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Varsha Bedi
Producer |
Varsha Bedi is a very well-known personality in the film industry. She has worked on The Rising: Ballad of Mangal Pandey (associate producer), Train to Pakistan (executive producer), Fire (associate producer) , Bandit Queen (associate producer)
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Dr. Ranjana Kumari
President, Women Power Connection (WPC) and Director, Centre for Social Responsibility & Leadership (CSRL) |
Ranjana Kumari is a prominent activist and widely regarded as a leading force in the women's movement in India. She is the president of Women Power Connect (WPC), India's only lobbying organization focused on gender issues; Director of the Centre for Social Research (CSR), an NGO active in the field of women's empowerment. In the past, Dr. Kumari has been the senior advisor to the Ministry of Labor, Government of India.
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Shanta Serbjeet Singh
Vice Chairperson, Sangeet Natak Akademi |
Shanta Serbjeet Singh—a columnist, critic and media analyst for ‘The Hindustan Times’, ‘The Economic Times’ and ‘The Times of India’, India's most important mainstream English dailies with twenty-five years of expertise —is the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award of Sangeet Natak Akademi—the premier government cultural institution of India—in 2000 and the same from Delhi Government's Sahitya Kala Parishad in 2003 for her contribution to the field of culture.
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Kavita Sharma
Director, India International Centre |
Kavita Sharma is the former Principal of the prestigious Hindu College in New Delhi. She is one of the most distinguished and versatile academicians in the country today. She is also an accomplished author and has been a prolific contributor to leading publications in the country on subjects ranging from education and literature to women’s issues and religion.
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Anjana Kuthiala
Artist |
Anjana Kuthiala, former Miss India- 1975, turned her career towards painting over two decades ago. Known for her passion for painting beautiful women, she has now moved on to including landscapes and portraits in her repertoire. In February 2005, she famously exhibited a series of 18 unusual pictures of the actor and Bollywood star-Shah Rukh Khan entitled “A Poem of Art in Cinema”. It was widely acclaimed.
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Kishwar Desai
Writer |
Kishwar Desai has been working in media for the last 30 years-in TV and print. She started as a journalist in print and then moved onto television in which she worked as an anchor, script writer and producer. She worked with most of the major networks in India and her last job was as vice president, Zee Telefilms. She is now a full-time writer with a weekly Saturday column in the Asian Age newspaper. Her first book 'Darlingji: the true love story of Nargis and Sunil Dutt' was published in 2007. Her novel ‘Witness the Night’ has just been published, both in the UK and in India. It’s being translated into Hindi and Finnish.
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Dr. V. Mohini Giri
Chairperson, Guild of Service |
Dr. V. Mohini Giri has served as chairperson of the Guild of Service since 1979. Guild of Service is a social service organization which among its projects also helps the displaced widows of India. A social activist and leader in the women's movement, specializing in human rights and gender justice, Dr. Giri is renowned both nationally and internationally for her committed work in empowering women politically, socially, legally and economically.
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Ritu Kumar
Fashion Designer |
An icon of the Indian Fashion industry and a frontrunner in establishing a position for India in the global forum, Ritu Kumar's contribution has been impeccable to the fashion fraternity, both nationally and internationally. With almost five decades of work, the designer excels in both traditional and western outfits, though ethnic attires being her specialty. She was the first women to bring the boutique culture to India under the name "Ritu". The gradual change in the fashion scenario has also led to a change of designs in her brand. She has kept in sync with the varying times and has effectively brought creativity and innovativeness with each collection. Ritu holds the status of being a revivalist in the fashion scenario which has successfully bridged the gap between conservative and conventional style.
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Annu Tandon
Parliamentarian |
Annu Tandon is an Indian politician and social worker. She is an MP in the 15th Lok Sabha from Unnao, Uttar Pradesh with the Indian National Congress Party.
Tandon is the founder-director of the Hriday Narain Dhawan Charitable Trust, which has been active in philanthropy in the district since 2000. The charity, funded mostly through family funds, has worked in education and gathered attention for innovative projects like helping children of illiterate parents with their homework. The charity also works with weaker groups like widows and handicapped people. She was also associated with rehabilitation wing of the Congress party.
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Sonal Kalra
Editor, HT City |
Sonal Kalra is an Indian journalist-author, presently with the Hindustan Times, India's second largest national English daily.
She heads Entertainment, Art and Lifestyle for the publication's daily supplement HT City in New Delhi. She also writes a popular weekly column ‘ A Calmer You’ in HT City. A feature-writer and a journalist since 1996, Kalra has previously edited a tech magazine and contributed to lifestyle publications on decor, health, wellness, fashion, food, beauty & fitness, and travel.
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Dr. Amitabh Mattoo
Professor, International Politics, JNU |
Amitabh Mattoo is currently a professor of disarmament studies at the Centre for International Politics, Organization and Disarmament (CIPOD), School of International Studies. His teaching and research interests include issues of international security, India’s foreign policy, and arms control and disarmament.He has published ten books (on nuclear issues, foreign policy and international relations) and more than fifty research articles (including in leading journals like Survival and Asian Survey). He writes regularly for Indian newspapers, including The Telegraph and The Hindu and is a commentator on television.
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Shahid Siddique
Parliamentarian |
He is a member of the Parliament of India representing Uttar Pradesh in the Rajya Sabha, the Upper House of the Indian Parliament. Shri Siddiqui quit the Samajwadi party on July 19, 2008 and joined its arch-rival, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
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Goldy Malhotra
Principal, Modern School |

She is the Principal of Modern School and has published several books on General Knowledge, Dictionary in English, Sketch and Paint series, anthology of poems, research paper on education and leadership. She has also actively contributed articles on nutrition, education and art to several journals and dailies.
She also has been painting for the last 32 years and has held various ‘One-Artist’ shows and group shows. She has acted on stage in several plays and television serials and also directed plays for children
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Kaushlaya Reddy
Dancer |

Gifted with a svelte figure, a pretty and sensitive face, flawless footwork and scintillating grace, Kaushalya has in abundance all that it takes to be a first rate danseuse. Today she is considered as one of the most talented and established artists of the world-famous dance form of Kuchipudi. She also teaches Kuchipudi dance to the younger generation of students at Natya Tarangini day in and day out and is the real arbiter of the Reddys' glorious annual series of music & dance festival, the ‘Parampara'.
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Raja Reddy
Dancer |

The World renowned dancer, Dr. Raja Reddy has given a new dimension to the age old art of Kuchipudi dance without sacrificing the traditional poetry or dramatic sensibility. With the rare excellence and perfection of technique, he has earned the credit for mastering Kuchipudi, a high-ranking dance-form today among the major dance forms of India. He hails from the state of Andhra Pradesh, the birthplace of Kuchipudi style of Indian classical Dance.
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Geeta Chandran
Dancer |

A celebrated artist and a star-performer, Geeta Chandran is synonymous with the Indian classical dance: Bharatanatyam. She began learning Bharatanatyam from the tender age of 5 years under the tutelage of Smt. Swarna Saraswathy, who hailed from the traditional ‘Thanjavoor Devadasi’ parampara.
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Abha Sahgal
Principal, Sanskriti School |
Mrs Abha Sahgal, the current Principal of Sanskriti School joined in April 2008. Mrs Sahgal brings with her 30 years of teaching and administrative experience. Her dedication, motivation, love for children and leadership skills made her the obvious choice for starting the Delhi Private School in Sharjah (which is under the aegis of the Delhi Public School Society). As the Founder Principal at Sharjah, Mrs Sahgal took several initiatives to reform educational practices to make learning more enjoyable and child-centric at school.
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Girija Vyas
Parliamentarian |
Girija Vyas is an Indian politician, poet and author. She is presently a Member of the 15th Lok Sabha, the lower house of Parliament, from the Chittorgarh constituency and president of National Commission for Women of India.
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Shanno Khurana
Singer |
Shanno Khurana’s legendary voice continues to capture our hearts even today, 63 years after her first broadcast on Lahore radio in 1945. Shanno Khurana is one of the greatest living treasures of Hindustani music who has enthralled audiences from the United States to London, Vienna and Paris, through the Middle East, Southeast Asia to Tokyo in some of the most memorable concerts of our times.
She is also an eminent musicologist and has published over 40 papers on Indian classical and folk music, their history, Ragamalas and Indian aesthetics, music therapy in neuro-psychiatry, etc
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Dr. Syeeda Hameed
Member, Planning Commission, Government of India. |
Sayeeda Hameed, member of the Planning Commission has been involved with the womens’ rights and peace movement. She is an executive member for Pak-India Forum for Peace and Democracy and a former member of National Women’s Commission.
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Sanjay Gupta
Editor & CEO, Dainik Jagran |
Sanjay Gupta is a whole-time director and also holds the position of Editor & CEO, Dainik Jagran. Mr. Gupta has more than 25 years of experience in the print media industry. Besides being the Editor & CEO of Dainik Jagran, he is also responsible for our operations in the northern region comprising of New Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir. Mr. Gupta is also the director of Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow and Motilal Nehru Institute of Technology, Allahabad. Mr. Gupta has been the director since 1993 and is a nominee of the promoters of the organization.
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Arun Kapur
Director, Vasant Valley School |
Mr. Arun Kapur has over 31 years of experience in the field of education. He started his career at The Doon School, Dehradun, and went on to join the British School in New Delhi as principal. He is currently the director of Vasant Valley School, New Delhi in which he was involved from the start and looks into the designing & implementing processes, procedures, logistics, staffing plans and management systems. In a short span of time, Vasant Valley School became, and remains, among the most sought after institutions in the country.
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Vijay Naik
Journalist |
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Sanchita Sharma
Health Editor, Hindustan Times |
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Reena Kumari
Parliamentarian
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Bishakha De Sarkar
Journalist
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Rita Talwar
Former Principal, Cambridge School
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Sadhana Rai
President, Country Inn Resorts |
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