Team Janaagraha

Ramesh Ramanathan is co-founder of Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy, a non-profit organisation focused on improving urban governance in India. In addition to Janaagraha, Ramesh has worked in the Indian microfinance sector for close to a decade, with a special focus on urban microfinance. He is Chairman of Janalakshmi, an urban microfinance institution in India.

Ramesh works closely with government on urban issues in a pro-bono capacity. His current positions with government include being the National Technical Advisor, Government of India for the Jawarharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, the largest urban initiative in the country’s history; the Principal Advisor, State Urban Agenda for the State of Rajasthan; member of the High Powered Expert Committee on Urban Finances.

Prior to these social initiatives, Ramesh worked with Citibank in New York and London. When he left to begin his social activities in India, he was MD and Head, European Corporate Derivatives, and a member of the Global Markets Leadership Team, collectively running a business with an annual revenue of over $1 billion.

Ramesh has an MS in Physics from BITS Pilani, an MBA from Yale University, and a Certified Financial Analyst (CFA) degree from the Association of Investment Management & Research (AIMR).

Ramesh has co-authored a book titled, 'Urban Poverty Alleviation in India' & writes regularly about public governance issues in leading national publications. He was nominated as one of the Young Global Leaders by the World Economic Forum in 2007.

Swati Ramanathan holds a Master’s degree form Pratt Institute, N.Y., and has worked in the United States (Van Summern Architecture, Planning and Design) and the United Kingdom (Gensler and Associates).

As the Co-Founder of Janaagraha she is engaged with issues of reforms in urban governance and citizen participation. Janaagraha works on institutional reforms that can improve the functioning of India’s democracy and provide a better quality of life for all citizens. Janaagraha does this through a combination of political advocacy, research, grass-roots mobilisation, and civic training. Janaagraha has designed and advocated a structure for citizen participation at the level of the polling both – the Area Sabha - that continues to be included increasingly in states municipal statutes. This structure is the basis on which Janaagraha’s participation at the grassroots is designed – community policing, municipal services, voter mobilisationa and verification, etc.

Swati is also Chairperson of India Urban Space Foundation – an organization committed to improving the quality of spatial planning in Indian cities and towns. IUSF holds national and regional expos and events on planning for cities. These events are democratic platforms that bring together government-market-experts-civil society. The Foundation also supports governments in creating master plans.

Swati has authored a number of articles and publications. These include a White Paper titled “A framework for Shaping Vibrant Cities”, “Participatory Planning - A Citizens’ Handbook”, and “Ground Rules - Implementing Land Title in Urban India”.

She has advised the National Government on planning processes and on land title reforms. She was a member of the State Urban Agenda for Rajasthan (SUARAJ), initiated by the Chief Minister, working on initiatives in Land Reform, GIS & Spatial Data Centre for Rajasthan, Heritage Conservation Planning and Policy. She was honoured by the CM with Rajyotsava Puraskar - the state’s highest civilian award for her work on Land Title and the development of the masterplan for Jaipur.

Dr. Nandita Aras is member of JWC( Janaagraha Working Council) - Janaagraha’s leadership team. She is Coordinator of the Research Programme at Janaagraha. She has a Master's degree in Economics from Bombay University and a Ph.D. in Political Science from Columbia University, New York. Her doctoral thesis on the Social Bases of Support for Hindu Nationalism and Hindu Nationalist Parties won the Wildavsky Award of the American Political Science Association for the best doctoral dissertation on Religion and Politics (2001). She then taught undergraduate courses in South Asian Politics and Nationalism at the University of California, Irvine before moving to India in 2004. Nandita is also a theatre enthusiast having worked professionally in theatre and films in Mumbai for over 14 years before joining Columbia University for graduate studies.

Kersi Wadia is member of the Janaagraha Working Council. He is Coordinator of the Training Programme at Janaagraha. Kersi is a senior executive with over 30 years experience in sales, marketing, operations, communication and man-management from the Shipping (Liner and Logistics) industry in India and the Asia-Pacific region.
Kersi started his career in the Shipping Industry in 1967 and has worked in various organizations in India and abroad. He retired as Chief Executive Officer for Nortrans Marine Services Ltd (NMS) and Trans Asia Shipping Services Ltd (TAS) in 2003. He did his schooling from Bishop’s, Pune and graduated from the Indian Mercantile Marine Training Ship. Kersi also holds a certificate of competency as a Master Mariner from the UK.
He is passionate and enthusiastic about urban governance issues and citizen participation.

Anjali Kumar is presently working in Janaagraha as a CAP Associate (Citizen Awareness Programme) She has completed her Bsc from St.Joseph's College, Bangalore. She has joined Janaagraha to pursue her interests in the development sector.

Pramod Goni is member of the Janaagraha Working Council. He is Coordinator of the Community Leadership Programme at Janaagraha. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Divinity from the Karnataka Theological College, Mangalore and a Masters in Sociology from the Karnataka Open University, Mysore. He has worked in the northern diocese of Karnataka for thirteen years (1983-1996) and also in Government and NGO programmes for six years (1996-2002). He has many years experience in community mobilisation, communication, training, planning, teamwork, and poverty alleviation programmes. As Janaagraha’s Coordinator of its Community Leadership Programme, he guides activities related to community mobilisation, field work for data collection, representing and attending meeting at slums/ area/ ward level, and public interaction for field inputs with all stakeholders of project including funding agencies.

Rama Errabelli is member of the Janaagraha Working Council. She is Coordinator of the Bala Janaagraha programme. She holds a Masters degree in Political Science from University of Pune and an Associate's degree in Computer Science. She has worked for over ten years as a software developer. She is passionate about working with children and volunteered in public schools in USA. She helped the schools with coordination and fundraising for several extra curricular activities.

Jasmine Shah is member of the Janaagraha Working Council. He Coordinates two partner programmes at Janaagraha – India Urban Space (India's largest urban event that brings together government, urban experts, market players and citizens across India's cities every year), Bangalore City Connect (a forum representing key industry associations, citizen groups, academia etc. in Bangalore with an aim to assist the government authorities in planning & implementation of urban infrastructure) and WISA (Ward Infrastructure & Services Assessment) Project.
Before joining Janaagraha, Jasmine had a three-year stint in the corporate sector at ITC Ltd. as a project manager for engineering and infrastructure projects. Jasmine completed his B.Tech and M.Tech in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Madras in 2004. He is a sports enthusiast and a regular long distance runner.

Indu Kumar is Assistant Administrator in Janaagraha for past six years. He is qualified as Teacher Certificate Higher class (Primary School Teacher) in Bangalore.

Syeda K Shataj is part of the Administration team at Janaagraha. She is a commerce graduate from Bangalore University. She is currently handles the Accounts work at Janaagraha.

Indira Viswanathan is member of the Janaagraha Working Council. She is Coordinator of the Technology programme at Janaagraha. She holds an MS in Computer Science from SJSU, California, USA. She has ten years of experience in the fields of software development, application programming and web development. At Janaagraha, as the Coordinator of Technology, she manages the various activities of her domain like implementing the new Janaagraha website, procuring hardware and software and in general enabling technology for all the Janaagraha programmes.

S.V. Sathish is Systems Administrator in the Technology Team at Janaagraha. He has a diploma in Mechanical Engineering. He has prior experience as Line Inspector in Motor companies. He completed a diploma course in e-commerce. Since then he has picked up experience in the field of information technology.

Anil Varkey Kuruvilla is Network Administrator in the Technology team at Janaagraha. Anil has a post graduate degree in Chemistry. He has several years of experience in the IT domain, and has worked as Technical Support Engineer with Hard Soft Technologies Pvt.Ltd.

Cheryl Rebello is member of the Janaagraha Working Council. She is Coordinator of the  Communications programme at Janaagraha. Cheryl holds a Masters degree in Economics  with a specialisation in Econometrics from the Maharaja Sayaji Rao University, Baroda. She  began her career as Research Assistant on a project at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. Since then she has served several roles – as Research Assistant, Lecturer,  and Copywriter. She has several published writings to her credit. Her work involves  planning and executing overall communications strategy. The Website, Janaagraha Times,  Internal Communications and other Community Communications tools, as well as Press Relationships are coordinated through this programme.

K.K. Nayar is Coordinator of the Janaagraha Working Council. He is a qualified mechanical engineer in and pursued a career in Projects and Manufacturing Management in FMCG, Food, Paper & Chemical Industry. He has wide spectrum experience in upgradation, expansion, building new/green field units and commissioning them. He has served on the Board of Unilever Subsidiaries in India, UK and Egypt as an Executive Director where he has focused on Technology, Profit improvement programs Acquisition and Mergers, 
He has also worked with one of the oldest Venture Capital Management Companies in India with widely spread interest in various industries. The assignment involved identifying investment opportunities and mentoring them to high levels of performance.He is presently doing Management and Engineering Consultancy. He is also doing voluntary work with Janaagraha in the area of Citizen Participation in Civic affairs. He also did work in the earlier parts of the project to build Citizen Participation in the Greater Bangalore Water Supply and Sanitation project.

Sapna Karim, member of the Janaagraha Working Council. She is Coordinator of the HR& Volunteer Management Programme at Janaagraha. She is a graduate in Arts from Bishop Cottons in Bangalore. She has done a certification course in Applications Programming. She has worked in software development for five years before joining Janaagraha as a volunteer in December of 2001. Her volunteer involvement has seen her participate in grassroots campaigns, community mobilisation and government interaction, engaging in institutional partnerships and in coordination of volunteers.