Rebuilding lives in India

About Smt. Rajashree Birla

Rajashree Birla is an Indian philanthropist. She was married to Aditya Birla. After her husband's death in 1995, Rajashree began working in CSR and charity sectors, developing a large philanthropic organization funded by her family.

About Dr Pallavi Jain Govil

Pallavi Jain Govil, a career civil servant, belongs to the Indian Administrative Service. She has served in various assignments in the State and Central government in India for over 26 years, and is currently the Principal Secretary to Government of Madhya Pradesh, Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Caste Welfare Department. Prior to this she has served as Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, and Gas Relief and Rehabilitation. Her current role involves planning, project formulation, implementation, research, evaluation, coordination, supervision and monitoring of all schemes/activities relating to the socio and economic development of the Scheduled Tribe and Scheduled Caste communities in the State. Capitalising on her experience in the public health sector, the department, under her leadership is focusing on improving health and educational outcomes for Tribal and Scheduled Caste communities. Previously, she served as Director in the Prime Minister’s Office from 2009 till 2014, where she looked after the Ministries of Finance, Commerce, Corporate Affairs, Industrial Policy and Promotion, Heavy Industries, as well as some social sectors like Rural Development and Women and Child Development. In this role, she assisted the former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh in the scrutiny of important domestic policies and legislative proposals. She also gave policy inputs that helped shape India’s engagement with the G20, WTO, ASEAN, and the SAARC. She has earlier held assignments as Director, Institutional Finance for the Government of Madhya Pradesh and served as the District Collector and the CEO of District Governments (Zila Panchayats) in various districts of Madhya Pradesh such as Bastar, Mandla, Rajgarh, Shajapur and Bhopal. She has also consulted with the World Bank.

About Prof. A K Shiva Kumar

A K Shiva Kumar , a New Delhi based development economist, policy advisor, and evaluator, has over the past 40 years, taught economics, undertaken evaluations, conducted research and policy analysis, worked closely with governments, international agencies, and civil society organisations to advocate for changes in public policy and legislation. He teaches economics and public policy as a visiting faculty member at Ashoka University, the Indian School of Business, and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. Shiva Kumar is a Board Member of the Global Partnership to End Violence against Children, Co-Chair of Know in Violence in Childhood, and a member of the Leadership Councils of both the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) an­­­­d Global Women’s Institute, The George Washington University, Washington DC. He is President of the Sanskriti Foundation and serves on the Boards of Centre for Science and Environment, and Institute for Rural Management, Anand.