Board Members
President
Anwar Jafri
Anwar Jafri has been active in social work for the past four decades. Currently he is the director of Samavesh Society. Before this, he was connected to the organisation Eklavya for a long time. He has worked extensively and for a long duration on Panchayati Raj law and self-governance.
Member
Nilesh Desai
Nilesh Desai has been working for years in one of the most backward districts of Jhabua in Madhya Pradesh on various issues. He is the founder-director of Sampark Sanstha. He has worked extensively in the field of agriculture, environment, health, education, environment and child rights in Jhabua. His work in the agriculture field encompasses the country. He has been advocating use of indigenous seeds and indigenous traditions. Prominent magazine ‘The WEEK’ conferred Nilesh Desai with its ‘Man of the Year’ award in 2018. He is also founder of Rashtriya Jalbiradari and the Madhya Pradesh convener of the Beej Swaraj Abhiyan. In 188-89, he was conferred the National Youth Award by the ministry of human resource development. He is also a recipient of Ashok Gondia award, Champaben Gondia award, Tarun Bharat Environment Protection Award, 2013, Nanaji Samman of the Madhya Pradesh culture department (2016) and others.
Secretory
Sachin Kumar Jain
Sachin Kumar is the director of Vikas Samvad. After getting a degree in mass communication, he has worked on neglected social issues through alternative mass media. He has been working on the issues of nutrition security, employment, environment, health, education, forest rights and others for years. More than 1000 of his articles and more than 60 books authored by him have been published. He is also an Ashoka Fellow and a recipient of several awards in the field of writing. Currently he is working in-depth on the issue of constitution and is also active in the field of training.
Treasurer
Aman Namra
Aman is basically a communication expert. For a long time, he has used alternative mass communication media to bring neglected issues to the mainstream. He was connected with the Charkha Feature Agency for a long time. He has designed and conducted training modules for writing, research and documentation. He has also a long experience of media writing with focus on subjects of social interest. He two books – ‘Paani Ghano Anmol’ and ‘Paanidaar Samaj’ have been published and he has edited another titled ‘Sangharsh aur Nirmaan’.
Member
Manohar Choure
Manohar Choure is a communication expert who has edited the magazine Shikhar Vaarta for a long time. He has also been a guest lecturer with the Makhanlal Chaturvedi National University of Journalism for a long time. In this duration, he mentored several youth for writing and research. He has raised the issues of deprived sections of society through his writings for years.
Member
Rita Bhatia
Rita comes with over twenty years of experience in managing public health and nutrition programmes. She has worked with NGOs, UN agencies dedicated to protection, public health, food security and nutrition, education of children and HIV and AIDS. Rita has worked with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (1986-2000), heading the Nutrition unit based in Geneva and in the Horn of Africa. She was involved in most major emergencies during the 90s and involved in some of the most important developments in the emergency food and nutrition sector during this period. She has also worked for the World Food Programme in Rome in 2000 in the Strategy and Policy Division and later in the Regional Bureau in Asia. Rita frequently acts as a resource person in many international training and workshops in public health nutrition.
Joint Secretory
Rakesh Kumar Malviya
Rakesh Kumar Malviya has been working on issues of development and people’s interest for many years. He was linked to the organisation Eklavya since his school days and got training in writing on social issues from Gram Seva Samiti. He worked for different organisations after getting his degree from the Makhanlal Chaturvedi National University of Journalism and then got associated with Vikas Samvad. He has been conferred with eight fellowships and awards for his works till now. Apart from being active in literary-cultural programmes, he is also a photography enthusiast. He has also edited more than 10 books on issues of development.