Profile of Speakers
1
Prof. Jagdish Mukhi Hon’ble Governor, Government of Assam
Prof. Jagdish Mukhi is the 30th Governor of Assam and he assumed his office on 10th October 2017. Prior to his appointment as the Governor of Assam, Shri Mukhi was the Lieutenant Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Jagdish Mukhi earlier held the portfolios of finance, planning, excise & taxation and higher education in Delhi Government. He is credited with working extensively for the welfare of the people of Delhi.
Some of the notable achievements credited to Jagdish Mukhi’s name were banning of lottery trade etc in Delhi in 1994, when he was the minister of finance. He also worked towards persuading people to abstain from consuming alcohol. As minister of excise, he declared record number of dry days in a year. He was also instrumental in establishing Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University a professional university which was self funded, as a minister of higher education. He was also honoured as the best finance minister of the nation and also received best MLA award in Delhi Vidhan Sabha for two times.
He represented Janak Puri constituency continuously from 1980 and won seven times from the same constituency. Jagdish Mukhi was born to Late J.R Mukhi and Late Laxi Devi Mukhi on 1st December 1942.
Shri Seshadri Chari Member, Governing Council, RIS
Mr. Seshadri Chari, is the Former Consultant (2006-2009) UNDP, Southern Sudan, Project: Facilitation of participation of women in post-conflict democratic set up and capacity building of political parties in Southern Sudan. Presently he is Member, RIS Governing Council and Joint Director, (International Affairs) Institute for National Security Studies (INSS). He is also Secretary General, Forum for Integrated National Security (FINS). Presently working on land and maritime security challenges. Some of his publications are A New Era in Indian Polity,’Jananayak’ a Pictorial Biography of the then Prime Minister Mr. A B Vajpayee, “Nepal Emerging Republic”2008, Economic Federalism” Issues before Smaller States, Need to revisit India’s Nuclear Doctrine, Anagharika Dharmapala Dhamma Dharma Confluence.
Shri Manab Majumdar Deputy Secretary General, FICCI
With a background of 30 years of research and professional experience in WTO matters, Regional Integration, FTAs, Trade Policy, Globalization, Investment and Industry-related issues, Manab Majumdar is currently working as Deputy Secretary General of FICCI, the premier apex business Chamber of India. He also serves as Team Lead of the WTO, FTA, Trade Policy and Trade Facilitation Division of the Federation. Manab has been closely involved in the negotiation and industry
3 consultation processes for a number of FTAs involving India. He participated in several WTO Ministerial Conferences as a member of the Indian official delegation.
Mr Majumdar represented the Indian private sector in a large number of national & international conferences and High-Level Policy Dialogues on Trade and WTO-related issues. He was invited as a Fellow at the prestigious Salzburg Global Seminar on ‘New Dynamics in Global Trade Architecture: WTO, G20 and Regional Agreements’. He also served as an invited speaker in the consultative meeting of Commonwealth Expert Group on Trade. Manab attended an Advanced Trade Training Course organized by DFID and another training programme on trade issues under a Swiss Government Fellowship. An alumnus of Presidency College-Calcutta and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU)-New Delhi, Manab has earlier worked extensively on promotion of India’s trade relations and investment cooperation with South-East and North-East Asian countries.
Ms Laurel Ostfield Head of Communications, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank
Laurel is responsible for overseeing AIIB’s global brand and communications strategy, which includes media relations, civil society engagement, internal communications, sponsorship and digital communications. She is also accountable for the Bank’s commitment to transparency through its information disclosure policy. Prior to joining AIIB, Laurel led the communications team at Capital One Canada, covering external communications, internal communications and corporate social responsibility.
Shri Ravi Capoor Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Industries and Commerce, Government of Assam
Mr. Ravi Capoor, IAS, served as Chairman of the Board for Assam Petrochemicals Ltd. since October 01, 2016. Mr. Capoor serves as Director of Petroleum Conservation Research Association of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India. Mr. Capoor is Commissioner & Secretary to the Govt. of Assam, Industries & Commerce Department. He is a senior IAS Officer belonging to the 1986 Batch of Assam Meghalaya Cadre. He has worked in various capacities under the Govt. of Assam as well as Government of India. He has more than two decades of multi-sectoral experience in the areas of Energy, Handicrafts industry, Tourism development and Education. He serves as Director of India Carbon Limited. (ICL), Assam Hydrocarbon Energy Limited (AHEL), Assam Tea Corporation Limited (ATCL), Tea Board of India (TBOI), Mandakini B’Coal Co. Limited (MBCCL) and Hindustan Paper Corporation Limited (HPCL). He serves as a Director on the Board of Engineers India Limited. He serves as Part-Time Ex-Officio Director of Numaligarh Refinery Limited. He serves as a Director of Assam Industrial Development Corporation Ltd. He served as a Director of Assam Petrochemicals Ltd. from January 2009 to June 30, 2011. Mr. Capoor served as Director of Numaligarh Refinery Limited since January 29, 2009. to April 13,2011. He served as a Director of Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd., from February 22, 2006 to November 5, 2007. He is a graduate in Commerce and Post Graduate in Business Administration.
4 Prof. Amitabh Kundu Distinguished Fellow, RIS
Dr. Amitabh Kundu is currently Distinguished Fellow at the Research and Information System for Developing Countries. He is chairing the Committee overvieing the survey for Swatch Bharat Mission (Rural) He was Regional Advisor on Poverty at UNESCWA, Beirut during 2017 and Consultant to the Government of Sri Lanka during 2016. Until January 2014, he was Professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He has been the Dean of the School of Social Sciences and has served as a member of National Statistical Commission during 2006-08. He has been chairperson of the post Sachar Evaluation Committee, set up by the Ministry of Minority Affairs and was a Visiting Professor at the University of Amsterdam, Sciences Po and Maison des Sciences de L’homme in Paris, University of Kaiserslautern and University of Wuerzburg in Germany. He has worked as Director at various institutes in India and is in the Editorial Board of Manpower Journal, Urban India, Journal of Educational Planning and Administration, Indian Journal of Labour Economics. He has about thirty five books and three hundred research articles, published in India and abroad, to his credit.
Shri P D Sona Parliamentary Secretary (Tourism), Government of Arunachal Pradesh
Mr. Sona has been the Chairma, Legal cell, APCC, Government of Arunachal Pradesh. Elected Mber of Legislative assembly, 2009 and was Chairman Arunachal Agricultural marketing board, Government of Arunachal Pradesh. Chairman Hydro Power development cooperation of Arunachal Pradesh.
Prof. Sebastian Morris Professor, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA)
Prof. Sebastian Morris is on the faculty of IIM, Ahmedabad since June 1992. Earlier, he was on the faculty of Institute of Public Enterprise, Hyderabad for about eight years. His current research is on Study of Determinants of Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) and strategies to attract FDI to Gujarat, Strategy for restructuring of the electricity transmission, distribution and trading businesses in Haryana in context of the changes brought about by the Electricity Act 2003, Role of Small Scale Industries in the Age of Liberalisation and Pricing and Financing of Water, for Country Water Resources Sector Strategy, (World Bank).
He has worked on several high powered committees appointed by the Planning Commission, Government of India, Government of Gujarat, state and central public sector enterprises and Confederation of Indian Industry. He is M.Sc. (five year integrated in Physics), of the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay and fellow of IIM Calcutta. His doctoral dissertation was titled: Direct Foreign Investments from India (1964 83).
5 Dr. Kavita Iyengar Economist, Asian Development Bank
Dr. Kavita Iyengar is an economist with the Asian Development Bank (ADB), New Delhi where she works on regional cooperation in South Asia and knowledge management. She works with the team in project design, monitoring, and implementation for regional and sub-regional economic cooperation projects in South Asia in key identified areas which include trade and investment, transport, and information and communications technology. She is also responsible for knowledge-sharing activities including the content development and generation of economic reports, research papers, and other publications; and interactions with academia. As part of the economics unit, she liaises with the government on various programs and technical assistance projects. After her B.A. (Honours) in Economics, Kavita obtained her M.A. Economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and Ph.D. Economics from Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts. She has had varied work experience in India and the US the fields of teaching, environment consulting, and publishing. Before moving to work at the ADB in 2003, she was Commissioning Editor at Oxford University Press (OUP) for the Economics, Business, and Ecology lists. Kavita has published papers and edited volumes to her credit. She is co-editor on the forthcoming volume Developing Economic Corridors in South Asia. Outside of work, Kavita has published a book of pen and ink drawings titled ‘Delhi: Old and New’.
Shri Niraj Verma Member-Public Private Partnership, National Highways Authority of India
Mr Niraj Verma IAS (Assam- Meghalaya 1994) is presently posted as Member of Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) GOI, with effect from 14.03.2016. Prior to joining NHAI, he was posted as Joint Secretary, Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, Government of India since 2013.
As Member (PPP) in NHAI, Shri Verma is heading Project Appraisal and Technical Evaluation Committee (PATSC) as well as Standing Cost Committee (SCC) for appraisal of various projects on EPC, BOT (Toll), BOT (Annuity) etc., under Bharat Mala Pariyojana. He is also in charge of PPP Cell (for Policy matters) and Expressways Cell of NHAI and involved in construction of many expressways like Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE), Delhi-Meerut Expressway, Dwarka Expressway, Ahmedabad-Mumbai Expressway and Bangalore-Chennai Expressway. Land acquisition for various national highways projects in the country and projects of road connectivity for ports through SPVs are also being looked after by him.
6 Smt Usha Padhee Joint Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India
She is a 1996-batch IAS officer of Odisha cadre. Joined the Indian Administrative Service(IAS) in 1996; Postings so far include: Sub-Collector, Baliguda, Kandhamal ( 1998) Additional Project Director (Watershed), DRDA, Kalahandi (1998- 2000) Additional District Magistrate, Bolangir (2000) Project Administrator, ITDA, Panposh, Sundargarh (2000-01) Collector & District Magistrate, Nabarangpur( 2001) Collector & District Magistrate, Koraput ( 2001-2004) Collector & District Magistrate, Dhenkanal (2004-2006) Director, Social Welfare, Mission Shakti ; State Project Director, TRIPTI, World Bank Project, Orissa (2006-09).Additional Secretary, Water resources Department, in charge of ADB assisted Odisha Integrated Irrigated Agriculture & Water Management Investment Project and World Bank assisted Odisha Community Tank Management Project ( 2010-11). Additional Secretary, Panchayati Raj and State Project Director, TRIPTI (World Bank assisted) and National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM), Odisha (2011-12) Commissioner cum Secretary, School and Mass Education Department, Government of Odisha (2012-15). Commissioner cum Secretary, Handloom, Textiles and Handicrafts Department, Government of Odisha (2012-14). Served mostly in the backward / tribal Districts of Odisha and took keen interest in the holistic development of poor and weaker sections of society. Specialized in livelihoods and Education Sectors. Presently Joint Secretary, Department of Civil Aviation, New Delhi since August, 2015. Shri Alok Ranjan Member Finance, Inland Waterways Authority of India
Mr. Alok Ranjan is an officer of Civil Accounts Services 1993 batch. He is a graduate in English literature and has done masters in Labour and Social Welfare. He has also completed another Master’s degree in Public Administration from Syracuse University, USA. Mr. Ranjan started his career with a posting as FA&CAO in India Government Mint in Kolkata. During his 22 years of distinguished service he has held various responsibilities and worked in different organisations of Govt. of India like Central Board of Excise and Customs, Ministry of Water Resources, Ministry of Coal etc. apart from serving as Director during his tenure on Central deputation in the Department of Administrative Reforms and Department of Personnel and Training. He has served as Joint Controller of Accounts in the Ministry of Finance. Mr. Ranjan has worked as Editor of “Management in Government” – a Journal published by Department of Administrative Reforms. He has also been involved in compiling and editing of four books on Best Practices published by Penguin and released by the Prime Minister. He has held myriad responsibilities in the office of Controller General of Accounts for more than four years in two spells. Presently, he is working as Member (Finance) in Inland Waterways Authority of India.
7 Shri Abhishek Chaudhary Vice President, Corporate Affairs & Company Secretary, Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation Limited
Mr Abhishek Chaudhary has over 15 years’ experience in working with State/ Central Government across levels on policy formulations, framing implementation strategies, project marketing and driving project implementation. Associated with the prestigious Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) project since its inception, he has been leading the Corporate Affairs, Secretarial and Legal functions and also contributing to key HR, Marketing and administrative tasks. He is the nodal person for coordination with all participating DMIC States & Ministries of the Government of India.
He is also the fellow member of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India and a law graduate. He credits his experience of working in different domains and with various multinational companies in the field of secretarial and legal matters, project financing, private-public partnership projects and corporate governance.
Shri Amit Kumar Ghosh Joint Secretary (Highways), Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, Government of India
Shri V K Rajawat Director (Technical), National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited
Experience : 25 years of experience in the field of National Highways and Bridges.; Organisation served so far: 10 years in NHAI at Manager and General Manager level: Dealt Corridor Management division, Delhi-Gurgaon expressway, Eastern Peripheral Expressway, Badarpur flyover, and projects of Delhi region. Dealt states of Andhra Pradesh and Tamilnadu, dealt 6 laning of Golden quadrilateral in the state of AP, TN and Port Connectivity projects, JNPT 2 years on Deputation to Republic of Botswana, Department of Roads as Senior Roads Engineer, Development Contracts 10 years in Ministry of Road Transport & Highways at Executive Engineer, Superintending Engineer and Chief Engineer level. Dealt North Eastern Region, SARDP-NE scheme under 8 states, Trans - Arunachal Highway, Dhola Sadia bridge, Dibang and Alubari bridge, BOT (Annuity) projects in Arunachal Pradesh. Multi Model kaladan projects in Mizoram for connectivity to Port Sittwe, Planning formulation, approval of projects, Implementation and monitoring. 3 years in NHIDCL as Executive Director and now as Director (Technical) : Dealing on going projects of 2720 km of worth Rs. 45000 crore. Important projects are Zozila and Z morh Tunnel in J&K, Silkiyara tunnel in Uttarakhand, 4 laning of Nagaon-Itanagar, 4 laning of Nagaon-Dibrugarh, Dhubri-Phulbari bridge, Gohpur-Numaligarh bridge, Andaman & Nicobar Trunk road , 4 laning of Dimapur to Kohima,,
8 Alternative connectivity to Gangtok, Febi bridge in Tripura, Mechi bridge on Indo-Nepal border, Bharat mala projects of 5000 km length, External funded projects of JICA and ADB in Mizoram , Manipur and Meghalaya . DPR of 10000 Km is in progress. Total work load dealt by me is around 13000 km of Rs. 213000 crore
Shri Anirudha Barooah Regional Head (North East), EXIM Bank of India
Prof Amit Choudhury Operations Research, Department of Statistics, Gauhati University
Shri Rajaji Meshram Partner, EY India
Rajaji Meshram is a Partner at EY India. He leads the Transport sector at EY. Rajaji has over 18 years of experience. Rajaji started his career as a Gazetted officer in Indian Railways and worked in the area of train operations and rolling stock maintenance. Post his MBA from IIM, Ahmedabad he has led various consulting assignments. He has extensive experience of working with Ministry of Railways, Railway PSUs, Ministry of Shipping, Asian Development Bank and in World Bank funded projects. He has been involved in the master planning of the Visakhapatnam Chennai Industrial Corridor project and is the flagship Sagarmala program of the Government of India. He led a team which was involved in the preparation of the National Transport Policy of Bhutan. He has experience of working in India, Kenya, Mongolia, Bhutan, UAE
Shri Shyamkanu Mahanta Managing Director, MMS Advisory & Chief Executive, Trend MMS
Dr. Shiladitya Chatterjee Adviser, Centre for Sustainable Development Goals, Government of Assam and Former Head, Poverty Unit, Asian Development Bank
I am an international development economist who has supported development efforts extensively in India and the developing countries of Asia and the Pacific. Educated at Presidency College, Calcutta; Delhi School of Economics; and Boston University - from where I took my Ph.D. - my professional career has traversed the fields of academics, administration (in the Indian Administrative Service) and international development (at the Asian Development Bank). I taught economics at St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University; Boston University; and University of Massachusetts. In India, I have worked on grassroots level development issues in Assam; at the Ministry
9 of Finance on Centre-State financial relations; and as Director, Prime Minister’s Office in supporting the comprehensive economic reforms of 1991 to 1994. As an economist at the ADB (which I joined in 1994 and worked till 2013) I provided advice to developing countries in Asia and the Pacific on a range of development issues including poverty reduction, sustainable development, structural reforms, fiscal decentralization, capital markets development, transport and basic infrastructure.
In the last decade and a half, I focused increasingly in my work on international development efforts at poverty reduction and sustainable development. As Head of the Poverty Unit and Poverty Practice Leader in ADB, I helped forge an Asia-Pacific regional partnership between ADB and the UN agencies to achieve the Millennium Development Goals in Asia and has played a key role with the UN in the formulation of the new Sustainable Development Goals. The 2013 ADB-UNDP-UNESCAP regional report Asia-Pacific Aspirations: Perspectives for a Post-2015 Development Agenda which I helped prepare after extensive regional consultations was presented to the UN Secretary General as part of the international SDG formulation effort.
At present I am working as Advisor, Centre for the Sustainable Development Goals, Government of Assam; and have also been advising the UN agencies intermittently as a development expert in India and abroad on implementing the SDGs. I have contributed to research and analyses in these areas with a large number of publications and reports. I helped write recently, for example, UNESCAP’s roadmap for implementing the SDGs in the region; and contributed last year to the UN Secretary General’s report to the General Assembly on the SDGs as an Asia-Pacific expert on poverty.
Prof. Milindo Chakrabarti Visiting Fellow, RIS
Dr. Milindo Chakrabarti has distinguished experience of over 27 years as a Professor of Micro-economics, International Trade & Business, Environmental Economics, Indian Economics and Development Economics, nationally and internationally. Along with his long standing career in teaching, Dr Milindo holds Research Experience of 27 years and has written and published numerous research paper, articles and books from India and abroad. Currently, he is a Professor with School of Business Studies and School of Law at Sharda University, Greater Noida. He also delivered lectures at Indiana University, Bloomington, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, Entrepreneurship Development Institute, Gandhi Nagar. Right now he is associated with the Natural Resources Institute, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada as an Adjunct Faculty and recently joined Research and Information System for Developing Countries, an autonomous think tank of the Ministry of External Affairs as a Visiting Consultant. Till recently, he was a Consultant to the Independent Evaluation Office of the Planning Commission.
Dr Milindo has extensive experience in policy development and practice, and wide knowledge and experience working in different sectors such as: natural resources, social sectors, rural development, key cross-cutting issues, environment, governance and institutional development. Dr Milindo regularly travels throughout India on various academic and research assignments, and has travelled across many countries on academic assignments, for instance Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, China,
10 Kenya, USA, Canada, UK, France, Italy, Portugal Egypt and Turkey. He has also been consultant to different ministries of Govt. of India, the Planning Commission, the World Bank UNDP, IFAD, the British Council. In his list of professional affiliations he has also been a Member of Western Economic Association International, USA, Executive Director in Development Evaluation Society of India (DESI) and also Member, Network of Network on Impact Evaluation (NONIE).
Dr. Dipankar Saharia Director, North Eastern Regional Centre, The Energy and Resources Institute
Dr Dipankar Saharia has been actively involved in facilitating the development of the TERI North-Eastern Regional Centre. He was with TERI in 1999 before which he was with the Government of Assam as an officer of the Assam Civil Service. He held the positions of Assistant Commissioner and later Officer on Special Duty, personnel department and science & technology department, Government of Assam. Dr Saharia was also with TERI from 1995 to 1996 working in the Tissue Culture Pilot Project (now MTP) and TERI NE Centre.
Dr Saharia has a Masters in science and Ph.D from Gauhati University. His expertise lies in the areas of biotechnology, natural resource management and rural development where he has undertaken several projects and studies in the fields of watershed management, production and demonstration of quality planting material, and biofuels. He has been the PI of several mission mode projects for the northeastern region, including Department of Biotechnology (DBT) Mission for Quality Planting Material Production and Utilization for the North East, Jatropha Micro Mission and DNA Club (DBT’s Natural Resource Awareness Programme Club) in Assam.
Dr. Jayanta Choudhury Coordinator, Centre for Rural Studies, Department of Rural Management & Development, Tripura University Dr. Jayanta Choudhury presently working as Faculty, Department of Rural Studies, Trpura University after working at State Institute of Rural Development, Tripura and National Institute of Rural Development, Hyderabad. He did his Ph.D. and Masters in Rural Development from Visva-Bharati University, West Bengal. He is author of 8 books and more than 35 research articles published in National and International journals and in edited volumes. He serves as Associate Editor for International Journal of Rural Development & Management Studies (IJRDMS) and TUI – A journal on Tribal Life and Culture. He has leaded various internationally funded development projects in India and Bangladesh. Received Global Award (Best Professor in Rural Development) from World Education Congress-2015 and Broad Outlook Learner Teacher (BOLT) Award-2006 from AIR INDIA, Mumbai. Active board member of various Civil Society Organisations including Financial Inclusion Trust (under the aegis of Bandhan Bank, Kolkata).
11 Shri Pratim Ranjan Bose Deputy Editor and Chief of Bureau - Kolkata, The Hindu Business Line
Pratim Ranjan Bose is the Chief of Bureau of The Hindu Business Line in Kolkata. He writes columns on India’s Act East strategies and, developments in energy and infrastructure sectors. His works are reproduced in regional media. A post-graduate in economics, Bose has spent over two decades in financial journalism and has keen interests in development strategies, geopolitics, international trade and economic growth perspectives in Asia.
A winner of several journalism awards and a Jefferson Fellow (Spring 2010), Bose has several research publications in the fields of energy, renewable energy, border trade and connectivity. He has co-authored a book on commodity trade. He is also an author in Bengali. He writes guest columns in Bengali media in West Bengal and Bangladesh.
Shri Dinesh Sharma former Special Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Government of India and former Director on the Asian Infra- structure Investment Bank Board
Educational Qualifications: M.Sc. in Macroeconomic Policy and Planning from University of Bradford, UK (1997) MA in Economics from Kerala University, India. (1991) LL.B from University of Rajasthan, India (1980)B.A. (Honours) Political Science, Economics (University of Rajasthan, India) (1977) Experience: An Indian Administrative Service officer of 1983 batch. Retired in November 2017. Handled various finance/banking/infrastructure related jobs at the central and the state (Kerala) level. The details are given below:
As Additional Secretary first and later as Special Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India (2014 - 2017), looked after all issues relating to international financial cooperation, both multilateral and bilateral. This included dealing with multilateral institutions such as The World Bank, IMF, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Asian Development Bank, African Development Bank, the Global Environment Fund, Green Climate Fund and bilateral financing bodies such as JICA, KFW, AFD, etc. Was Chief negotiator for India in respect of AIIB. Served as director on the Boards of AIIB, New Development Bank, Green Climate Fund and the NIIF. Was Chairman of IFAD for two years and was also responsible for Multilateral Economic Relations through bodies such as G20, OECD, SAARC etc. As Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Kerala (2011 - 2014) monitored the finalization of large scale infra-structure projects such as Kochi Metro Rail Project (financed through French Loan), Kannur Airport Project and the first Private Public Partnership project in the port sector, the Vizhinjam Deep-water Transshipment Terminal, with Viability Gap Funding support from Government of India.
As Joint Secretary, Department of Commerce, GOI (2006- 2010), looked after agricultural exports from India, trade and economic relations with countries in North East Asia (mainly, China, Korea and Japan). Led negotiations, and concluded Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreements (CEPA), with Japan and Republic of Korea. Worked with the Government of Kerala, as Secretary, Food and Civil Supplies (1999-02), Excise Commissioner (02-04), and as Secretary to the Chief Minister (2004-
12 2006). Made major contribution to the forming of a model Excise policy. As Secretary to the Chief Minister, helped finalize deal for the development of Smart City at Kochi with the help of entrepreneurs from Dubai. As M.D. Kerala Financial Corporation (1991-1994) was the Chief Executive Officer of this State-owned term-lending Financial Institution at a time when comprehensive economic reforms were introduced in India. He was General Manager and later Managing Director of Kerala State Civil Supplies Corporation (1987-1990), which handled large scale procurement and distribution of essential commodities and ran super markets and other retail outlets in Kerala. Handled district and sub district level general administrative posts of District Collector Trichur/Sub Collector, Adur, Kerala, at the beginning of career in the IAS (1990-91 and 1985-87 respectively).
Shri Shyam Jagannathan Commissioner & Secretary, Finance Department, Government of Assam
Mr. Shyam Jagannathan is an IAS officer of the 1997 Batch of Assam- Meghalaya Joint Cadre. Over the past two decades he has worked for several years in Meghalaya and Assam in multiple responsibilities including district assignments, as the Deputy Commissioner in West Garo Hills District, Tura, Meghalaya and the erstwhile North Cachar Hills District ( presently the Dima Hasao District) in Assam. He has also shouldered the responsibilities of the Secretary, Planning and Development Department for over three years, closely working on implementation of the Annual Development plans in the State of Assam. He has also shouldered the responsibilities of Commissioner and Director, Food and Civil Supplies Department and the office of the Chairman and Managing Director, Kerala State Civil Supplies Corporation in the state of Kerala as also the post of the Commissioner, Commercial Taxes, Kerala Government and is presently posted as the Commissioner and Secretary, Finance Department. His interest include use of econometrics and data analytics for monitoring implementation of development initiatives and perspective planning, use of GIS based systems for Decision support systems in Government and evidence based policy design. He is presently incumbent in the post of Commissioner and Secretary, Finance Department, Government of Assam
Shri A.K.Yadav Chief Adminstartive Officer (Construction), Northeast Frontier Railway
Ms. Halla Maher Qaddumi Senior Water Economist, The World Bank Shri Sabyasachi Dutta Executive Director, Asian Confluence
Sabyasachi Dutta is founder Director of the Asian Confluence, India East Asia, Center headquartered at Shillong, Meghalaya in North East India. The “Asian Confluence”, is a pan regional initiative to promote an open space for cultural and intellectual exchanges towards creating better understanding of the Eastern and North Eastern region of India in the larger context of India as an emerging power in South East and East Asian geopolitics. Through research, training and advocacy programs, the Asian Confluence provides an opportunity for civil society to enhance people to people
13 contact between India and her neighbours and also encourage a better understanding of the cultural and socio-political issues of the region that actually are the driving force behind India’s “Act East Policy”. At the heart of the project are initiatives that encourage people to people exchange such as, promoting research and interest in the region through educational tourism, cultural tourism, creation of “out of the box” livelihood generation by promoting leadership and entrepreneurship programs, eco-friendly products and services and impetus to green industries aimed at economic development by forging a network of civil society organizations working on similar objectives. Sabyasachi continues to facilitate cultural programs, exchange programs, talks, discussions and symposia with scholars and leaders of culture and thought, from India and abroad and The Asian Confluence has established itself as a premier organization in the North East with several successful initiatives to its credit such as the “Intelligent Third Space”, the NADI Asian Confluence River Festival and the Young Scholars Forum.
Sabyasachi brings a unique combination a experiences to push this initiative: A deep and insightful stint of rural development in the North East and Eastern India where he set up a chain of 80 primary schools using the model of community participation propelled by youth leadership ; A successful career spanning 12 years in the Silicon Valley, California USA in cutting edge technology, innovation and entrepreneurship , having held important positions in large corporations such as SONY Corp as well as successful startups, and he hold several patents; He is a long time avid student of Indian Culture, Philosophy and Public policy and International relations.
Dr. Otojit Kshetrimayum Associate Fellow and Coordinator, Centre for North East India, V.V. Giri National Labour Institute
Dr. Otojit Kshetrimayum is working as Associate Fellow at the Institute. He is Coordinator of the Centre for North East and one of the Associate Editors of the journal, Labour and Development. He is the Associate Editor of Awards Digest, Journal of Labour Legislation. His areas of interests are Industrial Sociology, Skill Development, Social Protection, Unorganised/Informal sector, Gender & Labour Issues, Corporate Social Responsibility, Cooperatives, Research Methodology, Labour Administration, and Labour & Employment in North East India.
He is a Sociologist. He has completed Post Graduate in Sociology from the Department of Sociology, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi; M.Phil and Ph. D. in Sociology from the Centre for the Study of Social Systems, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. His Ph.D. thesis is on “From Lineage to Cooperative: A Study of Handloom Weaving in Manipur”. Before joining this institute, he was working as Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology, School of Social Sciences, Sikkim Central University, Gangtok and as Senior Fellow in Women’s Studies and Development Centre, University of Delhi. He has also worked in the projects conducted by National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). He has also delivered lectures at Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Guwahati Campus; Maitreyi College, University of Delhi; Miranda House, University of Delhi; National Judicial Academy, Bhopal; National Statistical Systems Training Academy; Maharashtra Institute of Labour Studies, Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya National Academy of Social Security and National Institute of Open Schooling.
14 Prof Bhupen Sarmah Director, Omeo Kumar Das Institute of Social Change and Development
Prof. Sachin Chaturvedi Director General, RIS
Prof. Sachin Chaturvedi is Director General at the Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS), a New Delhi-based Think-Tank, under the Ministry of External Affairs. He was Global Justice Fellow at the MacMillan Center for International Affairs at Yale University. He works on issues related to development cooperation policies and South-South cooperation. He has also worked on issues like trade, investment and innovation linkages with special focus on WTO; S&T; Development Cooperation; and SDGs; etc.
Shri P. R. Jaishankar Chief General Manager, Indian Infrastructure Finance Company Limited
Mr. P. R. Jaishankar is presently serving as Chief General Manager in IIFCL and has been looking after Infrastructure Project Finance, Take-out Finance, Credit Enhancement and Corporate Planning. He comes with a rich experience of over 28 years in the Development Banking and Financial Sectors with specialized exposure in Infrastructure, Mortgage and Capital markets domains with Top Management and Board Level roles.
Before joining IIFCL, he had worked with National Housing Bank (NHB) from the year 1989 to 2011 and had held various senior level positions including Zonal Manager (South India Zone) with independent charge of 3 Regional Offices in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka (also covering Kerala State), stationed at Hyderabad. He is well known for having conceptualized and structured the first ever Mortgage Securitization Transaction in India in the year 2000, followed by a number of other innovative instruments/products in the Indian Capital Market such as Takeout Finance, Credit Enhancements, Affordable Housing Finance, Reverse Mortgages (enabled Annuities) , etc. He has also a member of the Advisory Board to guide policy and implementation of PPP projects in the Ports Sector, constituted by the Ministry of Shipping, Government of India.
He held the position of MD & CEO of IIFCL Projects Ltd. (2013-2014), and led a swift turnaround of the Company in its initial years with a robust year-to-year topline growth, a positive PAT and EPS (increased 3 times).
Mr. Jaishankar holds a Bachelors’ Degree in Civil Engineering from Osmania University, a Masters in Technologyfrom the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhiand an MBA (Finance) from the Faculty of Management Studies (FMS), Delhi University.
Shri Dipok Kumar Barthakur Vice-Chairman, State Innovation & Transformation Aayog, Government of Assam
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