- President – SM Vijayanand
SM Vijayanand is the former Chief Secretary of Kerala, Secretary of Rural Development, Government of India. A crusader of democratic decentralisation and local self-government, he pioneered the People’s Plan movement in Kerala and was also the Chairman of KILA (Kerala Institute of Local Administration). He also conceptualised and operationalised ‘Kudumbashree’, the women’s self-help group movement in Kerala.
- Vice-President – Sushila Devi
Sushila Devi is a grassroots activist working on a range of issues including health, women’s rights, labour rights. She was the one who coined the famous slogan of the RTI movement – Our Money, Our Accounts, based on an interaction she had with a journalist who asked her why the RTI was important for her.
- Secretary – Lal Singh
Lal Singh is a social activist and one of the founding members of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangatan (MKSS). He played a pivotal role in the struggles for the Right to Information (RTI) and the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). His astute political understanding and sound knowledge about the rural economy make him a right choice for a ‘political trainer’.
Members:
- Aruna Roy
Aruna Roy is a social and political activist. She is one of the founding members of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangatan (MKSS) and played a key role in the campaigns for the right to information (RTI) and the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). She was the member of the National Advisory Council during 2004-06, and 2010-13. She is a prominent member of many campaigns, and currently the President of the National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW). She was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2000, the Nani Palkiwala Award and the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Award for Excellence in Public Administration, Academia and Management in 2010. She is also a member of the advisory board to the Comptroller and Auditor General, India.
- Martin Macwan
Martin Macwan is a Dalit and human rights activist and the founder of Navsarjan Trust, Dalit Shakti Kendra and Dalit Foundation. Navsarjan was established with the intent to pursue and intensify the fight to eradicate caste discrimination. He has worked with the Dalit movement at all levels, founding the Indian Institute of Dalit Studies to improve upon the quantity and quality of research on Dalits and has actively facilitated cooperation between Dalit groups across India and South Asia, training activists and leaders in this fight. Winner of the 2000 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award and recipient of the Gleitsman Foundation’s Activist of the Year Award, Martin has also been honoured for his work by the Human Rights Watch.
- Vipul Mudgal
Dr Vipul Mudgal has been a journalist and academic in India, the UK, and South East Asia for over 30 years. He has held senior editorial positions at various media houses in Asia. He headed operations in print, electronic and Internet media in India and abroad. As an activist and a media scholar, he writes and works on the intersections of media, democracy and political violence.
Satish Deshpande serves as Professor, Department of Sociology, at the Delhi School of Economics. He is a prolific writer and speaker on issues of caste inequalities and its manifestations in contemporary Indian society. He has served as a Member of the Expert Group on Equal Opportunity Commission, Government of India, during 2007-08. He also held editorial positions in a number of national and international bulletins and was an adviser for the sociology text books of the NCERT. ‘
- Bajrang Lal Sharma
Bajrang Lal Sharma had a long career in the Rajasthan Administrative Service (RAS). He worked with the government for more than three decades. During his engagement with the government he regularly interacted with voluntary organizations. His areas of interest include issues related to land, rural development, education and rehabilitation. He lives in Udaipur.
- Ramkaran
Ramkaran is a gender trainer and community mobiliser working with the Social Work Research Centre (SWRC), Tilonia. He started his career of community service at the age of 15 by teaching village women. His understanding of gender issues at village level and the conditioning of the social practices intertwined to it made his interventions effective.
- Shankar Singh
Shankar Singh is a social and political activist, master communicator and one of the founding members of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangatan (MKSS). His exceptional qualities as a communicator have helped the campaigns for right to information, right to work, etc., to have a mass appeal among the larger public. Through puppet show, songs, slogans, skits, etc., he conveys even the most intricate political message in a simple yet powerful language.
- Nachiket
As a fellow with the Centre for Collective Development, Nachiket Udupa works on agriculture marketing with the Mazdoor Kisan Kirana Vyapaar Private Limited (MKKVPL). He is involved in setting up systems for product aggregation from farmers, marketing produce, facilitating the creation of a farmers’ collective, and training farmer groups on organic certification. He is also a part of campaigns on employment guarantee, the right to information and the right to privacy. He has worked with farmers in multiple states understanding the specifics of mechanization, new methods of irrigation and farming’s dependence on fertilisers. He is a trustee of the Gram Disha Trust.