Dharmendra Pradhan

A prominent politician, Dharmendra Pradhan is currently the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Petroleum and Natural Gas. A member of the Bharatiya Janata Party, he was born in Talcher district of Angul, Odisha and did his post-graduation in Anthropology from Utkal University. He was a member of several committees like Government Assurances, Rural Development and Agriculture. A social worker, Pradhan has worked for the development of backward classes and rehabilitation of farmers.

Aman Nath

Aman Nath is a historian by education. From an early age he has written poetry, as also practiced graphic design and copywriting for several path-breaking advertising campaigns. He has co-written and authored thirteen large-format illustrated books on art, history, architecture, corporate biography and photography, two of which have won national awards. His Jaipur book was the first Indian book chosen by Christie’s for worldwide distribution. He’s the co-founder of the Neemrana ‘non-hotel’ Hotels.

Ashok Malik

Ashok Malik is a columnist who writes for leading Indian and international publications. In 2007, Ashok contributed a chapter, The BJP, the RSS Family, and Globalization to the book Globalization and Politics in India (Oxford University Press, ‘Themes in Politics’). In 2011, he co-authored a paper, India’s New World: Civil Society in the Making of Foreign Policy, published by the Lowy Institute for International Policy, Sydney. In 2012, Ashok’s book, India: Spirit of Enterprise (Roli Books) was published.

Bibek Debroy

Bibek Debroy, a professional economist, began his career as an academician, teaching at his alma mater, the Presidency College, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, Delhi; National Council of Applied Economic Research, Delhi and Director of the Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Contemporary Studies, Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, New Delhi. Debroy has written several books that include his recently published book, Getting India Back on Track: An Action Agenda for Reform and Economic Freedom of the States of India, that he jointly wrote.

Kavita Kane

Kishalay Bhattacharjee

KR Meera

KR Meera, 44, is a well-known writer and columnist in Malayalam. She won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award in 2009 for her short-story, Ave Maria. She has also written the screenplay for four serials, and was credited as the associate in writing for the film Ore Kadal, which won the National Award. Her novel Hangwoman, translated from Malalayam into English by J Devika, is about Chetna, a 22-year-old woman who inherits the family job as India’s only hangwoman.

Kumkum Mohanty

A noted Odissi dancer, Kumkum Mohanty was instrumental in establishing the Odissi Research Centre, a Govt. of Orissa Autonomous body under the chairmanship of Chief Minister. After retiring as the director of Special Project (Culture) and Ex-Officio-Special Secretary, Department of Culture, Govt. of Orissa in the year 2004, she got actively involved in the research on techniques of Odissi Dance, teaching to the inertness and choreographing Odissi Dance items as well as Dance-Dramas.

Monica Das

A fellow at Development Countries Research Centre (DCRC), Delhi University, Monica Das is a member of the International Association for Feminist Economics (IAFFE). She’s a member International Association for Feminist Economics, Nebraska, USA. She’s on the Board of Jury on cultural committees of DD and has produced films for Prasar Bharti. She has authored books on gender studies and written several articles on India’s culture and heritage.

Natwar Singh

Natwar Singh, 83, is a former Union cabinet minister, former bureaucrat and an author. Singh joined the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) in 1953 and served for 31 years. He served as India’s foreign minister in 2004. His autobiography, One Life is Not Enough was released in August 2014. It’s a no-holds-barred account of his political career.

Nila Madhab Panda

Filmmaker Nila Madhab Panda’s first feature film, the highly-acclaimed I Am Kalam has won 28 international awards, National Award, two industry award and several nominations. His second film, Jalpari-The Desert Mermaid was well received critically film and received the MIP Junior award for best film, 2012 at Cannes. Panda’s last released film Babloo Happy Hai, based on youth and HIV/AIDS was critically acclaimed. His much awaited feature film Kaun Kitney Pani Mein, a satire set up in rural India on water crisis in India is set to release next year. He is nominated by the government of Odisha for the civilian award Padmashree 2014.

Pratibha Ray

A professor of education and a writer by choice, Pratibha Ray undoubtedly is a household name in Odisha and in most parts of India through her translated works. A member administrator of Odisha Public Service Commission for six years, she became famous for her novel Jajnaseni (Draupadi), which fetched her the Moortidevi Award. She received the Sahitya Akademi award for short story collection Ullanghan in 2000. Ray is also the recipient of Padma Shree in 2007, Bharatiya Jnanpith for 2011 for her contribution to Indian literature.

Pushpesh Pant

Pushpesh Pant has teaching experience of 32 years at the Delhi University and the Jawaharlal Nehru University. He is also a Member, Executive Council of Kumaun University, Uttaranchal, and Advisor to the Department of Culture and to the Steering Committee for Technological Missions, Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. He has been the advisor to the National Book Trust of India. His book, ‘India: The Cookbook’ (2011) was named by The New York Times as one of the best cookbooks of the year.

Rashmi Bansal

Rashmi Bansal is a writer, entrepreneur and a youth expert. An author of six bestselling books on entrepreneurship which have sold more than a million copies and been translated in 10 languages. She is also the founder of BGB Media (Bloody Good Book), a platform to discover and epublish budding authors Rashmi’s first book was Stay Hungry Stay Foolish, the runaway bestseller on 25 MBAs from IIM Ahmedabad who went on to create successful businesses. Her fourth book, Poor Little Rich Slum was nominated for the Crossword Popular Book Award 2013. Rashmi fifth book Follow Every Rainbow was released in 2013.

Rabisankar Bal

Rabisankar Bal, 52, is a Bangla novelist and short story writer, with over 15 novels, five short story collections, one volume of poetry, and one volume of literary essays to his credit. His novel The Biography of Midnight won the West Bengal Government’s Sutapa Roychowdhury Memorial Prize. Dozakhnama, acknowledged by the late doyen of Bengali literature, Sunil Gangopadhyay, as the finest novel of 2010, won the West Bengal government’s Bankimchandra Smriti Puraskar, the highest award given by the state government for fiction.

Rajdeep Sardesai

Ranendra

Renuka Chowdary

Ravi Shankar Etteth

Satyarth Nayak

Satyarth Nayak, 33, is an author and a script-writer based in New Delhi. His debut novel The Emperor’s Riddles was released by Amaryllis this year, is a historical thriller laced with Buddhism and has become a bestseller. A former CNN-IBN correspondent, Nayak was awarded the SAARC Honour for Health Reporting in 2008. He is currently working on this next thriller and is also writing film scripts.

Shankkar Aiyar

As an award-winning journalist and columnist, Shankkar Aiyar specializes in the interface of politics and economics. He has broken numerous front-page newspaper stories and has written over a hundred magazine cover features. Accidental India: A History of the Nation’s Passage through Crisis and Change is his first book.

Sumedha Ojha

Writer, History enthusiast; passionate about Ancient India

Soumya Ranjan Patnaik

Soumya Ranjan Patnaik is a household name in Odisha as the Editor of Sambad, Odisha’s largest circulated and most widely read newspaper. He brought in Odisha’s first private FM channel ‘Radio Choklate’ which became a runaway hit. He has headed the Odisha Gram Panchayat Secretaries Association and has fought relentlessly for their cause. A former MP Bhubaneswar, Patnaik has been associated with a number of organisations and trade unions.

Subas Pani

Subas Pani joined the Indian Administrative Service and served as the Chief Secretary of Government of Odisha, Secretary Rural Development and Land Resources and Planning Commission in Government of India. After retirement from the IAS, he was Chairman and MD of the India Trade Promotion Organization. He pioneered ICT solutions in Indian Languages, he is a life member of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH).

Sujit Mahapatra

SY Quraishi

SY Quraishi, 67, served as the 17th Chief Election Commissioner of India. He has also served as a Secretary in the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. He got his Master’s degree from St. Stephen’s College in Delhi before joining the IAS in 1971. He has authored the book, Social Marketing for Social Change, and the more recent, An Undocumented Wonder: The Making of the Great Indian Election.

V Sunil

During the last decade, V Sunil has been the creative force behind a series of national brand-building exercises, including Incredible India, the Indian Air Force, IndiGo> most recently, he has created the Make in India campaign for the government. Prior to Wieden+Kennedy, Sunil held key positions in India’s foremost advertising agencies. In 2004, Sunil founded agency called A before merging operations with Wieden+Kennedy in 2007. Sunil has also started two editorial projects: Motherland and www.andtheindiatube.com.

Vikas Swarup

Indian novelist and diplomat Vikas Swarup is best known for adaptation of his book Q&A, the novel that inspired the Oscar-winning film ‘Slumdog Millionaire’. He is also known for his highly popular book Six Suspects has sold translation rights in 30 languages. His third novel, The Accidental Apprentice was published by Simon & Schuster in 2013. He has served in Turkey, the United States, Ethiopia, the United Kingdom, South Africa and Japan as a diplomat. Apart from reading, Vikas enjoys listening to music and playing cricket, tennis and table tennis.