People
THE BOARD
Prabhat Kumar
Prabhat Kumar
Prabhat Kumar joined the Indian Administrative Service in 1963 and reached the highest bureaucratic position of Cabinet Secretary to the Government of India. He also served the people of Jharkhand as the first Governor of the newly created state.
He had his education from Allahabad University where he completed M.Sc in Physics and M.Sc in Mathematics. Later, he also acquired an M.Sc in Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
For more than fifty years, Kumar has witnessed the drama of public governance with a keen eye and reflected on its different aspects. He specializes in logical analysis of concepts and synthesizing different viewpoints in realistic narratives.
Prabhat Kumar is also dedicated to the cause of ethics in public governance, Currently, he is the President of the IC Centre for Governance, a multi-stakeholder initiative in spreading awareness about people-oriented governance.
Dr. R. A. Mashelkar
Dr. R. A. Mashelkar
Dr. Mashelkar, National Research Professor, has been Director General of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Chairman of the National Innovation Foundation as well as President of the Indian National Science Academy, the Global Research Alliance and the Institute of Chemical Engineers (UK).
In recognition of his pioneering research contributions in polymer science and engineering, he has been honoured as a Fellow of Royal Society, Foreign Fellow of the US National Academy of Science, Foreign Associate of the US National Academy of Engineering, Foreign Associate of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and Fellow of the US National Academy of Inventors.
42 universities from around the world have honoured him with honorary doctorates. However, he is probably best known to the common man because of his Intellectual Property Rights crusade against the US patents on turmeric and Basmati rice.
The sixty-plus awards won by him include the prestigious TWAS-Lenovo Science Prize, Business Week (USA) Stars of Asia Award and the JRD Tata Corporate Leadership Award.
Dr. Mashelkar, who was a member of the Scientific Advisory Council to the Prime Minister for over thirty years, has been honoured with the Padma Shri, the Padma Bhushan and the Padma Vibhushan, three of India’s highest civilian honours.
Sarosh J. Ghandy
Sarosh J. Ghandy
Sarosh Ghandy, a metallurgical engineering graduate from the Carnegie Institute of Technology, joined the Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company or TELCO (now Tata Motors) as an assistant metallurgist in the late 1950s. Over a period of 14 years, he rose to become the General Manager of the Jamshedpur Works of TELCO. He joined the TELCO Board of Directors in 1973.
Ghandy was an Executive Director of TELCO between 1973 and 1999. He resigned to take up the Managing Directorship of a TELCO subsidiary, TELCON. He retired in December 2002.
Ghandy has been the Chairman of prominent social organisations, such as the Xavier Labour Relations Institute (XLRI), the Eastern Region Committee of the AICTE, Gram Vikas Kendra, Parivar Kalyan Sansthan, and the Nav Jagrat Manav Samaj, which works for leprosy eradication and rehabilitation.
He occupied the JRD Tata Chair for Business Ethics at the XLRI and was Chairman of the Xavier Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship between 2000 and 2010.
At present, Ghandy is the Chairman of Initiatives of Change for Business and is on the Board of Directors of Kirloskar Electric, Nettur Technical Training Foundation, NTTF-Edutech, Janaadhar India and Parinaam Foundation, to name a few.
Biren Bhuta
Biren Bhuta
Biren embarked on his career as a banker in Chennai. He gave it up to cut his teeth as a broadcast journalist with NDTV, where he reported on business, finance and the economy extensively.
The search for a deeper engagement with India took him to Bastar in Chhattisgarh. Indigenous living and thinking reshaped his worldview; he believes that to save the world we must embrace indigenousity.
Biren’s longest stint has been with Tata Steel, as the Chief of Corporate Social Responsibility. It led him to create a hallmark — an international tribal identity conclave called Samvaad, which is a robust mobilisation even today. He left the company in 2018.
An alumnus of IIM-Calcutta, a fellow of the Management Development Programme of Ross Business School, Michigan, and a recipient of the Gurukul Fellowship from the Foundation for Universal Responsibility of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Biren serves on the board of Gram Vikas in Odisha, Bhasha Research and Publication Centre in Gujarat, and SeSTA in Assam.
Previously, Biren has briefly but passionately worked for the conservation of the Olive Ridley sea turtles in Odisha with IUCN. He loves Urdu poetry and Hindustani classical music.
He is also a core team member.
Amit Tirkey
Amit Tirkey
Amit was born in an indigenous village in Gumla, Jharkhand. His heart finds home in the beauties of rural landscapes and forests. He is a sum of all his meandering journeys and the people he met on the way. He practices the simplicity of his roots, though he does not deny his worldliness.
He began his work-life in Jharkhand, in the development sector, first with Care, and then with Ekjut, in the area of public health. His last engagement was with the CSR division of Tata Steel where he led Empowerment and Youth Initiatives across Jharkhand and Odisha, including robust programmes on indigenous languages and cultural identity. He also was deeply engaged with its pan-India Tribal Leadership Programme.
He has a graduation degree in economics from Loyola College in Chennai, post-graduation from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai, and a business management degree from XLRI, Jamshedpur.
Amit is a fellow of the IATSS Leadership Programme, Japan. He is also a Caux Scholar in Conflict Transformation and Peacebuilding.
He is also a core team member.
