Governing Board
M.C. Gupta, IAS (Retd)
President
A former civil servant of the 1960 batch of the civil service, Shri Gupta retired as Chief Secretary, Haryana in January 1997. He had the distinction of serving as Chief Secretary of the state three times. He held major senior positions in the state government like Excise and Taxation Commissioner; Secretary, Finance, Industry, Home, Urban Development, Aviation, Power etc.
In the Government of India, he served as Deputy Secretary in the Ministry of Finance; Joint Secretary in Ministry of Industry; Adviser, Planning Commission; Member Secretary, Tenth Finance Commission and Secretary to the Government of India in Ministry of Industries, Public Enterprise and Company Affairs. He also served as Director, Indian Institute of Public Administration for five years from 1997 to 2002.
He has authored a book on Haryana and has co-edited a number of books on different issues. Mr. Gupta is presently Adviser to UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organisation) at their regional office in Delhi. He has also been conferred Honorary Fellowship by the Birmingham School of Public Policy.
He has also been awarded a very prestigious National Order of Merit by President of France, Mr. Jacques Chirac in 2004.
Atul Dev Sarmah
Secretary General
A senior development management professional, with more than three decades of experience of working in Government of India, Civil Society and the United Nations.
During his tenure with the Government of India, he served National Literacy Mission, Ministry of Human Resource Development; National Disaster Management Authority; Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs, Ministry of Corporate Affairs; and Dr. Ambedkar International Centre, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
He led the GoI-UN Convergence Programme as Officer-In-Charge, with three sets of partners – Planning Commission of India; UNICEF, UNFPA and UNDP; and seven State Governments of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa.
He was nominated as Member, National Corporate Social Responsibility Index Committee (2014), Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs; Member, Advisory Council, India Responsible Business Forum (2016), Oxfam and Member, Committee on Business and Human Rights (2018), Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
Dev Sarmah has delivered several lectures on a wide variety of topics at Lal Bahadur Shastri Academy of Administration, Mussoorie, July 1996; Indian Institute of Mass Communication, New Delhi, September, 2001 and January 2006; Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy, Duke University, USA, October, 2006; State Institute for Public Administration and Rural Development, Government of Tripura, August, 2009; Indian Company Law Service Academy, Haryana, November 2017 and Dr Ambedkar International Centre, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, February 2019.
He has documented the cultural heritage of two north eastern tribes in the form of two books for Ministry of Culture, Government of India; and also has a few other publications to his credit.
Dr. Jayanti Singh is a medical doctor specializing in Public Health and Epidemiology. She has worked for WHO and UNICEF for the polio eradication initiatives. She has over 15 years of experience in Public Health focusing on vaccine preventable diseases and participated in National as well as International evaluations of Public Health Programs. Currently she is associated with Exemplar in Global Health through Gates Ventures
Dr Mousumi Sharma Bhattacharjee
Treasurer and Board Member
Dr. Mousumi Sharma is a pedagogic consultant and publishing professional based in Delhi. She has more than two decades of multilateral experience as a teacher, a blogger, a commentator, an editor, a writer, a reviewer and an author. She earned her university degree from Guwahati, Assam, and later on earned her doctorate degree in Astro-medicine from Kolkata.
Dr. Sharma began her pedagogical journey in Guwahati working for both CBSE and State Board schools. She mentored hundreds of students in her tenure and even tutored students of special needs. In Delhi, Dr. Sharma initiated her publishing career with a very eventful stint at Competition Success Review (CSR). Later on, she joined the school books division of various publishing houses in different capacities to prepare, edit and review age-appropriate, curriculum-adhered textbooks, workbooks, help books and online practice sets for students of ICSE and CBSE boards across the country. Dr. Sharma is also a published author with several curriculum books to her credit.
A former active member of the Bharat Scouts and Guides, Dr. Sharma was awarded the Rashtrapati Guide (President's Guide) award for her valuable service to the society. She had also received several certificates of appreciation for her contribution to the community. Dr. Sharma got multiple opportunities to visit different countries abroad where she offered voluntary English language classes to school students. She achieved German language proficiency while staying in Germany. Now, besides German, she has working proficiency in Assamese, Bengali, English and Hindi.
Biplob is a geologist by qualification specialising in natural resource management with professional experience spanning nearly 4 decades, across the globe. He has worked in applications of Earth System Science in the minerals, water and environment domains in the public sector Oil and Natural Gas Commission, the central government Geological Survey of India and in multi-national mining major Rio Tinto. Since 2013, Biplob has been leading Geovale Services, an India-rooted consulting team of scientists working globally in the minerals and water sector. He was conferred National Geoscience (Mineral) Award in 1996 for diamond discoveries in Central India.
Ranjana Dev Sarmah has had a remarkable 30-year career in the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, demonstrating unparalleled expertise across Information, Broadcasting, and Film sectors. As a specialist in Government/Development Communication, she excels in orchestrating impactful Public Outreach Campaigns and Government Media & Communication initiatives at both the regional and national levels. Her prolific collaboration with diverse government ministries has facilitated the successful rollout of numerous campaigns and Ministry projects, establishing an extensive professional media network across India. Adding to her illustrious career, Ranjana has been a Chevening scholar, has received education from renowned institutions such as Duke University, and further honed her expertise through courses at Harvard University and the University of California, Berkeley.
Sanjeeb Kakoty did his MA in history from NEHU and went on to do his M’Phil and PhD by adopting technology and social formation to understand and explain historical change. He was a Post Doctoral fellow at CENISEAS and has also done his MMP from IIM Ahmedabad. Currently working as a faculty member at IIM-Shillong he has also been a guest faculty at IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Bangalore. He was also a consultant to the Hamburg Media School, Germany. He has also worked as a lecturer in St. Anthony’s College, Christ King College and St. Edmunds College, in Shillong . He has a number of start ups to his credit which includes a Solar Services Company, a Hospital, a Fish cum paddy farm, a computer firm and the North East Data Bank, an organisation that documents the traditional culture of the numerous indigenous communities that live in the north eastern part of India. A writer, an academician ,a documentary film maker and a home carpenter, plumber and electrician, his latest book entitled Science, Technology and Social Formation in Medieval Assam, was published by Cambridge University Press. His other books include Tawang :The Abode of Prayers and Technology, Production and Social Formation in the Evolution of the Ahom State, as well as a number of edited volume. He was a part of the founding team of the World Business School Council for Sustainable Development and was one of the authors that wrote the report on Management Education for the Future that was presented at the Rio Earth conference. He was also a member of the Working Group of The Centre of North East Studies, Academy of Third World Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. He has also contributed in formulation of the Look East Policy for the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Commerce for studying the Potential and Problems for trade between North East India and South East Asia. He is also a member of the advisory board of the Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Trust and associated with a number of educational institutions and social organisations.
