National Board of Advisors

Board of Advisors

Amb. Absara Beuria

Ambassador Abasar Beuria had served in Indian diplomatic missions in Japan, Russia
(formerly USSR), United States of America, United Arab Emirates, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and
Madagascar. He was critically involved as a member of the Indian delegation in bilateral and
multilateral international talks including Non Alignment Summit, Commonwealth Heads of
Governments Conference and G-77 Conventions etc. Before joining the Indian Foreign
Service, Mr Beuria worked as a Bank officer and lecturer. He studied M.A. (Political
Science) from Utkal University, Bhubaneswar and Bachelor of Arts degree from the
prestigious Ravenshaw College, Cuttack in Odisha. He is presently residing in Bhubaneswar
after retirement from service and is closely associated with leading socio-cultural and
philanthropic organizations. Mr. Beuria is a painter, columnist for leading Odia and English
dailies and author of 5 books.

Amb. Asoke Mukerji

Ambassador Asoke Mukerji retired as India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in 2015 after 37 years in the Indian Foreign Service. He has been Ambassador of India to Kazakhstan, Deputy High Commissioner of India to the UK with the rank of Ambassador, Deputy Chief of India’s Mission in the Russian Federation, and India’s first resident Charge d’affaires in Uzbekistan,
Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. His other diplomatic assignments include the USA, the UAE and the former Yugoslavia.
As India’s delegate to the World Trade Organization, he became involved with cyber issues during negotiations on Telecoms (mobile telephony) and the Information Technology Agreement (trade in computers/peripherals) in the 1990s. He led India’s first multi-agency delegations for international cooperation on cyber issues with the USA, UK, Russia, Japan and the EU between 2011-2012.
He chaired a multi-stakeholder Study Group under India’s National Security Council Secretariat during 2017-2018 mandated to recommend cyber norms for India. His priorities are using cyber technology for sustainable development under the UN’s Agenda 2030 and Tunis Agenda. He is an
advocate for an International Convention on Cyberspace.
In July 2018, he was awarded a Doctorate in Civil Laws (honoris causa) degree by the University of East Anglia, UK for his contributions to diplomacy.

Amb. Lalit Mansingh

Ambassador Lalit Mansingh has served as India’s foreign secretary, ambassador to the United States and high commissioner to the United Kingdom. He has also been ambassador in the United Arab Emirates and high commissioner in Nigeria with concurrent accreditation to Benin, Chad and the Cameroons.

Ambassador Mansingh joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1963, securing the first position in the All India Civil Service Examination. After his initial posting in Geneva,he went on to serve as deputy chief of mission in the Indian Embassies in Kabul, Brussels, and Washington. At headquarters in Delhi, Ambassador Mansingh worked in a variety of assignments: as Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Director General of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, Dean of the Foreign Service Institute and Secretary (West) in the Ministry of External Affairs.

Ambassador Mansingh is active in a number of international initiatives for conflict resolution, regional security and sustainable development. As a member of an international group of elder statesmen constituted by The Brookings, Stanford and New York University, he worked on a project entitled “Managing Global Insecurity” that resulted in a publication, “Power and Responsibility” in 2009. Ambassador Mansingh is also part of a number of Track II dialogues between India and its neighbours including Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal.

Ambassador Mansingh is associated with several international organizations such as Asia Pacific Leadership Network, Canberra; International Crisis Group, Brussels and International Advisory Committee, APCO Worldwide, Washington DC.

At India, Ambassador Mansingh is the President, Forum for Strategic Initiatives; Vice President, Indian Council for Cultural Relations; Prof Emeritus of the Foreign Service Institute at New Delhi and the Global Envoy for International Buddhist Confederation, New Delhi.

Amb. Meera Shankar

Amb. Meera Shankar (9 October 1950) is an officer of the 1973 batch. She served in the US, Germany etc over her long and illustrious career as a diplomat.

She has served as Director in the Prime Minister’s Office from 1985 to 1991, and in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry from 1991 to 1995. She headed two important divisions dealing with the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and relations with Nepal and Bhutan.

In 2003, she achieved the rank of Additional Secretary, she held the responsibility for the United Nations and International Security. She was India’s second female ambassador to the United States of America where she served as India’s Ambassador from 26 April 2009 to 2011.  She was succeeded by Nirupama Rao on August 1, 2011.

Amb. R. Rajgopalan

Ambassador R Rajagopalan retired from the Indian Foreign Service in March 2004. His last
posting was as Ambassador to the Kingdom of Morocco. He had earlier been India’s
Ambassador to Cuba (1998-2001) and to Guyana (1989-92) – with concurrent accreditation
to St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Commonwealth of Dominica. He has also
served in Indian Missions in Russia, Hong Kong, China Japan, Mauritius and Saudi Arabia.
He speaks Chinese, French and Spanish. Ambassador Rajagoplan has also served in the
Department of Atomic Energy as Director for External Relations and in the Ministry of
Defence as Joint Secretary for foreign collaboration in defence production and exports.
Before joining the Indian Foreign Service (in 1973), Ambassador Rajagopalan was a
commissioned officer in the Indian Army, Regiment of Artillery and participated in the 1971
operations, both in the Eastern and Western sectors. Currently, he is the Secretary of the
Association of Indian Diplomats, Consultant with BEML Limited, Member of the Editorial
Board of the Indian Foreign Affairs Journal, Diplomatic Editor of India Strategic, Guest
Faculty at the Foreign Service Institute and a Member of the Committee of the Centre for
Latin American, Caribbean and North American Studies, S.I.S., JNU.

Sri B P Acharya

Sri B P Acharya , IAS, is the Special Chief Secretary to Government of Telangana, GAD & Director General, Dr. MCR HRD Institute of Telangana. In his long stellar career in bureaucracy, he held a number of important positions and conceived and launched many new innovative initiatives. As the Secretary to Govt, Industries & Commerce Dept., he was instrumental in developing Genome Valley, and Biotech Sector in combined A.P. The fruits of his efforts on industrial development of the State are highly visible now. As Managing Director, APIIC, he was instrumental in facilitating over 20 world class clusters in the combined State of AP, such as Financial District, Mindspace IT Cluster, Sri City SEZ, APSEZ, Vizag, Brandix, Pharma City etc., thereby generating employment to over 40lakh persons directly or indirectly. As Principal Secretary for Tourism in the newly formed State of Telangana, he was instrumental in creating a brand imagevfor Telangana Tourism and formation of Telangana State Tourism Development Corporation. As thevSpecial Chief Secretary, Planning he was responsible for strengthening of decentralized planning in the State, Planning Department, and established the District Knowledge and Innovation Centers in each district which provide innovative and workable solutions to the district administration in implementation of critical programs. He is heading MCR HRDIT as Director General, since March 2017, and has implemented several innovative training programmes, including e-Learning for field staff, covering over 80,000 employees in the State, in last three years

Dr. Jayadev Sarangi

Dr. Jayadev Sarangi, a career Civil Servant from the Indian Administrative Service, AGMUT cadre, superanuated as Secretary,Information,Public Relations and Cooperation Departments in the Government of NCT of Delhi.
He holds a Ph.D. from the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi (thesis: “Factors Related to the Effectiveness of Correctional Organizations”) and a Masters degree in Sociology from the Department of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi.
He has rendered 37 years of service in various capacities in the Management Grade of public sector “Indian Bank”, Ministry of Railways and Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, Government of NCT of Delhi, Andaman & Nicobar Administration, Government of Goa and the United Nations Organization and contributed as Law Enforcement official, Trainer, Researcher, Planner and Policy maker.Dr Sarangi was the first UN Fellow on Prison Reforms in the year 1995 at the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Branch in UN Vienna, Austria.
During the currency of his tenure of more than four years(2005-2009) as Prison Expert in the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) he has conducted capacity building Programmes for Prison and other law enforcement officials and facilitated roll out of prison interventions in the areas of drug/HIV prevention, human rights and prison management in different countries across South Asia. He has trained more than 500 master trainers working in the closed settings of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

Prof. Amitabh Mattoo

Amitabh Mattoo is currently 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. Mattoo has been visiting Professor at the Centre for
International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University, at the Joan B. Kroc Institute
for Peace Studies , the University of Notre Dame, and at the Program on Arms Control,
Disarmament and International Security at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
and at the Maison des Sciences de L’homme at Paris. 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.Prof. Mattoo was the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Jammu from November
2002 until December 2008. He was the youngest person to serve in that position. He
concurrently served as a Member of the National Knowledge Commission, a high-level
advisory group to the Prime Minister of India. Also Prof. Mattoo is a member of the
Academic Advisory Committee of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations and is an

Honorary Professor at the Islamic University of Science and Technology, Avantipura, Jammu
and Kashmir. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Institute of Peace and
Conflict Studies serves on the research Committee of the Institute of Defence Studies and
Analyses and is a member of the Executive Council of the Central University of Karnataka.
Recognizing his contribution to education and public life, the President of India honoured
Professor Mattoo on the occasion of the Republic Day (2008) with the Padma Shri, one of
India’s highest civilian awards.

Prof. Annpurna Nautiyal

Dr. (Mrs.) Annpurna Nautiyal is Vice-Chancellor of the Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University, Srinagar, Garhwal, Uttarakhand, India.  She is also a Professor and erstwhile Head of the Department of Political Science at the same university. Her area of interest is international relations but she also has a keen interest in the regional and national issues, particularly the problem of women empowerment in the hill areas.

She is a widely traveled person and was a Fulbright visiting professor at the Department of Public and International Affairs, George Mason University, Fairfax Virginia in 2006. She is the chairperson of the University women cell and Convener of the Board of Studies and Research Degree Committee. She is also a member the advisory committee of the Nehru Centre of the Aligarh Muslim University. She has published several articles in reputed journals. Professor Nautiyal has authored/edited five books which include: The Role of Henry Kissinger in World Politics (1987), India in the New World Order (1995) Uttarakhand in Turmoil (1996) Fifty Years of Human Rights: Expectations and Challenges (2002) and Challenges to India’s Foreign Policy in the New Era (2006).

Prof. Dr. Arvind Kumar

Arvind Kumar is Professor and Head, Department of Geopolitics and International Relations,
Manipal Academy of Higher Education. Prof. Kumar is also the Director of China Study
Centre, North East Studies Centre, Centre for Polish and Central European Studies.

Prof. C Raja Mohan

Professor Chilamkuri Raja Mohan is an Indian academic, journalist and foreign policy
analyst. He is the Director of the Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of
Singapore. Previously, he was the founding Director of Carnegie India. He has also been a
Distinguished Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi, and Senior Fellow at
the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi, and prior to that, a professor at the S. Rajaratnam
School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore and Professor
of Centre for South, Central, Southeast Asian and Southwest Pacific Studies, School of
International Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. He was the Henry
Alfred Kissinger Scholar in the John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress,
Washington, D.C. during 2009-10. He began his academic career at the Institute for Defence
Studies and Analyses, New Delhi. Dr. Mohan has had a number of stints in journalism as
well. He was Strategic Affairs Editor of the Indian Express, New Delhi, and before that,
served as Diplomatic Editor and the Washington Correspondent of The Hindu newspaper. He
is a columnist for the Indian Express.

Mr. Debi Prasad Dash

Mr. Debi Prasad Dash has over 37 years of experience with Government of India and various international organisations, including the UN, Commonwealth Secretariat, INTERPOL and the WCO. Held senior leadership positions  and possess extensive knowledge and experience in the areas of Customs & indirect tax administration, trade facilitation, risk management, IT project management, technical assistance, capacity-building, law enforcement, drug control, crime prevention, anti-money laundering, international terrorism, black money, anti-corruption, WMD, and monitoring UN sanctions regime. Demonstrated leadership, vision, and expertise in the area of international security, policing, intelligence, law enforcement, oversight, finance, tax administration, banking, public administration and international co-operation. Represented India and international organisations and interacted with high level public functionaries such as the President, Prime Minister, Ministers, Ambassadors and Heads of Law enforcement agencies of various countries. Wrote articles, delivered talks/lectures in Seminars/workshops/meetings/capacity building programs in various universities, international organisations, academic and training institutes such as Harvard University, Cambridge University and UN.

Prof. Manoj Pant

Manoj Pant is an Indian expert in International Trade. He is the Director of Indian Institute of
Foreign Trade , since August 2017. Previously, he was a full-time professor at the Centre for
International Trade and Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, where he taught
international trade theory. Before that he taught economics at Delhi University. Pant has
obtained his undergraduate degrees from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi and his master’s degree
from Delhi School of Economics. He has done his Ph.D at Southern Methodist University,
Dallas, Texas, USA. Pant used to be a regular newspaper contributor writing for The
Economic Times on trade, investment and competition issues. He has published two books
and over a dozen articles.

Prof. R.S. Yadav

Dr. R.S. Yadav has received his PhD in Political Science. Currently, he is working as
Professor in Kurukshetra University in the Department of Political Science. His research
interests are India’s Foreign Policy, Gandhian thought. He is a member of Study Grant
Committee, ICSSR, North-Western Centre, Panjab University, and Chandigarh.

Prof SC Garkoti

Prof SC Garkoti is currently Rector 2 of Jawaharlal Nehru University. A well known Himalayan ecologist, Prof. Satish Chandra Garkoti,is a reputed specialist on environmental related issues, such as plant ecology, forest structure, community regeneration, carbon sequestration and tree-water realtions, Forest Ecology with emphasis on forest productivity and nutrient cycling, tree ecophysiology, phenology, biodiversity characterization, and climate change adaptation and mitigation. He has about 20 years of research and 11 years of teaching experience. Prof Garkoti has published scholarly books and papers in reputed international and national journals.

Prof. Srikanth Kondapalli

Dr Srikanth Kondapalli is Professor in Chinese Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University. He is
also an Honorary Fellow at Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi and Research Associate at
Centre for Chinese Studies, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa. He served at Institute
for Defence Studies & Analyses, New Delhi for nearly 12 years. He is educated in Chinese
studies in India and China with a specialisation in Modern Chinese History in Master of Arts
at Osmania University at Hyderabad, Master of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy in 1989
and 1995 respectively in Chinese Studies Division of School of International Studies,
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He learnt Chinese language at Beijing Language &
Culture University and was a post-Doctoral Visiting Fellow at People’s University, Beijing
from 1996-98. He was a Visiting Professor at National Chengchi University, Taipei in 2004.
He has published three books, two monographs, co-edited a volume and several articles in
edited books and in national and international journals and newspapers. He has presented
several research papers at national and international conferences in India, China, Japan,
Singapore, South Africa, Taiwan, United Kingdom and United States and lectured at Indian
academic, defence, and media establishments. He is a guest faculty member at College of
Naval Warfare, Army War College, Indo-Tibetan Border Police Academy and Border
Security Force Academy.

Amb. Sudhir T. Devare

Shri Sudhir T. Devare is a former Indian diplomat who served in the Indian Foreign Service from 1964 to 2001. He worked in the Indian Indian missions in Moscow, Washington, Gangtok (Sikkim), Geneva and Yangon (Myanmar). Shri Devare was Consul General in Frankfurt, Germany. He served as Ambassador to South Korea, Indonesia and first Ambassador of India to the newly established republics of Ukraine, Armenia and Georgia. At the MEA Headquarters he had worked as Joint Secretary in charge of the work relating to Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Myanmar and the Indian Ocean. As Secretary in Ministry of External Affairs from 1998 to 2001 he was closely associated with the evolution and implementation of Look East policy. He was also engaged in multilateral economic relations around the world and led official level delegations to G-77, G-15, ARF, IOR-ARC, BIMSTEC etc. On retirement, he was a member of the National Security Advisory Board (2002-03). He was also a Visiting Professor at the Centre of East Asian Studies of Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Mr Devare was a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore (2003-06). Subsequently he was a Fellow of the Weatherhead Center, Harvard University, USA and continues to be associated with the Center. In 2009 Amb Devare was invited to be the Director General of the Indian Council of World Affairs ( ICWA), Sapru House, a prestigious and the oldest think-tank in India which he served till 2012.

 

Prof. Varun Sahni

Varun Sahni is Professor in International Politics at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
and Chairperson, Centre for International Politics, Organization and Disarmament (CIPOD).
He edits South Asian Survey, an international peer review journal of repute, speaks regularly

(since 2006) at the National Defence College (NDC), New Delhi and has been a Jury
Member of the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding. An Inlaks Scholar,
he wrote his doctoral dissertation on the political role of the Argentine Navy at the University
of Oxford (1991). Before joining the JNU faculty in 1995, Varun Sahni was Junior Research
Fellow in Politics and Junior Dean at Lincoln College, Oxford; Resident Fellow of the Rajiv
Gandhi Institute for Contemporary Studies, New Delhi and Reader in Latin American Politics
at Goa University. He has been visiting professor/fellow at Sandia National Laboratories,
Albuquerque, NM; Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE), Mexico City;
National Defense University, Washington, DC (2003, under the Fulbright Military Academies
Initiative) and the Asia Pacific College of Diplomacy, The Australian National University,
Canberra (2008). From December 2008 to January 2012, he served as the 10th Vice-
Chancellor of the University of Jammu. Professor Sahni has been “Personnalité d’Avenir” at
the French Foreign Ministry (1995) and was a Member of Mexico’s Sistema Nacional de
Investigadores (National System of Researchers) (1999-2002). He serves on the editorial
boards of The Chinese Journal of International Politics (Oxford University Press), Asian
Security Series, Stanford University Press, Contemporary Politics (Taylor & Francis), and
International Studies Quarterly. He is Chairman of the Programme Committee of the Indian
Council of World Affairs (ICWA), New Delhi and a Member of the FIST Advisory Board of
the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. For his ‘outstanding
contribution to research and teaching’, he was conferred the VKRV Rao Prize in Social
Sciences for 2006 by the Indian Council of Social Science Research.

Lt. General Vinod Bhatia

Lt General Vinod Bhatia, PVSM, AVSM, SM, (Retd) is currently the Director of Tri-Services Think Tank Centre For Joint Warfare Studies (CENJOWS). He superannuated after 40 years of distinguished service in the Army as the Director General Military Operations (DGMO). He was also the Co-chair of India-US Executive Steering Group on Defence Cooperation and a member of the Sheketkar Committee, convened by the government for transformation of the Armed forces in 2016.

As the DGMO, he was directly responsible for talks with his counterpart in Pakistan.  His higher command assignments include that of Mountain Brigade in North Bengal, Infantry Division on the Line of Control and an operational Corps along the India-China border. He has actively been part of Operations Including Ops Vijay (KARGIL), Falcon (INDIA- CHINA BORDER), All Clear (BHUTAN)  and Cactus (Maldives).

He has vast experience in Disaster Management.  As the Corps Commander he was responsible for planning, deployment of resources and execution of rescue, relief and rehabilitation operations during the Sikkim Earthquake 2011 and as DGMO, he was responsible for planning and execution of rescue and relief operations during Uttarakhand floods 2013.

He was commissioned into The Parachute Regiment in Jun 1974, he commanded 6th battalion the Parachute Regiment and 14 Assam Rifles.

Loading