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WRI India’s flagship annual event, Connect Karo, brings together Indian and global leaders, peer organizations, donors and stakeholders to discuss critical issues related to sustainable cities, clean energy, food, land and water and climate action. This year, Connect Karo will be held on September 11-12 at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi with the theme "For People, Nature and Climate.”

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Speakers

BVR Subrahmanyam

CEO

NITI Aayog

Amitabh Kant

G20 Sherpa and Former CEO NITI Aayog

Government of India

Dr. Sameer Sharma, IAS (Retd.)

Former Secretary Ex-Chief Secretary

UD, MoHUA Government of Andhra Pradesh

Katikithala Srinivas

Secretary

Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs

Shashishekhar Pandit

Chairman & Co-Founder

KPIT Technologies Ltd , Trustee WRI India

Ashish Tiwari

Secretary, Department of Environment, Forest & Climate Change

Government of Uttar Pradesh

D Thara, IAS

Additional Secretary

Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India

AK Rastogi

Chairman

Task Force on Sustainable Just Transition & Green Hydrogen, Government of Jharkhand

Abhishek Acharya

Director

Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change

Sanjay Gupta

Director

Smart Cities Mission, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs

Emily Megow

First Secretary (Development)

Australian High Commission

J Kumaragurubaran

Commissioner

Greater Chennai Corporation

Shivam Verma, IAS

Municipal Commissioner

Indore Municipal Corporation

Preeti Yadav, IAS

Municipal Commissioner

Jabalpur Municipal Corporation

Preeti Gehlot, IAS

Special Commissioner- Forest

Bhuhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike

Uma Mahadevan-Dasgupta

Additional Chief Secretary & Development Commissioner

Government of Karnataka

Shahzad Alam, IAS

Special Commisioner, Transport Department

Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi

Abhilash Mishra, IAS

Additional Commissioner

Indore Municipal Corporation

Dr. Lise Breuil

Country Director

Agence Française de Développement

Mohammad Rafi (JKAS)

Vice Chairman

Srinagar Development Authority

Pankaj Kumar Sharma (JKAS)

Vice Chairman

Jammu Development Authority

Mandeep Kaur, IAS

Commissioner Secretary to Government

Housing and Urban Development Dept, Govt of J&K

Anand Kishore

Principal Secretary to Governement of Bihar, Department of Finance

Government of Bihar

PN Rai

Member, Bihar State Disaster Management Authority

Government of Bihar

Mangesh Dighe

Environment Officer

Pune Municipal Corporation

Akash Deep, IAS

Principal Secretary and Chief Executive

Bodoland Territorial Council

Dr. Devendra Kumar Shukla

Chairman

Bihar State Pollution Control Board

Pritee Chaudhary

Regional Director

FSSAI

Madhav Pai

CEO

WRI India

Rogier van den Berg

Global Director - Sustainable Cities

World Resources Institute

Bharath Jairaj

Executive Director

WRI India

Ulka Kelkar

Executive Director, Climate, Economics and Finance

WRI India

Dr. Ruchika Singh

Executive Director, Food, Land and Water

WRI India

A. Nambi Appadurai

Director - Climate Resilience Practice

WRI India

Dr. Sudeshna Chatterjee

Program Director, Sustainable Cities & Transport

WRI India

Jaya Dhindaw

Executive Director, Sustainable Cities and Director, WRI India Ross Center

WRI India

Pawan Mulukutla

Executive Director - Integrated Transport, Clean Air & Hydrogen

WRI India

Cristina Albuquerque

Director of Global Electric Mobility

WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities

Dr. T Surya Kiran

Executive Director

The Association of State Road Transport Undertakings

Lubaina Rangwala

Associate Director

WRI India

Shrimoyee Bhattacharya

Program Head, Urban Development

WRI India

Dr. Sekhar Kuriakose

Member Secretary

Kerala State Disaster Management Authority

Lokendra Thakkar

State Nodal Officer, Climate Change and Director, MP State Wetlands Authority

Department of Environment, Government of Madhya Pradesh

Ashwin Pawade

Co-Founder and Lead, People and Partnerships

S4S Technologies

Dr. Vinod Bothale

Resident Expert

IN-SPACe (NRSC,ISRO)

Vikram Kapur IAS

Additional Chief Secretary

Director, Anna Administrative Staff College and Director General of Training, Government of Tamil Nadu

Shalini Agarwal, IAS

Municipal Commissioner

Surat Municipal Corporation

Sambhav Ayachi

Deputy Commissioner

Jabalpur Municipal Corporation

Varsha Apte – Athalye

Executive Engineer

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)

Deepti Mathur

Superintending Engineer

Jaipur Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited (JVVNL)

S. Govindaraju

Planning Officer

State Planning Commission, Govt of Tamil Nadu

Sivaram Krishnamoorthy

Deputy Director Industry

SED Fund

Bhaskar T. Nagendrappa

President

CREDAI Bengaluru

Sunil Sardar

Officer on Special Duty (OSD) - Environment & Climate Change Department

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)

Sudha Ramen, IFS

Member Secretary

State Planning Commission, Govt of Tamil Nadu

Satya Prakash Patel, IAS

Special Secretary

Urban Development Department, Govt of Uttar Pradesh

Sudeep Jain, IAS

Additional Secretary

Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Government of India

Arpit Sharma

CEO

Skill Council for Green Jobs

Manas Das

President

Outer Ring Road Companies Association

Divyank Singh, IAS

CEO

Indore Smart City Development Limited

Dr. Anshu Bharadwaj

Programme Director (Green Transition & Climate)

NITI Aayog

Dr. Hemant Bherwani

Senior Scientist

National Environmental Engineering Research Institute

Kalpana Kataria

Executive Director, Connectivity and Asset Management

Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL)

Jeenal Sawla

Principal Advisor

DAMU, Smart Cities Mission, MoHUA

Paromita Roy

Director (Housing & Urban Projects Wing)

Delhi Development Authority

Dr. Jignasa Oza

RO GPCB Surat

Gujarat Pollution Control Board

Mridula Ramesh

Founder

Sundaram Climate Institute

Aswathy Vinod

Deputy General Manager, Civil

Cochin Smart Mission Limited

Reema Nanavaty

Director

SEWA

Rajiv Ranjan Mishra

Chief Advisor

NIUA

Kirtiman Awasthi

Senior Advisor

GIZ

Takayuki Hagiwara

Representative in India

FAO

Hyun Hee Ban

Chief, Social Policy

UNICEF India

Shraman Jha

Chief Executive Officer

Hindustan Unilever Foundation

Jyotsna Kisan

Secretary, Ruputola Slum Dwellers Association

Slum Dwellers Association, Rourkela

Subhaprada Nishtala

Vice President

AFST(I)

Avinash Dubedi

Program Head, Transport Development

WRI India

Nitin Nair

Senior VP

Open Network for Digital Commerce

U. G. Sujatha

Vice President, Global Partnerships & Net Zero

Invest India

Dr. Swati Mujumdar

Pro-Chancellor

Symbiosis Skills and Professional University

Aishwarya Raman

Executive Director

OMI Foundation

Amegh Gopinath

Lead, Electric Mobility

GIZ India

Rathish Balakrishnan

Co-Founder and Managing Partner

Sattva Consulting

Urmila Chatterjee

Executive Director, DPIC and Research Director

Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC)

Kanika Verma

Lead, Green and Inclusive Entrepreneurship

Development Alternatives

Vivek Ogra

Partner, Transport Consulting Leader

Ernst & Young

Tushar Thakkar

Partner

The Blended Finance Company

Nilesh Rajadhyaksha

Programme Director, Urban Strategy Unit

National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA)

Vivekanandhan Thirunavukkarasu

Lead- ESG & Sustainable Finance

Sammunati

Bharti Birla

Enterprise Development Specialist

International Labour Organization

Shobha Raghavan

CEO

Saahas Zero Waste

Praviin B Kumaar

Regional Representative South Asia

GOGLA

Mirik Gogri

Managing Partner

Spectrum Impact

Mili Majumdar

Senior Vice President, Research and Innovation

USGBC

Dr. Debolina Kundu

Director

NIUA

Sanjeev Sharma

Vice President - Green Steel

ACME Group

Ravi Chauhan

Director and North India Lead, Consulting, Valuations & Risk Advisory

JLL, India

Starlene Sharma

Founding Partner

Green Artha

Mriganka Saxena

Founding Partner

Habitat Tectonics Architecture & Urbanism

Mamta Devi

Founder

Didi ki Papad

Manju Vasudevan

Founder

Forest Post

Keval Valambhia

Chief Operating Officer

CREDAI - Maharashtra Chambers of Housing Industry

Bertram D’Souza

Chief Product & Innovation Officer

Protean

Mathew Idiculla

Principal Secretary

Azim Premji University

Archana Tripathi

CEO

Saahas

Dharitri Patnaik

Founder Chairperson

Humara Bachpan Trust

N. Muthusezhiyan

Deputy Executive Director

CII - Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre

Amit Dubey

Senior Specialist, Policy and Partnerships

World Wildlife Fund

Anupam Mittal

Principal Architect and Director

Arinem Consultancy Services Pvt Ltd

Anshul Tiwari

Founder & CEO

Youth Ki Awaaz

Dimpu B Chindappa

Founder

The Mobility Agenda

Taranjeet Singh Bhamra

Founder and CEO

AgNext Technologies

Kirat Brahma

Co-Founder and CEO

Zankhla Design Studio

Dr. Chandrashekhar Biradar

Principal Scientist

The Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF)

Bijal Brambhatt

Director

Mahila Housing Trust (MHT)

Bibhu Bhuyan

Managing Director

Assam Power Generation Corporation Limited (APGCL)

Sanjay Kumar Varshney

Executive Director

Signature Global

Dr. Alexander Fisher

Project Director Climate Action Program for IKI Interface (IFP)

GIZ India

Pamli Deka

Regional Coordinator, South Asia

Private Financing Advisory Network (PFAN)

Dr. Laghu Parashar

Senior Transport Specialist

The World Bank

Dr. Kalpana Viswanath

Co-founder & CEO

Safetipin

Samir Sharma

Multi Modal Transport Expert

National Capital Region Transport Corporation

Sandeep Paul

Sr. Urban Designer and Co-founder

The Urban Lab

Dr. Arunava Dasgupta

Head of Department (Urban Design)

School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi

Twesh Mishra

Special Correspondent

The Economic Times

Nithya Ramesh

Director - Urban Design

Jana Urban Space Foundation

Jaya Srinivasan

In-Country Manager, India, Healthy Cities for Adolescents-II

Ecorys UK Limited

Sarika Panda Bhatt

Co-founder and Trustee

Raahgiri Foundation

Sakshi Balani

India Director

Climate Catalyst

Rizwan Uz Zaman

Senior Technical Consultant

ACCMS, Dept of Forest, Environment and Climate Change, Govt of Assam

Rejeet Mathews

Program Director- Integrated Urban Development

WRI India

Shweta Lamba

Program Manager, Food Land and Water

WRI India

Sampriti Baruah

Head, Sustainable Agriculture, Food-Land-Water Program

WRI India

Ashwini Hingne

Associate Program Director, Climate, Economics and Finance

WRI India

Deepak Krishnan

Deputy Director, Energy

WRI India

Dr. Devinder Dhingra

Principal Scientist, Agricultural Engineering Division

ICAR

Sandhya Sundararagavan

Head, Energy Transition

WRI India

Vivek Venkataramani

Head, Climate Resilience Practice

WRI India

Ritoja Basu

Program Head, Food, Land and Water

WRI India

Harsha Meenawat

Head, Energy and Development

WRI India

Kamal Saxena

Manager, Strategy and Operations

Skill Council for Green Jobs

Priyal Shah

Program Manager, Climate, Economics and Finance

WRI India

Sree Kumar Kumaraswamy

Program Director, Clean Air Action

WRI India

Prakash Doraiswamy

Director of Air Quality

WRI India

Yeshika Malik

Climate Change Specialist

World Bank Group

Mukesh Dadhich

Head - Business Development

BSES Yamuna Power Ltd.

Dr. Sunita Purushottam

Head of Sustainability

Mahindra Lifespace Developers Ltd

Prakash Paul

Principal Advisor

Van Leer Foundation

Akash Hingorani

Principal

Oasis Design Inc.

Joyati Das

Lead, Partnerships & Advocacy

Ecorys UK Limited

Sumedha Malaviya

Program Head, Building Decarbonisation

WRI India

Dharmesh Kachiwala

Director

J.P. Kachiwala Textiles Pvt. Ltd

Dr. Anjana Das

Senior Energy Advisor

Integrated Research and Action for Development (IRADe)

Prosanto Pal

Associate Director and Senior Fellow

TERI

Shravan Shankar

Co-Founder

Climake

Pooja Tendulkar

Co-founder

Lemnion Green Solutions Pvt Ltd

Varad Pande

Partner & Director

Boston Consulting Group (BCG)

Mandira Kalra Kalaan

Head of Office & Senior Campaign Director

Purpose

Roli Agarwal

Head of Strategic Partnerships

Google India

Dr. Shalini Dhyani

Principal Scientist

NEERI

Chef Rajeev Janveja

Senior Vice President and Corporate Chef

Lemon Tree Hotels

Naim Keruwala

Program Director, CITIIS

National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA)

Dr. Pavan Mamidi

Director

National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA)

Aditi Jha

Director and Country Head, Legal & Public Policy

LinkedIn

Shreyansh Chandak

Associate, Investments

Omidyar Network India

Palak Kaur Bhatia

Senior AVP

Startup India

Dr.Gitakrishnan Ramadurai

Professor

IIT Madras

Dr. Manjyot Kaur Ahluwalia

Regional Lead, Asia

Global Methane Hub

Mukut Sharma

Chief TOD Expert

National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC)

Sapna Bhawnani

Vice President, Communications & CSR, APC

Alstom

Rudra Murthy

General Secretary

Auto Rickshaw Drivers Union, Bengaluru

Dr. Kaveri K. Iychettira

Assistant Professor

IIT Delhi

Dr. Poornima Dore

Visiting Professor

XLRI Jamshedpur

Harpreet Bhullar

Associate Director, Impact Measuring and Learning

Purpose

Dr.Pawan Kumar Joshi

Professor

Jawaharlal Nehru University

Jazlyn Lee

Regional Engagement Lead for Southeast Asia and South Asia

Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy

Aarti Nain

Advisor for Urban Cooling and Heat Risk Mitigation

UN Environment Programme

Prof. Saswat Bandopadhyay

Professor - Faculty of Planning

CEPT University

Amitesh Ahir

Vice President, Structured Solutions

K M Dastur Reinsurance Brokers Pvt. Ltd.

Smita Rakesh

Vice President

Social Alpha

Dr. Rajashree Kotharkar

Professor

VNIT, Nagpur

Dr. Rajashree Joshi

Program Director

BAIF Development Research Foundation

Rajiv Kumar

General Manager

SIDBI

Neha Dhingra

Senior Manager

CLASP

Mandvi Kulshreshtha

Senior Program Adviser

Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, India office

Nitin Bassi

Senior Program Lead

CEEW

Sukanta Kumar Sahoo

Deputy General Manager

National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD)

Kinsuk Shuckla

Senior Manager, Energy Transitions

Climate Group

Dr. Geetam Tiwari

Emeritus Professor, TRIP Center

IIT Delhi

Anita Sharma

TVET expert

Independent Consultant

Sonal Shukla

Co-Founder

econscious®

Bhargav Krishna 

Fellow and Coordinator

Sustainable Futures Collaborative

Rutul Joshi

Senior Consultant, CUPP

CEPT Research and Development Foundation (CRDF)

Pranjali Deshpande

Independent Consultant

Asian Development Bank & The World Bank

Dr. Ajith Kaliyath

Urban Chair Professor

Kerala institute of Local Administration (KILA)

Dr. Fawzia Tarranum

Assistant Professor

TERI SAS

Neha Khanna

Senior Manager

Climate Policy Initiative

Siddharth Edake

Senior Program Manager, Food, Land and Water

WRI India

Surabhi Rajagopal

Senior Program Manager

SELCO Foundation

Pranav Garimella

Program Manager

WRI India

Shruti Dayal

Senior Program Associate

WRI India

Pranjal Kulkarni

Program Manager - Healthy Streets & Compact Cities

ITDP

Pinku Yadav

Health, Safety & Environment Practitioner

Sodexo India Services Private Limited

Neeruja Gupta

Assistant Program Manager

Safetipin

Archa Modi

Manager, Strategy & Partnerships

Tabreed India

Dhilon Subramanian

Manager, Energy

WRI India

Dr. Richa Sharma

Fellow

TERI

Ann Josey

Fellow

Prayas (Energy Group)

Radha Chanchani

Senior Manager, Sustainable Cities and Transport

WRI India

Uditi Agarwal

Program Manager, India

Global Designing Cities Initiative

Vrinda Kapur

Program Manager- Asia

Porticus

Abhinav Rajput

Special Correspondent

Times of India

Shomita Bhattacharya

Program Manager

EcoSattva/CARPE

Rajeswari Namagiri Gorana

Consultant

Mahila Housing Trust (MHT)

Sanjay Sridhar

Cross-sectoral specialist

Cities, Climate, Governance

Srishti Kochhar

Senior Program Manager, Food, Land and Water

WRI India

Swati Agarwal

Programme Officer - Climate and Energy

OAK Foundation

Neha Mungekar

Researcher

Drift For Transitions

Malini Chakravarty

Research Manager

CPI

Apoorva R

Manager, Climate, Economics and Finance

WRI India

Photos from Connect Karo 2024

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Connect Karo 2024 Videos

#WRI India – Making Big Ideas Happen

EV Connect Celebrates one year: 2018-19

EV Connect Celebrates one year: 2018-19

Schedule

DAY 1

Wednesday
07 May 2019
time-shape-top
7:30
First floor
Registration & Breakfast

Pre-Conference and Main Conference Registration Desk Open
Plaza Court Registration Area

9:00
Slider2-pic03
Founders Nest @ Main hall
Discussion: Explorations of new approaches

This presentation will describe seven essential actions that could unleash the power of prevention and substantially reduce the prevalence of behavioral health problems and inequality in health and behavior outcomes in the U.S. population.

10:00
People-3
Founder Nest @ Main hall
Explorations of new approaches to creative leadership

Business leaders know that growing a company requires you to put yourself out there and stay ahead of trends. One good way to accomplish both is by attending industry events throughout the year.

11:00
People-4
Designer @ Main hall
Explorations of Regional Chief Executive Network's Leadership

The Regional Leadership Conference provides the opportunity to meet officers from different sized sections as well as learn about the many different types of activities they hold.

12:00
Restaurant
Lunch break

Please take lunch in your own time. Conference attendees will not be charged.

14:00
Slider-people-04
Marketing operations @ Lobby
Discussion: Innovation and Technological entrepreneurship

In a marketplace where customers are more aware, active, and value-driven, firms must rapidly conceive and develop new products and services that meet customers' changing demands.

16:00
People-1
Co-founder @ Main hall
Managing business relationships

Relationships are the foundation for opportunities in the world of business, especially as you rise through the ranks of management or decide to start your own business.

18:00
Rooftop Bar
Cocktail break

Business cocktail parties are a great opportunity to break out of your shell.

time-shape-bottom

DAY 2

Thursday
08 May 2019
time-shape-top
7:30
First floor
Breakfast

Pre-Conference and Main Conference Registration Desk Open
Plaza Court Registration Area

9:00
Slider-people-04
Marketing operations @ Lobby
Discussion: Explorations of new approaches

This presentation will describe seven essential actions that could unleash the power of prevention and substantially reduce the prevalence of behavioral health problems and inequality in health and behavior outcomes in the U.S. population.

10:00
People-3
Founder Nest @ Main hall
Explorations of new approaches to creative leadership

Business leaders know that growing a company requires you to put yourself out there and stay ahead of trends. One good way to accomplish both is by attending industry events throughout the year.

11:00
People-4
Designer @ Main hall
Explorations of Regional Chief Executive Network's Leadership

The Regional Leadership Conference provides the opportunity to meet officers from different sized sections as well as learn about the many different types of activities they hold.

12:00
Restaurant
Lunch break

Please take lunch in your own time. Conference attendees will not be charged.

14:00
Slider2-pic03
Founders Nest @ Main hall
Discussion: Innovation and Technological entrepreneurship

In a marketplace where customers are more aware, active, and value-driven, firms must rapidly conceive and develop new products and services that meet customers' changing demands.

16:00
People-1
Co-founder @ Main hall
Managing business relationships

Relationships are the foundation for opportunities in the world of business, especially as you rise through the ranks of management or decide to start your own business.

18:00
Rooftop Bar
Closing party

Business cocktail parties are a great opportunity to break out of your shell.

time-shape-bottom

Agenda

28 March 2019

29 March 2019