Dr Abhay Shukla is a public health physician, working on health issues in collaboration with people’s movements and grassroots NGOs in Western India for over two decades. He is the Senior Program Coordinator at SATHI (Support for Advocacy and Training to Health Initiatives), a member of the National Health Mission Advisory Group for Community Action (AGCA), and is part of the core health group on the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). He is one of the national convenors of Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (JSA or People’s Health Movement) and was centrally involved in organization of the National Right to Health Care campaign during 2003-04. Dr. Shukla is a graduate from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

Dr Shukla has co-edited and authored the books ‘Review of Health Care in India’, ‘Report on Health Inequities in Maharashtra’, ‘Health System in India – Crisis and Alternatives’ and ‘The Rights Approach to Health and Health Care’. Along with Dr Arun Gadre, he co-authored the popular book published by Penguin – ‘Dissenting Diagnosis’, exposing malpractices in the private medical sector in India. He has been involved in developing the framework of community based monitoring and planning (CBMP) of health services at national level, and has mentored the innovative implementation of CBMP in Maharashtra for over a decade. He is actively involved in campaigns for patient’s rights, social regulation of the private medical sector, networking among ethical medical professionals, and developing a system for Universal Health Care.

Anil Hebbar is a passionate entrepreneur and social justice activist. He is a trustee of the Bombay Sarvodaya Friendship Centre which works to spread the message of Sarvodaya (peace and nonviolence) across the world. He is involved in several initiatives that are in the realms of interconnected and sustainable development such as village based enterprises, education for children in the adivasi and salt pan migrant worker communities to name a few.

As a successful entrepreneur, Anil heads Emergent Medi-Tech (I) Pvt. Ltd. which has been at the forefront of introducing cutting-edge technology in Cardiology & Cardiac Surgery. They have been pioneers in cardiac stents, implantable defibrillators, intravascular ultrasound and simulation based medical training. He is also the Founder Secretary of ASOMEDICS, an umbrella body of medical devices distributors in Mumbai.

Anjali Bhardwaj is the founder of Satark Nagrik Sangathan (SNS), a citizen’s group based in Delhi that has been working since 2003 to build an empowered and vigilant citizenry based on the right to information. Anjali’s conviction that information is at the root of bringing about real change led her to the Right to Information movement.

Anjali is a Working Committee Member of National Campaign for People’s Right to Information (NCPRI), a platform of individuals and organizations that led the Right to Information (RTI) movement culminating in the passage of the RTI Act 2005. NCPRI has been at the forefront of the campaign for an effective Lokpal, advocating an anti-corruption body with a federal structure to tackle different forms of systemic corruption appropriately. Anjali is also a leading member of the Right to Food campaign, advocating universalization of the public distribution system, right to work, land reform and social security.

Anjali was awarded the Ashoka Fellowship for Social Entrepreneurs in 2009 for using the RTI Act to ensure transparency, accountability and responsiveness in the functioning of elected representatives. Anjali is an economist by training and holds a degree in environmental management from Oxford University.

Kiran Vissa is a long time social activist who works on issues related to the agrarian crisis and sustainable organic agriculture in India. Over the last decade, Kiran has become a key figure in the farmers’ movement in India. He is the founding convener of Rythu Swarajya Vedika, a broad platform of farmers organizations in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh and has been implementing AID’s initiatives in these states to prevent farmer suicides and address issues of rural distress. He is also closely associated in coordinating several national farmer coalitions, such as the Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture (ASHA-Kisan Swaraj) and the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee.

An IIT-Madras alum, Kiran received his master's degree from the University of Maryland. He was a key AID figure since its formative years and has worn many hats of leadership and organizational roles. After several years of volunteering, Kiran quit his job in the USA and returned to India to address the epidemic of farmer suicides in his native Andhra Pradesh. In his work, he has relentlessly focused on social, economic and policy level changes to empower the Indian farmer. ​

Ravi Kuchimanchi founded Association for India’s Development (AID) in 1991 while pursuing his PhD in Particle Physics at the University of Maryland, College Park, with a vision “problems are interconnected, so must be the solutions”. AID has since grown into a volunteer movement, bringing highly skilled professionals such as the non-resident Indian community, to partner with the poor, and underprivileged so that there is a deeper understanding of causes beyond the mere symptoms of poverty. After his postdoctoral work, Ravi began to focus his attention on human rights and social justice issues in India such as renewable energy, sustainable livelihoods, and struggles of marginalized people.

Ravi received the International Alumnus Award from University of Maryland in 2012, and in 2011, AID won the Times of India Social Impact Award which Ravi and his colleagues received from the Indian prime minister. He is an alumni of IIT Mumbai, and continues to publish papers in several international physics journals.

Ravi is an inspiration to many volunteers - pursuing a dream to build an ideal world, collaborating with the grassroots communities to understand the hurdles they face and working relentlessly to bring about change.