Ecoholics 'Thinking Tree'

Host - Sanat Shrivastava (CEO, Ecoholics)

Urvashi Prasad is a Public Policy Specialist at NITI Aayog, Support Team COVID Empowered Group 1, Government of India; Member, SDG 2030 Implementation Task Force and Former Consultant at WHO. She has done a Master Degree in Public Health from London U.K. and she is the alumnus of the University of Cambridge & University of Birmingham.

Host - Sanat Shrivastava (CEO, Ecoholics)

Prof. Ramesh Chand is currently Member of NITI Aayog & the Fifteenth Finance Commission (in the rank and status of Union Minister of State).  He has a PhD in Agricultural Economics from Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi.  He is Fellow, National Academy of Agricultural Sciences and Indian Society of Agricultural Economics. Prof. Chand has over three decades of experience in research and teaching in the field of agricultural economics and policy. He has been involved in policy formulation for the agriculture sector for the last two decades.   Prior to joining NITI Aayog, he was Director National Institute of Agricultural Economics and Policy Research, New Delhi. In addition, Prof. Ramesh Chand is also Member of: Board of Trustees (BOT) of CIMMYT (International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center), Mexico and The Policy Advisory Council (PAC) of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), Canberra, Australia.

Host - Sanat Shrivastava (CEO, Ecoholics)

Arvind Mayaram has a PhD in Finance and is former Finance Secretary of India. He was also Special Secretary in Ministry of Rural Development. In Rajasthan, he held the position of Industries & Tourism Secretary.   He has also been the Alternate Governor for India on the Boards of World Bank, ADB and African Development Bank. He was India's finance deputy in G20 and BRICS. He was also on the Boards of Reserve Bank of India, Securities Exchanges Board of India & Life Insurance Corp.   He was India's chief negotiator for BRICS New Development Bank and co-chair of the Framework Working Group of G-20. He has been instrumental in several major initiatives in the area of investment, infrastructure development, Public-Private Partnerships and institution building. He spearheaded the establishment of the framework for mainstreaming PPPs in infrastructure and accelerated the process of including newer areas for PPPs not only sectorally but also in a large number of states across India.   He was also Vice President of the World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (WAIPA), formed under the aegis of UNCTAD, UNIDO, FIAS and MIGA for two terms in early 2000. He has been an investment promotion expert with the UNCTAD and his expertise in the area of PPPs is internationally acknowledged.   He has undertaken missions for the UN agencies in countries such as Sudan, South Africa, Fiji, Ecuador, Uzbekistan, South Africa, Cambodia etc. apart from participating in several foreign economic negotiations on behalf of the Government of India. He is an institution builder. He established the Bureau of Investment Promotion (BIP) and Project Development Company of Rajasthan (PDCOR) in Rajasthan. He also incorporated the National Skill Development Corporation and the National Skill Development Trust, the foundation stones of the National Skill Development Mission.

Host - Sanat Shrivastava (CEO, Ecoholics)

Dr. Abhishek Saurav, Economist - Private Sector Development and Investment Climate, The World Bank Group, Washington DC, USA. Dr. Saurav is an international economist at the World Bank Group in Washington DC. He leads high-level policy advisory and research on foreign direct investment, job creation, women’s economic empowerment, and productivity growth. To identify critical areas of timely public policy support to businesses, he is currently leading global research and advisory to investigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the private sector and identifying remedial public policy support to developing countries. His work uncovers the effects of demand and supply-side shocks triggered by the pandemic on supply chains, firm liquidity, worker productivity, output, employment, and business performance. Dr. Saurav holds a doctorate from the George Washington University, where his work investigated the effect of entrepreneurship on economic development and the long-run effects of migration on source economies. He received his Master’s degree from the George Mason University and Bachelor’s degree from the University of Delhi. He is an Indian national and a resident of the United States.

Host - Sanat Shrivastava

Dr. M Govinda Rao - Former Member 14th Finance Commission, Member Economic Advisory Council to Prime Minister of India and Director NIPFP.   He was the Director, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy. His past positions include Director, Institute for Social and Economic Change, (1998-2002) Bangalore (1998-2002) and Fellow, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia (1995-1998) and Professor, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (1985-1995).   Dr. Rao has a number of advisory roles. He is a Member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India with the rank of Minister of State, Government of India. He is a Member of Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission (FSLRC) and High Level Expert Committee on Universalising Healthcare, Member, High Level Expert Committee on Efficient Management of Public Expenditure and Member, Advisory Group of Eminent Persons to advise the Finance Minister on G-20 matters. His past advisory roles include Chairman of the Committee for the Implementation of Value Added Tax and Chairman, Expert Group on Taxation of Services. He is a Member, Board of Governors in Institute of Economic Growth, Institute for Social and Economic Change and Madras School of Economics. Dr. Rao’s research interests include fiscal decentralization and federalism, state and local finances, tax policy and reforms, public expenditure management.

Host - Asawari Savarikar Sharma

Dr Arpita Mukherjee is a Professor at ICRIER. She has several years of experience in policy-oriented research, working closely with the government in India and policymakers in the EU, US, ASEAN and in East Asian countries.

Host - Sanat Shrivastava (CEO, Ecoholics)

Host - Sanat Shrivastava (CEO, Ecoholics)

Dhiraj Nayyar is Chief Economist, Vedanta Resources. Between 2015 and 2018 he was OSD and Head, Economics, Finance & Commerce, Niti Aayog.   He is also a Columnist (The Hindu, Business Line, Indian Express, Economic Times and many more national newspapers). 

A trained economist with a unique career trajectory having held senior positions in the media, government & corporate sector. Also, a prolific author, columnist and public speaker on public policy issues. His Columns republished in Chicago Tribune, Gulf News, Japan Times, Times of Oman, Los Angeles Times, MalayOnline, Today (Singapore), Korea Herald, National Post (Canada), Dawn (Pakistan), Mint and Financial Express (India). Trained as an economist at St.Stephen's College, Delhi, Merton College, Oxford and Trinity College, Cambridge, Dhiraj is the author of the bestselling book, Modi and Markets: Arguments for Transformation.

Prof. Ramesh Chand is currently Member of NITI Aayog & the Fifteenth Finance Commission (in the rank and status of Union Minister of State).