Under the leadership of the Hon’ble Prime Minister, Dr Rajesh Kumar steered the roll-out of POSHAN Abhiyaan (Prime Minister’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nourishment) and has helped to bring in convergence among the various key ministries linked to the scheme, thus giving it the heft it needed. From organising high level conferences, policy discussions, meetings and workshops to linking with the various departments and stakeholders, Dr Kumar has also invested in the Poshan Abhiyaan mission his personal commitment to transform the nutrition landscape.

Shri Alok Kumar is an Indian Administrative Service Officer of 1993 batch of the Uttar Pradesh cadre. He has a Master’s degree in Public Policy from Princeton University in addition to a B. Tech from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. Presently he is on deputation to the Union Government and is posted in the NITI Aayog as Adviser (Social Sector), looking after various portfolios, such as Health, Nutrition, Woman & Child and Education. Prior to this, he has worked in the Governments of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Among his major assignments, he has held the post of Secretary to the Chief Minister Uttar Pradesh, Managing Director of the State Industrial Development Corporation, besides the usual field level positions.

Dr. Hemalatha is the Director, ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition and heads the largest nutrition research organisation in the country that covers the spectrum from basic to public health. Dr. Hemalatha, MBBS and MD, has carried out extensive research in the realm of Nutrition, Infection and Immunity with special emphasis on women and child health, preconception nutrition and the first 1000 days of life. After taking over as the Director of ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition, Dr. Hemalatha’s emphasis has been on strengthening inter-sectoral, inter-institutional, inter-disciplinary synergy for finding practical solutions to the nutrition issues confronting the country.

He is one of the most recognized faces of Indian television. Mr. Kapoor was in people’s living rooms for almost two decades introducing them to the delights of Indian and international cuisine in his inimitable easy going and cheery manner. The show Khana Khazana was one of those trailblazing cookery shows on Zee. Little wonder then that he has a massive fan following across all age groups, genders and countries! He has the proud distinction of being the only chef in the world to have his own channel – FoodFood. He has also been conferred the ‘Best Chef of India’ award by the Government of India. He represented India at the World Association of Chefs’ Societies (WACS) in South Korea and here he introduced them to the wonders of the ancient Indian way of Ayurvedic cooking.

Dr. Rupinder Singh Sodhi, is Managing Director of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation, Ltd., (AMUL), which is India’s largest Food Products organization. The Amul Brand’s annual turnover is Rs.45,000 crores (US $ 6.5 billion) for 2018-19. Dr. Sodhi has 38 years of rich experience in leading & developing the cooperative sector in the Indian dairy industry, having served dairy farmers in several capacities. He has been responsible for creating the current structure of Amul, enabling the organization to maintain and enhance its leadership status within the Indian dairy industry. Member unions of GCMMF are procuring 23 million litres of milk per day from more than 18,600 Village Dairy Co-operative societies.

Mr. Mundol is Executive Director for India & Child Protection at Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF). CIFF is the world’s largest philanthropy focussed on children.

CIFF’s portfolio in India includes maternal and child health, adolescent sexual health, nutrition, tackling child slavery and exploitation, and addressing climate change.

CIFF’s child protection work is focussed on ending the scourges of child labour and commercial sexual exploitation of children, with an emphasis on choking demand.

Dr. Purvi Mehta has over 22 years of experience working in 7 countries in Asia, Africa and North America on agriculture policy reforms, biotechnology and international development.
At present, she is Head of Asia for Agriculture at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF). She leads the foundation’s agriculture strategy across countries in Asia, that includes links between farming systems and food systems as a key component.
She did her formal education, up to PhD, from M.S. University, India, Tokyo University, Japan and North Carolina State University- USA.

Dr Rajan Sankar is a Physician and has specialised in internal medicine. Dr Sankar was the head of Thyroid Research Centre and department of endocrinology in the Defence Research and Development Organization and retired from the Army Medical Corps in the rank of Colonel after 24 years of service. He has been actively involved with Iodine Deficiency Disorders elimination activities in India and in the South Asia region. In recognition of his contribution in this field, he was awarded the Sir Sriram Memorial Award by the National Academy of Medical Sciences of India in 1997 and the Sivanthi Adityan Gold Medal by the Association of Physician of India in 1990.

Mr. Basanta Kumar Kar, an international development professional who has won many accolades in his over 30-year career, brings to the nutrition sector his prolific knowledge and vast experience, having worked extensively at the grassroots in India as well as other South and South East Asian countries. Through his professional excellence, programme delivery skills, public interest orientation, innovative ideas, deep knowledge of the subject and empathy, he has demonstrated how intervention programmes can be suitably scaled up for maximising impact among the poor and marginalised. He has helped shape and influence country-level policy and legislations, created platforms and agenda to spread awareness in the sector.

Ms. Kalpana Beesabathuni has over 14 years of experience in nutrition, food, WASH, renewable energy and global health and has worked in multi-cultural and science driven contexts, fostering product, technology and social business model innovation. She is also as an entrepreneur in healthcare. Kalpana holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, a Master’s in Agricultural and Food Engineering from University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and a Bachelor’s in Agricultural and Food Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (Kharagpur).

Mr. Ravi Bhatnagar leads External Affairs and Partnerships at Reckitt Benckiser, and is in charge of the Africa, Middles East and South Asia Regions, where the interlinking of the issues of Health, Hygiene and Nutrition can be seen from close quarters.

The focus throughout is on Human Centric Design Thinking, or a creative approach to problem solving, which is key to the success of projects in these countries. Being an integral part of conveying Reckitt Benckiser’s mission of “Purpose led Business”, Mr Bhatnagar has used his communication skills to reach out to the target benefactors of the programmes, who belong to the marginalised sections of society.

Mr. Ruben Banerjee is the editor in chief of Outlook. He was earlier the National Affairs Editor of Hindustan Times. A journalist with more than three decades of experience, he worked previously as an editor with Al Jazeera headquartered in Doha, Qatar, India Today and Indian Express.
An incurable news junkie, Mr. Banerjee is particularly fascinated by anything that is interesting and significant and impacts the world. Also an author, his latest book ‘Naveen Patnaik’ – an unauthorised biography of the Odisha chief minister – got rave reviews. This was his second book, the first being ‘The Orissa Tragedy – A Cyclone’s Year of Tragedy’.