Arun Pai

Arun has been leading heritage walks on Bengaluru’s footpaths for the past 20 years. From corporate leaders to school students, from G-20 delegations and foreign diplomats to local residents, Arun has showcased the city to over 50,000 people on foot. He is the self-declared Bengaluru Footpath Mayor (till the city appoints someone formally!) and spearheaded BLRWalkFest – a unique initiative in partnership with BBMP, BMRCL and Bangalore Traffic Police, to test out the city’s pedestrian infrastructure with citizen involvement. He is an optimist and is confident that better days (and footpaths) are ahead of us – if we work towards it.

Charu Govindan

Charu Govindan is originally from the IT field with local and global experience. She is a Founder-Member and Convenor at Voice of People, a non-partisan, voluntary, non-funded citizens initiative in Chennai working towards strengthening the people’s participatory democracy.

Jaya Dhindaw

Jaya Dhindaw is the Executive Program Director at WRI India, Sustainable Cities and leads urban development and resilience initiatives. With over 20 years of experience in sustainable development, she integrates data-driven solutions into policy. Previously, she worked on urban planning projects in India and the U.S., specializing in infrastructure, compact growth policies, and climate-resilient strategies.

Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan

Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan, a physician and former IAS officer, founded Foundation for Democratic Reforms and Lok Satta to drive governance reforms. FDR and Lok Satta have played a crucial role in driving several reforms over the years, and are now focused on true federalism and effective and accountable local governments, rule of law, education, healthcare and agriculture.

Jayaram Venkatesan

Jayaram Venkatesan is the Convener of Arappor Iyakkam, an organization he co-founded in 2015 to promote transparency, accountability, and anti-corruption in governance. A postgraduate in Electrical Engineering from the University of Cincinnati, he left a successful corporate career in the U.S. to focus on social issues in India. Over the last 17 years, he has worked on restoring waterbodies, fighting corruption, and raising awareness about constitutional rights.

Dr. Kailash Nadh

Dr. Kailash Nadh is the CTO of Zerodha and co-founder of its tech arm. With a PhD in AI and Computational Linguistics, he is also a hobbyist software developer, contributing to open-source projects. He co-founded the FOSS United Foundation and Rainmatter Foundation, an initiative that works on climate change.

Kanchi Kohli

Kanchi Kohli is a researcher, educator and communicator of environmental law and policy. Her work areas cover the fields of environment, forest and biodiversity regulation and governance in India. Her policy research and practice explores the links and gaps between law, development, sustainability and environmental justice. Kanchi has authored several reports, research papers and popular articles as part of her work. She has also co-edited several books and is Associate Editor of the quarterly magazine Current Conservation. Kanchi teaches environmental law and development courses at government training institutes and universities. She was selected to the International Visitors Leadership Program (IVLP) of the US government in 2012. 

Kavitha Muralidharan

Kavitha Muralidharan is a journalist, translator, and author from Tamil Nadu with 25+ years of experience. Her work highlights gender, marginalization, and environmental justice, particularly women’s roles in environmental protests. She is also associated with Poovulagin Nanbargal, where she focuses on the intersections of climate change and gender. 

Rajendran Prabhakar

Rajendran Prabhakar is a social activist working on social justice for urban-deprived slum communities. His work focuses on education and empowerment of children and women. He is the trustee of Maarga, a community NGO. He has previously worked with Child Rights and You (CRY). He has vast experience in grassroots people’s movements with clear inclination towards the most marginalised communities like SC, ST, OBC and minority communities.

Rohini Nilekani

Rohini Nilekani is an author and philanthropist and has been a strong influence in the Indian social sector over the past three decades. Currently, she is the Chairperson of Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies and a Co-founder and Director of EkStep, a nonprofit education platform. She founded Arghyam, a foundation for sustainable water & sanitation, and co-founded Pratham Books, a nonprofit children’s book publisher. A former journalist, she has written for many leading publications such as Times of India, India Today, Mint, etc. Penguin Books India published her first book, Stillborn, and her second book ‘Uncommon Ground’. Her third was a self-published book: Samaaj, Sarkaar, Bazaar. She has written 17 books for young children, including the famous Sringeri Srinivas series.

Sailee Rane

Sailee Rane leads strategy for ecosystem messaging at Rainmatter Foundation. Passionate about climate communication, she simplifies narratives around environmental issues through her newsletter, “Sunny Climate Stormy Climate,” aiming to make climate change a part of everyday conversation.

Tara Krishnaswamy

Tara Krishnaswamy is Sr Advisor, Government Relations, with Indus Action, leading the  impact evaluation of the 5 Guarantees of the Government of Karnataka. She has 25 years of experience, as a technologist. and APAC Director, at Hewlett Packard (US,) Sun Microsystems & Oracle. For over a dozen years, she has been an urban and gender activist, leading campaigns for sustainable mobility, gender-inclusive representation, election  campaigns across Indian states, and working with governments in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Her Political Shakti collective, won the Cannes Lions, 2022 for women’s representation work in Bihar.

M Vetri Selvan

M Vetri Selvan, an advocate since 2004, has been practicing at the Madras High Court for 20 years. Holding a Master’s in Intellectual Property Rights, he specializes in Public Interest Litigations and environmental cases. As a member of Poovulagin Nanbargal, he advocates for environmental justice, awareness, and climate literacy. He has worked on cases involving GM Brinjal, nuclear plants, and hydrocarbons, while also engaging in media debates on environmental issues. His efforts extend to safe food, biodiversity, wetlands, energy transition, and climate governance. He has authored three Tamil books on seed rights, Kudankulam’s legal struggle, and political ecology.

Vivek Gilani

Vivek Gilani, an Ashoka Fellow and environmental engineer, is the founder of cBalance, a collective focused on sustainability and climate action. He has worked on mitigating emissions for events like IPL and the Shanghai World Expo and led India’s industrial greenhouse gas reporting to the UN. He promotes sustainable business travel in India’s IT industry Fairtravel Program. Through the Informed Voter Project, he holds elected representatives accountable by monitoring their performance.

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