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Sonal Mansingh
Sonal Mansingh is a renowned Indian classical dancer, and Guru Bharatanatyam and Odissi are dancing styles. Over the years, this veteran dancer has practised many dance forms including Manipuri dance and Kuchipudi. Besides being a dancer, Sonal Mansingh is a well-known choreographer, teacher, orator and social activist. She started her professional dance career in the early 1960s and has been around for almost six decades. As her ghongroos immaculately moved to the beat, she decided to approach various other things. Sonal Mansingh was trained in HindustanI and Carnatic classical vocal music and was proficient in the Sanskrit and German languages. For her contributions towards promoting ‘Classical dances’, she has received the Padma Bhushan, Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1987. She was the youngest recipient of Padma Bhushan in 1992. In 2003, Sonal became the first Indian woman dancer to three-decades Padma Vibhushan. She has been nominated by the President of India, to become a member of Parli, Rajya Sabha. To mark the completion of her 40 years in dancing in 2002, noted Hindi film director, Prakash Jha made a documentary film on her, title Sonal, which also won the National Film Award for Best Non-Feature Film for the year.
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Rajnish Kumar
Rajnish Kumar is an Indian banker. He held the position of Chairman of the State Bank of India. Previously, Mr Rajnish Kumar was the Managing Director (National Banking Group) looking after Retail Banking and initiatives in Payments and Digital Banking since November 2015. Prior to becoming Managing Director in SBI, Mr Rajnish Kumar was heading SBI Capital Markets Limited (the Merchant Banking arm of State Bank of India) as Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Kumar has been with SBI for over three decades, having joined the bank as a Probationary Officer in 1980. Since then, he has held various assignments across various business verticals, including two overseas assignments in Canada and the UK. He has vast experience in handling large credit, project finance, forex and retail banking. Mr Kumar has also held important positions in SBI such as Chief General Manager - North East Circle, Chief General Manager - Project Finance, Managing Director & CEO (SBI Capital Markets Ltd.) and MD (National Banking Group). Mr Kumar has also served as VP (Credit) at SBI Toronto (Canada) and Regional Head, SBI (UK), London. Mr Kumar is an avid traveller and has visited several countries. He is passionate about sports and his favourite sports is badminton.
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Dr. Vikram Sampath
Bangalore based historian, Dr. Vikram Sampath is the author of six acclaimed books: Splendours of Royal Mysore: the Untold Story of the Wodeyars; "My Name Is Gauhar Jaan: The Life and Times of a Musician", "Voice of the Veena: S Balachander -‐ A Biography" and "Women of the Records." His latest books are the two-volume biography--- "Savarkar: Echoes from a Forgotten Past" and "Savarkar: A Contested Legacy" from Penguin Random House India, both of which have gone on to become National Best Sellers and acclaimed by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji. Dr. Sampath was recently conferred the honour of being elected as a Fellow of UK's prestigious Royal Historical Society. He was awarded the Sahitya Akademi's first Yuva Puraskar in English literature and the ARSC International Award for Excellence in Historical research in New York for his book on Gauhar Jaan. The book has also been adapted to theatre as a play "Gauhar" by Lillette Dubey and is being adapted to a Bollywood film by Ashutosh Gowariker. Dr. Sampath was among the 4 writers and artists to be selected as a Writer-in-Residence at the Rashtrapati Bhawan in 2015. He has a Doctorate in history & music from the University of Queensland, Australia and was a Senior Research Fellow at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi. He is also an Aspen Global Leadership Fellow and an Eisenhower Global Fellow 2021. An Engineer/mathematician from BITS-Pilani and an MBA in Finance from S. P. Jain, Mumbai, Dr. Sampath is also a trained Carnatic vocalist. He has established the Archive of Indian Music, India's first digital sound archive for vintage recordings, is the Founder-Director of the Bangalore Literature Festival, Indic Thoughts Festival and ‘ARTH ‐ A Culture Fest’.
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Kabir Bedi
Kabir Bedi is a famous international actor know by his European fans for Sandokan, American fans for Bold and Beautiful, James Bond fans for Octopussy, and all those who love his Bollywood films, across India and the Indian diaspora of millions abroad. His career has spanned three continents, in three mediums, film, tv and theatre, for over three decades. Kabir Bedi went from Bollywood, worked in Hollywood, and become a star in Europe. In 2010, the Italian Government Knighted him by anointing him Cavaliere, Italy’s highest civilian honor, for his lifetime achievements as an actor. Kabir is an international actor with millions of fans across the world. Kabir has been a voting member of the “Oscars Academy” since 1982. Kabir starred with Michael Caine in Ashanti; Roddy McDowell in Thief of Baghdad. He played the title role in the Italian film The Black Pirate (Il Corsaro Nero). He starred in Donatello Award winner Marco Ponti’s Return Ticket (Andata Ritorno). He had a pivotal role in The Beast, directed by Kevin Reynolds. He also starred in The Broken Key with Rutger Hauer, directed by Louis Nero. Kabir played roles many on American television like The Bold and the Beautiful; Highlander, Murder She Wrote, Magnum P.I and Dynasty, and Knight Rider and two HBO mini-series.
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Leeladhar Jagudi
Padma Shri Leeladhar Jagudi is an Indian teacher, journalist and poet of Hindi literature. He is the author of several poetry anthologies including Natak Jari Hai and Shankha Mukhi Shikharon Par and is a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award, for his 1997 anthology, Anubhav Ke Aakash Mein Chand. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2004, for his contributions to Hindi literature. Sahitya Akademi chose his Anubhav Ke Aakash Mein Chand for their annual award in 1997. The Government of India included him in the 2004 Republic Day Honours list for the civilian award of the Padma Shri. He is also a recipient of Raghuvir Sahay Samman, Shatadal Award of Bharat Bhasha Parishad, Namit Puraskar and Aakashvani Award. He lives in the city of Dehradun in the Dehradun district of Uttarakhand.
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Ram Madhav
Varanasi Ram Madhav is an Indian politician who served as the National General Secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He was a member of the National Executive of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and has authored few books. His latest is Uneasy Neighbours: India and China after Fifty Years of the War. Madhav's association with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh began as a teenager. He volunteered to be a full-time worker for RSS in 1981. He was assigned to several key positions in the organization. He has also been the editor of Bharatiya Pragna, a monthly magazine in English published by Pragna Bharati, and associate editor of Jagriti, a Telugu weekly. He worked as a journalist for over 20 years with RSS sponsored publications and has authored more than twelve books. He served as the national spokesperson of the RSS from 2003 to 2014. Madhav was seconded to the BJP and appointed as one of its national general secretaries in 2014.
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Mamta Kalia
Mamta Kalia is an Indian author, teacher, and poet, writing primarily in the Hindi language. She won the Vyas Samman, one of India's richest literary awards, in 2017 for her novel Dukkham Sukkham (Sadness and Happiness). Kalia won the Vyas Samman, one of India's richest literary awards, for her novel Dukkham Sukkham in 2017. The award was presented by Mridula Sinha, the governor of Goa, who described the novel as having "captured the essence of Indian culture. Kalia's previous novel, Beghar (Homeless) was very commercially successful, running to five editions. She has written several novels and collections of short stories, four collections of poetry, as well as two collections of plays. She is currently writing a biography of her husband, as well as a book about the history of Allahabad. Her writing engages with the lived experiences of women, often in middle-class families in India. She has also won several other literary awards, including the Yashpal Katha Samman, Sahitya Bhushan Samman, Ram Manohar Lohiya Samman, Mahadevi Varma Samman, and the Sita Award.
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Uday Mahurkar
Uday Mahurkar is an Indian journalist, political analyst and author. Former Senior Deputy Editor, India Today magazine, with wide experience of covering politics, social issues, religious conflict, rural and urban development and has a range of articles on these subjects to his credit. Worked in India Today for 33 years. In October 2020, he has been appointed as the Information Commissioner by the Government of India. He is an expert on Modi model of governance .Penned two important books – ‘Marching with a Billion’ by Penguin in 2017 and ‘ Centrestage’ by Random House in 2014 on Prime Minister Modi’s model of governance which capture the essence of PM Modi vision in administration. The books were applauded by many luminaries including Klaus Schwab , founder of World Economic Forum and organiser of the annual business meet at Davos , Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, former French president Francois Hollande, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed and Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy.He has an expertise on the revolutionary Veer Savarkar. Has developed a new narrative on Savarkar which establishes him as the protector of India’s national security. Has written a wide range of articles on the subject based on deep research on India Today platform. He has won many appreciations for excellence in journalism’ Was awarded the Narad Samman in 2018 by Indrapastha Samvad Kendra for excellence in journalism.
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Dr. Himanshu Rai
Dr. Himanshu Rai is the Director of IIM Indore. Prior to this he was a Professor at IIM Lucknow where he taught from 2006 to 2014 and then again joined back on 1 September 2016. Before this he was the Dean of MISB Bocconi and Professor at SDA Bocconi, Milan, Italy from 2014 to 2016. Earlier, he had a stint of a little over a year at XLRI Jamshedpur. As the Convener of CAT 2010, he successfully led the largest format change in world’s testing history exceeding all global standards of testing. He has held the positions of Chairman HRM Group, Admissions, Corporate Communications & Media Relations, and Executive Programs at IIM Lucknow. He obtained his doctorate from Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad, making seminal contribution in the area of Conflict Resolution & Negotiation. His profile includes a stint of over 8 years at Tata Steel, India, where he played a pivotal role in developing Quality Systems for his Departments & Communication Policy for the Company. He is a recipient of the coveted N.T.S.E. Scholarship and Infosys Fellowship. He has published in refereed journals and books, and his current areas of research include Negotiation, HRM Issues, Management and Religion, Spirituality, Gender, Influence Tactics & Proxemics. Himanshu loves adventure, particularly mountaineering and trekking, and has over a dozen expeditions to his credit. He is a voracious reader, a yoga teacher and a connoisseur of music.
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Anand Ranganathan
Journalist, Scientist and Author Anand Ranganathan is the author of three novels - The Land of the Wilted Rose, For Love and Honour, and The Rat Eater. He obtained his BSc (Hons) degree in Chemistry from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi after which he left on a Nehru Centenary Scholarship for Cambridge, UK, where he obtained his BA (Tripos) in Natural Sciences, his MA, and his PhD. After a post-doctoral stint at Cambridge, Anand returned to India to join International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Delhi where he ran his lab for 16 years. In 2015 he joined Special Centre for Molecular Medicine, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, as an Associate Professor. His laboratory works in the area of Directed Evolution and Pathogenesis, with special emphasis on Tuberculosis and Malaria. Anand Ranganathan is a Consulting Editor and columnist for Swarajya. He has written previously for Newslaundry, DNA, and The Newsminute.
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Manish Singh
Manish Singh is 2009 batch IAS officer, and Collector of Indore. He has many years of experience in the city as Municipal Commissioner, ADM, Secretary of the Indore Mandi, and MD of the Audyogik Kendra Vikas Nigam. Manish Singh is greatly admired by the people of Indore to help Indore acquire the title of cleanest city. His role in cleaning Indore was even appreciated by former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan in his book The Third Pillar. Most recently, Indore bagged Swachh Survekshan award 5th time in the row for being the cleanest city in the country, while he credit the people of the city for taking the initiative and contributing equally to make the city clean. Manish decided to take up cleanliness in Indore as a campaign. He found support from the people of the city that has very active civic society groups, and the political executive. An important decision in the process of attaining the result was to ensure door-to-door collection of garbage from homes instead of dumping at designated spots. Street cleaning manually and with machines was also commenced. Eventually, Indore emerged as the cleanest city in the country in 2017.
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Pankaj Rag
Poet, IAS, Pankaj Rag is an officer of the 1990 batch. As Principal Secretary, Culture, he has been assigned an additional charge of OSD in the office of Resident Commissioner, Madhya Pradesh Bhawan, New Delhi. He has served as the Commissioner of Directorate of archeology, archives and museums, in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, Director-General of National Archives of India, and Director of Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, Maharashtra. Pankaj Rag graduated in History from St. Stephen's College, Delhi, and completed his Master of Philosophy in modern Indian history from Delhi University. He is a recipient of Kedar Samman and Mira Smriti award.
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Purushottam Agrawal
Purushottam Agrawal is an Indian writer, academic, novelist, literary critique, theologian, secularist, columnist, broadcaster and an ex-member of the UPSC board. He is a former chairman of the following places: Center of Indian Languages, School of Language, Literature and Culture Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University; Chief Advisor, Hindi textbooks (classes VI-XII), NCERT, University of Delhi, Center of Indian Languages, School of Languages, Literature and Culture Studies (SLLCS). He was a British Academy Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Oriental Studies, Cambridge University and a Fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge University, United Kingdom in 2002. He has also served as a visiting professor at the El Colegio de Mexico (National College of Mexico, Mexico City). He has served as Chief Advisor of the 'Peaceful co-existence in South Asia' project of the Aman Trust, Delhi. As a consultant to Oxfam, India, he organized interfaces of scholars, creative artists and social activists as part of the Violence Amelioration and Mitigation Project (VMAP). Of particular value have been the interfaces between Kabir-panthis and the scholars of Kabir, and conferences on the question of social identities and a dialogue on Spirituality without Religion. His writings have been included in a course called 'Public intellectuals of India' offered by the College of Mexico, Mexico City.
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Kapil Tiwari
Member of Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) Padma Shri Kapil Tiwari is a deeply knowledgeable folk philanthropist, working for tribal culture for last 32 years. He has dedicated his life for preserving this invaluable heritage of humanity. He was the director of the MP Tribal Academy for 30 years before. He is also the founding editor of Chaumasa a magazine focused on India's folk genres. He has the credit of editing and publishing 70 books on Indian folk dialects, arts, festivals and lectures. He is the pride of Sagar, Madhya Pradesh. Former director of Adivasi Lokkala Academy, Dr. Tiwari has also made a significant contribution to the promotion of folk arts and folk artists in Madhya Pradesh. In the Department of Culture, he found promising folk artists from tribal-dominated areas of undivided Madhya Pradesh and provided them with a national and international platform. Dr. Tiwari has also been very active in the field of writing. He has preserved oral tradition of folk and tribal communities in 50,000 printed pages. He was also involved in the preparation of a 50-volume encyclopaedia of folk culture. It is a joint venture of the Mahatma Gandhi Hindi Vishwavidyalaya, Wardha, and Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, Delhi.
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Anant Vijay
Senior Journalist, Columnist, Author, Anant Vijay is a grantee of the National Award of Best Writing on Cinema. He has been in the media industry for the past 20 years. This proficient professional journalist is presently providing his assistance in Dainik Jagran. In the spectra of the genre, he has completed a total of nine books. His best selling book is “Bollywood Selfie”. His latest creation is “Marxwad Ka Ardhsatya”. He is currently working on the Superstar Selfie, a book on the legends of Hindi Cinema. He is a recipient of the National Award for Best Writing on Cinema.
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Sir Mark Tully
Author, Journalist Padma Bhushan Sir Mark Tully is a leading British broadcaster and writer whose integrity and wide vision has been recognized by the major British award for journalism, the Bafta Dimbleby Award. He is accepted as being ‘incomparable’ among foreign correspondents. He has also been awarded the OBE and was knighted recently for his long and exceptionally distinguished career. He has also, quite exceptionally, been recognized by the Indian government for his work in writing and reporting on India for a world audience for over 25 years with the award of the high honour of the Padma Shri Award from the President of India. In addition to his political journalism and empathetic portraits of Indian culture in articles and books, notably from the point of view of the poor, he has been presenting a spiritually rooted BBC programme, Something Understood, which has been broadcast every Sunday for almost twelve years in the UK and attracts a regular audience of close to a million listeners and has established a wide and loyal following and a high-profile reputation. Something Understood always reflects the spiritual dimension of life, although some subjects are more overtly spiritual or theological than others. The programme also reflects Mark’s own wide ranging sympathy, intelligent curiosity and imaginative response to the challenges of living a fully realized ethical life, personal and social. The inclusion of music, poetry, prose, and conversation is part of how he creatively approaches his subjects and allows truths to emerge with the complexity that reflects human experience. Tully was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1985 and was awarded the Padma Shree in 1992. He was knighted in the New Year Honours 2002, receiving a KBE, and in 2005 he received the Padma Bhushan.
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Sanjeev Paliwal
Author, Writer and Senior Journalist Sanjeev Paliwal is representing the media industry for the past 30 years. He is a prominent Hindi TV Journalist who has worked throughout his career for the upliftment of the News business. has worked with many prestigious Hindi newspapers such as Dainik Jagran, Amar Ujala and Aaj as well as leading channels like Danik Jagran, Amar Ujala, Doordarshan, BITV, INN7, News 18, TV Today etc. Currently, he is working as a senior executive editor in Aaj Tak. He is the author of Hindi novels “Naina” and “Pishach”.
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Nilotpal Mrinal
Nilotpal Mrinal is an Indian author, poet, socio-political activist and social media influencer. He is known for his books Dark Horse, Aughad and upcoming novel Yaar Jadugar. In 2016, he was awarded India's Sahitya Akademi Award. Mrinal was born on 25 December 1984 in Dumka district, Jharkhand. He attended high school in Nonihat and graduated from St. Xavier's College, Ranchi in 2005. He moved to New Delhi in 2008, where he began preparing to enter civil service and had given the Civil Services Examination (CSE) several times. Mrinal's first novel, Dark Horse, was published in 2015. Written in Hindi, it depicts the difficulties of leaving village life for that of the city, and is set against the backdrop of Mukherjee Nagar, Delhi. It received the Sahitya Akadami Youth Award in 2016. Four years later he released a second novel, Aughad. Recently Mrinal released his third novel 'Yar Jadugar' which is being booked bought read and appreciated by the readers. He also writes poetry and folk songs, and has appeared as a motivational speaker for TED (conference) and Josh Talks.
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Manoj Rajan Tripathi
Manoj Rajan Tripathi is a person who is dedicated to a responsible and committed journalism career for more than two decades. His ample presentation of the ability to write balanced, informative and remarkable articles give us a meaningful insight into a lot of things. He also has a Proven Track Record of efficient scheduling and providing necessary administrative support for a wide variety of production ventures with Experience in script analysis, writing and editing articles, stories, and scripts.
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Divya Prakash Dubey
Divya Prakash Dubey is a Hindi bestseller author, songwriter and has a couple of short films too credited to his name. His three books, a couple of collection of stories in Hindi – Terms and Conditions Apply and Masala Chai, and a short novel, Musafir cafe have changed the very fabric of modern Hindi writing. He is the first Hindi author of this fusion style of writing, thereby making the popular fiction genre for Hindi Indian Literature appealing to a wide audience. His other ground breaking efforts include the widely read Sunday Wali Chitthi and StoryBaazi. Both being revolutionary and new ways of story telling to the masses. Divya Prakash Dubey grew up in Hardoi, Ghaziabad, Lucknow and Varanasi. After completing his degree in Computer Science Engineering from College of Engineering Roorkee, he pursued MBA from Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Pune. He got placed in a top MNC and started writing stories alongside that got published later.
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Vijay Manohar Tiwari
Vijay Manohar Tiwari is a renowned journalist, author and state information commissioner of Madhya Pradesh. He well-known for presenting different colours of India after travelling 20 states in 20 years during his long span of journalism. He recently penned down a travelogue 'Bharat Ki Khoj Main Mere Panch Sal' after completing the journey of 5 years travelling across several states of India. He is also well known for his book “Adhi Raat Ka Sach”, a book on how Bhopal has been forgotten, talks about the reasons why this gas disaster does not figure in popular discourse. His other book includes: Bharat ki khoj mein mere paanch saal, Ek Sadhvi Ki Satta Katha, Harsud 30 june, Uff Ye Maulana: India Fights Corona. Vijay has been honored with the prestigious Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi Award for the year 2015.
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Abhilash Khandekar
Sports journalist and president of Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association, MPCA, Abhilash Khandekar is an eminent multi-lingual journalist of a standing of more than 35 years in the profession. He is also a leading Environment campaigner and wildlife volunteer. A widely travelled person, Shri Khandekar has covered international summits such as G-20 in Germany, SAARC summit in Maldives and Rio World Earth Summit in Brazil and so on. He had also covered World Cup Cricket Championship in Australia and New Zealand in 1992. He has written several books on environment, besides a political biography of Madhya Pradesh. He also hosts/anchors a weekly environment programme (Astitva) on the Lok Sabha TV since June 2015. Shri Khandekar has been nominated as expert member of Central Zoo Authority by MoEF & CC. Khandekar has been a member of MP Wildlife Board for many years. He has written books on birds, on politics and a Marathi book on books. He is associated with a number of sports bodies such as kho kho, cricket and basketball. His interests vary from politics to sports and classical music to bird watching and nature conservation.
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Dr. Wazda Khan
डॉ. वाज़दा ख़ान ने कई एकल, सामूहिक प्रदर्शनियांव कार्यशालाओं में हिस्सा लिया हैं।
2021: बिटवीन टाइम्स ऑनलाइन, आर्ट बीट्स फाउंडेशन, पुणे
2021: नोन-अननोन ऑनलाइन, डॉम पोलोनिज्नी, रॉक्लॉ, पोलैंड
2021: द अदर साइड : ए ब्लैंक जर्नी ऑनलाइन, पंच रोठी, द इंटरनेशनल आर्टिस्ट ग्रुप ऑफ इंडिया, कोलकाता
2020: द अदर साइड : ए ब्लैंक जर्नी ऑनलाइन, विमोही आर्ट ग्रुप, मुंबई
**कविता संग्रह** जिस तरह घुलती है काया, भारतीय ज्ञानपीठ, दिल्ली, समय के चेहरे पर, शिल्पायन प्रकाशन, दिल्ली नया ज्ञानोदय, हंस, दोआबा, बहुवचन, साक्षात्कार, उत्तर प्रदेश, समकालीन साहित्य, समकालीन अंग्रेजी साहित्य, हिन्दी (अंग्रेजी), वर्तमान साहित्य, अभिप्राय, इंडिया टुडे, संचेतना, उद्घोष, कथाक्रम, परिकथा, वागर्थ, आजकल, युवा संवाद, इन्द्रप्रस्थ भारती, पाखी, संडे पोस्ट, जनसत्ता, दैनिक भास्कर, हिन्दुस्तान, राष्ट्रीय सहारा, अमर उजाला, अमृत प्रभात, दैनिक जागरण, यूनाइटेड भारत, प्रभात खबर समेत सभी प्रमुख पत्र पत्रिकाओं में कविताएं व रेखांकन प्रकाशित।
**सम्मान व पुरस्कार** स्पन्दन ललित कला सम्मान, भोपाल, मध्यप्रदेश, शताब्दी सम्मान, बिहार हिन्दी साहित्य सम्मेलन, रश्मिरथी पुरस्कार (सम्पूर्ण कलाओं के लिये), हेमन्त स्मृति कविता सम्मान (जिस तरह घुलती है काया), त्रिवेणी कला महोत्सव पुरस्कार
**फेलोशिप**
2017-18: सीनियर फेलोशिप (चित्रकला), संस्कृति मंत्रालय, भारत सरकार
2004-05: गढ़ी ग्रान्ट, ललित कला अकादमी, दिल्ली
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Indira Chandrasekhar
Dr. Indira Chandrasekhar is a scientist, a writer, a literary curator and the founder and principal editor of Out of Print, one of the primary platforms for short fiction bearing a connection to the Indian subcontinent. An anthology marking ten years of the magazine is due out at the end of 2020. Indira’s primary focus as a writer is prose. As a fiction writer, she focuses on the short form, drawing deeply on her scientific experience working with the complex subtleties of biological macromolecules. Indira has long been involved in literary and artistic spaces that work towards impacting the cultural landscapes of cities. She is on the Program Committee of the Bangalore International Centre. A member of the Advisory Committee of the International Music and Arts Society in Bangalore, she is the lead author of a volume in production commemorating the Society’s first forty years. She is a member of the Development Council of the G5A Foundation for Contemporary Culture, Mumbai, a centre with which she has been associated from its early conceptual stages. She is the Mentor-Editor at imprint.
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Hetal Sonpal
Hetal Sonpal is a dynamic and accomplished business leader with 20+ years in the Tech industry. An alumnus of the NMIMS, Mumbai, Mr Sonpal has worked in Senior Management role spanning Across Asia Pacific and Japan for four major multinationals, Wipro, Microsoft, LinkedIn and Intel. Hetal is a Startup Evangelist and prominent Angel Investor with a portfolio of 25+ startups across different segments of Business, Enterprise and Consumer. Hetal is a “Mentor of Change” for Niti Ayog and is mentoring School children on Innovation programs. He is a motivational speaker and has spoken at many prominent B Schools and colleges across India. Hetal is a fitness enthusiast, having run 15 half and 5 full marathons and completed the Half IRONMAN in 2018. He attained a challenging target of reading 100 books in 2018 and loves to share his learnings from his reading and running experience.
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Narmada Prasad Upadhyaya
Author, Essayist Narmada Prasad Upadhyaya is engaged in the study of Indian miniature paintings since last more than 30 years. His specific area of work is to discover, study and research the styles and sub-styles of Indian miniature painting flourished in different regions of Central India, particularly Malwa, Bundelkhand, Baghelkhand, Khandesh, Vidharbh and other regions of Central India between 16th to 20th Century. Narmada Prasad Updahyaya has written 11 essay books in Hindi, edited 2 books of short stories and a biography and wrote two books on Geet-Govindam and Ramayana with eminent scholar Dr. Vidya Niwas Misra in Hindi. He is also interested in the study of the aesthetics of Indian art. During his abroad visits of Australia, England and Switzerland, he discussed the projects with the eminent scholars, studied the Indian paintings, delivered lectures on the subject and participated in the seminars in different museums, art galleries and universities.
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Vaibhav Vishal
Vaibhav Vishal is a writer and creative consultant based in Mumbai. He is known for his work on Mumbai Saga (2021), Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story (2020) and Rana Naidu. Vaibhav has worked with brands like MTV, Red FM, Discovery and Eros International. Vishal then began freelancing with Indian Express, Ahmedabad. That was in 1994, when he started writing art critiques and human-interest stories. After this, he moved to working with a small-time advertising agency in Vadodara. He has completed his graduation in Fine Arts from Maharaja Sayajirao University followed with MBA degree in advertising & communication management from NMIMS. In 1999, he joined MTV where he seved for 10 years. After running successful projects ranging from Youth Icon, Style Awards, IMMIES to Roadies and MTV Fully Faltoo Films, Vishal was formally shifted to the Creative & Content cell of the channel. He co-wrote Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story, an Indian Hindi-language financial thriller streaming television series. So far Vaibhav Vishal has worked in the Bollywood entertainment industry and his artwork has been released in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, and Hindi language web series.
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Neeraj Arya's Kabir Cafe
Neeraj Arya's Kabir Cafe is a folk fusion band that exclusively performs verses of Sant Kabir. The band members always refer Saint Kabir its first member as its songs are based on the poems and philosophy of him. The band’s lineup consists of Neeraj Arya (lead vocals and rhythm guitar), Raman Iyer (Mandolin), Viren Solanki (percussions and drums), Mukund Ramaswamy (violin), Poubuanpou Britto KC (Bass Guitars, backing vocalist), Piyush Acharya (hamonium player) and Rajat Dawda (backing vocals). Kabir Café aims to ensure that the verses of Kabir Das are accessible to the rest of the world. Neeraj Arya’s Kabir Café came into existence on November 13, 2013. Throughout their 6-year-long journey, they have earned a name for themselves in the most loved musical groups of the country. Neeraj Arya’s Kabir Café takes inspiration from the likes of Moorala Marwada, Prahlad Singh Tipanya, Shabnam Virmani, Malwi Folk, Indian Ocean and the ironic calm of the everyday rush. The band rose to popularity after featuring in the second episode of the fourth season of The Dewarists. The band’s solo track titled Fakiri is one of the most popular songs by the group till date. Panchrang was the first album released by Neeraj Arya’s Kabir Café. Apart from performing at various destinations across India, Kabir Café has spread the verses of Saint Kabir to more than ten countries including Singapore, Thailand, The USA, The UK, Russia and Egypt. Kabir Café has also lent their music to mainstream Hindi films like Baadshaho (Hoshiyar Rehna) and Hindi Medium (Fakiri).
