Asok Kumar
Former Indian Administrative Service Officer
Asok Kumar G. is a former Indian Administrative Service officer (1991 batch, Telangana cadre) with over three decades of leadership in public policy, large-scale program delivery, and institutional reform across environment, water, infrastructure, and social sectors. As Special Secretary and Director General of the National Mission for Clean Ganga, he led the transformation of Namami Gange into a globally benchmarked river restoration mission — recognised by the United Nations as one of the top 10 “World Eco-Restoration Flagships” for its effectiveness in reversing environmental degradation through science-led planning and community participation. His work combined policy design, regulatory alignment, financing mechanisms, digital monitoring systems, and decentralized governance to move India’s river rejuvenation agenda from fragmented interventions to a coordinated, basin-level public mission.
A core strength of Mr. Kumar’s work is the design and operationalisation of durable public institutions and delivery platforms. He conceptualised and established District Ganga Committees, PRAYAG (real-time river data platform), River Basin Management Cells, Ganga Knowledge Centres, the River Cities Alliance, Jalaj Units and Jal Shakti Kendras — building an integrated governance and data architecture for
water management across more than 700 districts. In parallel, he has driven policy-to-implementation reforms across sanitation, drinking water, urban infrastructure, civil aviation, power distribution, education, and social inclusion — mobilising public finance, CSR, multilateral partnerships, and academic institutions to deliver outcomes at scale. His leadership in initiating basin-level CAMPs for six major rivers, ecological studies with the Wildlife Institute of India, and national programs such as Catch-the-Rain reflects a strong emphasis on evidence-based planning, inter-ministerial coordination, and long-term sustainability.
Popularly known as the “Rain Man of India” for initiating the nationwide Catch the Rain campaign, he has worked across water and sanitation, infrastructure, urban planning, civil aviation, power, health, education, and digital governance.
As an Advisor, Mr. Kumar brings rare depth at the intersection of policy, finance, institutions, and execution. He supports governments, foundations, and development partners in designing scalable missions, strengthening public systems, structuring partnerships, and building implementation capacity for climate resilience, water security, urban sustainability, and social development. Currently a Visiting Professor of Practice at IIT Kanpur and a regular faculty at IIM Ahmedabad, he continues to contribute to shaping policy leaders while advising on how philanthropic, multilateral, and public capital can be most effectively deployed to deliver measurable, enduring impact.
As an appreciation of his services, there is a 190 acre lake Asok Sagar in Nizamabad District of Telangana and a village Asok Nagar in YSR Kadapa district, of Andhra Pradesh which are named after him!
For more details visit - https://asokji.in/
T. K. Radhavendra
Senior Lecturer, District Institute of Education and Kolar
T. K. Raghavendra brings over three decades of distinguished leadership across teacher education, school quality reform, policy design, and system-level academic strengthening in Karnataka and at the national level. He has served in senior roles including Senior Lecturer at DIET, Program Officer at KSQAAC, and Block Education Officer, where he led large-scale quality initiatives, developed state and national training frameworks, and directly contributed to improving learning outcomes including guiding his block to achieve second place in Karnataka’s SSLC results. His work spans curriculum reform, accreditation standards, school leadership development, and the design of evidence-based academic interventions aligned with NEP 2020.
At the national and state levels, Mr. Raghavendra has been a trusted contributor to NCERT, NIEPA, KSOU, Karnataka Knowledge Commission, and the Department of School Education. He has authored and co-created over 20 teacher development modules, served on national syllabus and assessment committees, led translation and textbook review processes, and presented research on constructivist
pedagogy, teacher vision-building, and student well-being. His research and advisory work covers critical themes such as holistic assessment, learning time optimization, adolescent mental health, technology-enabled learning, and teacher preparedness making him a rare blend of practitioner, policy contributor, and academic researcher.As an Advisor, Mr. Raghavendra specializes in strengthening institutions through capacity building, system design, and academic governance.
His core expertise lies in teacher professional development, learning-outcome driven pedagogy, assessment reform, leadership development, and institutional quality frameworks. He supports organizations in building scalable academic models, aligning practice with policy, and fostering effective partnerships between government, institutions, and civil society with a clear focus on learner-centricity, inclusion, and sustainable quality improvement in education systems.