLEI South Asia where he worked on preparing Greenhouse Gas emissions inventory and analysing mitigation measures for Delhi.  Later, as a Project officer at ICLEI he worked on “Promoting Low Emission Urban Development Strategies in Emerging Economy Countries (Urban LEDS) program”, “SE4ALL Building Efficiency Accelerator program (BEA)”, “Earth Hour City Challenge (EHCC)”, “Rajkot Solar City Program” and “Development of Climate Adaptation Financing Guidebook”.

Farah Abdul has a 7+ years’ experience of working as a Journalist, Teacher and Political Consultant. She has worked in I-PAC, the organisation mentored by poll strategist Prashant Kishor. She was part of PK Assist Team and has been the Lead of Political Intelligence Unit, West Bengal and Tripura. She started as a Journalist covering education beat. She was also instrumental in setting up the “Didi Ke Bolo”- (Tell your grievances to Didi – referring to CM of West Bengal – Mamata Banerjee) Her interest lies in simplifying communications, understanding the social interactions and its effect as well as the political landscape of India. She advocates for political reservation for women in the State legislature as well as Parliament. As democratisation of Education is very close to her heart, during her stint as journalist, she has contributed towards the amendment of the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education which allowed the jail inmates to appear for XII standard board exams as regular students. Farah Abdul has specialisation in Journalism and Mass communication from Jadavpur University. Holds a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Lady Brabourne College, Calcutta University She enjoys reading and watching socio-political theme movies or web series.

Haji is Manager – GIS at Janaagraha. He has earlier worked with Jala Samvardhane Yojana Sangha (JSYS) – a registered society established by Government of Karnataka as a GIS specialist, and later with Trinity Mobility Pvt. Ltd as GIS Developer. He has done his Masters in Geo-Informatics from Karnataka State Remote Sensing Application Center (KSRSAC), Belgaum.

Jitesh works as an Associate Manager in the Civic learning program. He has previously worked with Piramal Foundation on the Aspirational District Transformation program of NITI Aayog, wherein his work focused upon Government Partnership & Leadership Development. He also managed the Centre of Excellence for the Strategic Government partnership team.

Jitesh has completed his master’s from Azim Premji University, Bangalore in Development, and has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Delhi in Social Work.

Katie has more than eleven years of experience in project management, social research, and research implementation. 

She previously worked with the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), based in the UK. She was also an operations manager with NFER’s Trials unit. 

Katie has a BSc. (Hons) in Psychology from the University of Warwick, and an MSc. (with distinction) in Applied Sport and Exercise Psychology from the University of Wales, Bangor.

Kesava Balaji is an Urban Policy Associate, he works towards providing support for strategic opportunities and developments in Urban Governance . He is a Graduate from the Indian School of Public Policy, Delhi. He has completed his Undergraduate degree in Media Studies, Economics and Political Science from Christ University, Bengaluru. . His core area of interest lies in solving for climate change and primary healthcare through first-mile governance. As a hobby he enjoys reading comic books and frequently cooks for his family.

Kshitij completed Master’s in Public Policy from National Law School of India University, Bengaluru in 2020 with a focus on environment policy. Prior to joining Janaagraha, he was a researcher in the energy efficiency team of Prayas (Energy Group) and has had interesting engagements and impacts with the Bureau of Energy Efficiency and Ministry of Finance. He hails from the city Lucknow to which he owes his love for street food, colonial forts and exploring old streets. He enjoys reading historical fiction and green politics. He has a soft spot for identifying plants and bird watching.

Kushal MP is an Electronics and Communications graduate from the Saptagiri College of Engineering, Bangalore. He is passionate about new technologies and is determined to contribute to the nation’s development.

Mahalakshmi believes that civic sense is essential like the air we breathe. She advocates it effectively to everyone around her to improve the quality of life in an inclusive manner. Persistent reinforcement leads to retention, creating awareness through positive stories, and using the power of Media like never before can bring in the desired change in each individual. At Janaagraha, she has worked at various programs and managed stakeholder relationships in different capacities by continuously learning and sharing good work. Mahalakshmi holds a Masters’s in Computer application by profession and is a certified Digital Marketer. She pivoted to the social sector for contributing her bit to “leave the world a trifle better than she found it.

Manjunatha has been with Janaagraha for more than a decade. With a MA in History, Manjunatha comes with an urge to improve the quality of urban life by improving public participation. Outside work, Manjunatha enjoys reading books, listening to music, writing poems, and articles on various social issues.

Mohak heads the Municipal Finance Reforms team based in New Delhi, and has been associated with Janaagraha since November 2020. He leads the overall program management and is directly involved in the work on city finance as well as on key government engagements which are aimed at driving policy reforms in the areas of fiscal decentralization, accounting and audit reforms, urban infrastructure financing, among others. Mohak has a rich experience of over 14 years across various roles within the financial sector, including in Investment Banking, Venture Capital and Development Finance. Mohak holds a Masters degree in International Business from the prestigious Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi and completed his graduation in commerce from University of Delhi as well. In his personal time, he enjoys long distance running, cycling, independent cinema, and travel.

Mansoor is an experienced field executive and has executed and supervised a diverse range of research projects, including household surveys, focus group interviews, qualitative and quantitative interviews, key informant interviews, oral histories, and process tracking.

Mansoor started his career with the Jana Urban Foundation in 2014 as team leader in the research team. This team undertook extensive investigation in the slums of Bangalore under the Pathways of Prosperity study conducted in partnership with Duke University, surveying over 2000 citizens in 200 slum settlements. In the last few years at Janaagraha, Mansoor has been involved with preparations for, and supervision of, fieldwork of citizen surveys on women’s safety and community policing in Hubli-Dharwad and Mysore, Policing in Bengaluru during the COVID-19 pandemic and work understanding gender-based discounts in taxation. He’s also an integral part of the work Janaagraha does with Brown University, measuring citizenship and service delivery in urban centres across India. This includes supervision of large field surveys across cities in India.

Mansoor completed his Post graduation Master of Social work in 2013 from Bangalore University and competed the Introduction to Mapping and Geographical information system using Quantum GIS conducted by Azim Premji University, Bengaluru in 2020. Mansoor speaks Kannada, Hindi, Urdu, Telegu and English.

Mohammad Zuhaib works as Associate – Swachhta Project Support Unit, based out Delhi. Prior to joining Janaagraha, Zuhaib has 2+ years of experience in Solid Waste Management and Sanitation projects and has worked on the Swachh Survekshan 2021 and Safaimitra Suraksha Challenge 2021.

He has completed his Masters in Urban Development and Management from TERI School of Advanced Studies, Delhi and Bachelors in Civil Engineering from AKTU, Uttar Pradesh. In my free time, he enjoys playing badminton, travelling and exploring different cuisines.

Mythreyi works as Senior Associate – Advocacy with the Advocacy and Reforms team and joined Janaagraha in 2019 as an intern. She predominantly supports the policy research strand, and is a key player in the production of one of India’s flagship reports on urban governance, titled the ‘Annual Survey of India’s City-Systems (ASICS)’. She is also a core team member of the City Leaders Programme. Mythreyi has previously worked with Goldman Sachs as a Business Analyst for over three years, where she worked with different teams in enabling settlements of high-volume equity trades across global markets. She has always been keen to understand the nuances of solutions designed for addressing public problems. To explore this further, she pursued a course in policy and governance. She later joined Janaagraha as an intern as she could relate to the overall mission of the organisation and felt passionate about driving systemic change. When not working, she enjoys heading to the Himalayas to do high altitude treks, reading fiction and non-fiction books, experimenting with home organisation and playing badminton. She holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy and Governance from Azim Premji University, Bangalore and a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce from M.O.P Vaishnav College, Chennai.

N M Varchaswini joined Janaagraha in 2022. She works with the Civic Participation Outreach team. Her main areas of work include interacting with Citizens, Government officials, and Elected Representatives; Database Management; conducting & generating ward committee survey reports and organizing webinars, events and campaigns. Varchaswini is a Public Policy Masters graduate from Mount Carmel College which is affiliated with Bengaluru University. She believes that citizens’ participation is poignant in having an efficient participatory democracy and her main goal is to serve people to have a better and sustainable livelihood. She spends her leisure in reading books, playing musical instruments, sketching and writing poems.

Namita Aggarwal, a Manager in the Municipal Finance Team, heads the own revenue enhancement vertical in Janaagraha. She has over three years of experience working with all tiers of government and 15th Finance Commission on policy reform for own revenue augmentation in local governments especially focusing on property tax reforms. An MBA graduate from IIM Kozhikode, she has prior experience managing sales in Hindustan Unilever. Outside of work, she likes to read fiction, watch movies and do a bit of star gazing with her telescope.

Navya  completed her engineering from Government Engineering College, Hassan in 2012. She looks forward to achieving great things in life and is not shy to put in efforts to do so. She enjoys listening to music when not working.

Neha Rani is a 2018 Law Graduate from the University of Petroleum & Energy Studies, Dehradun. She works as an Associate with the Municipal Finance Team at Janaagraha. She majorly works on user charges reforms, MSSE and state engagements. Prior to joining Janaagraha, Neha worked with Nipman Foundation, a Delhi-based organization, on disability rights advocacy and with the government relations team at International Justice Mission, New Delhi. She has also interned with Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, Gas Authority of India (GAIL) Limited, PowerGrid Corporation of India Limited, and the High Court of Patna, inter alia. She has navigated issues like human trafficking, bonded labour, gender-based violence, right to information, energy laws and D&I in the past. She started her urban governance journey as a novice but she is more than loving it now. In her spare time, Neha likes to listen to music but she’s often found hearing songs in a language she doesn’t understand. She also likes travelling and cooking. But the right music and a cup of brew (read chai) can get her through life!

Nesar works as Associate – Digital Marketing at Janaagraha. He is a BBM graduate from SDM College, Ujire, Karnataka. He has 3+ years of experience in online ad operations, Digital Marketing, and Website Designing His Hobbies include Travelling, Riding, Watching Movies and Listening to Music.

Nupur Das works as Associate – Civic Participation based at Bhubaneswar, Odisha Before Janaagraha, she worked as an analyst and a data interpreter on a project concerning Non-Timber Forest Product Management and Women Empowerment: within the Particularly vulnerable tribal Communities in Odisha.

Nupur has completed her Master’s in Development studies from NIT Rourkela, Odisha. During this, she interned with a focus on Child and Maternal Health at Bolangir and Kalahandi districts of Odisha at Centre for Youth and Social development, Bhubaneswar, and also on the Challenges faced by Elderly and the role of Government at IIT Kharagpur. She was a participant of UTKARSH Yatra which provided her a chance to meet and interact with many young entrepreneurs of Andhra Pradesh.

During her post-graduation, she was part of a social activity club – AASRA, wherein she used to teach the slum children. She is a proud Robin Hood Army volunteer. She loves making crafts, embroidery and has a great love for nature and animals.

Pattabi Raman has a B.Sc. in Computer Science. Prior to joining Janaagraha, he worked in the android application field dealing with web server interaction as well as offline apps that interact with Android OS native applications pre-installed in Mobile and Tablet devices. He loves reading books and watching movies in his spare time.

Prabhat works as senior manager in the Municipal Finance team of Janaagraha. Prabhat leads the work on city finance portal, a portal on financial information of City governments, and is working on digital solutions for inter-governmental grant transfers. He is also working with the government at all three levels on audit & accounting reform in City governments and other public finance management reforms. Prabhat has previously worked in the strategy & transactions team of EY, working primarily on economic development advisory and urban infrastructure financing projects. Prabhat is a graduate from IIT Roorkee. Prabhat’s other interests include running, traveling, trekking and watching movies.

Pragya is a public policy professional who prefers working at the intersection of economics, law and regulation; with a passion to create policy discourse around gender, inclusivity and sustainability and has worked on thematic areas with special focus on digital economy. She is currently involved in a project with Odisha government on performance management of Solid Waste in the state. Pragya holds a Master’s degree in Regulatory Governance from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai and a Bachelor’s in Economics from Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi.

Prarthana Ramesh holds a Bachelor’s degree from Mount Carmel College and has worked at various capacities in Janaagraha for the past nine years. She has previously worked with Dream a Dream on their experiential camps with children and drafting content for their curriculum, and also with UNI for underprivileged children and with the ‘Centre for Legislative Research and Advocacy’ in drafting bills and policy briefs

Priya is an Associate in the Municipal Finance team. She is an MBA graduate from Xavier University Bhubaneswar (erstwhile XIMB) specializing in Urban Management and Governance, and also has a Masters in Commerce from Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). She is a B.Com graduate from Pune University and has qualified CA- Intermediate (IPCC).

During her post-graduation, she had the opportunity to work as an intern in various state government projects in Odisha. She also worked as an intern with Colliers International Limited on real estate valuation projects of commercial properties.

Prior to her post-graduation Priya had a working experience of 2.5 years in the domain of Auditing and Accounting. Her interest in municipal finance comes from her understanding in auditing & accounting and urban governance, which is a perfect blend of both the domains. During her leisure time, Priya enjoys gardening and watching movies.

Priyanka undertakes urban policy research and allied outreach as part of Janaagraha’s City Leaders Programme (CLP). She joined Janaagraha to learn from like-minded individuals who champion the cause of decentralised urban governance and contribute towards ensuring accessibility of facilities at the lowest rung of governance. She has previously worked as a research intern with Safe Water Networks to develop a strategy for inclusion of decentralized Small Water Enterprises (SWEs) in the Urban Drinking Water Plans. She was also a research assistant on a research project “Comparing Governance and Policy During Covid-19 Pandemic: A Study of Twenty-Two Countries” conducted by the Civics and Politics department of Mumbai University. Priyanka’s interest lies in understanding how institutions can be designed to ensure efficient service delivery and good governance. Her interest in urban governance and specifically urban policy research stems from the belief that reliable and transparent data is at the heart of making good policy decisions. In her spare time, Priyanka likes to catch up on a good book and play the ukulele. She enjoys philosophical discussions and pizza. Suggestions for books/philosophical theories/restaurants are always invited. Priyanka holds a diploma in Public Policy from the Indian School of Public Policy, New Delhi and a Bachelor’s in Political Science (Hons.) from Ramnarain Ruia College, Mumbai.

Rajalakshmi works as an Associate Manager for the Civic Learning program. She holds a Master’s degree in Finance and HR. Her love for numbers and accounts gave her opportunities to be associated with Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs & HCL Technologies as part of her decade long tenure in the finance industry before she decided to move to the development sector.

Raman is a commerce graduate with 6+ years of experience as an accountant. He was associated with organisations like Bhive Workspace and Gospaze before joining Janaagraha. He likes to spend his free time with friends and family.

Ranjitha U R works as a Senior Associate for the Civic Learning program. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Arts and has completed a Certificate course in Soft Skills and Development. After a brief stint with corporate giant Wipro, she decided to make her passion a profession and joined Janaagraha.

Rohit Sharma is Associate – Municipal Finance based out of Delhi. After completing engineering from SRM University, Rohit’s inclination towards working on societal issues led him to take up a role with the Quality Council of India, where he worked on flagship schemes like Swachh Bharat Mission and Atal Bhujal Yojana. Rohit believes in working with a solution oriented approach towards the issues at hand.

Rupak is a Social development professional with 14+ years of experience in development sector. His experience spans across a wide range of sectors such as WASH, Land Rights of slum dwellers, collective marketing of NTFP in tribal areas, livelihood promotion of the poor, cold chain & logistics management for immunization, addressing malnutrition of pregnant women & children below 5 years.

His major clients have been the Housing & Urban Development, Revenue & Disaster Management, W & CD, and Rural Development Departments in Government of Odisha, Tata Trusts, Landesa, Norman Foster Foundation (NFF), UNDP and the Odisha Watershed Development Mission for whom he has managed programme design, budgeting, work force management, capacity building & advocacy.

He is a Masters in Social Work (MSW) graduate from Utkal University, Odisha

Sachin Deshpande is Associate Manager – Human Resources at Janaagraha. Sachin obtained a degree in electronics engineering, and then promptly switched to Human Resource Management. After graduating in 2014 with a Master’s degree from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai – Sachin worked with Asian Paints for 4+ years. When not working, he enjoys reading mystery novels and watching sports on TV.

Samprati is Associate – Civic Participation at Bhubaneshwar, Odisha. Her interest areas are rural and urban poverty alleviation, water and sanitation, citizen participation and capacity building.

She is a Post Graduate in Development Studies from National Institute of Technology, Rourkela and a graduate in Psychology. During her post-graduation, she interned at IIT Kharagpur, and also did a field survey in districts of Odisha to find out the alternative livelihood methods to reduce migration. She has also interned with CRY NGO focusing on child rights awareness and crowd funding for causes. She has been a part of social service organizations like ‘AASRA’ and ‘Youth for Seva Organization’ from her college days. She is a sport enthusiast and has participated in athletics, basketball, and volleyball both in school and college.

Sampriti Mukherjee has joined as an Associate – Project Management and Partnerships with the Project Support Unit – Swachhata and Civic Data, Insights Team at Janaagraha. She has 3 years of prior professional experience in government advisory and research with several state and national government departments, such as Andhra Pradesh Planning Board, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs – GOI, and BIRAC. She has also worked on international and national donor management as well as recently, managed a State Climate Fellowship with 6 Indian state governments. She has done her Masters in Public Policy and Governance (specialisation in Urbanisation) and Bachelors in Social Sciences, from Tata Institute of Social Sciences. Through this journey, she has developed keen interest in the domains of urban governance, climate action solutions, and socio-economic development. In office, you will find her tinkering with data and PPTs, all the while thinking about how to make cities function better. Out of the office, she loves taking long walks, finding new historical monuments, and petting dogs!

Sandhya Christabel D’Souza works as the Lead, Communications for Janaagraha. Sandhya pursued her Master of Communication and Media Studies (MCMS) at St Aloysius College Mangalore. She worked as a Reporter and Sub Editor for Deccan Herald for three and a half years. She is also the recipient of the ‘Sarojini Naidu Prize – 2012,’ a national award for best reporting in Women in Panchayat Raj. She also loves travelling, photography.

Santosh Nargund leads the Civic Participation initiatives of Janaagraha in Karnataka state. Santosh has spent over two decades in the civic space, leading various advocacy as well as citizens’ campaigns, focusing on the areas of good governance through transparency, accountability and citizen participation, and through instruments such as the Right to Information Act, the Karnataka Guarantee of Services to Citizens Act (Sakala) and public interest litigations (PILs). He has published several social audits on topics related to Beggary Relief System, Smart Cities Mission, Swacha Bharat Mission, and Urban Transport. Santosh has been a member of the Board of Studies in different Institutions and has rendered his expertise to various Institutes and Universities including the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bengaluru, Karnataka Evaluation Authority (KEA), Bengaluru, and Karnataka State Law University (KSLU), Hubballi. Santosh contested the elections to the Karnataka legislature from the Hubli-Dharwad Central – 73 Assembly Constituency in May 2018, and has represented as a National Council Member of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). As an Aerospace Scientist, Santosh comes with a rich experience in leading global teams on several aerospace projects. He is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM-B), and holds M.Tech. and B.E. degrees. Santosh leads an eco-friendly life and practices natural farming and grows food, without use of harmful chemicals.

Selvam is an experienced field executive and has executed and supervised a diverse range of research methodologies, including household surveys, focus group interviews, qualitative and quantitative interviews, key informant interviews, oral histories, and process tracking.

He started his career with the Jana Urban Foundation in 2014 as Team Leader in the research team. This team undertook extensive investigation in the slums of Bangalore under the Pathways to Prosperity study conducted in partnership with Duke University, surveying over 2000 citizens in 200 slum settlements.

In the last few years at Janaagraha, Selvam has been involved with preparations for, and supervision of, fieldwork of citizen surveys on women’s safety and community policing in Hubli-Dharwad and Mysore as well as Policing in Bangalore during the COVID-19 pandemic ,. He’s also an integral part of the work Janaagraha does with Brown University, measuring citizenship and service delivery in urban centres across India. This includes supervision of large field surveys across cities in India.

Selvam completed his Under Graduation in 2013 from Sri Venkateshwara University in Bangalore. Selvam speaks Tamil, Kannada and English.

Sharadha Ravi works as a Senior Associate for the Civic Learning program. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Science. As an educator, she is a seasoned professional with strong experience in back office management, operations, tutoring and mentoring in Accounting, Mathematics and Science disciplines. She has international exposure where she led an IT service firm in the Washington DC metro area in USA. Over the course of her career, she has been engaging in social causes and has volunteered in support of various community initiatives.

Shilpi is Senior Associate – Civic Participation at Janaagraha. Her primary interests lie in maintaining sustainable urban areas, local & national politics and social media & communications. She supports the communications and outreach activities of the team including that of the political stakeholders. She plays a significant role in the City Leaders Programme (CLP). She also supports the management and running of Janaagraha’s City Politics, a pan India forum aimed at creating a collective voice for systemic urban transformation.

She has previously worked with I-PAC (Indian Political Action Committee) for over 3 years as a political analyst. She has seen West Bengal Assembly Elections 2021 from close quarters.

She was one of the co-founders of Gramiksha’s Jaipur chapter. Gramiksha is a non-profit organisation which believes that all children are deserving of an empowering childhood and equal opportunities, and is composed of like-minded young professionals and students who believe in actualizing this dream. What began as a small initiative for change in 2011 in a village near Gwalior has transformed today into a growing and thriving community across six cities; Bhopal, Delhi, Indore, Gwalior, Jaipur and Laxmangarh.

She holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy from Mount Carmel College, Bangalore and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Manipal University.

Shivani is a student of Political Science. Apart from her experience in teaching, she has worked on designing curricula for learners of various ages, has taken classes on public speaking and the Constitution of India. She likes to travel, play badminton, take on jigsaw puzzles (working her way through 1000 piece behemoths), Sudoku, and Origami.

Shivkumar Menon’s journey with Janaagraha started in the year 2014. Since then he has contributed immensely to the organisation by taking up significant top roles. Currently, he heads the Civic Learning department of Janaagraha. He is also part of the Executive Committee headed by the Chief Executive Officer.

Shivakumar is a commerce graduate from Mumbai University and a postgraduate in Business Management from XLRI. Post securing his academic degrees, he worked in the Business Development sector for over 18 years. During this tenure, he held diverse senior management positions at Dun & Bradstreet India

Today, he is a valuable asset of Janaagraha and boosts the merit of Civic Learning.

Shivshankar Aiholi is Senior Associate – Civic Participation for the cities of Hubballi-Dharwad, Karnataka. He joins Janaagraha with more than two decades of experience in across Corporate Organisations, Educational Institutions, Competitive Coaching Centres, as well as Print and Mass Media.

Shobana has eight years of experience in IT and finance and is passionate about using her skills in the social sector. At Janaagraha, her primary focus is on supporting the city finance portal and its enhancements. Shobana has degrees in MBA and Masters in Accounting from University of Arizona and is an NIT, Tiruchirappalli graduate. She spends her spare time baking and unlearning all her management skills to handle her kids.

Shoumik leads our work in Health with the objective of positive outcomes in Urban Public Healthcare including stakeholder engagement within the ecosystem. He brings a diverse experience spread across a period of over two decades adept at leading Strategy & Business Operations, Business Development, Business Strategy/Planning and forging strategic alliances in the healthcare sector. He has previously been associated with IPE Global Limited and WISH Foundation in the social impact sector leading business advisory, access to capital, markets and strategic alliances in helping scale innovations in Primary Healthcare within the ecosystem. Prior to the social impact sector, he has held senior leadership positions at Max Healthcare, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, UFlex Limited, Bilcare Limited leading and managing business development, strategy and operations of the Indian Sub-Continent. Shoumik holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from MIT, Manipal and is an MBA from MDI, Gurgaon.

Shraddha works as Project Associate – Urban Healthcare System Reforms based out of Delhi. Shraddha has worked with SEWA Social Security on Early Childhood Care and with KMIC, a partnership between IIMA and UNICEF, on issues of urban governance and the social protection of children. She has pursued B.A.,LL.B (Hons) from Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Punjab and Young India Fellowship from Ashoka University. She reads, translates and writes fiction, poetry and non-fiction in Hindi and English in her spare time.

Shreshtha is a Manager in the Municipal Finance Team at Janaagraha and brings with her 6+ years of experience in public policy, government advisory, economic research and analysis. Prior to Janaagraha, she has worked as a Policy Consultant in the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance on infrastructure financing and policy matters ranging from conceptualisation and designing of new financing instruments for the infrastructure sector, managing international economic engagements at the G20 Infrastructure Working Group and BRICS, appraising investment proposals of government-owned infrastructure financing companies, etc. Having gained a strong foothold in public policy through her stints in government, she aims to contribute to Janaagraha’s municipal reforms agenda of driving revenue reforms and ramping up urban infrastructure financing to aid the transformation of city governments into self-sufficient, transparent and responsive systems. She has volunteered for various non-profits in the education and health sectors through the years, and most recently, has been volunteering with a volunteer-driven telemedicine non- profit organisation to facilitate citizens’ access to healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic in partnership with state governments. An economist by degree, she has a Bachelors degree in economics from Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi University and a Masters and MPhil in Economics from Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

Somenath Kar is part of the Civic Participation team in Bhubaneswar where he is involved in projects including Jaga Mission 2.0, Ward Infrastructure Index (WII), Ward Office 2.0 among others.

Before joining Janaagraha, he was associated with TATA Trusts. He is an expert on community participation, Vision & resource mapping. His fascination towards Urban Governance and social development caused him to take up working in this sector.

He has done his Post Graduation in Urban Management and Governance from Xavier University Bhubaneswar and has completed his Graduation in BBA. LL.B. (H) from National University Odisha.

Sudhakar works as an iOS Developer in the Civic Participation Technology Team. He is a B. Pharm graduate from Kakatiya University and started his career as an iOS developer with Transys info solutions. During free time, he likes reading books and magazines, watching movies, and listening to music.

Sumathi Raj works as an Associate for the Civic Learning program. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce. Having 20+ years of experience in different sectors sets her apart as the most robust person in the team.

Suvashika is a Civil Engineer and an Urban Planner by qualification. A NIT graduate, she is an Urban Planner by profession and has over 6+ years of professional experience in the industry. In Janaagraha, She works as a Senior Associate with the Civic Data and Insights team. She is passionate about working in Governance sector and also citizen-centric issues. She has also worked with Government departments of different states in India and has considerable experience in Institutional Development, Organisation restructuring and capacity building. Working on Swachhata gives her utmost satisfaction with a belief that she is working for a noble cause for the upliftment of society.

Swati likes to describe herself as a “Learner – on a learning journey in this lifetime”. She has keen interest in Social sector, specifically environmental issues since her college days. She has worked with Centre for Science and Environment, and thereafter, went on to establish her own start-up named Harit Griha to build sustainable infrastructures through an integrated approach of providing technical solutions as well as inculcating behavior change in community. She also loves art, psychology and sports.

Swati Sukriti is a Project Associate – Urban Healthcare System Reforms based out of Patna, Bihar. Swati is a development practitioner previously engaged with designing and implementing interventions in the field of Health and Nutrition as well as Education. She was involved in co-creating and managing multiple projects during her stay with J M Financial Foundation. Prior to working, she received her academic training in the disciplines of economics, anthropology, sociology, geography and political sciences under the multidisciplinary curriculum of Development Studies at TISS, Mumbai. She pursued her graduation in Geography. She is a resident of Jharkhand and loves to surround herself with nature. She enjoys reading poetry. Khusrow, Faiz, Dickinson and Bukowski are her favorites.

Tanima is a Manager in the Civic Participation team. Having graduated as an engineer from Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra in Biotechnology, she went on to do research in the field of Cancer and Computing Science as a Dorothy Hodgkin Fellow, at the University of Glasgow. She has a background in data analytics that ranges from oncogenes to online start-ups.

Prior to Janaagraha, Tanima was with the product team at YourStory creating predicative models to chart growth trajectories of Indian startups. She likes the idea of using data for greater good than peddling consumerism, and hopes to do that at Janaagraha. In her spare time she enjoys working on the potter’s wheel, trekking through leech infested forests and reading about evolution and revolutions.

Vachana has been active in the space of urban policy research and advocacy for over six years, and has been working closely with tiers of governments advocating for systemic urban reforms in India. She joined Janaagraha in 2015 as Associate – Advocacy, and currently leads the advocacy vertical of Janaagraha, particularly focused on policy research and advocacy around decentralised urban governance. She leads the development and creation of one of India’s flagship reports on urban governance, titled the ‘Annual Survey of India’s City-Systems (ASICS)’ and the associated reform engagements with governments. She is also the project lead for City Leaders Programme (CLP), engagements with politicians, and academic partnerships. She also manages ‘City Politics’, a pan India forum aimed at creating a collective voice for systemic urban transformation. She was part of the – a) CITIIS 2.0 consortium, under the Smart Cities Mission of Govt. of India and, b) the team that undertook the landscape study on India’s municipal finance, commissioned by the 15th Finance Commission of India. She has contributed to the Urban Vision Document 2030 developed by the NITI Aayog and the Economic Survey of Government of India in 2016-17. She has also worked with the office of Comptroller and Auditor General of India, legislators such as Dr Shashi Tharoor etc. Vachana is a member of Future Leaders Connect (FLC), British Council, and represented India in the 2021 FLC programme. She also often pens articles in journals and popular media. Her interest largely lies in institutions and their interaction with governance and decentralisation. She has a keen interest in the field of urban governance, specifically in areas such as urban laws, decentralised urban service delivery and metropolitan governance. She likes to spend her free time reading, gazing at the stars, going for a stroll, and listening to melodies, Hindustani and Sufi music. Vachana holds a Master’s degree in Development (specialising in Public Policy) from Azim Premji University, Bengaluru (India), and a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from St. Teresa’s College, Ernakulam (India) (Mahathma Gandhi University)

Vijil has 2 years of experience in User Interface developing. He completed an M.Sc. in Computer Science from The University of Kerala (Kannur).

Vimarsha is an Industrial Production engineer. She started out as an intern with Janaagraha to understand the development sector, and then joined us full-time after appreciating Janaagraha’s work. She is an athlete who has represented Hassan District, where she is from, at state-level Table Tennis & Throw Ball tournaments. She is also an ardent nature explorer who loves to take road trips in leisure.

Vinayasree has a Master’s Degree in Development from Azim Premji University, Bengaluru and a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology, Sociology and Economics (Triple Major) from CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bengaluru. Before joining Janaagraha, she briefly worked with the Centre for Habitat Studies at TISS as a research officer. Her interests are in Environmental Policy, Urban Sustainability, Regulation and Conservation of Common Property Resources, Structural and Cultural influences on Collective Human Behaviour, and Mental Health Advocacy.