Jury Panel

Ambassador Ajai Malhotra holds an M.A. in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics. He joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1977 and worked at the Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi, and Indian missions in Bucharest, Geneva, Kuwait, Moscow, Nairobi, New York, and Washington DC. He retired as Ambassador of India to the Russian Federation, after thirty-seven years of distinguished service. Since 2014, he is Distinguished Fellow & Senior Adviser (Climate Change), TERI. He is also currently Chairperson of the UN Human Rights Council Advisory Committee, Geneva; Chairman & Managing Trustee of CHIKITSA and SHIKSHA – NGO’s providing free primary healthcare and education & vocational training respectively.

Dr. Ruchi Pant, Chief- Climate Change, Resilience & Chemicals Management at UNDP has been working for several years on customary laws and legal pluralism pertaining to natural resources management in India and Nepal. Her work has largely been in the domain of law, natural resource management, biodiversity conservation, right to water, protection of traditional knowledge, regional cooperation in conservation, international environmental and trade laws, and decentralized governance. She has obtained her doctoral degree from the Centre for the Study of Law and Governance, Jawaharlal Nehru University, and her thesis focused on Legal and Non-Legal Mechanism for Protection of Traditional Knowledge Systems related to bio-genetic resources.

Mrs. Debashree Mukherjee, IAS officer AGMUT 1991 batch and is presently posted as Joint Secretary, Prime Minister’s Office. She has been appointed as Additional Secretary, Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India. She has expertise in the areas related to water, sanitation, and environmental management. She was the Chairperson and Managing Director at Delhi Transport Corporation. She has also served as Chief Executive Officer to Delhi Jal Board.

Mr. Shankar has over forty years experience as a member of the Indian Administrative Service. He has served in the Government of India in key policy-making positions in the areas of industry and energy. He was Secretary, DIPP (Department of Industrial, Policy, and Promotion) in the Government of India as well as Member Secretary, NMCC (National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council). He had earlier worked in the Ministry of Power for many years and held the posts of Special Secretary, Additional Secretary, and Joint Secretary. He played a key role in piloting the reform legislation, the Electricity Act 2003, and the major program for completing the universalization of electricity access launched in 2005 to electrify 1,25,000 villages.

Mr. Kumar, Additional Secretary, took charge as the Director-General of National Mission for Clean Ganga, Ministry of Jal Shakti on 1st January 2022. A 1991-batch IAS officer belonging to the Telangana Cadre, G. Asok Kumar has made significant and diverse contributions to the Water and Sanitation Sector. As the Additional Secretary and Mission Director, National Water Mission (NWM) he was leading the successful Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch The Rain campaign launched by PM Modi on 22 March 2021 to conserve rainwater. He had also served NMCG as Executive Director (Projects) in the 2019-20 period. 

Mr. Mishra is General Civil Service officer, presently working as Advisor in Tourism, culture, Panchayati Raj, Water & Land NITI Aayog (GOI). He has experience of 29 Years, working in various positions in GOI. His educational qualifications are B. Tech, M. Tech. (Water Resources) from IIT Delhi. He has been working in the National Policy Planning formulation, Action Plans of the country. He is engaged in the development plans, proposals of the State Governments relating to Tourism & culture, Water Resources sectors. Also assisted the Plan Panel of the country in the analysis and prioritization of various projects in terms of socio-economic benefits and their impact. He had been associated with various reports and publications and presented many papers in National and International forums. 

Liby Johnson is the executive director of Gram Vikas, Odisha. He is a development management specialist with more than 22 years of experience at grassroots and policy level, working in both the government and non-government sectors. He has a Post Graduate Diploma in Rural Management from the Institute of Rural Management, Anand, Gujarat. Liby coordinated Gram Vikas’ relief, rehabilitation, and reconstruction activities after the 1999 Odisha super cyclone, and post-Indian Ocean tsunami reconstruction efforts taken up by SIFFS, a fisher people’s collective in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

Dr. Sarkar is Distinguished Fellow and Senior Director for the Natural Resources and Climate Programme at TERI. He is also Director, Water Resources Division, TERI since September 2014. He has a Doctorate in Economics (1991) from the State University of New York, Stony Brook. Dr. Sarkar is a retired IAS officer, former Secretary to the Government of India in the Ministry of Water Resources during 2013, in the Department of Personnel and Training during 2013-14 & 2007-2013, and Ministry of Finance (in Department of Economic Affairs) during 1994-97.