Founder Director

Neha Simlai

Neha has worked for over a decade at the intersection of communication and stakeholder management, public policy as well as programme strategy and management. Having lived and worked in the United States, India, Singapore and Bangladesh, Neha has an in-depth understanding of development sector opportunities and changes, especially in the South-East and South Asia region. Neha’s work focuses primarily on sustainable supply chains and environmental safeguards and how these interact with human development and public policy. Through her previous roles at PRS Legislative Research, the Centre for Policy Research, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Charities Aid Foundation, and the Worldwide Fund for Nature, Neha has worked at the intersection of communications, programme strategy, and management. She has been a part of pioneering teams working to mainstream the understanding of CSR and sustainability in the Indian context. Neha also writes regularly for publications including LiveMint, The Wire, Huffington Post (India), and others.

Treasurer

Shiv Sehgal

Shiv’s interests in surveying and data collection and prior experience with C-Voter, a polling and data-creation firm in Aceh, Indonesia, and some of India’s poorest districts drive him to build expertise in political strategy and perception building. He worked with the Conservative Party (Cardiff North) in 2012 and assisted Steve Jarding, lecturer in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, during the run-up to Uttar Pradesh’s state elections in 2017. Shiv has been working on a political consultancy and management ever graduating from Cardiff University with a background in law and politics, specialising in international law. Shiv has also played cricket for Uttar Pradesh, India representing it in the Under-19 and Under-23 categories.

Senior Adviser

Ramesh Abhishek

Mr. Ramesh Abhishek is a 1982 batch member of the Indian Administrative Service, where in roles both within India and abroad, he has over 37 years of experience especially in the fields of governance, designing and implementing public policy as well as large-scale reforms at national/sub-national levels. Most recently, he led the team that spearheaded Prime Minister’s Flagship programmes such as Ease of Doing Business, Make in India and Start-Up India. He also developed and nurtured Invest India into the most awarded Investment Promotion agency of the world.

Additionally, he worked on Immunization, Literacy, Child Development and other development and welfare programs in the state of Bihar. Mr. Abhishek has Masters Degrees in Public Administration, Business Administration, and International Politics from the Harvard Kennedy School, Sikkim Manipal University and Jawaharlal Nehru University respectively.

Research Associate

Akshita Sharma

Akshita holds a Master’s degree in Economics from Ambedkar University Delhi and a Bachelor’s degree in the same from Delhi University. She wants to break into the field of public policy design and implementation with a focus on gender, public health and technology. She is keen to connect data-driven policy research with behavioural insights, to craft better policies and programmes that drive deeper impact and inclusive economic development. When she isn’t busy, you’ll find her in a quiet corner playing guitar/ukulele and singing to herself.

Design Consultant

Deepesh Sangtani

Deepesh Sangtani is a graduate architect from the Faculty of Architecture and Ekistics, Jamia Millia Islamia, and a designer by choice. He keeps himself busy with explorations and creative collaborations. His interests lie in urban design, planning, community initiatives, cartography, graphics, and music. He has co-founded a non-profit organisation, The Multilogue Collective, and also runs his own design studio by the name of Studio Ink Effect.

Senior Analyst

Jitendra Bisht

Consulting Editor

Kavita Majumdar

Kavita has more than 13 years of experience in the media and publishing industries, including roles in television production, digital management, content creation/editing, and commissioning. Her previous position was as the Commissioning Editor at Firstpost Print. Before that, she worked as a News Editor for Business Insider India and as the Blogs Editor of HuffPost India. She has also enjoyed a two-year-long stint in book publishing, where she served as the Commissioning Editor and Digital Manager of Lonely Planet India.

Chief Corporate Relations & Administrative Officer

Lakshmanaswamy TV

Lakshamanaswamy’s experience with office management, corporate communications, and administrative support with SGT University, Gurgaon; Indo Gulf Hospital, Noida; RIL, New Delhi; Network 18 Media & Investments Ltd., Noida; India TV, Noida; and several others makes him an indispensable asset for internal operations and managerial support. He continues to remain associated with multiple networks and public forums, such as the All India Management Association, Public Relations Society of India, Alliance Française de Delhi, India Islamic Cultural Centre, and others.

Assistant Manager - Finance and Accounts

Manish Kumar

Manish has a B.Com (Hons) from Shaheed Bhagat Singh College, Delhi University. He also completed a Diploma in Finance Banking from F-Tec Skill Development. Before joining SPRF, Manish worked at The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of South Asia as Finance Assistant Manager.

Manager - Digital Media and Communications

Michelle Patrick

Michelle is a Marketing graduate from Symbiosis Centre for Media and Communication. Previously, she has worked full time with a PR organization and has also done internships with NGOs like Goonj and Teach for India. Michelle is keen on finding the right balance of using her skills in communication and marketing to pursue a personally and socially more fulfilling career in the space of Public Policy.

Research Associate

Nikhil Varghese Mathew

Nikhil holds a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering and a Master’s degree in Development and Labour Studies. Having started off as a research intern at the office of a Member of Parliament, Nikhil now hopes to develop as a public policy professional focusing on forms of labour insecurity.

Junior Communications Associate

Priyamvada Chaudhary

Priyamvada completed her undergraduate degree this year with a major in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic, Maine, USA. She spent most of her time studying through the lens of art and design, to explore social, political and historical concerns. Having lived part of her life in the UK, and the other part in India, she loves working on collaborative projects that bring a diverse group of voices to the table and contribute to building platforms for the same.

Legal Consultant

Siddharth Kumar

Siddharth, a graduate of Cardiff University, is currently practising his trade as a litigator and dispute resolution specialist. He holds diplomas from the National Law University, Delhi as well as the Indian Law Institute. As a dispute resolution practitioner, he guides companies, organisations as well as individuals on establishing best practices and standard operating procedures with risk mitigation at their core. Siddharth, being an avid advocate for the use of alternative dispute resolution methods, encourages his clients to mediate at the first instance and to litigate only as the last resort.

Research and Editorial Coordinator

Riya Singh Rathore

Riya is a political science enthusiast who is passionate about gender, security, and queer rights. She is an International Relations postgraduate from University College Dublin and a Delhi University alumni. Prior to SPRF, she worked as a research assistant in the Irish Parliament. She is a proud ally and founded Gargi College’s formalised queer collective, the White Rose Club. When she is not working, you can find her painting and trying to keep her two plants from dying.

Consultant - Photoarchive

Poshali Goel

Poshali holds a Bachelor’s degree in fashion design from Pearl Academy. Her journey in visual documentation began when she worked with craft clusters of Uttarakhand for an academic project. After graduation she worked as a visual media consultant for Katha India. In 2018-19, she was one of the fellows for WaterAid India’s Photo Project. As an independent photographer, she has been involved in projects with UnLtd India, Sewa Bharat, IEG, SSE India, Netflix India among others.

Research Intern

Niha Satyaprakash

Niha is a student of economics and takes a special interest in International and Development Economics. She believes that all economics must be informed by ground reality, and strives to ensure that this principle is reflected in her research as well. In her free time, she likes to read and debate.

Research and Editorial Intern

Sara Bardhan

Sara is a student of Business Administration, Economics and Literature with additional semesters in Public Administration, International Relations and Paralegal Studies. Their research interests include Developmental Economics, Digital Humanities, Economics of Language, Gender Studies, Urban Governance, Data Policy and Indian Literature of the 20th Century. They regularly write for digital publications like The Fuller Project, Feminism in India and Youth Ki Awaaz among others. In their free time, you can catch them learning a new language, devouring a Manto short story or tweeting cat pics.

Research Assistant

Somiha Chatterjee

Somiha is a graduate in Economics from Ambedkar University Delhi. She is currently pursuing a postgraduate diploma in Environmental Law and Policy from NLU Delhi. She interested in exploring themes surrounding development and environmental economics and hopes to contribute towards mitigation of issues arising from the climate change crisis in India.

Research Intern

Harjas Kaur

Harjas is a Political Science graduate from Delhi University with Economics as her minor. As she has travelled around the world to complete her schooling, she also holds an International Baccalaureate Diploma. She briefly worked at Enactus during her undergrad. When not researching, she can be found brushing up her guitar skills and Spanish.

Contributing Author

Vineeth Srivatsava

Bhagyanagar Vineeth Srivatsava is PhD candidate at Centre for Political Studies (CPS), Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). He completed his Masters in Political Science from University of Delhi. His PhD thesis seeks to investigate the phenomena of mob lynching in India that we are witnessing in the past few years. His research interests are mainly violence studies, Indian society and politics, continental philosophy and developmental politics. His research and his thought is mainly influenced by scholars like Mbembe, Foucault, Deleuze and Guattari. He spends most of his free time reading books.

Contributing Author

Satorupa Karmakar

Satorupa is an urban planner-geographer with a Bachelor’s in Geography from Presidency University, Master’s in Geography from Jawaharlal Nehru University and Master’s in Planning from CEPT University. Given her interest in areas like migration, urban planning and governance and policy advocacy, she believes in inclusive and participatory planning where equity and access constitute the two most important pillars. Extremely passionate about research and firmly inclined towards empowering the marginalized communities, Satorupa has recently joined PhD under the joint doctoral program conducted by IIT Delhi-University of Queensland to work on disaster-affected communities in India and Australia. She has prior internship experiences with Housing and Land Rights Network (New Delhi), Urban Liveability Forum (Mumbai) and has presented papers on spatial planning, urban homelessness and peri-urbanization. Being influenced by the ideologies of David Harvey, Edward Soja, Ananya Roy and Gautam Bhan, Satorupa seeks to actively delve into applied research to provide practical solutions based on strong theoretical understanding. Her free time includes painting or curling up with a good non-fiction novel and a cup of coffee.

Communications Intern

Akaanksha Bahadur

Akaanksha is a final year student pursuing her undergraduate degree in Philosophy at Miranda House, University of Delhi. She is passionate about writing and aspires to have a career in journalism. She has also worked at a couple of nonprofits in college, namely Enactus and Connecting Dreams Foundation.
Her other interests include that of communications, research, and marketing.