Team

Founder and CEO

Swapan Mehra

Swapan is an environmental finance and policy expert, proficient in designing and implementing projects and policy interventions in forestry, biodiversity conservation, and climate change mitigation and adaptation. After completing an Advanced Diploma in Forest Management from Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM), Bhopal, he worked with some of the largest carbon finance firms in the world.

In 2009, he set up IORA, an environmental policy advisory group that provides implementable solutions in the areas of carbon finance, forestry and biodiversity conservation and new market mechanisms for emission reduction.

Visioning, strengthening and building sustainable conservation models are his passion. Over the years, he has been involved in conservation and policy intervention issues, especially in the forestry sector, at the grassroots level as well as the national and international levels. This multi-level exposure to key problems allows him to envisage and develop solutions that are holistic and multi-faceted.

Awards and Fellowships:

FICCI Young Business Leader

LEAD International Fellow in 2011

Donella Meadows Fellowship by the Balaton Group

Swapan is a member of:

National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA)

Expert Panel on the JNR Program of VCS

Jury for the UNDP Equator Prize

The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) study.

He was a technical reviewer of UNEP’s Green Economy Initiatives, a major UN project demonstrating how REDD+ can support a green economy.

Director

Anil Kumar Mehra

Maj Gen A K Mehra, AVSM, VSM (Veteran) served in the Indian Army for 37 years before superannuating in Aug 2007. He has a  Master’s Degree in Defence Studies from Madras University and has done  M Phil in Defence Studies from Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya, Indore. Since 2014 he is one of the Directors in IORA’s Board of Directors. He oversees the HR, Administrative and Financial aspects at IORA

Co-founder

Chhaya Bhanti

Chhaya is a sustainability strategist with expertise in catalyzing climate action through multi-disciplinary approaches. After working as a media strategist in New York City with some of the world’s largest brands, she joined the renewable energy sector working with One Sun Solar in San Francisco and Lumisolair in New York working on clean tech finance, government & multi-lateral partnerships and technology innovation. Bringing this extensive international experience with her, Chhaya moved back to India to establish Vertiver, a strategic consultancy for climate action and dissemination and joined Swapan to co-found IORA. She is also a co-founder of the NGO, Sanjhi, based in Rajasthan that works on media-based storytelling for environmental action.  She holds an MBA in Sustainability and an M.A in Communications and Film from the U.S.

Head – Carbon Market and VP - Corporate Partnerships

Digvijay Chauhan

Digvijay is a carbon-market expert with over eleven years of industry experience in the identification and commercialization of carbon offsets and CDM projects. He holds a Postgraduate degree in Business Management and Finance from Pune University. He is credited with developing innovative new products like carbon offset backed pre-payment and debt financing. Digvijay has also been involved in originating the transaction of more than 6 million carbon offsets from India.

Prior to joining IORA, he worked with:

EcoSecurities, a global leader in carbon offset development

MF Global, one of the world’s leading commodity brokerage houses, where he headed the carbon offset trading       desk for India.

At IORA, Digvijay heads the development of carbon financing strategy for various climate change mitigation projects; with a mission to enable sustainable development by promoting ecosystem conservation, low-carbon technologies and climate change adaptation through customized financing and distribution models.

Vice President – Climate Change

Dr. Sumana Bhattacharya

Dr. Sumana Bhattacharya is working in the area of climate change and environment policy and research for more than two decades now.  She is a doctorate in Physics from Department of Physics, University of Delhi.

In IORA, she is currently leading work on assessment of baseline and future emissions with low Carbon strategies, development of MRV tool for assessing Carbon reduction potential of schemes and projects, developing National Adaptation Plans,  drafting PDDs for seeking support for adaptation funds, estimating  National GHG and other pollutant emission base lines,  Establishing GHG inventory management systems,   quantifying drivers of deforestation and degradation  of forests  in various landscapes for REDD+ projects, developing Monitoring and Evaluation Frameworks for climate change adaptation projects,   designing legal and regulatory frameworks for integrating climate smart disaster risk management across departments, assessing  ecosystem services generated due to plantations, and drafting handbooks on SAPCCs for dissemination. These projects are being carried out for the governments of Assam, Sikkim, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Ethiopia, and Guyana and are supported by the MoEFCC, GIZ, GGGI, JCCP, CCIP, APFBC and ONGC. Sumana has also guided intern thesis on low C brick sector in India and drafted policy papers on wood is good and the aviation sector.

Prior to IORA, Sumana worked in IC India, MoEFCC, Asia Pacific Network for Climate Change – Japan, and National Physical Laboratory, India. Some of the significant projects managed and implemented by Sumana while in these organisations were India’s 1^st and 2^nd National Communications  to UNFCCC; a Gold Standard biogas project for WWF; National level GHG and other pollutant emission trends for Industrial process and product use sector for India’s BUR1 and  for all sectors  for ADB supported ALGAS project;  State level low Carbon development policies for Shakti Foundation; rationalising farmer field level interventions to  minimise Methane emission from rice production for MIGROS, Switzerland; assessing training needs assessment, developing modules and training for integrating climate change adaptation in planning; drafting State Action Plans on Climate Change for Sikkim, West Bengal, Punjab, Tamilnadu, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, and Haryana for GIZ; Policy paper on institutional strengthening for adaptation to climate extremes for BASIC project; and developing netCDF data bases for INDOEX .

Sumana has contributed to the development of IPCC 1996 and 2006 guidelines for National GHG inventory development; She was awarded the 1st START young scientist award in 1997 for her work on India specific methane emission factors from rice cultivation. She has carried out a number of in-country and desk based reviews for Annex-1 national GHG inventories for UNFCCC. She is also national advisor for WGIA workshops for Asian countries- an initiative of NIES Japan. Sumana has numerous publications in National and International journals and commissioned papers for various agencies including WRI and MoEFCC amongst others.

Manager - Climate Policy

Sriya Mohanti

Sriya holds a Master’s Degree in Environmental Studies under the European Commission’s Erasmus Mundus Programme. Under the programme, she focused on the areas of climate change, clean energy, water and sanitation. During this period, her project work covered a detailed review of the Government of India’s National Biogas and Manure Management Programme and its implementation. She completed her thesis under the Ecological Sanitation Department of the German International Cooperation (GIZ) GmbH Headquarters. It assessed the potential of GIZ’s “SANIRESCH” system (an innovative urban sustainable sanitation and wastewater management system) in India.

At IORA, Sriya has been involved in the area of climate change with projects such as the development of India’s first Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Action (NAMA) in the Forestry Sector, UNDP-Government of India’s Biodiversity Finance Initiative assessment of private sector investments towards biodiversity in India and mobilization of corporate engagement towards climate adaptation. She also represents IORA as a Lab Advisor for the India Innovation Lab for Green Finance. Prior to joining IORA, Sriya worked at Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation, a Delhi based grant-making organization, which aids the design and implementation of policies that encourage energy efficiency and renewable energy in India. As part of the Climate Policy program, Sriya supported its core objective of aiding India’s transition towards a low carbon development pathway. This involved contributing towards program strategy planning; developing and managing grants and contracts; and conducting associated communication and fundraising activities. As part of Shakti’s Climate Policy program, she was involved in the development and management of over 50 projects covering a wide range of thematic areas including policy dialogue, capacity building, research and implementation to support low carbon development in India.

Manager - Climate Change and Environment

Dr. Monojit Chakraborty

Monojit is working as Manager – Climate Change & Environment at IORA. He’s working on key projects such as System Assessment and Design of a National Meta Registry to support cost-effective Greenhouse Gas reduction in India under World Bank funded Partnership for Market Readiness (PMR) Program; and Development of GHG Inventory and MRV System for Sikkim in partnership with Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation and Government of Sikkim, and also working on environmental (air, water and soil) and sustainable index for the the 15th Finance commission project, Government of India.

He is a research professional with 12 years of experience in Environmental Sciences. He also has research experiences in climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies; specialization in the in-situ measurement and emission model based GHGs emission inventories from natural as well as anthropogenic sources; air pollution monitoring, mapping and dispersion modelling; climate smart and sustainable intensification agriculture strategies; solid waste and hazardous waste management, and waste to energy.
He completed his Ph.D. in Environmental Science from Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi and CSIR- National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi. He also completed a Postdoc from Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, Switzerland. He is a member of iLEAPS, which acts as a communication hub and coordinator of world-wide scientific research in the field of ecosystem-atmosphere exchanges and the impact of those exchanges on key societal issues. He has 14 international publications in the respective research areas.

Prior to IORA, he has worked with Intercooperation Social Development India, New Delhi as a Project Coordinator and Research Fellow in CSIR-NEERI and IIT-Delhi. His last assignment was with CSIR-National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi.

Manager - Climate Change

Tanvi Bongale

Tanvi has joined the Climate Change Team at IORA in 2018. Her work focuses on developing low carbon growth strategies and ambitious climate actions for companies by helping measure and manage their emissions, implement carbon management and mitigation plans, create sustainability roadmaps and assist on sustainability disclosure platforms. Her role includes engagement with the private sector on GHG inventorization and mitigation strategies, develop new projects for air pollution management and support climate change mitigation and adaptation initiatives at national and sub-national levels.

Prior to IORA, Tanvi has managed the Air Quality Program for WRI India, encompassing analysis and evaluation of air quality, compliance regime in India, co-authored technical reports addressing air quality issues, lead the CEO coalition and policy recommendations for developing air quality management roadmap for India. She has also supported activities of India Greenhouse Gas Program such as promotion of GHG inventories, capacity building through conducting trainings, tool development and managing GHG emissions for Indian corporates. She has lead the development of carbon sequestration and accounting of green belts of six depots for Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) and developed air quality action plans for two cities in Maharashtra. With Bunge India Pvt Ltd., she has worked extensively with the private sector in India as a Consultant where she advised clients across Wastewater, Wind, Hydro, EE, Forestry and waste handling sectors under many voluntary and compliance market-based mechanisms, contributed to CSR policy for the organization and worked on sustainability disclosure projects. Furthermore, as a PDD consultant she has worked with Green Ventures and Balance CO2 to conceptualize, design, and develop carbon credit projects under CDM and conduct due diligence of various environment related projects.

Tanvi holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Sciences from the University of Pune and have completed certificate courses in the GHG Protocol from WRI, India, and Air Quality Management from IIT Madras.

Senior Research Associate

Swagata Dey

Swagata is an experienced researcher in the domains of Environmental Sciences, Materials Chemistry and Energy Materials. She holds a Masters in Environment Science from TERI University and a research based Masters in Chemistry from The Ohio State University.

She works as a Senior Research Associate in IORA’s Climate Change team. Her role includes development of climate policy for mitigation and adaptation projects. Additionally she is the coordinator for IORA’s research projects on GHG emissions and provides research and documentation support to the team

Prior to joining IORA, Swagata was working at Oregon State University, USA where she worked on designing materials for environmentally benign pigments and energy storage. She has researched extensively on lead free piezoelectric materials as a part of projects in the Center for Sustainable Materials Chemistry at Oregon State. She has also worked at IIT Delhi and The Ohio State University, USA where she was involved in design, preparation and characterization of functional materials with perosvskite and wolframite structure for environmental applications. At Ohio State, she also researched pollutant behaviour at the air-water interface on projects funded by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Apart from research, Swagata has trained several undergraduate students in laboratory and classroom setup for both environment science and chemistry courses. She was awarded the University Fellowship at Ohio State University and recently the Portland Women in Science travel fellowship. She has presented posters in conferences, published in peer-reviewed journals and is a regular contributor to popular science magazines.

Research Associate – Policy & Governance

Suraj Appaiah Cariappa

Suraj is a Lawyer by profession, and a Policy and Governance expert at IORA. He specialises in Environment and Energy Laws with more than 4 years of experience in Civil Litigation and Legal work (contractual).

Having done his BA, LL.B from the University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun, Uttarakhand; he litigated in Civil Law at Delhi High Court and Tis Hazari District Court (New Delhi). As a student of Law, he conducted researched on various subjects in the energy and environment sectors and closely worked with environmental lawyers and firms in the concerned field. He has side-by-side also worked on reports and researches pertaining to climate change and energy and environmental sustainability issues.

At IORA, Suraj analyzes the prevailing policy structure and governance framework existing in the environment and energy sectors, and accordingly provides inputs for the progression and enhancement of the policy framework in environmental and sustainable development. He conducted policy analysis and research for REDD+ projects especially for the States of Sikkim and Madhya Pradesh. He has also supported formulation of ‘Climate Change Adaptation Plans’ along with Vulnerability Assessments and Gap Analysis for all sectors and regions in the Indian subcontinent; has been a socio-economic expert for Sustainable Agroscape Plan at Munger Bihar (IUCN). He is currently facilitating the ASDMA, Assam Govt. by studying and researching the existing legal provisions and laws under Disaster Management, in order to enhance and develop new legal provisions, regulatory framework and policies to be followed by various departments involved in Disaster Management, Relief and Preparedness.

Research Associate

Shweta Pandey

Shweta is an expert in Climate Change Mitigation. She has an experience of developing GHG Inventory for various sectors and Carbon Neutral Strategies. Besides that, she also hold technical expertise in Natural Resource Assessment.

She holds a Postgraduate degree in Natural Resource Management from the University School of Environment Management, GGSIPU (New Delhi). While pursuing her academics, she interned with WWF (World Wildlife Fund) India for a study on the impact of the floods in Rudraprayag district of Uttarakhand in 2013 using Remote Sensing and GIS and did her Master’s thesis named ‘The Indian Brick Sector- An assesment of Emission Trends, Low Carbon Emission Scenario and Cost benefits’ at IORA where she mapped Brick kilns (pan India) through the GIS interface and estimated their state-wise GHG emissions and now is a well-known face in the All India Brick Association.

As a Research Associate at IORA, she has developed GHG Inventory for Off Road Transport for NATCOM Cell (BUR and TNC) reporting to UNFCCC; Also, she has been developing Carbon Neutral Strategies for Majuli (Assam) by estimating GHG Emissions from all sectors and suggesting technical strategies to make a Carbon Neutral District further co-assisting development of a web-based Registry tool for the same. She has also given her inputs for abstract development of the SAPCC for the State of Mizoram (GIZ) and Handbook for the State of Maharashtra (CCIP). Besides, she is also involved in carbon estimations and quantifications for Forest-PLUS in Sikkim and Madhya Pradesh and soil and water assessments for the ecosystem based studies to be conducted for ONGC.

Research Associate

Avrah Abraham

Avrah has joined IORA as a Research Associate with the climate change team. He will be working specifically on climate finance policy, but will provide insight across a range of IORA’s operations. He has graduated in International Politics from the University of Aberystwth (2017), having also done a semester at Renmin University, Beijing.

Avrah’s previous posting was with the Independent Evaluation Unit of the Green Climate Fund, South Korea, where he conducted qualitative research into the transformational change potential of the Private Sector Facility. Prior to that, Avrah has also worked at FleishmanHillard: the largest EU government relations, public affairs and communications consultancy in Brussels, where he was a member of the financial services team.

Research Associate

Shivika Solanki

Shivika holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Sciences and Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay.  She has also completed her Post Graduate Diploma in Environmental Law and Policy from NLU Delhi & WWF India. Her interests lie in the areas of environmental management, impact assessment, sustainability, climate change, and environmental law and policy.

She is member of IORA’s Climate Change Portfolio contributing to development and implementation of climate finance and policy solutions towards climate change mitigation and adaptation at national and sub-national levels.

Prior to joining IORA, she has been associated with Office of Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha), Sikkim as a SPARC Associate. She was catalysing development programs in the constituency and provided research and documentation support for bridging the knowledge gap through constituency research. She was involved in enabling data driven governance through collection of ground data and secondary data from government departments. Prior to that she was engaged as Consultant, Sustainability and Climate Change with VNV Advisory Services, where she provided support in Sustainability Reporting and Engagement including strategy development and stakeholder process. She was also a part of the editorial team with Cactus Communications and facilitated high quality publications in the area ofEnvironment and Earth Sciences. She envisions to bridge the gap between sustainability and technology and its implementation in the real world.

Senior Manager - Forestry & Ecosystem Services

Ashwin A.S.

Ashwin is an expert in the field of climate change, forestry and sustainable development. He is a member of the Afforestation/Reforestation Working Group at UNFCCC and has served as a panel member of the Climate Smart Agriculture program under the Gold Standard. Ashwin, a qualified QMS (ISO 9001:2008), EMS (ISO 14001:2004) and Carbon neutrality auditor, has done his M.Sc. in Forestry (Management and Economics) from Forest Research Institute, Dehradun.

At IORA, Ashwin leads projects on carbon forestry and ecosystem valuation. He is a key team member of the REDD+ strategy design, development and implementation; REDD+ methodology development; ecosystem valuation and associated innovative financial mechanisms on conservation of nature; and development of NAMAs for India’s forestry sector. He leads REDD+ project design development in different landscapes where his team is developing cutting edge tools to help in efficient, effective and transparent implementation, monitoring and management of projects; ‘green and smart landscape’ being the moto.

Ashwin comes with vast experience in carbon forestry; he is a key member of a majority of these projects in India – spanning CDM, VCS, REDD and methodology development. He was the Team Lead for the first forestry CER issuance from Asia (ITC Forestry Project), Technical Reviewer of first forestry issuance from Africa (Ethiopia), Technical Reviewer of second forestry issuance from South America (Colombia) and Team Lead of first voluntary forestry issuance from India (Prakash Industries), 2nd CDM forestry issuance from India (MTPL), Himachal Pradesh A/R CDM issuance, and validation and verification team member of PACL forestry project in Orissa. He has also advised TERI on ten A/R projects that they are developing in Uttar Pradesh. As a forestry and climate change specialist, he has worked as a project and concept design developer and GHG technical auditor. He has validated and verified projects in forestry, renewable energy, MSW, agriculture etc. He has worked on decentralized energy efficiency in rural landscapes, such as, biogas projects developed by WWF in Nepal, and treadle water-pump project in eastern India. He was also involved in the MSW projects in Shillong& Kozhikode.

Prior to joining IORA, he was with TÜV Nord as a Lead Assessor of carbon projects over-seeing forestry, carbon services and sustainable business models. As a research associate at the Institute of Global Warming and Ecological Studies, Noida, he was involved in teaching, training, research and consultancy in the field of climate change and energy. Ashwin has also attended certificate programs at the United Nations Institute (UNITAR) on Negotiating Climate Change Finance and Understanding International Contracts and Loan Agreements and at the World Bank Institute on “Sustainable Agricultural Land Management Projects: Soil Carbon Monitoring.

Project Manager

Chethan T.R.

Chethan is a B.Tech in Instrumentation Technology from Dr. Ambedkar Institute of Technology, Bangalore. He also pursued an Honors Diploma in Network Centered Computing and a course on Quality Management Program at NIIT. He has efficient working knowledge on MS Office, Computer networks Knowledge, Windows and Linux and Office Administration.

Chethan is a pro-active self-starter who can operate both individually and as part of a team. He has proven expertise in applicable regulatory and statutory standards of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Gold Standard (GS) project development (including developing Project Design Document, validation of PDD, monitoring of CDM projects and conducting surveys); strategic thinking; proven customer relationship management skills; good coordinating skills across regions; good report writing, communication, presentation and negotiation skills.

Prior to joining IORA, he served as a CDM facilitator at Fair Climate Services Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore. His primary responsibility at FCN was to scan and analyze baseline situation; train and assist the client staff in collecting demographic data to quantify potential emission reductions that can be generated; develop project concept note and explain the CDM and GS process to clients; develop the monitoring and verification protocol as per the methodology requirements; conduct Gold Standard stakeholder meetings; design Project Design Document (PDD) and GS reports and submit to GHG Auditors (DOE). He also interacted with DOEs and assisted in the actual validation of PDD and GS reports through site visits, desk reviews, office meetings and proper documentation submissions, and assisted clients to obtain the Host Country Approval. As a Network Manager with TATA Communications, Bangalore, he ensured smooth operations and maintenance of communication networks, provided operational support to clients as well as planned, requisitioned and accounted for spares required for maintenance and carrying out post installation site audits. He also worked as a Banking Officer with ICICI Bank.

Vice President - Forestry

Dr. Saurindra Goswami

Dr. Goswami has done his Ph.D. from Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Science, Gauhati University, Assam. He pursued his M.Sc. Forestry (Tree Improvement & Genetic Resources) at the Dr. Y.S. Parmar University of Horticulture &Forestry, Nauni, India.

Prior to joining IORA, Dr. Goswami served as an Assistant Professor of Forestry at the Fiji National University, CAFF – Koronivia Campus (2012-2016). He led research projects concerning local forestry issues in Fiji as a Principal Investigator and Co-Principal Investigator, addressing topics like capacity building of landowners on community forestry for livelihood development in Viti Levu; studies on the utilization of African Tulip (Spathodea campinulata) in the Fiji Islands; evaluating the growth of artificially regenerated Santalum yasi in the nursery at Koronivia; study of the insect biodiversity and population dynamics of some insect pests using Light Trap in the ecosystems of Suva Region in Fiji; studies on the bio-ecology and management of some major insect pests of economically important agricultural crops and trees, etc. He also served as a faculty member at DIBNS, Dehradun, India (2010-2011); People’s Science Institute, Dehradun, India (2008-2010); Dimoria College Khetri (under GU), Assam, India (1998-2008).

Dr. Goswami was engaged as a Senior Individual Consultant (Medicinal & Aromatic Plants) for the Uttarakhand Livelihood Improvement Project for the Himalayas and Uttarakhand Parvatiya Aajeevika Sambardhan Company, Department of Rural Development, Government of Uttarakhand in 2011-12. He was also a key expert to the Center for Excellence on Environment Education, supported by the Ministry of Environment & Forests, GoI for developing 50 Village Contingency Plans from a disaster risk reduction perspective for the earthquake that hit the Kashmir region in 2011.

He has extensive forestry field work and research experience across the country. He coordinated the development of a Comprehensive District Agriculture Plan for Tehri Garhwal in 2010; facilitated Sustainable Mountain Livelihoods Plans for Himalayan rural farmers residing in 30 villages in 2010; conducted Monitoring & Evaluation of WDP for 45 watersheds in Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh in 2010; and restored rubber cultivation in abandoned shifting cultivated fallows in the Dimoria tribal belt of Assam.

Dr. Goswami has more than 19 publications in various international and national level journals on local forestry issues. He has also presented research papers in international, regional and national conferences. He is the Founder President of United Mass Movements for Eco-friendly & Equitable Development, India.

Senior Manager- Forestry

Dr. Satvant Kaur Saini

Dr. Saini holds aDoctorate in Biosciences and Masters in Zoology from Pt. Ravishankar University, Raipur. She holds another Masters in Ecology and Environment from Sikkim Manipal University. In 1989, she was awarded with the Young Scientist Award of Madhya Pradesh CST. She has over 22 years of research experience in forestry related subjects including forest resource assessment in-situ, floral and faunal studies of various PAs, development of sustainable harvesting techniques in natural forests with active community participation, development of a model for rural and tribal livelihood by adopting sustainable harvesting of resources in natural forests and EIA and EMP of various developmental projects. She has also worked for wildlife habitat evaluation and habitat viability assessment for reintroduction of wildlife.

Prior to joining IORA, Dr. Saini worked with the State Forest Research Institute, Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh)in various capacities. She has published more than 35 research papers reflecting community participation, forestry mitigation options for areas being diverted for various developmental projects, forest conservation, medicinal plants, NTFPs, resource assessment, floral and faunal studies, afforestation and reforestation opportunities and Joint Forest Management Program in India.

Manager – Forestry

Akhilesh Singh

Akhilesh holds a Master’s degree in Forestry (Economics & Management) from the Forest Research Institute, Dehradun. He is a qualified ISO 9001:2008 quality management systems auditor, qualified for Better Sugarcane Initiative audits and has qualified the ICAR- NET for Forestry and Environmental Sciences.

At IORA, Akhilesh is engaged in project management for the Jurisdictional REDD+ program that is being implemented for the first time in India. He is looking after the technical inputs, field work, coordination and other activities in the state of Sikkim. He is also involved in the quantification of drivers of deforestation and forest degradation for the development of the India specific REDD+ methodology in collaboration with GIZ – India. As a part of his duties, he provides technical inputs, conducts field works and coordinates activities as and when required.

Prior to joining IORA, Akhilesh worked with Scientific Certification Systems (India) Pvt. Ltd. as Deputy Manager in the Natural Resources Division, where he was auditor for the Forest Stewardship Council Forest Management program. He was also a part of the implementation of the National Mission for Green India in the Golaghat District of Assam, in which he was involved in the planning of micro plans for 20 JFMCs with respect to climate change mitigation and adaptation interventions including a long-term perspective plan. He was involved in the monitoring and evaluation of Project Elephant in Meghalaya in 2009-2014 and performance evaluation of the Climate Change Adaptation – North Eastern Region program run by MoDONER and GIZ – India in Sikkim.

Senior Research Associate

Ankit Rawat

Ankit Rawat, Forestry and GIS coordinator, IORA Solutions, is Masters in Geo information Science and Earth Observation with specialization in “Natural Hazards and Disaster Risk Management” from Indian Institute of Remote Sensing and University of Twente (ITC) the Netherlands, Joint Education programme. He did his Graduation in Forestry Science from HNB Garhwal University Uttarakhand. He has been extensively engaged with ‘’community forestry’ in India and South-East Asia particularly in Cambodia.

At IORA, Ankit is involved in various projects concerned with REDD+ and biodiversity conservation strategies across various landscapes in India. He is primarily engaged with quantification of historical baseline emission using remote sensing and GIS, identification of drivers of deforestation and degradation for forest, etc. He is also a key team member of UNDP sponsored Programme “Impact of invasive species on forest ecosystem in the state of Sikkim”; IUCN funded project “Developing Sustainable Agriscapes for Future” in Munger District of Bihar; providing field level support as a Forest Inventory Specialist for the study entitled “Assessing Ecosystem Services created due afforestation activities of ONGC of Ringal Bamboo in Upper Himalayas”

Prior to joining IORA, he was Community Forestry Intern with Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, where he accomplished documentation of field manual on multipurpose forest inventory and supported Climate Change Integrated Development System. He is also credited with baseline data creation for 3D micro-watershed modeling in terms of forest, water and livelihood analysis in Varin district (Siem Reap). As a Livelihood Consultant with Pragya India, he initiated potential livelihood intervention activities in disaster affected Kedarnath (Kalimath valley), where tourism used to be primary activity for income generation in pre-disaster scenario. The assignment involves sectoral mapping (value chain analysis) to identify immediate and locally based sustainable livelihood activities.

Senior Research Associate

Kunal Bharat

Kunal has done M.Sc. in Environmental Studies and Resource Management from TERI University, New Delhi.  He was awarded a DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) scholarship for his Master’s thesis and was an exchange student to Albert-Ludwigs University Freiberg, Germany for the same. His background in economics coupled with the knowledge of the environment has given him the skill to think holistically, keeping in mind the three baselines of our world i.e. economy, environment and society. He has developed skill and expertise on subjects like valuation of ecosystem services and its applications, climate change mitigation and adaptation, REDD+, economics of climate change and ecological assessment and GIS applications in natural resource management.

At IORA, Kunal is engaged in multiple projects utilizing and further building his skills along with developing expertise in new areas such as environmental finance and system dynamics modelling for forest resource management. Prior to joining IORA, he worked with Pragya, a NGO working for the appropriate development of vulnerable communities and sensitive ecosystems of the world. As part of the International Programs Taskforce, he provided support for projects being implemented by Pragya, Kenya. He was also a key team member and coordinator for Pragya’s humanitarian flood relief efforts in Jammu and Kashmir in 2014.

Research Associate

Aniket Chaudhary

Aniket Chaudhary is an environmental professional with more than 3 years of experience in forestry, biodiversity conservation and ecosystem management services. He has done his Masters in Ecology and Environment (2013) from Pondicherry University.  He did his Bachelors (B.Sc.) in Environment and Water Management (2011) from Magadh University, Patna.

Since April 2016, he is associated with IORA’s USAID sponsored project “Partnership for Land Use Science (Forest-PLUS) Programme” as a Research Associate-Forestry.  He is also responsible for providing technical support for IUCN sponsored project “Developing Sustainable Agriscapes for Future” and UNDP funded program “Assessing the impact of invasive species on forest ecosystem in the state of Sikkim”

Prior to IORA he served as the Environment Manager with JMC – CHEC (JV) under Delhi Metro Rail Project engaged with all environment related issues. As a Research Fellow with G.B. Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment & Development, he worked on biodiversity and conservation approaches and natural resources management practices in the western Himalayas. He did extensive field work in the alpine regions-biophysical studies and collection of socio-economic data. He was also the team member for establishing GLORIA field site-in western Himalayas, Chaudans valley India. During his association with Foundation for Ecological Security (Bhilwara, Rajasthan), he conducted biophysical assessment of community forest land in Rajasthan.

Research Associate

Janani Pradhan

Janani has completed her Masters Degree in Conservation Science from Imperial College London. There, she also studied at the Zoological Society of London, Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. She did her master’s thesis with the Pygmy Hog Conservation Programme in Assam which was funded by the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, Jersey.

At IORA, Janani is working as a Research Associate with the Forestry team on various projects across different landscapes. She is currently working on formulating an investment strategy to reduce future vulnerabilities to climate change in the forestry and biodiversity sectors in Mizoram. She is also working on preparing a project implementation plan for the management of the ecosystem of Kaziranga National Park by creating climate resilient livelihoods for the vulnerable communities. In addition to this, she is involved in writing proposals.

Prior to joining IORA, Janani worked as a Senior Research Fellow with the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) for their Climate Change Programme in the Himalayas, where she set up and managed the regional office in Sikkim. She has also briefly worked at WWF- Kanchenjunga Landscape Programme in Sikkim. Janani’s background is primarily in the field of wildlife/ biodiversity conservation and forestry with experience in different surveying techniques (radio telemetry, camera traps, transect surveys), species distribution modelling and applying GIS to inform conservation across species and landscapes.

Field Coordinator

Shyam Verma

Shyam Verma has more than 3 years of experience in forestry, biodiversity conservation and ecological restoration. He is the field coordinator for IORA for forestry and biodiversity projects. Prior to IORA, he served as the Technical Assistant at Sheltra Construction Private Limited where he was involved in design and testing of soil analysis methods. He has worked as Research Associate at Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi for project titled “Assessing cost of adaptation of Climate-change for forest in India” in which he carried out quantitative field surveys in selected districts in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

He was a senior research fellow at Forest Research Institute (FRI), Dehradun, where he worked on biodiversity conservation and ecological restoration projects in Dhanbad and in the coal mines at Singrauli. He was also responsible for site assessment and ecological restoration at Jhingurdha mine owned by Northern Coal Field Limited. He was engaged as field assistant for project titled “Impact of Human Induced Disturbances on regeneration and population structure of Rhododendron arboretum and Myrica nagi in the mid hills of Garhwal” by FRI. His role included field surveys, species selection, application of moisture conservation, seed broadcast, plantation of native species of trees, data collection and analysis, laboratory analysis of soil and water samples and report writing.

Shyam is well versed with laboratory techniques like BET surface area and pore analysis, pH meter, Electrical conductivity, UV-VIS spectrophotometry, Microprocessor Flame Photometry, and estimation of microbial biomass carbon by Fumigation method. He is also an expert in field techniques like Quadrant method, Soil Carbon density, Carbon sequestration and Soil sampling. Shyam holds a Master’s degree in Environment Management from the Forest Research Institute, Dehradun and Bachelors in Life Sciences from Delhi University.

Vice President - RS & GIS

Dr. Parul Srivastava

Dr. Parul Srivastava is an environmental enthusiast with over 13 years of research and teaching experience in Geospatial Technology in Forest Ecology, Protected Area Management, Mapping of Forest Resources, Climate Change and Alternate Energy Resource. She holds Ph.D. in Forest Ecology and Environment from Forest Research Institute (Deemed) University (2008) and Masters in Botany from University of Allahabad. To be proficient in geospatial technology, she undertook the training in ‘Application of GIS in Forestry’ from Indian Institute of Remote Sensing. She has extensive research experience in the area of Forest Ecology and Climate Change and has contributed significantly in various projects on mapping and monitoring of natural resources during her association with Forest Survey of India, Dehradun; and Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

She has also served as an Area Director GIS and Faculty in the area Computer Science and Engineering, NIIT University, Neemrana, Rajasthan. Her key areas of teaching expertise are GIS Project Management (Project initiation, planning, design and implementation); Geo-Informatics for Natural Resource Management; and Cartography (Map Projections and Spatial Coordinate Systems). Presently she is associated with IORA Ecological Solutions in the capacity of Vice President – RS & GIS; and a key team member of IORA’s GIS Technology Group.

Advocating policy message supported by concrete science and technical analysis, she has research papers and reports published in peer reviewed journals and in the conferences both National and International level. She has also reviewed papers for International Journal of Agriculture Sciences (2016) and International Journal of Remote Sensing (2011 and 2010).

Research Associate

Rohit Kumar

Rohit holds a Post Graduate degree in Geo-informatics from Birla Institute of Technology, Jharkhand. He has an efficient working knowledge of Operating Systems – Windows 2000/XP/Vista; and GIS Software: ArcGIS 9.3, 9.3.1, ERDAS Imagine 9.2, AutoCad Map 2000i, and Google Earth.

At IORA, Rohit is working in the domain of geospatial science under the USAID funded Forest-PLUS Program, focusing on Karnataka, Sikkim and MP landscapes.

Prior to joining IORA, Rohit served as a Junior Research Fellow at CIMFR, Dhanbad, mapping areas affected with coal fire and land subsidence in Jharia coal fields using remote sensing techniques. He completed his Master’s thesis on Estimation of 2-D Glacier velocities using Differential SAR Interferometry of Milam Glacier, Uttarakhand. He has numerous minor projects to his credit, namely Mineralogical studies of Nepheline syenite of Kishangarh, Rajasthan; Field visit and analysis of the rock phosphate ore of Jhamarkotra phosphate mine, Udaipur; and Delineation of subsurface faults and minerals identification using ALOS PALSAR and Landsat datasets.

Research Associate

Raj Kumar Arya

Raj Kumar Arya started his professional career with IORA as a Research Associate contributing to the domain of RS and GIS. Some of his key assignments are USAID funded Forest-PLUS Program; Assessing the Impact of Invasive Species on Forest Eco-System in the State of Sikkim; and National Technical Assistance to Analyze Data and Design Best Practices during Updation of Assam’s Forest Working Plan.

He has completed his M.Tech. in Remote Sensing and GIS with Specialization in Forest Resources and Ecosystem Analysis from Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Dehradun and B.Sc. in Forestry from Dev Singh Bisht Campus Kumaun University, Nainital, India.  He has sound understanding of GIS Software: Arc-GIS 10.1 and above, Q-GIS; and Image Processing Software: ENVI 5.0, ERDAS 2013 and IDRISI Taiga

During his Masters, he has successfully accomplished EOAM (Earth Observation and Monitoring) funded 12 months Project work titled as “Modelling of Plant Functional Types in Uttarakhand Using Dynamic Global vegetation model: LPJ-GUESS”. Apart from that he was also engaged with Development of web based earth-tectonic plate dynamics visualisation tool; Agro-forestry Information system: A javascript/HTML based web tool; and A case study on detection of changes in phenology due to climate change using IBIS model.  He was also a part of the team for Rapid assessment of Burnt Area Damage/Severity in Uttarakhand Forest Fires-2016 using Satellite Imaging and collected ground point after fire in different locations of Nainital, Udham Singh Nagar

Research Associate

Neeraj Agrawal

Neeraj is a GIS Professional with more than one year experience in GIS and Remote Sensing. He has completed his Masters in Geoinformatics from Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS), Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), India and ITC, University of Twente, The Netherlands. He has pursued his Bachelors in Engineering with specialization in Computer Science from Institute of Technology & Management, Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh. He owns proficiency on software and tools: ArcGIS 10.3| Quantum GIS| ERDAS Imagine 2013|ENVI 5.1|PolSAR Pro|NEST 5.1.

Neeraj has been a key team member of IORA Geo-Spatial Group, contributing to the domain of RS & GIS for IORA’s Forestry and Biodiversity Projects. Prior to joining IORA he has been associated with Innodata India Pvt Ltd, Noida, leading Services Company providing content solutions, data analytics and related services to publishers, information providers, and enterprises. He also served with Velocis System India Pvt Ltd (watershed department), Rajasthan as a GIS Expert. He had an opportunity for undertaking research project on Calibration of Polarimetric SAR system and software development as a Research Fellow with Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai.

During his academics, he had an international research exposure with an opportunity to visit a total of 5 countries under the European Union where he interacted with highly qualified faculty for Earth Observation studies and Geo-information Science along with completion of group projects and assignments. Apart from that he has developed a ‘Smart SMS’ in Dot Net with database connectivity from “SQL Server “; used multimedia cell phone connected to a computer in order to send bulk SMS and email under the project “Intranet mailing system”.

Senior Associate

Noor Hasan

Noor is a GIS and Water Resource Professional having more than 7 years’ experience. He has completed his PGD-NHDRM from Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS), Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), India and ITC, University of Twente, The Netherlands. He has pursued his Bachelors & Masters in Geoscience from Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh. His key areas of expertise are GIS, Natural Hazard and Disaster Management, Vulnerability and Risk Assessment, hydro-meteorological modelling and E-Flows, Cryosphere Science, Risk and Resilience cope with Climate Change, Renewable Energy, Urban Services & Utilities, Sustainable Agriculture and Organic Farming.
Noor is associated with IORA Ecological Solutions in the capacity of Senior Associate – RS & GIS and a key member of IORA’s Geospatial Technical Group of Solutions for Project Management and Business Development.

Prior to joining IORA, Noor was associated with Taru Leading Edge and contributed to many projects namely Urban Flash Flood & Early Warning System of Kolkata city (DFID), Early Warning System of Surat funded by Rockefeller Foundation (RF), Hazard Risk & Vulnerability Assessment of HP, Maharashtra, Odisha, Gujrat, West Bengal and Sikkim States (UNDP), Sustainable development & Resilience for Agriculture, Forest and Water sources cope with climate change in Uttrakhand, MP and Bihar funded by World Bank. Cyclone and flood risk assessment of Puri Odisha funded by ACCRN. He has also served as a GIS Analyst & JRF with Snow Avalanche Study Establishment (SASE) DRDO Chandigarh focus on the Glacier and Snow Surface Runoff Modelling for different altitude. He did a sole project on Peak flood Inundation Modelling & Mapping of entire Mahanadi river delta of Odisha for 10 decadal flood return periods with IIRS Dehradun and Odisha Water Resource Dept. Bhubaneswar.

Enterprise Development Manager

Biswaranjan Mohanty

Biswaranjan is an astute and competent professional with over 13 years of rich experience in strategy planning, business development plans, operation management plans, financial feasibility projects and relationship management in the agri-business sector across India and abroad. He holds a Postgraduate Diploma in International Business Management from Fortune Institute of International Business Management, New Delhi. His key strength lies in strong analytical and inter personal skill for better decision making, business strategies and managing the competition. He is a skilled communicator with exceptional presentation skill and abilities in leading cross functional teams and establishing beneficial relationships with key players.

At IORA, Biswaranjan is associated with the USAID funded IEMaC project.

Prior to joining IORA, Biswaranjan was associated with Access Development Services as an Agri-Business Specialist. With Care India, he was engaged in Agri-Business development and management as an Agri-Hub Manager. He also headed the Technical and Marketing (Organic) Division of Food Care International, where he was credited with the certification of 1500 acres of land under NOP, NPOP, EU organic standards as well as certification of Wild area to collect minor forest produce. With JK Agri Genetics Ltd. he experienced the certifications and documentations of government subsidies and organic agriculture. He exhibited his proficiency in branding new agro produce and creating a brand image amongst final consumers. While serving with Bio Sourcing, he was responsible for the certification of 56,000 ha of land including forest as organic under NOP, NPOP, JAS, EU 2091/92 organic standards; and developed software on MS-Access for quality management. He also planned and initiated 1 acre as a demo model for hydroponic farming for broccoli, red cabbage and cayenne paper. With Du-Pont India, he successfully launched a range of Bio Fertilizers, Bio Fungicides and Bio Insecticides across 3 districts of Odisha; generated revenue of Rs. 40 Lacs from the sale of Bio Agri products to the Government of Odisha, different NGOs and plantation organizations; and promoted the Bio Agri Produces in urban areas in the segment of garden inputs and generated Rs.10 lacs in the same year.

Senior Manager - Research

Parul Sharma

Parul is a Post Graduate in Forest Management from IIFM, Bhopal and B.Tech (Computer Science) from Kurukshetra University. She has nearly a decade of experience in social and market research. She is expert in socio-economic surveys with detailed knowledge of quantitative & qualitative research tools and data analysis using statistical tools. She has been involved in providing solutions through synthesis of research insights with secondary research.

At IORA, Parul works as Senior Manager-Research. She is currently working on FarmerZone™, a smart agriculture initiative including cloud based platform, offering curated data solutions for improving farm productivity and market connectivity for smallholder farmers. IORA is providing technical and management support to this initiative of the Department of Biotechnology, which is being coordinated by the Indian Institute of Technology Mandi (IIT Mandi)

Prior to joining IORA, Parul had worked on several assignments as external consultant including with IIFM on NTCA’s study on Economic Valuation of Tiger Reserves. She started her career with IMRB International, part of the Kantar Group, WPP network, and worked across leading market research firms like Ipsos Research handling key accounts. While at Sambodhi Research & Communication, she led various M&E studies across sectors including livelihoods, health, education and infrastructure. With diverse experience in both corporate and development sectors, she has worked with the entire spectrum of partners including government & bilateral agencies, media, telecom & e-commerce MNCs, advertising firms, academic institutions etc.

Research Associate

Bhavya Sharma

Bhavya graduated in Sociology with Honors from University of Delhi & holds a Master’s degree in Environment and Development from the Ambedkar University, Delhi.  Her Master’s dissertation project focused on studying and analysing the various livelihood and resource dependency patterns within Sainj – a village in the Sirmaur district of Himachal Pradesh.

At IORA, Bhavya has been engaged in the organization’s Public Private Partnerships arrangements for implementation of activities related to forestry and ecosystem conservation services under the USAID-MOEFCC Forest-PLUS Program.

Prior to joining IORA, Bhavya served as a Policy/Program Officer at Vasudha Foundation, being primarily responsible for project management in the domain of renewable energy, thermal energy and climate negotiations. Bhavya also holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Environmental Law and Policy from WWF India and National Law University, Delhi.

Senior Manager - Projects and Partnership

Dr. Supriya Bhatla

Dr. Supriya Singh Bhatla has more than 15 years of experience in research, project management and policy advocacy for Natural Resources Management and Climate Change. She holds a Ph.D. in Political Ecology (Anthropology) from Delhi University. She works at the interface of social and natural systems combining her knowledge of the social sciences and fieldwork to work towards long term societal transformation towards sustainability. Supriya has worked with interdisciplinary, cross and multi-disciplinary teams both nationally and internationally in the areas of agriculture, water, and natural resource concerns. She anchored the Indian side of Civil Society Engagement with Ecological Economics, an EU project and has worked with Environmental and Development Economists in collaborative research projects. Her work also spans research on State of Forests in India. Last few years, she has been pursuing climate negotiations at UNFCCC as a part of IYCN, the Climate Reality Project and as a Member of National Steering Committee of Climate Action Network South Asia (CANSA). Supriya has trained practitioners, young professionals and university students on climate change, NRM, water management and policy. Her work extends to both research and implementation including providing training support for many environmental issues and programmes including MGNREGA. Supriya is also well versed in social and environmental monitoring and evaluation of projects.

At IORA, Supriya works as Senior Manager, Projects and Partnership. She is responsible for overseeing different projects and facilitating the development of Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) for IORA’s flagship programmes in Forestry, Biodiversity, Climate Change and Clean Technology. She is also looking at research collaborations with educational and research institutions.

Prior to joining IORA, she worked as a consultant on Climate Finance with GIZ India, with the water team at the World Bank, and at Environmental Defense Fund. She worked on natural resource management and livelihoods at the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) and completed assignments spanning field research, monitoring and evaluation, state of affairs reports on agriculture, cement and power sectors with Oxfam, Sri Gopal Paper Mill (CSR) and on GIS modelling with ATREE. She headed the Indian Youth Climate Network (IYCN)  for 4 years where she had an all-encompassing portfolio of conceptualisation, bidding and completion of different projects and programmes as well as coordinating the network.

She has published extensively in national and international journals and  was also a regular contributor to the magazine Down to Earth.

Manager Proposals

Manju Kaur

Manju is an expert in proposal writing, fundraising and advocacy. She has gained more than 9 years of research experience on developmental and social issues ranging from child labour, women’s empowerment, food security, civil governance, status of primary education in India (non-formal education) etc.. She is a Post Graduate in Psychology from Maharishi Dayanand University, Rohtak. She completed a Diploma in Guidance and Counseling from the National Council for Education Research and Training, New Delhi.

At IORA, Manju is primarily responsible for proposal design and submission for new projects in the area of Forestry, Biodiversity, Climate change adaptation & mitigation, Renewable energy and New market mechanisms for conservation. Also engaged with recasting the organizational profile and experts’ CVs in response to RFPs; proposal tracking; and compilation of proposal tracking database; compilation of a master format, which is constantly updated.

Prior to joining IORA, Manju was associated with PRAGYA India (Research, Advocacy and Fund Raising team), identifying potential donors among trusts and institutional funders, and submitting briefs / proposals, making presentations and active follow-up. She was also contributing to papers in the area of natural resource management, social development, livelihoods and appropriate technologies. During her tenure with One World South Asia, New Delhi, she documented best practices on governance for the Department of Public Grievances and Administrative Reforms, GoI; National Institute for Smart Governance, GoI; and Centre for Innovation in Public Services, Hyderabad. She has been associated with national level research organizations like V.V. Giri National Labour Institute, Noida; Sarojini Naidu Centre for Women Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi; National Council for Education Research and Training (NCERT), New Delhi; and Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai.

Manager - Business Development

Supriya Prasad

Supriya has seven years of experience in technical areas, particularly GIS, and business development She holds M.Sc Geoinformatics from TERI University followed by Graduation from Miranda House, Delhi University.

Supriya works at IORA as Manager – Business Development. At IORA, she is engaged in development of new partnerships and business. She works with specialised teams in each vertical to identify new expansion and growth opportunities, develops and maintains relationship with public and private sector companies, government, funding organisations in different sectors, and supports in developing internal and external communication material.

Prior to IORA, she has worked at IL&FS Environmental Infrastructure and Services Ltd. as Business Development Executive. She was primarily engaged in identifying Business both through reactive and proactive bidding process, coordinated with clients/vendors/partners, and was engaged in development of proposals. She has also worked in internal & external auditing for ISO & CMMI Maturity Levels. Before that, she worked with Inclen Trust International as GIS Research Assistant where she was engaged in Brain to Society (BTS) project. She monitored team of surveyors for survey of 51 villages of Palwal district (including Mewat region) and handled large databases for 51 villages.

Field Coordinator

Arunava Gupta

Arunava holds a Master’s degree in Political Science from Gauhati University.  He also pursued his Postgraduate Diploma in Human Rights from the Indian Institute of Human Rights.

At IORA, Arunava is working on projects sponsored by the Assam Project on Forest and Biodiversity Conservation Society “Estimation of Potential Value or Ecosystem Services and Development of REDD+ Project for Assam” and “Technical assistance to analyze Data and Design Best Practices during Updation of Forest Working Plan”.

Prior to joining IORA, Arunava was associated with the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment (ATREE), where he consistently progressed to positions of increasing responsibility. He was primarily engaged with monitoring and evaluation; coordination and networking with stakeholders; financial planning and budgeting; and project communication.

Research Associate

Chandrima Debi

Chandrima Debi is a Research Associate with IORA and currently working on Assam Project on Forest and Biodiversity Conservation Society sponsored project “Technical Assistance to Analyse Data and Design Best Practices During Updation of Forest Working Plan”. She is pursuing her Ph.D from Rain Forest Research Institute, Jorhat, an autonomous body under Indian Council for Forestry Research and Education (ICFRI). She has her Masters in Forest management from Forest Research Institute, Dehradun. She has been accredited with Certificate of excellence from RIO+20 India programme on sustainable development.

Prior to joining IORA, she has been a part of various research projects during her post-graduation and Ph.D Programme. Some of her studies are on Soil nutrient status; Soil and Geological Relationship; Rehabilitation of degraded jhum land; Identification of potential bamboo species; Ethnobotany of medicinal plants, Mycology and Soil microbiology; VAM-Host symbiosis; Biodiversity conservation etc. She also owns a wide field exposure on soil survey, watershed management, wildlife management, forest management, biodiversity and conservation.

JNR Coordinator

Saurabh Tiwari

Saurabh holds a MBA in Operations from the National Institute of Management, Bhopal. He has gained over eleven years of work experience with various organizations. He is proficient in networking & public relations; liaising with government officials; training & capacity building; and conducting regular review, monitoring and updating of project deliverables. He also has a research aptitude in baseline studies, evaluation and case study analysis.

At IORA, Saurabh is associated with USAID funded Forest-PLUS Program.

Prior to joining IORA, Saurabh worked with D1 Oils Pvt. Ltd. as the Zonal Officer for Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan; UNICEF (NSS) as the State Coordinator; Randstad India Ltd. on the PPP Project of Municipal Corporation of Raipur (RMC) JNNuRM PIU Member as a Social and Livelihood Expert; Dr Jain Video on wheels as the Head – Operations; and Jayaswal Neco Ind. Ltd. as the Manager (CSR/HRM).

Field Coordinator

Arvind Kumar Thakur

Arvind holds a Diploma in computer application from Dayashankar Upadyay Social Welfare and Master of Arts degree from Rani Durgavati Vishwavidyalaya, Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh). He joined IORA with 8 years of extensive experience in contract farming, agricultural production, procurement and agriculture advisory services.

At IORA, Arvind is coordinating field activities of USAID funded IEMaC project in Madhya Pradesh. IORA is the implementing organization of IEMaC project which envisions developing innovative models for reducing pressures on India’s forests through alternative livelihood creation and alternate technology deployment for fuel wood abatement.

Prior to joining IORA, Arvind worked with D1 Oils Fuel Crops India Pvt. Ltd. as Executive- Procurement; Ekgaon Technologies Pvt. Ltd. as Management Executive, Agri Information & Advisory Services Unit; and last at Foundation for Ecological Security as Project Officer, Agriculture & Livelihood Programmes at Udaipur, Rajasthan.

Field Coordinator

Shrinivas Hegde

Shrinivas holds a graduate degree in commerce and has about half a decade experience in the development sector.

At IORA, Shrinivas is entrusted with the task of coordinating and carrying out all field activities under the USAID supported project “Innovations in Ecosystem Management and Conservation” (IEMaC) in Sirsi, Karnataka. This project aims at developing innovative models for reducing pressures on India’s forests through alternative livelihood creation and alternate technology deployment for fuel wood abatement.

Prior to joining IORA, Shrinivas worked with LIFE Trust as a field assistance and Office Administrator. At LIFE Trust, he worked in collecting data and conducting surveys, assisting in community plantation work and mobilizing communities

Manager - Finance and Accounts

Bhuwan Tiwari

Bhuwan is a finance and accounts professional with over 15 years of experience. He holds M.B.A in Finance & HR from Amity university, Noida and B.Com honors from Kumaon University Nainital. Bhuwan is proficient in project accounting, project invoicing, fund management, budgeting, cash flow, MIS, accounts receivables & payables, general accounting. He is also well versed with taxation such as GST, TDS, Service tax, filing tax returns, salary disbursement, PF calculation, finalization of books of accounts, preparation of Balance Sheet and Profit and Loss Accounts.

At IORA, Bhuwan manages and oversees daily operations of the accounting department; monitors and analyses accounting data and produces financial reports and statements. He is also involved in establishing and enforcing accounting methods, policies and principles in the organisation.

Prior to IORA he was associated with M/s R.S Live Media Pvt. Ltd., M/s Obgenix Software Pvt. Ltd and M/s Ascend Developers India Pvt. Ltd.

Accounts Executive

Firdous Siddiqui

Firdous is working as Accounts Executive at IORA. She manages all finance and accounting functions at Office location and closure of books. She is also engaged in verification of all vouchers and recording of day-to-day accounting transactions cash and bank payments and receipts, journal vouchers etc. She also works on SAP. She is also proficient in Tally 7.2 and ERP 9 apart from a good understanding of computers. She follows a solutions oriented approach with excellent relationship management skills, successfully and consistently delivering her responsibilities, thereby streamlining finance and accounts operations leading to revenue generation and profitability.

Firdous has completed a certificate course for Accounting Technician from Institute of Cost Accountant of India followed by her Graduation (Bachelor of Commerce) from University of Delhi. Prior to joining IORA, she has been associated with M/s New Star Leisure Concept Pvt. Ltd., M/s T.R. Sood & Co., and Mahamaya Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd.

Manager – Administration

Rabi Narayan Sahu

Mr. Sahu has been associated with IORA as a Manager Administration taking care of overall office management inclusive of vendor management, Invoice management etc. Mr. Sahu retired from Indian Army as a Junior Commissioned Officer after serving for 30 years. He was engaged with effective supervision of man power about 500 people as Senior Junior Commissioned Officer for the period of 8 years. He also served in Army Air Defence College as technical Instructor for the period of 4 years providing training to Officers, Junior Commissioned Officers and Jawan. He was Training in-charge of the Unit for 3 years.

Apart from that Mr. Sahu worked with Bharat Electronic Limited, Ghaziabad as a System Supervisor in an IT related project for 3 years.

While serving with Indian Army, he completed his Graduation from Osmania University followed by his MBA from Sikkim Manipal University; and Diploma in Radar Technology from Odisha Berhampur University in 1^st division. He also Qualified CCBM from Amity University, Noida with ‘A’ grading.

Deputy Manager - Human Resources

Shravan Kumar Pathak

Shravan Kumar Pathak is an astute professional with over 12 years of experience in HR Operations, HR Generalist affairs, Compensation, Recruitment, Payroll, Statutory Compliances, Employee and Industrial Relationships, Performance Management, Talent Management, Talent Acquisition, Core HR Processes, Technical Support and System Administration. At IORA, he is Manager, Human Resources, where he oversees end-to-end HR processes including managing the current workforce, New Recruitment & Selection, onboarding, Employee Engagement, Payroll Management, and Reporting & Documentation. He ensures updation of HR databases and adherence to compliance. He has demonstrated expertise in areas such as employee relations, policy development, recruiting, training, safety, regulatory compliance, benefits and compensation and is credited with implementation of innovative path-breaking HR initiatives to streamline processes and capitalize on organizational growth opportunities.

Prior to IORA, he worked as Deputy Manager, HR at Spectrum Global Pvt. Ltd., where he was responsible for management of employment records, procedures, laws and standards. He has been the first point of contact for employees for job duties, responsibilities, benefits, schedules, working conditions, promotion opportunities, work complaints and harassment allegations. He was solely responsible for psychometric testing and assessment technique, employee satisfaction surveys, handling HRIS, HRMS, maintaining attrition management, vendor interaction, and maintaining of minutes of meeting and circulars. Prior to this, he has had long and enriching stints at Widnet Technologies Noida, inTarvo Technologies Limited, Noida and Dataman Computer Systems Pvt. Ltd., Kanpur in both HR and technology domains.

Shravan holds advanced degrees in Management from Kurukshetra University and a Bachelors in IT from Makhanlal Chaturvedi National University. He has also completed “O” Level IT Diploma from DOEACC Society, New Delhi in 2006 and “A” Level Advanced IT Diploma from DOEACC Society, New Delhi in 2007. He is passionate about welfare of the underprivileged and works with NGOs to organize health drives in his free time.

Deputy Manager – Information Technology

Santosh Kumar

Santosh is a highly competent and organized systems administrator with years of experience in software procurement, installation, administration and compatibility. He possesses a proven ability to assist with the day-to-day running of an IT department and its business IT systems. He also has extensive knowledge of monitoring and controlling data security within guidelines to ensure compliance. Santosh is a qualified CCNA and MCSE Professional. Apart from that he has completed a Diploma in Hardware(A+) and Networking(N+) followed by his Graduation in IT from Kuvempu University,Shimoga (Karnataka). He is a Project management professional capable of achieving cost savings and enhancing system functionality. He has a track record of tackling and solving tough business and technical problems. He is also a strong leader with demonstrated ability to work effectively with individuals at all levels and in all functional areas, having experience in managing full project lifecycle from requirements gathering to final implementation and customer training.

At IORA, he has been entrusted with all IT related functions.

Prior to joining IORA, he was associated with JSG Infotech Pvt. Ltd. as a System Administrator, taking technical lead to identify and implement solutions to problems affecting IT services; and providing 1st/ 2nd Line and some 3rd Line support over the telephone, remotely and face-to-face to clients and internal staff members. He has managed 200 clients, 3 HP Servers (ProLiant DL38e), IP Phone, intercom CCTV, Access door Control, Cisco Switch (Catalyst 2960 X-Series) Cisco Router (Catalyst 3650) and Cyberoam firewall 50ING.

Executive Assistant to CEO

Revathi Anand Babu

Revathi is Executive Assistant to Chief Executive Officer of IORA. She brings her management skills and experience to attend to several administrative tasks on a daily basis, which include screening and prioritizing mail and phone calls, researching and writing memos, prepare materials used in executive presentations, make travel arrangements, preparing MIS and maintaining records. She also maintains and manages the CEO’s calendars, international travel, and business correspondence. She is skilled at preparing meeting agendas and reports minutes of internal meetings. She also helps with organising IORA’s workshops and conferences, both at national and international level.

Prior to IORA she has worked for Delhivery Pvt Ltd as Executive Assistant to CMD, CFO and COO; Royal Norwegian Embassy, Commercial Section as Administration Assistant, PRA LAW Offices as Administration Cum Accounts Assistant and Denave India Private Limited as Tele Sales Executive.

Front Desk Executive and Administration

K M Preeti

K M Preeti is pursuing Master’s in Public Administration from IGNOU. She has very good relationship management skills. At IORA, she works as Front Office Executive and Administration. She is well versed in MS Word and Excel, as well as skilled in data entry, filing and paperwork management. Prior to IORA, she worked for Education Plus++ as Counsellor and IACM SmartLearn Pvt. Ltd. as MIS Executive.

Travel Desk Executive

Aakash Kumar

Aakash Kumar is supporting IORA’s administration as a Travel Desk Executive.
His key responsibilities include arranging for travel and accommodation for
team members’ field excursions. He also provides support towards day to day
troubleshooting activities for administration, accounts, HR and
housekeeping. Prior to joining IORA, Aakash worked as an Admin Executive in
SIFY Technologies Limited, New Delhi and Innovation Meditech Pvt Ltd, Noida
bringing in 3 years of experience in company administration, accounts and
travel documentation.
Aakash holds a bachelor’s degree from Delhi University and has completed a
two year Diploma in Animation from ARENA Multimedia, New Delhi.