Team Anandini

Team Anandini...

The Anandini team has a total of Seven Members. Members who bring with them varied strands of thought and experience, sharing different perspectives and making Anandini an interesting weave…

Mrs Kiran Aggarwal : President, Anandini

Mrs Kiran Aggarwal joined the Indian Administrative Service [IAS] in 1964 after completing her BA Hons in English Literature from Miranda House, Delhi University. Later, she studies Law from the Panjab University, Chandigarh. Her early career was in the State of Haryana in various capacities and in different departments including Tourism, Culture, Education. She moved to Government of India in 1993. As Secretary, Government of India, her major postings were as Secretary, Department of Women and Child Development and the Ministry of Urban Affairs and Employment and later in the Planning Commission. Post Retirement, she worked on a few committees set up by the Government of India. She has since been associated with civil society organisations like SOSVA [ a mother NGO doing RCH, awareness programmes on HIV and on TB etc.]; Transparency International [ an organisation dealing with issues dealing with corruption] and Charkha [ an organisation that deals with communications development work]. She also heads a committee that looks after the Shelters in Chandigarh.

Mr. Ashim Aggarwal : Vice-President, Anandini

Ashim is a Lawyer based in Chandigarh. His specialisation is in Corporate Law. He practices in The Supreme Court of India and The Punjab and Haryana High Court, Chandigarh. Ashim has a Degree in Commerce from SRCC, New Delhi. Ashim brings with him the much needed legal support required to run the society.

Ms. Janak Juneja : Treasurer, Anandini

Mr Madhukar Khera: Member Anandini

Mr Madhukar Khera has a degree in Business Management and Commerce, from the Punjab University, Chandigarh. He has diverse interests ranging from backpacking through Europe and North America to running his own business. He has been connected to the business of retail and exports of crafts and handloom for many decades. A partner at Bharat Carpets Manufacturers since 1966 he is also on the Board of Fabindia Overseas Pvt Ltd since 1976 and on the board of All India Artisans and Craftworkers Welfare Association [ AIACA] since its inception. Mr Khera has an interest in environment, social issues, photography and art and brings all these rich experiences to Anandini.

Mrs. Radhika M. Alkazi: Member, Anandini

Mrs. Radhika M. Alkazi is a disability professional and a multi-faceted personality. She has a degree in Basic Development Therapy, a BA Honours degree in Sociology. She has a Post Graduate Diploma in Journalism for Developing Countries and a Masters in Mass Communications. and is a trained counsellor.

She is the Founder Director and Managing Trustee, Astha. Astha is a well-known Delhi- based civil society organisation that works with children/ persons with disabilities and their families in India. She is also an established theatre personality with many stage performances over the decades, to her credit. She has also conducted theatre workshops and directed plays over the last 35 years. She has also trained in music and has been part of a choir in Delhi.

She is a well-known and respected senior member in the field of disability and has spear-headed many research studies, has authored innumerable publications and research studies. She has also been part of government appointed committees to look into the various aspects of education, long-term care and legal rights of children and persons with disabilities in India.

Ms. Shabnam Aggarwal : Founder Director, Anandini

Shabnam’s area of specialization pertains to Disability and she has been working in this field for twenty-seven years. Her formal training in the areas of Psychology [Masters in Psychology]; Learning Disabilities [Dyslexia] and Counselling; Special Education [B Ed in Special Education], and Law [ Degree in Law LLB] have enabled her to integrate various dimensions and concerns in her work. Her work experience has been extensive and ranges from working with children with learning disabilities, specifically Dyslexia; to working with children with high support needs ie those with developmental disabilities specifically cerebral palsy and intellectual disabilities- understanding and addressing their various needs and concerns. She has worked for over twelve years with Astha - working as a special educator, a teacher-mentor and then got into research, training and information sharing in disability, as part of Astha's Information, Research and Counselling unit. Working on the Astha National Disability Helpline, provided an insight into the needs and concerns of persons with disabilities and their families. Working independently with children with dyslexia and their parents has enabled her to understand the need for information and understanding the condition. She was also involved in the various research, training and advocacy initiatives taken up by Astha. She has continued to work closely with Astha for the last 25 years and is now on their Board of Trustees. Through Anandini, she continues to work on research, training and advocacy issues both as Anandini as well as with other organizations and disability groups. Through Anandini she hopes to reach out and touch the lives of people with disabilities and their families...and somewhere, somehow make a difference.

Dr. Jyoti Seth : Member, Anandini

Professor Jyoti Seth has been teaching Sociology and guiding Ph.D. students for 36 years. She is a Trustee and

Secretary of the Jagori Rural Charitable Trust, Dharamshala. She has been volunteering time and expertise with Non- profit organizations for the cause of women and children. Backing her firm academic grounding with activism, she is a Gender Trainer and is actively involved in counselling, especially adolescents and women who are victims of violence.

Mr Bhanu Sharma: Friend of Anandini:

Though not a member of Anandini formally…has been a constant source of help and support. He, along with Ashim are to thank for the website being there in the first place. A Special Thank you to Bhanu for hosting the site and for the patient tutorials through video-conferencing! Thank you…

Bhanu Sharma has more than 10 years of product management and business development experience at startups and enterprise software companies, where he was responsible for taking software plans from initial concept to highly successful product lines. Before Skyfire, he was an entrepreneur-in-residence at Adobe Systems and senior product manager at Macromedia for Breeze Meeting, now Adobe Acrobat Connect. Prior to Adobe, Bhanu was vice president and co-founder of Wanadu, an early web conferencing and eLearning solutions company. At Wanadu, he led the company to an acquisition by Latitude Communications, which was later acquired by Cisco Systems. Bhanu earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Punjab University in Chandigarh, India.