Dr. Arvind Panagariya

Chancellor of Nalanda University, and Chairperson, Governing Board

Dr Arvind Panagariya former Vice-Chairman, Niti Aayog, has been Professor of Indian Political Economy at Columbia University. He has also served as Chief Economist of the Asian Development Bank and Professor of Economics at the University of Maryland at College Park. He has also worked with the World Bank, IMF and UNCTAD in various capacities. He holds a Ph.D. degree in Economics from Princeton University. Dr Panagariya has authored more than fifteen books. His book India: The Emerging Giant (2008, OUP, New York) was listed as a top pick of 2008 by the Economist magazine and described as the “definitive book on the Indian economy” by Fareed Zakaria of the CNN. The Economist magazine has described his book, Why Growth Matters, (with Jagdish Bhagwati) as “a manifesto for policymakers and analysts.” Professor Panagariya’s scientific papers have appeared in the top economics journals such as the American Economic Review and the Quarterly Journal of Economics while his policy papers have appeared in the Foreign Affairs and Foreign Policy. Until recently, he wrote a monthly column in the Times of India and his guest columns have appeared in the Financial Times, Wall Street JournalIndia Today. In March 2012, the Government of India honoured Panagariya with Padma Bhusan, the third highest civilian honors the country bestows in any field.

Prof. Abhay Kumar Singh

Interim Vice Chancellor, NU

Prof. Abhay Kumar Singh (born 1960) received his education in MJP Rohilkhand University, Bareilly and obtained Ph.D. in Ancient History and Culture. He studied a course in Greek Language and Civilisation in the University of Patras (Greece). Presently, as interim Vice Chancellor, Nalanda University, Rajgir, where he has been serving as Dean, School of Historical Studies, and Dean, International Relations. During 2018-21 he completed a diplomatic deputation in Embassy of India in Iran as founding Director [Indian Cultural Centre] and established the Swami Vivekananda Cultural Centre in Tehran. In his earlier service, at the MJP Rohilkhand University, Bareilly he held the positions of Head of the Department of Ancient History and Culture and Dean, Faculty of Humanities and Advanced Social Sciences. In that tenure, he established the Indo-Iranian Studies Centre. He also developed an archaeological museum, Panchala Museum through a Centre of Excellence Award. He also served as Professor of Ancient History in the North Eastern Hill University (NEHU), Shillong in 2004 Prof. Singh was awarded the World Prize for the Book of the Year of the Islamic Republic of Iran, 2006 by the President of Iran for his contributions and later a felicitation with a Citation Plaque by the Vice President of Iran in May 2008. He was invited to participate in the prestigious UNESCO Colloquium on “Afghanistan: Meeting Point between East and West” in Montpellier (France) in 2003. He has presided in international and national conferences, and presented his researches in India, France, Greece and Iran, having more than 70 presentations. He was awarded two best paper prizes in prestigious national conferences. His research pertains to Ancient Indian contacts with the Persians, Graeco-Bactrians, Sakas and Kushanas; and the subsequent social, religious, economic, cultural and artistic effects in History. He has published about 50 research papers, authored one book, co-edited eight books and produced three museum publications. 11 scholars have obtained Ph.D. degrees under his supervision. He is on the editorial boards of the research journals and is member of academic associations.

Secretary (East), Ministry of External Affairs

Mr. Saurabh Kumar is a career diplomat and served as Ambassador of India to Myanmar (2019-21) and Iran (2015-18), before taking up his current assignment as Secretary (East) in the Ministry of External Affairs on 1 January 2022. 2. In New Delhi, he handled China related work in different capacities- as Under Secretary (1993-95) and as Director (2004- 07), and that related to Pakistan (1995-97). He was Joint Secretary (Counter Terrorism and Policy Planning) and Joint Secretary in the National Security Council Secretariat between 2012-15. Abroad, he served in Hong Kong, Indonesia and Fiji Islands in different capacities, and was the Deputy Chief of Mission in China (2007-8) and Italy (2008 -12). 3. Saurabh Kumar joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1989, and learnt the Chinese language in Hong Kong. 4. He is an alumnus of Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. He is married to Smriti Srivastav, an educator; they have two daughters.

Additional Secretary (Education), Ministry of Education

Shri Anjani Kumar Singh

Shri Anjani Kumar Singh is a Post Graduate in Geography with distinction from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He has also MBA from Southern Cross University, Australia. He is a 1981 hatch IAS Officer of Bihar Cadre. He has held various important posts in Bihar Government and Govt. of India. He was Chief Secretary of the state of Bihar from 2014 to 2018. Prior to this he has served as Secretary/Principal Secretary in different departments of the State Government. He has also served as Director in Government of India for a period of 5 years. After his retirement he became chief advisor to government of Bihar in 2022. He took over as Director General, Bihar Museum, iconic new museum at Patna and has played a major role in its completion. Shri Singh has immensely contributed to the field of education. He has served as Project Director, Bihar Education Project and Principal Secretary, Education Department. He took a leading role in spreading and encouraging formal and non-formal education. During his tenure he is credited with the successful recruitment of 4 lakh teachers all over the state, through Panchayati Raj Institutions. He also played an important role in setting up institutions like Chanakya Law University, Aryabhatt Knowledge University and Chandragupt Institute of Management Studies in Patna. As Chief Secretary he is credited with establishing the International Museum in Patna. Shri Singh is a pioneer in starting first ever Museum Biennale in India. He is taking initiative promoting contemporary, folk artists of Bihar. He conceived many other Art Institutions in Bihar to promote art in grass root level.

Shri Anand Kishore

Shri Anand Kishore is a senior IAS officer and the Chairman of the Bihar School Examination Board. He is the recipient of the Prime Minister's Award for Excellence in Public Administration in 2022.

Shri Prasoon Joshi

Shri Prasoon Joshi is the Chairman of Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) and member, Board of trustees of Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) and Prime Minsters’ Museum, Nehru Memorial Museum & Library (NMML). National Award Winner, Padma award recipient, Prasoon Joshi is an acclaimed songwriter, writer and industry leader. He exemplifies the rare breed of creativity and leadership. His creativity as a Writer-Poet permeates the arena of celebrated Indian Feature Films where he is a celebrated and award winning Song and Screenwriter. He creates unique content that inspires and propels positive change in the society. Shri Joshi is widely recognised in the country for keeping the great tradition of classic poetry alive in the mass consciousness. Through his intellectual and artistic ability, he has rekindled the faith that one can give constructive direction to the society through high calibre work in the popular genre. Shri Joshi is also an internationally acclaimed Advertising and Communication icon who has built mega brands internationally and credited with bringing Indian creative thinking to the international stage. He was the first Asian to chair the International Cannes Lion Titanium awards. He has also been designated as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. Shri Joshi been honored with the prestigious National award by the President of India twice, and won all the popular awards like Filmfare, IIFA, Screen multiple times. He was awarded honorary doctorate by Uttarakhand Kumaoun University for his artistic contribution. He has authored many books, his first at the age of 17 and his latest “Thinking Aloud" in January 2019. He is also a columnist writing on branding and social issues in leading business and daily publications. Through his multifaceted pursuits, and content creation uniquely where keeping cinema is at the centre of it, he has positively impacted the public consciousness and has emerged as an iconic socio cultural voice that resonates across segments today in India.

Prof. Manjul Bhargava

Manjul Bhargava (b 1974) is the youngest full professor of mathematics at Princeton University. His research interests span algebraic number theory, combinatorics, and representation theory. He graduated from Harvard University in 1996 and received his doctorate from Princeton in 2001, working under Andrew Wiles. His breakthrough Ph.D. thesis surprised the mathematical community by generalizing the classical Gauss composition law for quadratic forms to many other situations. Bhargava has won several awards for his research, including the AMS–MAA–SIAM Frank and Brennie Morgan Prize, a Clay Research Fellowship, the Clay Research Award in 2005, and the Leonard M. and Eleanor B. Blumenthal Award for the Advancement of Research in Pure Mathematics. He was named one of Popular Science Magazine’s “Brilliant 10” in November 2002. He recently won the American Mathematical Society's Cole Prize in number theory and the SASTRA Ramanujan Prize for his outstanding contributions to number theory.

Shri Anand Mahindra

Chairman, Mahindra Group

Mr. Anand Mahindra is the Chairman of the Mahindra Group and Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. His tenure has seen the Group expand domestically and internationally into a range of major industrial sectors from automobiles and agriculture to IT and aerospace. The Group has also grown inorganically through acquisitions such as Swaraj Tractors, Reva Electric Car Company, Satyam Computer Services, Peugeot Motorcycles, Aerostaff Australia, Holiday Club Resorts, and Pininfarina S.p.A. He has served on several influential bodies, national and international. These include the Reserve Bank of India Board, UN Global Compact Board, Global Board of Advisors of the Council on Foreign Relations, World Bank Group’s Advisory Board for Doing Business and the International Advisory Council of Singapore’s Economic Development Board. He has been the President of The Confederation of Indian Industry and served on the boards of the National Stock Exchange of India and the National Council of Applied Economic Research. He is currently on the board of Invest India, the National Investment Promotion and Facilitation Agency. Mr. Mahindra has been conferred with the Padma Bhushan Award (2020), India's third-highest civilian honour, for his contribution to the nation in the field of ‘Trade and Industry’. He has been named in Barron's List of Top 30 CEOs worldwide (2016) and Fortune Magazine’s list of the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders (2014). He was a recipient of the Best Transformational Leader Award by the Asian Centre for Corporate Governance & Sustainability (2012). He was appointed ‘Knight in the National Order of the Legion of Honour’ by the President of the French Republic (2016) and conferred the 'Grand Officer of the Order of the Star of Italy' by the President of Italy (2013). Mr. Mahindra is an incisive business commentator and humanitarian with over 10 million followers on Twitter. Among his many social change initiatives is the Nanhi Kali programme, which, for the last two decades, has provided over 330,000 underprivileged girls access to high-quality education. Mr. Mahindra is the Chairman of the Board of Naandi Foundation, India’s leading NGO focused on educating girls, skilling youth and providing sustainable livelihoods to small farmers through biodynamic agriculture. Mr. Mahindra also serves on the Founders Board of The Rise Fund, a $2 billion impact fund. He is a strong votary of arts and culture. Mahindra Blues, Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards and Mahindra Sanatkada celebrate and nurture music, theatre culture, art and history in India. Mr. Mahindra is the member of the Global Advisory Council of the Lincoln Center, New York and has previously served on the Board of Trustees of the Natural History Museum of London. In 2014, Mr. Mahindra founded the Pro Kabaddi League to popularize the ancient and popular Indian game of kabaddi. The league, televised through the STAR television network, is aimed at creating a new popular fan following for Kabbadi as an antithesis to cricket. Mr. Mahindra graduated from Harvard College (1977) and secured an MBA from Harvard Business School ( 1981 ).

Shri Venu Srinivasan

Venu Srinivasan is Chairman Emeritus of TVS Motor Company, one of the largest two-wheeler manufacturers in the world and Sundaram-Clayton Limited, a leading manufacturer of automotive components in India. He is also the Vice Chairman of Tata Trusts, India’s most respected and largest philanthropic foundation and the majority shareholder of the Tata group. He is a Director on the Central Board of Reserve Bank of India. He holds an engineering degree from the College of Engineering, Chennai, India and a Master’s in management from Purdue University, USA. Mr Srinivasan has held various important positions in the Indian Industry, such as the President, Confederation of Indian Industry and the President, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers. He has several prestigious awards to his credit including the Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian award of India. The distinguished civilian honour “Order of Diplomatic Merit” (Heung-In Medal) was conferred by the President of Korea for his valuable contribution to promote Korea-India bilateral relations. He was awarded the Deming Distinguished Service Award for Dissemination and Promotion (Overseas) Award (2019) by Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers (JUSE); the Ishikawa-Kano Award (2012) by the Asian Network of Quality, the apex body for quality in Asia. Under his leadership, his companies were awarded the Deming Prize and the Japanese Quality Medal in 2002. He was awarded the Life Time Achievement Award by the CNBC TV18 India Business Leadership Awards in the year 2023. His commitment of competitiveness and quality of our economy is manifested through his company’s market presence in more than 80 countries across the globe. Mr Srinivasan’s dedication to the transformation of rural India by empowering women in the rural areas can be seen through his passion towards setting up the Srinivasan Services Trust which has touched the lives of 1.6 million people in 2500 villages across the country in the last 27 years. Mr Srinivasan is the Chairman of InKo Centre (The Indo-Korean Cultural and Information Centre) which is a non-profit society set up in 2006 with support from TVS Motor Company and Hyundai Motor India Limited to promote a sustainable, meaningful intercultural dialogue between India and South Korea.