Bhagyajyoti Priyadarshini
Dancer
Ms. Bhagyajyoti Priyadarshini is currently pursuing Sangeet Bhaskar (Masters) in Odissi Dance under the guidance of Guru Dr. Pitambar Biswal. She has been performing this artform for more than sixteen years now, and leaves the audience awestruck with the beauty of her expressions, the grace of her movements and her flawless intricacies. She has performed at the Biswa Odissi Utsav 2021 (Odissi International) hosted by Samskritiki and the Sarat Mahotsav 2021 organized by Sangeet Natak Academy. She won the jury award at Nritya Ragini 2021, by Nrityabhoomi, Alipurduar.
Dr. Samir Parikh
Psychiatrist
Dr. Samir Parikh is an eminent psychiatrist and is the director of Fortis National Mental Health Program. He completed his education from Civil Hospital, Ahmedabad. With a strong emphasis on preventive mental health and skill building, Dr. Parikh has authored several books, including recently released - "Alone in the Crowd : Overcoming Loneliness in Urban Living". With an expressive communicative style and an in-depth knowledge of mental health in the Indian culture, he has been a speaker at various national and international forums. He has an active presence in media, both print and visual, to ensure there is adequate dialogue and discussion relating to the field. He has conducted various studies that have been published in the media and have helped the community get an insight into mental health issues. He is amongst the most well known experts on mental health issues in India.
Dr. Vasanthakumar Namasivayam
Indian Administrative Service officer
Dr. Vasanthakumar Namasivayam is a doctor turned IAS officer who has years of experience in the field of health administration. He has served at several key positions in various state governments, most recently as the Executive Director of Uttar Pradesh Technical Support Unit, University of Manitoba, which provides techno managerial support to the Government of Uttar Pradesh to achieve its reproductive, maternal and child health goals. He has pursued Masters in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University and Masters in Public Policy from Princeton University. With his incredible medical and administrative background, he brings in a combination of research and programme delivery experience that ensures high impact implementation of health programmes. His work includes enhancing front line workers' capacity, human resources for health, public health drug supply chain, improving evidence-based decision making and enhancing management of emergency care for mothers and newborn .
Dr. Vinod Scaria
Medical Researcher
Dr. Vinod Scaria, Principal Scientist, CSIR Institute of Genomics & Integrative Biology (CSIR-IGIB), is best known for sequencing the first Indian genome. With over 90 publications in international peer reviewed journals, he has been on the editorial board of reputed journals such as PLoS ONE, PeerJ & Journal of Translational Medicine to name a few. He played a pivotal role in sequencing the first Sri Lankan genome & analysing the first Malaysian genome. He is also the co-founder of the Genomics for Understanding Rare Disease: India Alliance Network (GUaRDIAN), which is one of the largest networks of clinicians & researchers in India working on rare genetic diseases. He was awarded the CSIR Young Scientist Award, a Kavli Frontiers of Science Fellow of the US National Academy of Sciences and is an elected member of the Royal Society of Biology and the Royal Society of Public Health. He is also involved with the IndiGen programme with the aim to improve public health conditions.
Kalyani Potekar
Superbike Racer
Kalyani Potekar is India's fastest female superbike racer. She has a record of a 2.05 minute lap on NCR’s Buddh International Circuit, has ridden across many states in India and abroad and has even represented India internationally in Thailand and Taiwan. With a Best Rider Award as a National level horse-rider, she graduated from the California Superbike School and went on to become one of the FMSCI-recognized “Outstanding Women” in the motorsports category, making collaborations with well known automotive, travel, lifestyle and FMCG brands. She was the youngest and sole female participant out of 200 at Raid-de Himalaya, one of the world’s highest rally raids at age 20 and a contender in MTV’s Chase The Monsoon. She debuted in the sport by participating in the Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship. She grabbed a place in the top 10 in the JK Tyre Superbike Cup, fiercely beating other experienced racers, also making it to the cover page of the popular Bikers Club Magazine.
Sadakat Aman Khan
Music Personality
Popularly known as Mr. Harmonium, he is an Indian music personality & an author, based in Malda, West Bengal. He performs Hindustani classical music and fusion music, making the audience delve into the enchanting mystique of the music he creates. He belongs to the Patiala Gharana lineage and is the grandson of legendary Sangeet Acharya Md. Yunus Khan and son of renowned vocalist, Ustad Sahadat Rana Khan.
Soumitra Dandapat
Educationist and Social Entrepreneur
Soumitra Dandapat is a social entrepreneur and co-founder of the Kishalay Foundation, which focuses on improving the quality of education in rural India with their main focus currently being the Educationally Backward Blocks (EBBs) of Sundarbans. They work with government primary schools and have introduced certain interventional methods through organising sports camps, group-learning and audio-visual teaching methods. Mr. Dandapat looks after the CSR activities of the foundation and is passionate about sports. He looks into early education pedagogy and sports activities.
Founded in 2013 by Mr Dandapat along with two of his friends, this humanitarian start-up also looks into the general health of the villagers including catering of proper nutrition along with teaching hygiene measures to mothers and presently has a team size of more than 100 with 70% women employees, being connected with around 2000 kids all over the Sundarbans and some parts of Murshidabad.
Tiasa Adhya
Conservationist and Wildlife Biologist
Ms. Tiasa Adhya is a wildlife biologist & a recipient of the Nari Shakti Puraskar (the highest civilian award for women in India, conferred by the President of India) and the Wildlife Conservation Network scholarship. She is also a member of the IUCN Species Survival Commission. She co-founded The Fishing Cat Project in 2010, the longest running research & conservation project on a lesser known & globally endangered species that resides in wetlands. In 2020, her work led to the adoption of Fishing Cat as the official ambassador of Chilika Lake, Odisha, which in itself is a natural heritage. Along with writing various articles for the prestigious Down to Earth magazine, she has written over 100 popular and scientific articles in English and vernacular media, eco-poetry, and a number of scientific publications, edited a local wildlife magazine, and provided research for Machbagha, a film on Fishing Cats. Her work also featured in Discovery channel and Animal Planet.