Team | Centre for Effective Governance of Indian States

Meet our team

Ashish Dhawan

Co-founder

Ashish is the Founder and Chairman of Central Square Foundation (CSF) and a Founding Member of Ashoka University. Prior to this, he worked for twenty years in the investment management business and ran one of India's leading private equity funds, ChrysCapital.

In June 2012, he left his full-time role at Chrys Capital to start CSF to pursue evidence-driven and innovation-led system reform in school education. He has co-founded and funded CEGIS because he believes that improving state capacity is the most leveraged way to help India improve development outcomes at scale.

Karthik Muralidharan

Co-founder and Scientific Director

Born and raised in India, Karthik earned an A.B. in economics (summa cum laude) from Harvard, an M.Phil. in economics from Cambridge (UK), and a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard. He is currently the Tata Chancellor's Professor of economics at the University of California, San Diego. He is also a Board Member and co-chair of the Education programme at the Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL).

For the last twenty years, he has led several large-scale field research projects in India spanning education, health, and social welfare programmes, and has focused on improving the quality of public service delivery and the effectiveness of public spending. He has co-founded CEGIS to help state governments improve the quality of governance and public expenditure based on high-quality research evidence and a deep understanding of ground realities of public service delivery in India.

Vijay Pingale
Chief Executive Officer

Vijay comes to CEGIS with over 20 years of experience of working with government as well as the private sector. After serving as an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer at Central, State, Local Body as well as PSU levels for over 14 years, Vijay Moved to EY India LLP as a Partner leading various projects in urban infrastructure and health sectors. He also has experience of working with various media organisations of Government of India for 3 years as an Indian Information Service (IIS) officer before joining IAS. Vijay is a medical doctor by training and moved into government and public-sector work to have a positive impact at a larger scale.

Matangi Jayaram
Head - People and Partnerships

Matangi has over 25 years of experience in corporate HR and the development sector. Before transitioning to the non-profit sector, she worked as an HR generalist, mostly in technology and IT enabled services organizations. Having served as a Senior Program Officer with Avahan, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s flagship HIV prevention program in India for 9 years, she has worked with multiple stakeholders such as the government, non-governmental organizations, community groups, community-based organizations, and other donor partners. She holds a Masters in Personnel Management and Industrial Relations from XLRI, Jamshedpur.

S Mathu Shalini
Vice President, Operations

Mathu is a Vice President, Operations at CEGIS. She is former member of the IAS and has worked in the state of UP. Post which she joined Khan Academy India where she led and scaled programs
for improving quality for education for children studying in government
schools.

She has consulted for UNICEF’s office of Global insights and Policy.
She holds an Electronics and Communication Engineering Degree from the college of Engineering, Guindy. During her professional IAS training at Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, she received the Director’s gold medal in Law and Economics.

Praveen Ravi
Vice-President, Solutions

Praveen, as a part of this role, monitors the design and development of solutions and offerings across CEGIS work streams and verticals while ensuring
the highest quality of solutions at all stages.

Praveen also leads the States and Markets vertical of CEGIS, the objective of which is to identify the optimal mix of provision and procurement, policy, and regulation for cost-effective service delivery.

Prior to CEGIS, he has worked
with Athena Infonomics and KPMG in their Governance/ Service Delivery advisory practices.

Siddharth Pandit
Director, C-LOP

Siddharth heads the Creating Learning Opportunities for Public Officials (C-LOP) project at CEGIS. Prior to this,
Siddharth worked at the National Institute of Urban Affairs in New Delhi where he led the 100 million Euro CITIIS program to drive investments in education, housing, transportation and e-Governance. He has led the development of capacity building programs for CIDCO Maharashtra 1600 staff across engineering, planning, finance and administration verticals.

Siddharth has been part of the National Smart City Mission and has also delivered urban education
programs for municipal schools in Mumbai through his stint at UDRI Mumbai.

He has a background in technology, data and public policy with graduate
education in Computer Science and Geography from University at Albany, and in urban planning from NYU Wagner School of Public Policy.

Ramachandran Narayanaswamy
Chief Technology Officer

Ramachandran Narayanswamy has worked in the IT industry for close to 3 decades. He was associated with organisations like Wipro and Mindtree after which he he co-founded a technology start-up of his own. Prior to CEGIS, Rama spent 18 months as a Indian Administrative Fellow

working with the Department of Women and Child Development of the Government of Karnataka.

His current interest lies in enabling frontline workers through technology for more effective service delivery.

He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Engineering from Regional Engineering College (Now National institute of Technology), Tiruchirapalli.

Abhinav Verma

Abhinav is a senior programme associate, working in CEGIS’ Jobs, Investment and Productivity team. He holds a bachelor's degree in Economics and Finance from Ashoka University.

Aditya Dhabu

Aditya is a program associate working with the Strategic Budgeting arm of the Delhi State team. Before joining CEGIS, he worked as a Data Analyst at Vodafone. He holds a Masters degree in Economics from Symbiosis University and a Bachelor's degree in Accountancy from Amity University.

Ankit Chatri

Ankit anchors our engagement with the Government of Tamil Nadu and works closely with the Finance Department. Prior to joining CEGIS, Ankit worked as an Associate Director at Athena Infonomics where he led its urban portfolio focusing on urban governance and municipal service delivery in South Asia and Africa. He also led several assignments on water and sanitation, affordable housing at the intersection of governance, data and policy commissioned by government, multilateral / bi-lateral agencies and large foundations. Ankit has a Master’s degree in Economics from University of Hyderabad and M.Phil. in Development and Planning from IIT Bombay.

Arjun Dev

Arjun Dev has over 10 years of experience in web development technology. Joined CEGIS as Manager - Technology. He worked with the government and corporate sector both. Before joining CEGIS, he worked with the National Institute of Urban Affairs. Apart web technology, he is having exposure on mobile app development and server management as well. He hold a B.Tech degree in Computer Science and Engineering.

Arshad Azad

Arshad is a Program Associate at the CEGIS Delhi Revenue team. Prior to joining CEGIS, he worked as a Project Associate at Ashoka University on the Project "Determinants of crop residue burning (CRB)", an interdisciplinary research project to investigate the various explanations of CRB and hence the source of air pollution in Delhi. He holds a Master's degree in Economics from the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research and a Bachelor's in Economics from Hindu College, University of Delhi. He describes himself as an "economist in the making”.

Devashish Deshpande

Devashish leads CEGIS's engagement with the Delhi government, and supports them in augmenting tax efficiency. Devashish also leads sectoral work on agriculture within CEGIS. He has worked in outcomes measurement, public finance and governance, with Kantar Public Affairs, Accountability Initiative (CPR) and the Foundation for Economic Development. He holds post-graduate qualifications in Economics and Public Policy.

Ganesh Rao

Ganesh works with the Outcome Measurement team, which supports state governments improve evidence-based decision making. Prior to CEGIS, he developed and led the Embedded Research Advisory and ME&L Diagnostic services for NGOs and governments in East Africa with Laterite. Before that, he worked at J-PAL in India. He holds an M.Sc. (Hons) in Economics and B.E. (Hons) in Electronics and Electrical Engineering from BITS, Pilani – Goa Campus.

Javed Afroze

Javed works with the Bodoland Government to improve their state capacity through data evidence backed implementation. Prior to CEGIS, Javed was a Senior Fellow with the International Innovation Corps where he extensively worked at grass root level governance and systemic performance. Javed also has previously worked in areas of policy research and electronic media. He holds a Mechanical Engineering degree from Osmania University, He also holds a postgraduate qualification in Political Science and International affairs and a no qualifications learning experience as a UPSC aspirant

Lekshmi P T

Lekshmi is a Senior Programme Associate working with the Public finance team, primarily on enhancement of revenue for the state of Tamilnadu. Prior to CEGIS, she has worked with Ramaiah Public Policy Centre (RPPC) and Centre for Budget and Policy studies (CBPS), where she specialised in Budget analysis. She graduated with an M.A in Public Policy and Governance from Azim Premji University.

Madhurima Sangma

Madhurima is a Senior Program Associate working with Bodoland Government with an aim to strengthen its state capacity. Prior to CEGIS she worked as Consultant with Water Supply & Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) and as Program Officer at Centre for Environment Education - North East. She was part of the team which conceptualized Rapid Action Learning (RAL) Workshop and Community Leave No One Behind (CLNOB) Approach for SBM-G with WSSCC and Sanitation Learning Hub, University of Sussex. Madhurima is a Chemistry graduate and did her Masters in Habitat Policy and Practice from TISS Mumbai.

Minal Chauhan

Minal works with the Early Childhood Development team for the Government of Telangana. Prior to CEGIS, she developed policy and program development for the Indian Administrative Fellowship at the Nudge Institute. She has a Masters in Public Adminstration & Management from University College London, on the Chevening Scholarship, and studied Child Rights Law from National Law School, Bengaluru. She has worked at the intersection of livelihoods, WASH, and child protection at various levels with NGOs, governments, and research organisations."

Natti Veera Vasavi

Vasavi is a Program Associate at CEGIS working closely with the Finance Department of Telangana on improving Personnel Management. She holds a master's degree in Development Studies from TISS, Hyderabad and a bachelor's degree in Social Sciences from GITAM, Visakhapatnam. Prior to CEGIS, she worked as a Project Officer at Mahila Abhivruddhi Society, Andhra Pradesh (APMAS) on improving household level water and sanitation facilities. She has also worked at the Society for Employment Generation and Enterprise Development, Government of Andhra Pradesh and City Speaks, Visakhapatnam as a Research Intern.

Nikhitha Babu

Nikhitha joined as a Program Assistant- Outcome Measurement Team. She is based out of Kerala, and graduated from Vimala College in Thrissur with a Bachelors degree in English Language and Literature. She completed Masters in public policy and governance from Azim Premji University in the year 2021. For a very short period of time, She worked as a Research Assistant for a public health research NGO namely Health Action by People, based in Kerala, on a project titled “ Local Self Government & Health in Kerala”, and as an Associate for a Development Consultancy, 4th wheel, based in Mumbai.

Parul Agarwal

Parul leads the Outcome Measurement function at CEGIS, that aims to institutionalise an outcome oriented approach to decision making in governance. She is a development professional with over a decade of experience in measurement and evaluation. Prior to CEGIS, she has worked with LEAD at Krea University (IFMR) and has been a consultant with Women’s World Banking. She is a graduate in economics from University of Delhi and holds a Masters in Rural Management from Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar.

Prachi Agarwal

Prachi is a Program Associate with the Outcome Measurement team, stationed in the Bodoland Territorial Region. In 2021, she graduated with a BA in Economics and Public Policy from FLAME University. During her time at FLAME, Prachi worked extensively on research projects focusing on the future of work and community health, among other areas. Prior to CEGIS, Prachi co-headed the WageIndicator Foundation - FLAME University Lab and worked as Research Associate with SEWA Cooperative Federation.

Ramnath Sankaran

Ramnath anchors CEGIS’s engagements in Education and Nutrition with GoTN. Prior to joining CEGIS, he has spent over two decades in Infosys and comes with extensive experience in sales, design and delivery of large & complex programs, assembling and leading cross-functional teams. Ramnath made a conscious shift from technology sector to explore his interest in Public Policy and effective governance. He is passionate about creating equity for children by improving access to better education, nutrition and is keen to create impact at scale.

Santosh Gulla

Santosh manages CEGIS' engagements with multiple departments of the Government of Telangana. Prior to CEGIS, he worked with Central Square Foundation (CSF) and led EdTech interventions like DIKSHA and Digital Classrooms for the School Education department of the Government of Andhra Pradesh. Before CSF, he worked for four years in the education sector and three years in the engineering space. He was a Teach for India Fellow and holds a bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Instrumentation Engineering.

Sravan Pallapothu

Sravan is a senior programme associate working with the Outcome Measurement team. He worked as a research assistant with the Centre for Sustainable Employment at the Azim Premji University, where he assisted in launching labour market surveys in Karnataka and Rajasthan as well as a phone survey to capture the impact of COVID-19 across multiple states in India. He graduated with an M.Sc in Economics from the Symbiosis School of Economics in 2019.

Sriharini Narayanan

Sriharini leads the CEGIS engagement with the Government of Telangana. She is a development professional with 17 years experience in India on issues of WASH, governance (Decentralisation, Accountability, Right to Information, Public Management & ICTD) and livelihoods of marginalised groups. She holds a Masters degree in Governance from the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex and a Masters in Social Work from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. Prior to CEGIS, she has worked with UNICEF, IIT Madras, and IIHS.

Suramya Srivastava

Suramya is a program associate working on the Early Childhood Development mission at CEGIS. She has a Masters in International Development from the University of Warwick and studied B.A. Economics at Lady Shri Ram College for Women. She worked as a Research Assistant in the Politics and International Studies department during her Masters and interned in the Women and Child Development at NITI Aayog.

Swathi Pottabathini

Swathi Pottabathini is a policy enthusiast who currently works as a Senior Project Associate with the Telangana government. She is extremely passionate about creating impact at the grassroots through evidence-based policy interventions and Gandhi’s talisman has been her constant source of inspiration. She worked at a grassroots NGO with tribals, before taking up the role of a Chief Program Officer at GramHeet to work with smallholder farmers. She is a Caux Scholar-Asia Plateau and Lead Like a Girl Fellow. She loves to create sustainable art, practice yoga, read voraciously, write wholeheartedly and travel extensively.

Theerdha Sara Reji

Theerdha is a Program Associate in the Public Finance team. She is based in Chennai and is engaged in revenue augmentation for the Government of Tamil Nadu. Prior to CEGIS, she worked as a Young professional at the Andhra Pradesh Centre for Financial Systems and Services under the Finance Department of GoAP, where she primarily worked on expenditure analysis, scheme rationalisation and beneficiary optimization of welfare schemes. She completed her Masters in Economics from Azim Premji University, Bangalore and graduated in Economics from ST. Xavier’s College, Mumbai.

Vardan Srivastava

Vardan is a programme associate with the Delhi Revenue team, which helps the Government of Delhi augment its tax efficiency. Prior to CEGIS, he has worked in the EdTech and Venture Capital space. He holds a B.S. in Computer Engineering from Purdue University and is a Young India Fellow from Ashoka University.

Varshitha Sanagani

Varshitha is a Program Associate working on the Early Childhood Development Mission at CEGIS. Before joining CEGIS, she worked with the Poverty Learning Foundation for the past two years and was engaged with state governments, civil society and non-government organizations, and various CSRs for impact assessment projects. She holds an M.A. in Development Studies from Tata Institute of Social Sciences and a B.Tech in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University.

Apoorva Kavin

Apoorva Kavin works with CEGIS as a Strategy Manager. She is a Strategy and Policy professional with 4+ years of diverse experience across corporate, government and non-profit entities. Prior to CEGIS, some of her engagements include serving as a Lieutenant Governor Fellow in the Hon’ble LG’s Office Govt. of J&K, leading the strategy and policy team in the Chairman’s Office at Lava International, among others. She is a graduate in Economics (Hons) from Lady Shri Ram College for Women, Delhi and a Hesselbein Global Leadership Fellow, Hesselbein Global Academy for Student Leadership and Civic Engagement, University of Pittsburgh.

Helda Susan Shaji

Helda works with the Outcome Measurement team as a Programme Associate.She holds a Masters in Public Policy from University College London (UCL); Masters in Economics from Loyola College (Autonomous), Chennai; and a Bachelors in Economics from All Saints’ College, Thiruvananthapuram. Prior to CEGIS, she worked as a Research Consultant with the Inclusion Economics India Centre (IEIC) at IFMR, where she worked on the SHG (Self-Help Group) project-a Randomised Control Trial (RCT) that studied the diffusion of information and knowledge among self-help groups in Chhattisgarh.

Nikhilla B

Nikhilla B works with the Tamil Nadu state team as a Program Assistant. She graduated from OP Jindal Global University with a B.A. (Hons.) in Liberal Arts & Humanities [major in Economics] in the year 2021. During her under graduation, she was associated with Centre for Land Governance as a research intern on the project analysing state experiences on agricultural land leasing act implementation. Prior to CEGIS, she worked as an independent researcher to conduct an impact study of deAsra Foundation’s MSME loan initiative program.

Sahithi Kompella

Sahithi works with CEGIS as a Program Associate for State and Markets. She has over 2.5 years of experience in impact evaluation across various sectors. Prior to CEGIS, she worked in Apollo Hospitals and BV-CSRB, where she conducted impact evaluations of various projects in sectors such as healthcare, water conservation, etc. She completed her Masters in Public Policy and Governance and Bachelors in Social Sciences from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad Campus.

Samarth Gupta

Samarth works with CEGIS as a Program Associate for the State and Markets team. Prior to CEGIS he was working with Samhita Social Ventures, as a part of their Research and Implementation teams. He completed his undergraduate and postgraduate research diploma in Political Science from Ashoka University.

Shaik Khaleel Pasha

Khaleel is Sr. Executive - Administration, holds Bachelor in Commerce from the Osmania University and he is currently pursuing MBA in Finance from Osmania University.

Khaleel worked with Jhpiego as Finance and Administrative Associate. He enjoys playing cricket, traveling, listening to music, volunteering community service.

Khaleel also represented Sportive Cricket Club in 2 day leagues organized by the Hyderabad Cricket Association. He was born and brought up in Hyderabad, Telangana.

Supraja Rayabhari

Supraja is a programme assistant in the Early Childhood Development (ECD) mission project. Before CEGIS, she worked for four years in political consultancy. She extensively worked on the research and strategic insights team and has experience working closely with the political party and leaders. She holds a master's degree in Development Studies and a bachelor's degree in Law. She interned with public policy and advocacy firms during her master’s.

Tushar Sanpal

Tushar works with the Outcome Measurement team as a program associate in Hyderabad. He holds a master’s degree in Economics from Ashoka University and a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Satyawati College, University of Delhi. He worked as an intern with the Outcome Measurement team in the summer of 2021, which equipped him with invaluable analytical and critical-thinking skills, and motivated him further to pursue research in the field of health and development economics during his masters.

Pratik Harish

Pratik works with CEGIS as a Program Manager for the Project Delivery team in Karnataka. He has over 6 years of experience in the governance and development ecosystem covering projects alongside Government of Haryana, Uttarakhand and Karantaka. An engineer by graduation, he holds a Master's degree in Public Policy from National Law School of India University, Bangalore.

Suvi Jain

Suvi Jain is a Program Manager at CEGIS. Suvi has been co-creating and implementing processes within the competency mapping piece of the Personnel Management vertical at CEGIS. She is a qualified public policy researcher and advisor with experience in working with Union Cabinet Ministers and Members of Parliament on national and international advocacy projects. Suvi is a lawyer by training from Aligarh Muslim University and has worked in the fields of policy formulation, public service delivery and good governance. She has also been trained as a Legislative Assistant to Members of Parliament (LAMP) Fellow.

Bhumika Malhotra

Bhumika is a Co-Lead, Personnel Management vertical at CEGIS. She comes with over 14 years of work experience in Edtech, skill development and social sector. In her previous organisation, National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), Bhumika contributed towards operationalizing Government of India's 'Skill India Mission' through multiple initiatives that focused on improving quality in the skill development value chain. Some of the pivotal work included improving governance mechanisms to developing frameworks for career pathways, quality training and assessments, amongst others. Bhumika led the capacity-building program for trainers and assessors at NSDC and created a sustainable model for impact through national and international collaborations.

Bhumika is passionate about developing quality-based frameworks for ensuring sustainable impact. During her free time, she loves to fiddle with paints and brushes and watch movies.

Preksha Dugar

Preksha is a Senior Associate with the Personnel Management at CEGIS. She previously worked for London-based economic development firm, Legatum Institute, and Mumbai based think tank, Gateway House, focusing on a diverse set of issues ranging from international development, macroeconomic challenges, geopolitics, and geoeconomics, across sub-Saharan Africa, West Asia, and Latin America. She holds two master’s degrees; an MPA in Public Administration and Management and International Relations from University College London (UCL) and the University of Durham, respectively. She aims to use her knowledge of international development and multi-disciplinary academic background to address capacity building issues on a government level. She continues to be passionate about macroeconomic and development economic-related challenges, and using data and research to guide policy.

Yash Bajaj

Yash is a Program Manager in the Personnel Management team, where he assists in the identification of public officials' competencies and associated learning needs. Yash worked for over three years at the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) on improving programme delivery at the state level by extensively engaging with state governments to build institutional capabilities to adapt to the country's new skilling paradigm. He has also worked as a Project Manager in the State Reform team at Central Square Foundation, where he executed critical workstreams of the NIPUN Bharat Mission for the Haryana government to improve early-grade learning outcomes in public schools. He is a commerce graduate from Shri Ram College of Commerce and a former LAMP Fellow.

Tipu Sultan

Tipu Sultan is a Program Associate - Video Producer for the Communications team. He works on video strategy and content creation. Prior to joining CEGIS, Tipu worked in advertising and journalism. Besides working in both broadcast and digital news media, he has also directed and executed numerous brand campaigns, digital films, and television commercials for national and international clients. A computer science engineer, Tipu also holds a Master's degree in Mass Communication from AJK MCRC, Jamia Millia Islamia.

Shashwata Nova

Shashwata Nova is a Senior Designer at CEGIS. She has extensive experience of more than 17 years in the social development sector as well as with reputed FMCG brands. She is skilled in corporate communication, advertising, branding and identity design, event management, packaging design, fashion marketing and production. Prior to C-LOP she was working with Breakthrough India, an organisation working to create a cultural shift and make discrimination and violence against girls and women unacceptable. She was leading the designing of the campaigns, events, photo shoots and was taking care of all the in house production requirements. She has completed an MBA in Design Management with specialisation in Fashion Retailing and Visual Merchandising from INIFD and a Master’s degree in Social Work.

Nabajit Malakar

Nabajit is Senior Designer at CEGIS. He breaks down concept-heavy ideas and strategies into a range of compelling audio-visual collateral. This includes the conceptualisation and designing of reports, illustrations, artworks, social media graphics, and videos. He has a background in communication design for various non-profit organisations, social movements and start-ups. His skills lie in illustration/cartooning, advertising, photo and video production, and branding. Before CEGIS, he was with C-LOP, J-PAL, a capacity building initiative for the sustained and targeted learning of government officials. Prior to that, he was at ActionAid India, an organisation that works for the social and ecological justice of marginalised communities. Nabajit holds a Masters in Social Work (MSW) from Jamia Millia Islamia.

Kamlesh Vishvkarma

Kamlesh Vishvkarma is a Program Associate at CEGIS. He has worked with a variety of programming languages to develop custom applications. He is enthusiastic about staying up-to-date with software developments. Kamlesh Vishvkarma holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Application from Lovely Professional University. He also holds a Master's degree in the same field with a specialisation in Programming from Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Technical University Lucknow, India. His research interests lie in various technologies with a focus on Web development, Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning.

Anima Kerketta

Anima is a Senior Associate at C-LOP. Prior to this, she worked for Kudumbashree National Resource Organisation, an institution recognised by the Ministry of Rural Development, (Government of India) in the domain of Poverty Eradication, Institution Building and Livelihoods through Entrepreneurship among rural community women. In her initial years she worked in the state of Jharkhand for implementing livelihood and entrepreneurship projects at the grassroots level after which for three years she worked on the capacity building of stakeholders for 18 states. She has completed her graduation in the subject of Sociology and post graduation in Social work in Livelihoods and Social Entrepreneurship from Asutosh College (Calcutta University) and Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai respectively.

Radhika Khurana

She started her journey in the social development space in 2017 as a fellow with Teach For India post which she continued with the organisation in the capacity of a Program Manager and Curriculum Designer.

In 2020, she consulted and contributed to the blended learning methodology for all the students at TFI, as a part of the seven-member task force; which aimed at creating a holistic learning environment for children despite nationwide school closures.

She also spearheaded the design and management of TFI's open source curriculum 'India & I' which aims to build active citizenship and leadership among students, aligning with the NEP 2020's vision of fostering constitutional morality through education.

She deeply believes in the power of education to transform lives and is passionate about building strong leadership and communities of practice to enable sustainable change.

Sowmya Jain

Sowmya is a Senior Program Associate-Project Delivery in Telangana. She completed her graduation in Psychology from University of Delhi, post which she pursued MBA in rural management from Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA). During her summer internship, she developed interest in public policy, and hence joined International Water Management Institute (IWMI), wherein she did action research on Jal Jeevan Mission and increasing efficiency of irrigation in agriculture. Due to her interest in understanding the governance system of the country, she worked as a State Coordinator of the Project Management Unit in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment for two years, wherein she implemented and monitored the projects of MOSJE in 8 states, and prominently in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

Prutha Pandharkame

Prutha is a Program Associate-Project Delivery in Karnataka. She completed her graduation in Political Science from St.Xavier's College, Mumbai after which she pursued her Masters in Public Policy from the National Law School of India University, Bangalore. Her interest in polciy issues led her to work on several projects related to primary healthcare, medical education, organ transplantation and nutrition in Karnataka and Maharashtra. Before joining CEGIS, Prutha was working as a Policy Research Associate to the Hon’ble Health Minister of Karnataka. During this tenure, Prutha also assisted the Hon'ble Health Minister in the capacity of a political consultant in the area of political strategy & communications. Additionally, she also keeps keen interest in academic research on various policy issues spanning from health, gender issues to political issues and has several publications to her credit.

Hari Nilesh

Hari Nilesh is a Program Manager for the Early Childhood Development (ECD) Mission team in Telangana. Nilesh was an International Innovation Corps fellow for two years working in Telangana on improving governance processes in WCD Dept. Prior to that, he was a Consultant at the Department of Urban Local Bodies in Haryana for a brief period, working on creating the draft policy on property tax in Haryana. He was also a Chief Minister’s Good Governance Associate in Bhiwani Dist., Haryana. Nilesh also worked at an NGO implementing municipal reforms in Goa and Jharkhand for a year and half. He holds a masters in Economics with a specialization in Urban Development from Symbiosis School of Economics. Outside of work Nilesh enjoys sketching and watching and reading content on food culture.

Amrutha Varshini VS

Amrutha Varshini VS works as a Program Associate (project delivery) at CEGIS in Chennai. She obtained her B.Com (Hons) degree from SRCC, Delhi. After that, she spent a year working as an audit associate at KPMG Global Services, Gurgaon. She chose to pursue her master's in economics at Ashoka University since she has always had a strong interest in the development area. She collaborated with academics from Ashoka University and Deakin University during her master's programme, which gave her a greater understanding of the field of development economics and public policy.

Omkar Tanaji Deshmukh

Omkar Tanaji Deshmukh is Program Associate in Project Delivery team of CEGIS Karnataka. He has completed his MA in Public Policy And Governance from Azim Premji University, Bengaluru. This course helped in navigating and shaping his interest area which is Research & Evaluation in the sector of Public Service Delivery, Rural Development & Governance, Women Empowerment, etc. At Azim Premji University, he was part of a year-long project on improving drinking water service delivery in peri urban Bengaluru. He has closely studied the role of Self Help Group women in the delivery of Public Distribution System in Madhya Pradesh. Recently, he interned with the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj department of Karnataka. In this role, he conducted an assessment study of various subjects under rural governance and implementation of government orders in Bidar district.

Arunima Marwaha

Arunima Marwaha is a Program Associate in the Outcome Measurement vertical at CEGIS, Karnataka. She has completed her B.A. (Hons.) Economics degree from Jesus and Mary College (JMC), University of Delhi. Before joining CEGIS, she interned at the Office of Economic Advisor, DPIIT, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, where she pursued econometric research on the participation of India’s manufacturing sector in Global Value Chains (GVC). She also interned at Invest India, the national Investment Promotion Agency, where she drafted concept notes for the deliverables under India’s presidency of the G20 and the World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (WAIPA).

Additionally, she has pursued research on women’s education and livelihoods through projects with her college’s economics department and Enactus.

Varun Agarwal

Varun Agarwal is a Program Associate in the Strategic Public Finance team at CEGIS. He completed his B.A. (Hons.) PPE (Politics, Philosophy and Economics) from Ashoka University with a specialisation in Economics. Previously, he interned at CivicDataLab as a part of the Public Finance Team working with the Government of Assam on improving procurement analytics and budgeting practices. He has also worked as a Research Associate at Trivedi Centre for Political Data at Ashoka University assisting with research on elections in India.

Rashmirekha Pandit

Rashmirekha Pandit is a Senior Program Associate- Personnel Management. She brings forth a multi-disciplinary approach to the idea of development, integrating the aspects of grassroots, government bodies and effective empowerment. Prior to CEGIS, she has worked extensively with Kudumbashree National Resource Organisation- an institution recognised by the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India. She has anchored, led, and supported towards building enabling & sustainable ecosystems for community-based and community-owned livelihood interventions through entrepreneurship, across 120+ blocks in 17 states in rural India. She has completed her graduation in Geography from Miranda House and post graduation in Development Studies from Indian Institute of Technology- Guwahati. Beyond her professional skills of Project Monitoring, Stakeholder Management, Business Development, Adult-learning based Module development; she loves to read, write, recite, draw as mediums of self-expression, self-reflection or purely for leisure. She believes in the individual capacity of making changes towards a better world!

Prarthana Arandhara

Prarthana Arandhara is a Program Associate in the Project Delivery team at BTC. She holds a master's degree in Economics from Gauhati University and a Bachelor's degree in Economics from Cotton University. She is passionate about addressing the intricate security challenges associated with water-food-environment nexus through transdisciplinary research and implementation works on ground. In the past, she has gained experience working on diverse development issues related to agriculture, natural resource management, and community and rural development in India during her engagement at Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (NIRDPR), and Foundation of Ecological Security (FES). Her interests traverse across the disciplines of Heterodox Economics, feminist theories, alternative development models, and sustainability transition.

Jyotsna Borgoyary

Jyotsna Borgoyary serves as a Senior Program Associate in the Project Delivery team at BTC. She holds a Bachelor of Business Studies degree and is currently pursuing a Master of Arts in Adult Education.

Previously, she worked with Sahitya Kala Parishad, Govt. of NCT of Delhi, where she assisted the Deputy Secretary in the administration of the Delhi government's cultural policy, programs, and schemes. Later, Jyotsna joined the Delhi Assembly Research Centre (DARC) Fellowship. There, she worked with the Hon’ble Dy CM's office, the Office of Art, Culture, and Languages, the Office of the Food and Supply Minister, the Office of the Education Minister, and the Office of the District Magistrate North East Delhi. Notable projects she contributed to included "Youth for Education," "Mukhya Mantri Corona Sahayata Yojana," "Delhi Riot Victims Compensation Relief 2020," and a draft of Delhi's Cultural Policy.

Recently, she worked with the BTR Development Fellowship in Kokrajhar, Assam, where she worked closely with the Secretary of Tourism and Director-cum-CHD Tourism, BTC. Her role involved providing research-based strategic and documentation support to the Department of Tourism, BTC, and offering assistance in the establishment of Bodoland Tourism Development Corporation Ltd.

Prerana Keshav

Prerana Keshav is a Program Associate in the Project Delivery team in Karnataka. Having graduated with a B.A. LL.B. (Hons) from Gujarat National Law University, she is a lawyer with a passion for public policy and governance, as well as welfare legislations. Prior to this, she worked with Red Dot Foundation, where she implemented welfare and training programs for Women and Child Development, as well as undertook research on policy issues pertaining to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity. She created material on topics such as Safety and LGBTQ Inclusivity, Domestic Violence, Sexual Harassment Prevention, and Disability Inclusion for partners such as the US Consulate General, the Australian Consulate, the British Deputy High Commission, etc. She also worked with SIDBI and NABARD to upskill rural and marginalised women to build micro-entrepreneurship skills.

Palak Sharma

Meet Palak! She's now part of the CEGIS team as a Senior Program Associate focusing on Outcome Measurement in Telangana. Before joining us, she was a Senior Research Fellow at the International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai. Palak's PhD dives into electronic medical records, uncovering health insights (majorly on diabetes) from hospital data. She's published scientific articles in top journals, focusing on health and epidemiology. Holding a diverse academic background, Palak holds a master's degree in population sciences, a second master's in statistics, and a foundation in mathematics from Delhi University. Her professional journey expands even more. She has played a pivotal role as a Project Technical Officer (Statistics) at ICMR-National Institute for Medical Sciences, where her expertise was crucial in estimating national disease burdens. Her path also guided her to the position of a Research Associate at Sigma Research Pvt. Ltd., where she actively engaged in projects across education, livelihood, women and child health, and WASH sectors. Off the clock, Palak's transitioned from being a national Lawn Tennis Player to finding joy in long runs, treks through nature's wonders, and the serenity of the outdoors.