BVR Subrahmanyam serves as the Chief Executive Officer of NITI Aayog, the policy think-tank of the Government of India. In his role, he has been instrumental in shaping various initiatives and policies to drive India's growth and development. One significant programme he unveiled is the ‘Growth Hub’ initiative, aimed at unlocking the economic potential of 20 Indian cities to drive urban growth.
Subrahmanyam is a 1988 batch Indian Administrative Service officer and has served in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) under both PM Manmohan Singh and PM Narendra Modi.
Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India
Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Government of India
Barjor Mehta is an architect and urban planner, currently serving as President of CEPT University. Prior to this, he was the World Bank’s Lead Urban Specialist for the East Asia and Pacific Region. He has also previously held positions in the World Bank’s country offices in China, India, Tanzania, and Washington DC, working on urban development across multiple regions, including South Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.
Before joining the World Bank, Mehta was the Director of the School of Planning at CEPT University and an Associate Professor of Urban Planning. He has also worked as a planner in countries such as Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan, and the United States.
A 1981-batch IAS officer, SM Vijayanand has been Chairperson of the Sixth State Finance Commission of Kerala and Chief Secretary of Kerala. During his 11 years as Secretary, Local Self-Government, Government of Kerala, Vijayanand pioneered the People’s Plan movement. Subsequently, he has held many important positions in the Government of Kerala, including as the Director, Institute of Management in Government, and as Chairman, Kerala Institute for Local Administration (KILA). He also conceptualised and operationalised ‘Kudumbashree’, the women’s self-help group movement in Kerala. He worked as Deputy Secretary, and later as Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Rural Development. As Secretary of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj during 2015-16, he was instrumental in introducing the Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP) in the country.
Post retirement, he has also been active in the academic field as Visiting Professor in Gandhigram Rural University and Expert Faculty of National Institute of Rural Development & Panchayati Raj (NIRD&PR), Hyderabad. A passionate crusader of democratic decentralisation and local self-governance, Vijayanand is constantly pursuing the cause of Panchayats and Panchayati Raj in the country.
Nitin Ramesh Gokarn is a 1990-batch IAS officer and the former Additional Chief Secretary (Housing) in the Government of Uttar Pradesh. He has held various senior roles, including Principal Secretary (PWD and Housing and Urban Planning Department) and Director General of the National Mission for Clean Ganga. His extensive experience spans infrastructure development, public administration, and housing policy, contributing significantly to key urban and rural projects across India.
Dr Shamika Ravi is a member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister and Secretary to the Government of India. Previously, she served as Director of Research at Brookings India, Vice President of Economic Policy at the Observer Research Foundation, and a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. Her research spans development economics, with a focus on finance, healthcare, urbanisation, gender equality, and poverty. Over the past two decades, Dr Ravi has taught postgraduate courses at leading institutions such as the Indian School of Business and BITS School of Management. She is widely published in international academic journals and frequently contributes opinion pieces to English and Hindi media.
Prof. Vidyadhar Phatak is a renowned urban planner with over 40 years of experience, specialising in housing affordability, public land management, and land-based fiscal tools. He retired as Principal Chief of the Town and Country Planning Division at the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) in 2004. Since then, he has worked as an independent consultant, advising on various urban development projects across India. He has held key roles, including Director at the National Housing Bank, and Advisor to the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) for the revision of the Development Plan. Most recently, he was associated with CEPT University as Executive Director of the Centre for Urban Land and Real Estate Policy (CULREP).
Ansul Mishra is a senior bureaucrat with over 20 years of experience in governance, policy-making, and urban planning at the union, state, and local government levels in India. Currently serving as Member-Secretary (MD) of the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA), he spearheaded the creation of Chennai’s third master plan, focusing on urban densification, land pooling, affordable housing, and multi-modal mobility. With a Master's in Regional Planning from Cornell University, he has previously held key administrative positions, including Principal Secretary to the union minister of state for civil aviation and finance and municipal commissioner of the city corporation of Coimbatore among others.
Mriganka Saxena is a Founding Partner of HTAU and is an architect and urban designer with over 18 years of experience. She specialises in preparing strategies and statutory and regulatory enabling frameworks for large-scale urban initiatives. She has worked in the UK and India, focusing on Transit Oriented Development (TOD), sustainable master planning, mobility, and the restoration of natural water resources. Saxena has also led the preparation of multiple best-practice guidance documents for various public sector agencies including the Delhi Development Authority and the Indian Railway Station Development Corporation. She leads HTAU’s urban planning and policy projects.
Nithya Ramesh is an urban designer who leads the Jana Urban Space Foundation in Bengaluru. Having worked with union, state, and local governments, Nithya is committed to improving the quality of life in India’s cities through innovative design of public spaces, including roads, markets, parks, housing, and social infrastructure for the urban poor such as community centres, marriage halls, and burial grounds. Ramesh is a 2024 Eisenhower Women’s Leadership Fellow.
Dr R Balasubramaniam (Balu) is a renowned development expert, public policy analyst, leadership trainer, and author with decades of experience working with tribal communities in Mysore. He is a member of the Capacity Building Commission, Government of India. He is the founder of the Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement and the Grassroots Research and Advocacy Movement, a public policy think tank. A former Rhodes Professor at Cornell University and IIT-Delhi, Dr Balu mentors senior leaders across various sectors. His globally acclaimed books include ‘I, the Citizen’ and ‘Leadership Lessons for Daily Living’. He holds advanced degrees in public administration and health systems management from prestigious institutions, including Harvard.
Mayor, Kozhikode, Kerala
Jasmine Shah lead public policy design and implementation at the Dialogue and Development Commission within the Delhi government. In his last tenure, which lasted for over a year, Shah worked on the Government of Delhi’s flagship projects such as setting up of mohalla clinics, free bus ride for women scheme, and so on. Former Deputy Director of J-PAL South Asia, Shah led J-PAL’s efforts to build partnerships with policymakers in the region to ensure that policy is driven by evidence, and effective programmes are scaled up. In addition, he provided strategic oversight and support to the capacity building portfolio under CLEAR (Centre for Learning on Evaluation and Results) South Asia.
Shah has worked in both private and non-profit sectors in India. He has worked with a leading private sector firm in India, managing medium-scale engineering and infrastructure projects. He has also worked for three years with Janaagraha where he was the National Coordinator of the ‘Jaago Re!’ voter registration campaign that was successful in registering over 6,20,000 youth in 35 cities during the 2009 parliamentary elections in India.
Shah graduated from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs in 2012 with a Master's of Public Administration, and a concentration in Urban and Social Policy. He received the Fulbright-Nehru Fellowship from India in 2010 and holds M. Tech. and B.Tech. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras.
Ms Neha Awasthi is a distinguished political leader from Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) in Uttar Pradesh. Currently serving as the Chairperson of Sitapur Municipality, Ms Awasthi has been actively engaged in initiatives that enhance governance and community development in the region. Her leadership has been widely recognized, including a recent honour by the Bar Association of Sitapur, highlighting her significant contributions to local governance and public welfare.
Uma Mahadevan, a 1992-batch IAS officer of the Karnataka cadre, is currently the Development Commissioner and Additional Chief Secretary for the Government of Karnataka. She also oversees the Departments of Panchayat Raj and Skill Development, Entrepreneurship and Livelihood. Throughout her career, she has held key roles in the Departments of Women and Child Development, Education, and Health, and has served in the Department of Atomic Energy. Mahadevan was also part of the team that developed Karnataka’s first Human Development Report. She has also been a member of the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Taskforce, Government of India.
She holds a postgraduate degree in English literature and has authored various articles on development and socio-cultural topics.
Mayor, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh
Anirban Ghose is part of the lead-team at Transform Rural India Foundation. He has also been on the leadership team at India’s leading non-profit PRADAN, working on rural transformation. Ghose joined PRADAN in 1995 and led field-based teams in Lohardaga and Khunti districts of Jharkhand. He was Director, Operations in PRADAN and was responsible for the integration of all activities across the organisation, including planning and implementing programmes, monitoring progress, setting systems in place, design of strategies, staff development, and managing key grants.
Ghose is recognised as the pioneer of automated bookkeeping systems in women’s self-help groups and for numerous technologies for development programmes. He graduated in Business Studies from the University of Delhi.
Claudia Chwalisz is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of DemocracyNext and a leading expert in democratic innovation. With over a decade of experience, her work focuses on addressing people's disillusionment with the political system and empowering them to shape decisions.
Chwalisz played a key role in designing the world’s first permanent Citizens’ Assemblies in Paris, Ostbelgien, and Brussels. She led the OECD’s work on innovative citizen participation from 2018 to 2022, developing the Deliberative Democracy Toolbox and several key reports. Chwalisz also set up the OECD Innovative Citizen Participation Network and managed five pilot projects of citizen participation in cohesion policy, supported by the European Commission, advised on institutionalising deliberative democracy in the Basque Country, and advised on designing deliberative processes in Finland and Lebanon.
Mamata Rani Adhikari is the President of the Sandhapur Slum Dwellers Association (SDA) in Jatni Municipality. She is known for her impactful role in slum upgradation and community development. As the head of her SDA, she has worked as an implementing partner with the Urban Local Body (ULB) to advance slum transformation projects, showcasing effective community leadership. Adhikari's dedication to community empowerment extends to her work as a master trainer for the SDA capacity building programme. She has trained SDA leaders across the Jatni Municipality and Bhubaneswar, equipping them with the skills and knowledge to manage community assets and participate actively in local governance. Additionally, she served as a trainer under the Mukhya Mantri Karma Tatpara Abhiyan (MUKTA) initiative, providing training to Self-Help Groups (SHGs) on asset maintenance, thereby strengthening the foundation of sustainable infrastructure in her community. Beyond her formal roles, Adhikari is an SHG member who leverages her skill development training in tailoring, a trade she practices to support her family.
President, Janani Area Level Federation (ALF) and Runjun Self Help Group (SHG), Nagoan Municipal Board, Assam
S Vishwanath is the founder of the Rainwater Club and Director of Biome Environmental Solutions. He has over three decades of experience in water management and sustainable urban planning. A member of the Sustainable Sanitation Alliance, he has served as Secretary General of the International Rainwater Catchment Systems Association. He has also worked with policy teams on writing the state water policy, rainwater harvesting policy and bylaws for Bengaluru city, and the wastewater reuse policy for Karnataka.
Vishwanath is an Adjunct Professor at Azim Premji University and has been a regular columnist for The Hindu since 2007. A Civil Engineer from Mysore University, he also holds a Master’s in Urban and Regional Planning from CEPT, Ahmedabad, and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Urban Environmental Management from the Netherlands.
S Vishwanath is the founder of the Rainwater Club and Director of Biome Environmental Solutions. He has over three decades of experience in water management and sustainable urban planning. A member of the Sustainable Sanitation Alliance, he has served as Secretary General of the International Rainwater Catchment Systems Association. He has also worked with policy teams on writing the state water policy, rainwater harvesting policy and bylaws for Bengaluru city, and the wastewater reuse policy for Karnataka.
Vishwanath is an Adjunct Professor at Azim Premji University and has been a regular columnist for The Hindu since 2007. A Civil Engineer from Mysore University, he also holds a Master’s in Urban and Regional Planning from CEPT, Ahmedabad, and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Urban Environmental Management from the Netherlands.
Mr Amrit Abhijat is a distinguished Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the 1995 batch from the Uttar Pradesh cadre, currently serving as the Principal Secretary of the Urban Development Department, Government of Uttar Pradesh. With a profound commitment to urban development and governance, Mr Abhijat has made significant contributions to enhancing urban infrastructure and affordable housing across India. He has also held the position of Joint Secretary and Mission Director of the Housing for All (Urban) Mission in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India. With over 21 years of administrative experience, Mr Abhijat has held diverse roles, including Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Chief Development Officer, and District Magistrate in major cities such as Allahabad, Kanpur, Agra, and Muzaffarnagar. His leadership was pivotal in the successful land acquisition of the Yamuna Expressway, a landmark infrastructure project. Additionally, he has served as Secretary in multiple departments within the Government of Uttar Pradesh, including Home, Information, Technical Education, Tourism, and Agrimarketing. Mr Abhijat's academic credentials include a Master's degree in Development Studies from the University of Sussex, UK, and a postgraduate degree in History from Kirori Mal College, Delhi University. He has also undertaken specialized courses in Environmental Law and Rural Development.
Kavitha Padmanabhan, an IAS officer from the 2006 batch, is currently serving as Commissioner and Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Affairs in Assam. Her experience spans various roles in Assam, including Deputy Commissioner of Nagaon and Commissioner of Guwahati Municipal Corporation, as well as deputation in the Government of India. A B.Tech graduate in Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering from Pondicherry Engineering College, she began her career in the private sector with Tata Telecom. Padmanabhan has won the L V Reddy Memorial Award for best probationer.
Former Director, Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA) and Joint Secretary, Department of Personnel, Government of India
Dr Santhosh Mathew leads the social and public finance policy at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in India. A former senior civil servant, he has held prominent positions, including Additional Chief Secretary for Bihar and Chair of the National Council for Teacher Education. Between 2013 and 2017, he served as Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Rural Development. He was previously a Professor of Social Management at India’s civil service college in Mussoorie and Country Director of the Leadership for Environment and Development programme in India. Dr Mathew holds a PhD in Development Studies from the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex.
Ms Usha Padhee, IAS, is the Principal Secretary of the Housing and Urban Development Department, Government of Odisha, with over 26 years’ experience in state and central government roles. Her expertise spans policy formulation, public finance, infrastructure, livelihood, and public-private partnerships. Ms Padhee has contributed significantly to national civil aviation policy and spearheaded the successful UDAN regional connectivity scheme. She has held leadership roles across multiple sectors, including social welfare, education, and civil aviation. She has managed international projects funded by the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, and UN agencies. An alumnus of the University of Birmingham with a Master’s in Public Administration, she is also pursuing a PhD at Xavier University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, adding academic depth to her extensive professional experience. Known for her strong leadership and negotiation skills, she actively engages with national and international stakeholders to drive impactful developmental initiatives across India.
Dr Ajay Shah is an economist and has studied at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay and the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. He has held key positions at the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, the Indira Gandhi Institute for Development Research, the Department of Economic Affairs, the Ministry of Finance, and the National Institute for Public Finance and Policy. His research spans economics, law, and public administration. Dr Shah has co-authored the acclaimed book ‘In Service of the Republic: The Art and Science of Economic Policy’, which was featured in Bloomberg’s list of ‘2020 Best Books on Business and Leadership’.
Gaurav Goel is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Samagra, a mission-driven governance consulting firm.
Following his MBA, Goel joined McKinsey & Co. as a management consultant and worked across various sectors globally. In 2012, driven by his passion for improving citizen welfare through better governance, he founded Samagra to create large-scale impact. He is a TEDx speaker, and writer, and was recognised in BusinessWorld’s 40 Under 40 list for his innovative contributions to governance reform in India. He holds a dual degree in Computer Science and Engineering from IIT Delhi and an MBA from IIM Calcutta.
Dr Karan Nagpal is the India Regional Director at IDinsight, located in New Delhi. In his role, he leads critical government partnerships and spearheads innovative initiatives aimed at enhancing data collection methods to make them cheaper, faster, and more respectful towards respondents. His work spans several sectors, including governance, financial inclusion, sanitation, and primary healthcare, where he strives to implement data-driven solutions. With considerable research experience in urbanisation and political economy, particularly in India and Brazil, Dr Nagpal has consulted for the World Bank and served as a trade policy advisor for the Government of Vanuatu. He has also taught Economics to undergraduate students at St Peter’s College, Oxford.
Dr Mekhala Krishnamurthy is an Associate Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at Ashoka University. She is also a Senior Fellow at the Centre for Policy Research (CPR) and a Non-Resident Scholar at the Centre for the Advanced Study of India (CASI), University of Pennsylvania. She also leads the State Capacity Initiative at CPR.
Dr Krishnamurthy’s research spans diverse fields including agriculture, public health, and dispute resolution. Her work deeply engages with the anthropology of the state and markets, focusing on agricultural markets and the dynamics of public systems in India. She holds degrees from Harvard University (A.B. magna cum laude in Social Studies), the University of Cambridge (MPhil in Social Anthropology), and a PhD from University College London.
Dr Vijay Pingale is the Chief Executive Officer at CEGIS, with over 25 years of experience across the government and private sectors. A former IAS officer, he served at central, state, local body, and PSU levels for 14 years. Following his IAS tenure, Dr Pingale became a Partner at EY India LLP, where he led urban infrastructure and health sector projects. He has also worked as an Indian Information Service (IIS) officer under the Government of India, with several media organisations. Dr Pingale holds a medical degree from Government B J Medical College, Pune.
Mr Abdul Wajid is a seasoned political leader and the current president of the Bangalore North District Congress Committee. Known for his commitment to public service and urban governance, he has made significant contributions to the political landscape of Bengaluru. From 2015 to 2020, Mr Wajid served as a Corporator in the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), where he was a proactive voice for his constituency, focusing on issues ranging from urban infrastructure to social welfare. During this period, he also held the prominent role of Leader of the Opposition in the BBMP, where he provided strong, principled opposition, advocating for transparent and accountable governance in the city administration. Earlier, Mr Wajid held the position of President of the National Students' Union of India (NSUI) for Bangalore City, where he worked to engage and empower youth in civic and political processes.
Sowmya Reddy is a distinguished Indian politician affiliated with the Indian National Congress (INC). She serves as the General Secretary of the All India Mahila Congress (AIMC) and the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC). She was elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Karnataka, representing the Jayanagar constituency since 2018. An alumna of the New York Institute of Technology and the B.PAC Civic Leadership Incubator Program (B.CLIP), Sowmya Reddy brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to her role in public service. A committed environmentalist, Sowmya has championed initiatives to combat plastic pollution and promote urban greenery, especially in Bengaluru. Her focus on environmental preservation reflects her broader vision for sustainable and inclusive development. With over 15 years of grassroots activism, Sowmya has tirelessly advocated for employment, education, women’s empowerment, human rights, and government transparency. In recognition of her dedication and impactful contributions to parliamentary democracy and development work, Sowmya Reddy has been honoured with the prestigious Aadarsh Yuva Vidhayak Samman for Best Outstanding Performance.
Pallavi Sarma Talukdar is the Secretary of the Alodan Area Level Federation (ALF) in Guwahati, under the Assam Cooperative Societies Act, 2007. She plays a pivotal role in community-led solid waste management, overseeing the primary collection and segregation of waste at the ward level. Under her leadership, Alodan ALF has been recognized as the best ALF in Guwahati, receiving government support through equipment such as food processing and paper plate machines to further women's economic empowerment. Ms Talukdar was selected as one of the key participants from Assam for Swachhotsav, a three-week, women-led Swachhata (cleanliness) campaign initiated by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) under the Swachh Bharat Mission Urban 2.0, held in Chhattisgarh. Swachhotsav celebrates women's contributions to the sanitation movement, highlighting their roles as leaders and innovators in pursuing "Garbage-Free Cities." Through this campaign, Ms Talukdar underscored her leadership in waste management and in promoting women's active involvement in urban sanitation. She also has experience in organizational management and financial oversight expertise, which supports her role in community welfare and women empowerment.
Dr Joy Elamon, a distinguished medical doctor with an MBBS and a Master’s in Public Health, has held the esteemed role of Director General at the Kerala Institute of Local Administration (KILA). With a career rooted in decentralization, local governance, and climate resilience, Dr Elamon was instrumental in Kerala's ground-breaking People’s Plan Campaign, which empowered local communities in development planning. He has led significant initiatives as the Chief Programme Coordinator (CPC) of the SDC-CapDecK Programme for decentralization, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Intercooperation Social Development India, and Senior Advisor in governance for Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation. Additionally, he has contributed as the Moderator for UNDP’s Decentralization Community, shaping knowledge exchange in governance. A recipient of the Outstanding Community Builder award by UNDP India, Dr. Elamon’s accomplishments reflect his dedication to community development and participatory governance. His expertise spans participatory planning, capacity development, climate change adaptation, and knowledge management for sustainable development, making him a prominent figure in the field of local governance and institutional strengthening.
Shri Suman Bery is the Vice Chairperson of NITI Aayog, holding the rank and status of a Cabinet Minister in India. A distinguished policy economist and research administrator, he has previously been a Global Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington D.C. and a non-resident fellow at Bruegel in Brussels. Shri Bery also held the role of Chief Economist at Royal Dutch Shell, where he provided strategic counsel on global economic and political developments and spearheaded a collaborative project with Indian think tanks, applying scenario modelling to India’s energy sector. His extensive experience and insight have made him a key figure in economic and policy circles globally. Shri Bery also served as the Director-General of the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), one of India’s leading socioeconomic research institutions, during which he contributed to policy discourse as a member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council and India’s Statistical Commission. His earlier career at the World Bank focused on financial sector reform and policy development in Latin America, where he worked with countries including Argentina, Brazil, and Peru. An expert in the political economy of reform, financial and energy policy, Shri Bery holds a master’s degree in public affairs from Princeton University and a degree in philosophy, politics, and economics from Magdalen College, Oxford.