Anja Kovacs
Internet Democracy Project
Dr. Anja Kovacs directs the Internet Democracy Project in Delhi, India, which works for an Internet that supports free speech, democracy and social justice in India and beyond. Anja’s research and advocacy focuses especially on questions regarding freedom of expression, cybersecurity and the architecture of Internet governance. She has also worked as an international consultant on Internet issues, including for the Independent Commission on Multilateralism, the United Nations Development Programme Asia Pacific and the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression, Mr. Frank La Rue, as well as having been a Fellow at the Centre for Internet and Society in Bangalore, India.

Nayantara Ranganathan
Internet Democracy Project
Nayantara manages the Freedom of Expression programme at the Internet Democracy Project where she works on the planning, co-ordination, research and advocacy of projects related to freedom of expression issues in India, as they relate to gender and the Internet, net neutrality and surveillance. She studied law at the National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata.

Japleen Pasricha
Feminisn in India
Japleen smashes the patriarchy for a living. Sex+ve, intersectional feminist, writer, educator, and researcher, she is also a solo traveller and former German lecturer. Interests: Gender, Media & Tech. She tweets @japna_p.

Kavita Krishnan
All India Progressive Women’s Association
Kavita Krishnan is Secretary of the All India Progressive Women’s Association (AIPWA). Kavita is also editor of ‘Liberation’, the monthly publication of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) (CPI-ML). She is a women’s rights activist who has publicised the problem of violence against women following the 2012 Delhi gang rape of Nirbhaya.

Srinivas Kodali
Open Stats
Srinivas Kodali is a civil engineer, researcher, and entrepreneur working on urban transportation and digital technologies in India. He is a user, contributor to open data, civic tech and cyber security. He is currently working on Open Stats, an open data company based out of Hyderabad.

Jasmine Lovely George
Hidden Pockets
Jasmine, as the founder, she believes in the idea of creating radical spaces for discussions and narratives. A lawyer and activist, she intends to create critical discussions while practising her dance moves until revolution knocks her door some day. For her, Hidden Pockets is a step towards merging city and development with a pinch of sexuality in it.

Aisha Lovely George
Hidden Pockets
Aisha Lovely George is an open-minded, welcoming and resourceful leader with a sound and cheerful outlook on all things in life. One of the Youth Champions 2017 from India (of the Asia Safe Abortion Partnership) she heads the operations, Mapping and Podcasts at Hidden Pockets. Certified as a peer educator by Enfold India, she has conducted several training on Sexual and Reproductive health for Government school students and also for students from community library.

Brindaalakshmi K
Hidden Pockets
Writing from the age of 11, Brindaalakshmi. K turned her love for writing into her profession from her first job in 2011. She writes poetry, journalistic pieces, screenplay, brand copy, social media copy, fiction and anything else with a promise of an exciting challenge. Having spent too much time studying startups as a business & technology journalist, she now prefers spending her time branding and building businesses instead. She is the business woman who likes feminists to look sexy, both men and women alike. She’s also an actor, a traveller and a film-maker.

Bhaani Rachel Bali
KrantiKālī

Panel Ganguly
Python and CSS Independent Coder

Nipun Malhotra
Nipman Foundation

Smita Vanniyar
Point of View
Smita is a queer feminist, currently working as a Research and Communications Officer with Point of View, Mumbai on the Erotics India project. Before this, she was at Tata Institute of Social Sciences, getting a Masters degree in Media and Cultural Studies. Research interests include gender, sexuality, internet, social media, media studies, films, culture studies and history. Generally in love with books, coffee, camera, the Internet and an array of TV shows/movies, Smita is forever in the search of good coffee in Mumbai (and elsewhere)

Bishakha Datta
Point of View
Bishakha is a non-fiction writer and documentary filmmaker with an abiding interest in representing invisible points of view and people – people who are marginalized because of their genders or sexualities, or voices that are unheard, ‘illegitimate’ or silenced. She has edited Nine Degrees of Justice: New Perspectives on Violence Against Women in India (Zubaan, 2010) and And Who Will Make The Chapatis? (Stree, 1996). Films she’s directed include In The Flesh: Three Lives in Prostitution and Taza Khabar: Hot Off The Press. She is on the boards of non-profits including Breakthrough, CREA, Dreamcatchers, Majlis, and the Wikimedia Foundation. Bishakha, who is the co-founder of Mumbai-based non-profit Point of View, is currently working on a full-length book on women in sex work.

Kazim Rizvi
The Dialogue
Kazim is a public policy professional based out of New Delhi. He is passionate about bringing a positive discourse in India’s political and policy space, and envisages to make a lasting impact. The Dialogue was founded with this idea in mind.

Ranjeet Rane
The Dialogue
Ranjeet is an award-winning author and regularly publishes his ideas in leading Indian publications. Ranjeet has a master’s degree in Political Science along with certifications in Public Policy, Cyber Laws and Ethical Hacking. He blogs and tweets as the Old Wonk. At The Dialogue he leads on all things Internet Governance.

Vikas Kanungo
Sr. Consultant World Bank, eGov & mGov
Vikas Kanungo is an e-Government and m-Government expert with more than 20 years of experience in the field of ICT, e-Governance, m-Governance, Open Data/Big Data, Social Media technologies and cloud computing.

Dr. Vigneswara Ilavarasan
Asst Prof IIT Delhi
Dr. Vigneswara Ilavarasan is an associate professor in the Department of Management Sciences at IIT-Delhi. His teaching interests include social media and business practices, ICTs in relation to development and business, Management Information Systems (MIS), eCommerce, market and business research methods.

Ratika Jain

Vaibhav Chowdhury

Shree Parthasarhty

Anupam Sanghi

Deepak Maheshwari

Dr. Prabhat Ranjan

Lisa Garcia
Foundation for Media Alternatives

Tehmina Zafar
Bytes4All

Marvi Sirmed
Bytes4All

Lisa Hayat
Centre for Social Activism

Saikat Datta
Saikat Datta is the former Editor (National Security) with the Hindustan Times, Delhi. He has been a journalist for over 19 years, writing on the intersection between government, policy, security, intelligence and defence. His work has been awarded the International Press Institute award, the National RTI award for investigative journalism and the Jagan Phadnis Memorial award for investigative journalism. He is also the author of a book on the history and the future of India’s Special Forces, published by the United Services Institution. He has presented and published several academic papers for the National Security Guards, the Indian army’s think tank, the Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS) and the Indian Air Force’s think tank, the Centre for Air Power Studies (CAPS).

Smitha Krishna Prasad
Centre for Communication Governance, NLU
Smitha Krishna Prasad is a senior member of the Technology, Media and Telecoms, Intellectual Property and International Commercial Laws practice group and focuses on matters pertaining to data privacy, information technology, intellectual property, telecommunications, media and entertainment laws. She regularly advises clients on matters dealing with data protection and privacy laws, regulatory and legal issues in relation to big data and data analytics, digital and new media matters, regulatory issues and laws applicable to e-commerce businesses in India, laws regulating various payment systems and mechanisms in India, and trademark prosecution matters. She has also been involved in a number of cross border intellectual property, technology and business transfer transactions, and advising clients on legal requirements and best practices in relation to development and distribution of software applications across various industries. Smitha has participated in authoring a number of articles on topics related to intellectual property, information technology and media laws, published by associations such as Steinbeis Centre for Technology Transfer India and the USIBC in their journals and newsletters.

Chinmayi Arun
Centre for Communication Governance, NLU
Chinmayi Arun is an Assistant Professor of Law at National Law University Delhi, where she is also the Executive Director of the Centre for Communication Governance. She is a member of the Indian Government’s multi stakeholder advisory group for the India Internet Governance Forum, a member of UNESCO India’s Press Freedom committee and has been a consultant to the Law Commission of India in the past. She is also a Faculty Associate of the Berkman Klein Centre at Harvard University.

Arpita Biswas
Centre for Communication Governance, NLU

Smriti Parsheera
NIPFP

Sushant Singh
Indian Kanoon

Rupsa Mallik
CREA

Vaishali Verma
Software Freedom Law Centre
Vaishali Verma completed her B.A.LL.B. (Hons.) from Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Delhi in 2015. She pursued her LL.M. in Cyber Law and Cyber Security from National Law University, Jodhpur in 2016. She is enrolled as an advocate with the Bar Council of Delhi and is UGC-NET qualified. Her areas of interest include Cyber Law, Constitutional and Administrative Law and Criminal Law. At SFLC.in, she works on the issues of internet shutdowns, Aadhaar, privacy, net neutrality and freedom of expression, among others.

Sarath MS
Software Freedom Law Centre

Sunil Mathew
Society for Rehabilitation of Visually Challenged

Gauthamraj Elango
F-Infortech

Amol Kulkarni
Cuts International
Amol Kulkarni works with CUTS International, an international non-profit non-government economic policy research outreach organisation, at its Centre for Competition, Investment, and Economic Regulation in Jaipur, India. He leads research projects on regulatory, competition, and consumer protection reforms, primarily in financial sector. Over the years, he has led projects on regulatory impact assessment in debt recovery legislations, review of regulation of payments banks, and competition and regulation in financial sector. He is currently leading projects on review of digital payments systems and assessment of trade-offs between consumer convenience and consumer protection in digital payments.

Parveer Singh Ghuman
Cuts International

Anil Kumar Gupta
MicroSave

Ashish Aggarwal
National Institute of Public Finance & Policy

Nicolas Pace
AlterMundi

Padma Koppa
Amnesty International India

Padmaja Karra
Amnesty International India

Al-Amin Yusuph
UNESCO
Al-Amin Yusuph is an information professional expert with 17 years of experience in knowledge and information management, media development and the use of new media for development accumulated at national and international levels.Prior to UNESCO, Al-Amin worked for the British Council for eight years as Knowledge and Learning Centre Manager and a Member of the East and West Africa Regional Leadership Team. He also worked briefly with CIDA Tanzania in 2004, where he consulted on information management. Al-Amin has been working at UNESCO since November 2006. From 2006 to 2012, he worked on media development and ICT-related initiatives in the United Republic of Tanzania, Seychelles, Madagascar, Mauritius and Comoros. From 2012 he was the Programme Specialist for the UNESCO Office in Dar es Salaam until he joined the UNESCO Office in New Delhi as Advisor for Communication and Information in November 2015.

Anirban Sarma
UNESCO
Since 2011, Anirban Sarma has been a National Programme Officer (Communication and Information) at the UNESCO Cluster Office for Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka. In his current role, he designs and manages UNESCO’s initiatives on media development, ICTs and access to information across South Asia. He began his career as an editor in the book publishing industry and worked at Anthem Press and Random House before joining the Centre of Excellence at Weber Shandwick, a PR and public affairs consultancy. In 2007, he was awarded the prestigious Inlaks Scholarship from India to pursue an MSc in Media and Communications at the London School of Economics, from where he graduated with a Distinction the following year.

Nikhil Pahwa
Media Nama
Nikhil Pahwa is an Indian entrepreneur, journalist, publisher and founder and owner of MediaNama, an India-based mobile and digital news portal. He has been a key commentator on stories and debates around Indian digital media companies, censorship and Internet and mobile regulation in India. He was appointed as a member of the Wi-fi task force set up by the Delhi Government in 2015 along with entrepreneur, Mahesh Murthy and Pranesh Prakash, the Policy Director at Center for Internet & Society, Bangalore. He was named in the ‘Indians of Tomorrow’ list of young leaders in India published by India Today.

Reuben Dieckhoff
FNF
Ruben Dieckhoff, graduated from Heidelberg University where he studied political science with a focus on international relations and economics. Prior to joining FNF in 2012 as Project Manager South Asia, he worked as management consultant in Berlin. He has a keen interest in everything related to digitization, human rights and economic developments.

Rajneesh Singh
Internet Society

Usha Ramanathan
Legal Researcher

Jaspreet Singh
IIT Bombay

Sarbani Banerjee
IIT Bombay

Basheerahmad Shadrach
Web Foundation
Basheerhamad Shadrach joined the Web Foundation in June 2014 as its A4AI Asia Coordinator. Shadrach works to build coalitions of private, public and civil society organisations to advance the shared aim of affordable access to both mobile and fixed-line Internet in Asia. Shadrach has managed ICT4D programmes in over thirty nations around the world, and brings with him nearly three decades of experience in the field. Until recently, Shadrach served as the Global CEO of the Telecentre.org Foundation. Prior to that, Shadrach worked for IDRC, Canada, managing ICT4D research grants in Asia, including the “Mission 2007: Every Village a Knowledge Centre” initiative.

Htaike Htaike Aung
Myanmar ICT for Development Organisation
Htaike Htaike Aung, Co-founder and Executive Director, Myanmar ICT for Development Organization (MIDO). MIDO is one of the very few ICT-focused non governmental organization in Myanmar/Burma. MIDO focuses on ICTs for development, Internet freedom and Internet policy advocacy works in Myanmar. Since the introduction of the Internet to the public in Myanmar, she has been involved in Myanmar’s Internet propagation events. She is also a digital security & privacy trainer/consultant for human rights defenders in Myanmar. Some of the notable initiatives that MIDO is involved in are Panzagar (anti hate speech campaign), Kyeet election monitoring application, Myanmar Internet Freedom Forum, Peace Tech Exchange and Lighthouses (community information centres) etc.

George Abraham
Score Foudation
George Abraham, CEO of Score Foundation, started his career in advertising in 1981 and started working with the blind after 1989. In 1990 he launched national cricket programmes for the blind and established the World Blind Cricket Council in 1996. Later he launched a mobile training program in personality development in 1997 and co-authored a book on Inclusive Education in 2004. In 2002 George founded Score Foundation and launched its flagship Project Eyeway in 2003, which is a single stop Knowledge Resource for blind and visually impaired people with the object of changing lives through the power of Knowledge. In the past George has been conferred with awards such as, the Sanskriti Award, the Rotary Vocational Award, The Limca Book of Record’s “People of the Year” Award and was elected as an Ashoka fellow in 2001. In 1996, he also had the privilege of running with the Olympic Torch at Atlanta. Having spent over two decades working in the domain of Life with blindness, George has diverse experience as a trainer/motivational speaker, a promoter of cricket for the blind and a disability Activist/Communicator.

Apar Gupta
Advocate
Apar Gupta studied at Amity Law School where he merged his two interests – technology and the law. Gupta wrote Commentary on Information Technology Act, published by Wadhwa and Company. After completing his education, he joined Karanjawala and Co. to start his career as a litigator. He regularly advises the Internet and Mobile Association of India on new regulations in the sector.

Sayeed Ahmad
Centre for Social Activism