Dr. Abhay Bang grew up in the Sevagram ashram of Mahatma Gandhi whose life and philosophy have inspired him. He trained in medicine (MD) in India and in public health (MPH) at the Johns Hopkins University. During his student life he was a top notcher in university, won 3 gold medals and stood first in the national competitive examination. He was active in social movements such as the Bhoodan movement of Vinoba and youth movement of Jayprakash Narain.

Along with his wife Dr. Rani Bang, in 1985 he founded the voluntary organistion, SEARCH, (Society for Education, Action and Research in Community Health) in one of the most underdeveloped districts, Gadchiroli, in the state of Maharashtra in India, where they have been working with the people in 150 villages to provide community-based health care and conduct research. They have developed village health care program which has now become a nationally and internationally famous model. It has influenced health policies in India and world over.

They first brought to the notice of the world that rural women suffer from a large hidden burden of gynecological diseases (Lancet, 1989). They showed how pneumonia in children can be managed in villages (Lancet, 1990), and, how newborn care can be delivered in villages (Lancet, 1999). Their work has reduced infant mortality rate from 121 to 26. His model – Home-based Newborn and Child Care has been adopted for national scale up by the Govt. of India, and was delivered by 800,000 ASHAs to 11 million rural neonates in 2017.

They have led a campaign against alcohol which led to introduction of prohibition in Gadchiroli district, and influenced the State policy. A district pilot called ‘Muktipath’ aims to reduce tobacco and alcohol consumption in 3 years.

His book in Marathi, (माझा साक्षात्‍कारी हृदयरोग) based on his life changing experience of heart disease in 1995 is extremely popular in Maharashtra. It has received two literary awards.

He is chairman of the Expert Committee on Tribal health (Govt. of India) which has produced the first ever comprensive report. ‘Tribal Health in India’ in August 2018.

Honors which he and his organization have received include :

• Padmashri by the Govt. of India (2018).
• Public Health Champion (WHO, 2016).
• The Global Health Hero, TIME magazine (2005).
• MacArthur Foundation International Award for creative and effective institutions. (2006)
• Save the Children, US award for global contribution to saving newborns and children. (2003)
• ‘Maharashtra Bhushan’ the highest state honour of the Govt. of Maharashtra (2003)
• National Award of the Indian Council of Medical Research for outstanding research in community medicine.
• National Award of the Voluntary Health Association of India for the best voluntary health organization.
• Mahatma Gandhi Award for humanitarian service.
• The Kelkar award for the best literary article in Marathi in the year 1996.
• Yashwantrao Chavhan state award for social work, (2000).
• The Karve award for the best literary book in Marathi, (2000).
• The State Award for De-addiction – Government of Maharashtra. (2001)
• Satpal Mittal Award for Population – by the Indian Association of Parliamentarians, New Delhi. (2002)
• ‘Dory Storms’ Child Survival Recognition Award from CORE Group Washington (2010)
• ‘Bapu’ Award from Gandhi National Memorial Society, Pune (2009)
• Several other awards for social work.

He is at present the Chairman of the Expert Committee on Tribal Health, Govt of India. Under his leadership a roadmap of tribal health care in India has been developed.

He is an eminent member of the Central Health Council, the apex body of the Ministry of Health, Govt. of India.

He was the Chairman of the ‘Committee for the Evaluation of Child Health and Malnutrition in Maharashtra’ appointed by the Govt. of Maharashtra (2003).

He was member of the National Commission on Population (2001-2004), National Commission on Macro-economics and Health (2003-05), and is currently a member of the Mission Steering Group of the National Rural Health Mission, Govt. of India (2008 - ), and of the High Level Expert Group appointed by the Planning Commission to plan Universal Health Care in India.

He was an adjunct professor of Global Health at Emory University, Atlanta, and advisor to numerous national and international organizations. He has lectured in 20 countries, including at the Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Stanford, Berkely and London University and at the global headquarters of organizations such as WHO, UNICEF, Save the Children, World Bank, US-AID, Gates Foundation. Most recently he was invited to deliver a lecture at the Sabarmati ashram of Mahatma Gandhi on his death anniversary.

Raghunath AnantMashelkar, also known as Ramesh Mashelkar, (born 1 January 1943) is an Indian Chemical Engineer, born in a village Mashel in Goa and brought up in Maharashtra. He is a former Director General of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).[1] He was also the President of Indian National Science Academy (2004-2006), President of Institution of Chemical Engineers (2007) as also the President of Global Research Alliance (2007-2018). He was also first Chairperson of Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR).[2] He is a Fellow of the Royal Society,[3] Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng),[4] Foreign associate of US National Academy of Engineering[5] and the US National Academy of Sciences.

Mashelkar studied at University of Bombay's University Department of Chemical Technology (UDCT; now the Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai) where he obtained BE degree in Chemical Engineering in 1966, and PhD degree in 1969. He currently serves as Chancellor of the institute. He served as the Director General of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) - a network of thirty-eight laboratories-for over eleven years. Prior to this,he was Director of National Chemical Laboratory (NCL) for six years. He has been a Visiting Professor at Harvard University(2007-2012), at University of Delaware (1976, 1988), and at Technical University of Denmark (1982).He has been Sir Louis Matheson Distinguished Professor at Monash University for thirteen years (2007-2019). He has been on Board of Directors of several companies such as Reliance Industries Ltd., Tata Motors Ltd., Hindustan UnileverLtd., ThermaxLtd.,Piramal Enterprises Ltd; KPIT TechnologiesLtd., etc.

Vishal Solanki is an IAS officer, presently posted at Pune as Commissioner, Education, Government of Maharashtra looking after overall administration and various schemes sponsored by Central and State Government encompassing pre-primary to higher secondary education in Maharashtra.

He has served in various positions earlier in State of Assam like Secretary to Chief Minister, Assam, Deputy Commissioner in Morigaon and Jorhat districts etc. Solanki has vast experience in Administration, Developmental issues, Social sectors etc.

He holds a masters' degree in Political Science from Pune University. He had also undergone short term courses in Edinburgh University, UK and Korea Development Institute, Seoul, South Korea.

He has been felicitated with a number of national and state level awards for outstanding contribution in various sectors. In the present assignment, Solanki is driven with a zeal to make a positive difference in elementary and secondary education of 25 million children in Maharashtra.

Kuvalekar, Vijay Vishwanath was born on January 22, 1952 in Vanagule, India. Son of Vishwanath Narayan and LataVishwanath (Patil) Kuvalekar. Vijay VishwanathKuvalekar, Indian Newspaper editor-in-chief Recipient 4 State Government awards for feature films, 1997. Member Maharashtra State Workers Welfare Board, Bombay, 1993-1996; secretary Sakal Relief Fund, since 1987; vice president Vidyanidhi Trust, Pune, since 1992. Member Press Club (president 1992-1995), Editors Guild India. Bachelor, University Poona, 1978.

Trainee sub editor Daily Pudhari, Kolhapur, 1971-1972. Sub editor Daily Kesari, Pune, 1972-1975. From subordinate editor to editor Daily Sakal, 1975-1994. Editor-in-chief Sakal Group Newspapers, 1994—2000. Freelance journalist. Member board studies Shivaji University, Kolhapur, 1985-1986. Public committee Doctor AmbedkarMarathwada University, Aurangabad, India, 1994-1996, adhoc board studies in journalism, 1994-2000. State government standing committee for investigation into assaults on journalists, 1994-1999. Member executive and academic council Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth University, Pune, 1997-2000. Member governing council BharatiVidyapeeth University, Pune, 1997-2004. Member committee drafting right to information act, 2001-2002. Member committee revise norms for accreditation journals, Government Maharashtra, 2006.

Member Maharashta State Sahitya and Sanskruti Mandal, since 2006, Maharashtra State board development Marathi language, since 2006. Vijay VishwanathKuvalekar has been listed as a noteworthy newspaper editor-in-chief by Marquis Who's Who. Member Maharashtra State Workers Welfare Board, Bombay, 1993-1996. Secretary Sakal Relief Fund, 1987-2000. Vice president Vidyanidhi Trust, Pune, since 1992. Member Press Club (president 1992-1995, 99-2001), Editors Guild India.

Dr. Pandit Bhalchandra Vidyasagar is a well-known Educationist and Educational Administrator at State and National level. His research contributions have been acknowledged at International level in the field of Bio-physics. Former Professor and Head of the Physics Department, Savitribai Phule Pune University has extensively contributed to the upliftment of higher education through his writing, participation in policy making and working on various committees at state and national level.

He has guided 16 students for Ph.D. and 19 students for M.Phil. He has to his credit 18 books on education, research and science popularization. His contributions at the interface science and society have been duly recognized.

He has worked on many important posts and also chaired committees’ set-up by UGC, State Government and University. He was a regular and senior associate at International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy for 12 years. He was invited as a Professor at Chubu University, Japan.

He has earned many accolades for his significant contributions in education, research and science popularization. Some of them are G. R. Paranjape award by Maharashtra Sahitya Parishad, National Education Leadership Award for Outstanding Contribution to Education-2014 by Lokmat and Star group, Shikshan Maharshi Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Memorial Award by Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University, Nashik and Vidya Vyas Award by Vidya Co-operative Bank for his contributions towards educational and social upliftments.

He has worked as a Director, Board of College and University Development, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune and Acting Vice-Chancellor of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, Aurangabad. Presently he is working as a Vice-Chancellor of Swami Ramanand Teerth Marathwada University, Nanded, Maharashtra.

Mr. Vivek Sawant was the Managing Director of Maharashtra Knowledge Corporation Limited (MKCL) since its inception in 2001 to 2019. Under his leadership, MKCL has emerged as a high-tech initiative of the Government of Maharashtra and 10 universities in Maharashtra for development and delivery of Education, Governance and Empowerment technologies, solutions and services to masses.

In MKCL, he has successfully integrated a network of about 5000+ Authorized Learning Centers spanning over the Maharashtra state. This is the single largest private-public-partnership network of its kind in India. Over 1.25 Crore learners from metros to rural and tribal areas have taken a low-cost, high-quality IT Literacy eLearning experiences leading to MS-CIT certification through this network in last 16 years. This venture has provided employment and self-employment opportunities in the field of IT to about 25,000 youngsters in the state at their own native places.

Under his leadership, MKCL with its popular brands such as ERA, Digital University, OASIS, etc. has offered its Digital Empowerment services to more than 20 million (2 Crore) common people in several states of India as well as abroad. Today while MKCL has emerged as a self-sustaining, wealth creating and ever growing enterprise it is firmly committed to its social responsibility and social accountability.

He serves on the boards of directors of several organizations such as MKCL, Odisha Knowledge Corporation Limited (OKCL), Haryana Knowledge Corporation Limited (HKCL), MKCL International Free Zone Establishment, Dubai, MKCL Arabia Ltd., Riyadh, MKCL Malaysia, MKCL Lanka, etc. He is a former director of Maharashtra State Board of Technical Education and Rajasthan Knowledge Corporation Limited (RKCL).

He was also nominated for World Technology Network Award at San Francisco for his work of likely long-term significance in education.

Mr. Ramesh Panse left a secure career as a Professor of Economics to pursue his passion for Social Work and Children’s Education. It was with this shift that, MrPanse, in his own words, ‘from being a teacher of postgraduate students, he finally graduated and elevated his status to being a teacher of little preschool children’.

Today, Mr.Panse, or Panse Sir to the legion of his admirers, is a well-known child-educationist in the State of Maharashtra, India. Over the past three decades, his major contribution to the society has been an all-around effort towards the awareness, acceptance and practice of high quality, learner-centric and development-appropriate childhood education in the Indian states of Maharashtra and its neighboring state of Goa. He has achieved this through knowledge creation and dissemination, as well as awareness and education programs for a wide array of stakeholders. Perhaps most importantly, he has led the application of the theory and principles by leading the creation of model preschools and primary schools, as well as teacher-training programs to benefit underprivileged tribal, rural and urban areas. He did this on an individual level, by partnering with other experts, as well as through two nonprofit organizations that he founded and continues to oversee: ‘Gram-mangal’ (from gram = village, mangal = prosperity or well-being) and ‘Maharashtra Bal-ShikhanParishad’ (Maharashtra Childhood Education Organization), both of which continue to dedicate themselves to the goal of bringing quality childhood education to all children.

श्रीमती रेणू गावस्कर

• गेली 35 वर्षे सामाजिक कार्यात कार्यरत
• समाजातील वंचित मुलांच्या सर्वांगीण विकासासाठी प्रयत्नशील
• व्यसनासक्त व्यक्ती व त्यांचे कुटुंबिय यांसाठी मुक्तांगण व कृपा फाऊंडेशन या संस्थामार्फत समुपदेशनाची सेवा
• कथाकथन या विषयाचा सखोल अभ्यास व या माध्यमाची शिक्षणात असणारी उपयोगिता यावर विपुल लेखन
• शिक्षक, पालक यांसाठी कार्यशाळा
• उत्तम लेखिका, पाश्चात्त्य वाड्मयावर लेखमाला

प्रकाशित पुस्तके

• डिफीकल्ट डॉटर्स – मराठीत भाषांतरीत केले आहे.
• आमचा काय गुन्हा – विखे पाटील पुरस्काराने सन्मानित
• निशब्द झुंज – 2007 उत्कृष्ट ललित लेखन पुरस्कार- महाराष्ट्र शासन
• गोष्टी जन्मांतरीच्या
• अफलातून गोष्टी
• हरवले ते गवसले
• मालक नको पालक व्हा

• मुंबईतील चिल्ड्रेन्स एड सोसायटीच्या ‘डेव्हीड ससून इंडस्ट्रीयल स्कूल ‘ या उन्मार्गी मुलांसाठी विविधांगी मूलभूत काम. यातून ‘आम्ही युवा’ या स्वयंसेवी संस्थेची स्थापना.

• पुण्यातील वंचित मुलांच्या सर्वांगीण विकासासाठी एकलव्य बाल शिक्षण व आरोग्य न्यास या संस्थेची स्थापना.

पुरस्कार

• मा.मुख्यमंत्री देवेंद्र फडणवीस यांच्या हस्ते टाइम्स ग्रुपचा ‘देवी पुरस्कार’ 2017
• माजी उपमुख्यमंत्री अजितदादा पवार यांच्या हस्ते ग्रामदेवता पुरस्कार 2018
• ‘मृत्युंजयकार शिवाजी सावंत पुरस्कार 2018’ ने सन्मानित.
• महाराष्ट्र शासनाचा अहिल्यादेवी पुरस्कार
• मुंबई दूरदर्शनतर्फे ‘हिरकणी पुरस्कार’
• विद्या सहकारी बँकेतर्फे दिला जाणारा ‘विद्या व्यास पुरस्कार’ तत्कालीन मुख्यमंत्री विलासराव देशमुख यांच्या हस्ते सन्मानित

Deepak Ghaisas is the chairman of Gencoval Strategic Services Pvt Ltd. Previously, he was the CEO from 1997 of India Operations and CFO of global operations from 1993 for I-flex Solutions Ltd., India.[1] He has worked in the software industry since 1987.[citation needed] Ghaisas has been involved in the software industry in a number of roles, including:

• Executive Member of The NASSCOM Executive Council[2]
• Member of the CII Executive Council for Western India [2]

Deepak resigned from I-flex on 8 August 2008, just before it was renamed Oracle Financial Services Software.

Dr. ChandraShekar Desai is a ENT/ Otorhinolaryngologist in Yerwada, Pune and has an experience of 37 years in this field. Dr. ChandraShekar Desai practices at Sat Ayushi in Yerwada, Pune. He completed MBBS from Pune University in 1980 and MS - ENT from Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC), Pune in 1983.

Dr YSP Thorat, who retired as chairman of the National Bank of Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) in November 2007, was till recently the executive chairman of the Dryland Farming Commission and chairman of the Agriculture Universities Recruitment Board, Government of Maharashtra. DrThorat is currently an adjunct professor at the Yashwantrao Chavan School of Rural Development, Shivaji University, Kolhapur, and the secretary general of PIRENS. He is also the director of Rallis India and Ambit Capital, and the vice chairman of Star Agriwarehousing and Collateral Management, among others.

DrThorat started his career with the Reserve Bank of India in 1972 and was appointed its executive director in 2003. His major contribution has been in the field of policy support for agriculture finance, supervision and export credit. In 2004, he was appointed as managing director, NABARD, and elevated a year later to chairman.

He has been associated with the Planning Commission, Government of India, for the 10th and 11th five year plans, and was the chief executive of the Rajiv Gandhi Trust, Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, New Delhi. He has served on the governing board of National Institute of Bank Management, Pune; was chairman of the National Commodities and Derivatives Exchange, Mumbai, and the chairman of the Indian Society of Agriculture Economics. On the academic side he was a member of the senate and academic council, Shivaji University, Kolhapur; member, governing board, Institute of Rural Management, and strategic advisor to MicroSave (Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation).

A university rank holder in political science, DrThorat has a degree in law, a doctorate in economics and is a D.Lit. He is a recipient of the prestigious Gopal Krishna Gokhale Award.

Mr. Gajanan S. Kelkar, M. Tech. ( I.I.T., Mumbai ), Trustee & Research Director of the Manashakti Research Centre, Lonavla is a famous institute, providing various services to the society.

APPPAH [Association for Pre-natal &Peri-natal Psychology & Health], an international institute from America, has organized this conference from 3rd to 7th Dec., 2003. The subject is - “Brain, Birth & Bonding”. Various experts conducting research in this field, are to attend this conference. Mr. Kelkar has also been invited to participate in it.. Previously, Mr. Kelkar’s research paper - “A Pre-Natal Project in India” has been published in APPPAH’s international journal.

The concept that, ‘right from pre-natal stage i.e. when the child is in the womb of the mother, sanskars [good values] can be imparted to it’, has been practically implemented by Swami Vijnananand, from 40 years back. Till date, thousands of couples have participated in this ‘pre-natal sanskar experiment’ & have had excellent results. Of them, an analysis of 1850 case-studies has also been published, two years back. In all, on this overall research, Manashakti has published a book namely - ‘Fetus Speaks From The Womb : Learn To Listen’ [In Marathi]. Alongwith it, programmes like Garbha-Saamarthya Study-course, Garbha-Sanskar Workshop, Fetuscope Test, etc. are also conducted in the research centre. Recently, the research division has also published a special Article‘Pre-natal Sanskar Note-book’ for pregnant couples.