- By JVG Krishna Murthy
- 0 Comments
- September 11, 2024
We thank all those participants who registered and those who attended, and the dozens of questions that were asked for a very rich dialog during the Webinar.
Some of the feedback received from the audience:
“Very nice to see Dr. Maneesha and Shri Shantilal Muttha ji and other distinguished resource persons virtually at this WHEELS Global Webinar.” – Prof. Vinod Menon
“Wonderful ideas we got from this webinar thanks for this and all the speakers.” – Ravi Kumar
“Thank you so much for the webinar” – Dr. Pradipta Chandra
“80% of the speakers were outstanding including Amrita University – excellent slides; Shanti Lal Muttha in Latur, Maharastra to stop farmer suicides; VK Madhavan from WaterAid India; Rahul Bakare from Urdhvama and Dr. Upal Ghosh, our very own at Maryland University. The individual case studies were awesome” – Porus Dadabhoy
With 3.3m NGOs registered in the country, even if 10% are active, that multiplier effect by all NGOs replicating successful innovations in their territories is the best way to shorten the time. Hence, we are looking forward to all mission-aligned entities and professionals to come join our journey. Together we can get there faster.
Please find the links to relevant material from the Webinar:
1. Slide deck used for introducing WGF Programs.
2. Slide deck used for introducing the panelists and their work.
3. Questions & Answers from the session.
♦ Call to Action: Visit ‘Get Involved’ page to join us and learn about our solutions.
♦ Watch out for our next webinars which will bring similar group of innovators in Health, Livelihood, and Water.
♦ For questions, please write to info@wheelsglobal.org
Click to view the webinar recording
LIVE Webinar – 28 September 2024
Innovations and Collaborative Governance to Address Water Challenges at Scale
Register Here
Webinar Panelists
Mr. Shanti Lal Muttha ~ Founder – Shantilal Muttha Foundation (SMF) and Bharatiya Jain Sanghatana (BJS)
Dr. Maneesha Vinodini Ramesh ~ Provost – Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham
Mr. VK Madhavan ~ Chief Executive – WaterAid India
Mr. Rahul Bakare ~ CEO & Founder – Urdhvam Environmental Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
Prof. Upal Ghosh ~ University of Maryland Baltimore County
Mrs. Amrtha Kasturi Rangan ~ Head, Rural Development – A.T.E. Chandra Foundation
Mr. Kishan Goenka ~ Chair – North Chapter, WHEELS Global Foundation
Mrs. Gauri Kumar ~ Moderator, Chair – WHEELS Water Council
Webinar Summary
Saltwater constitutes 97 % of all the water that exists on our planet. Of the balance 3% of fresh water available, almost half of it remains frozen in glaciers, ice caps, or deep underground aquifers. Yes – just around 1.5% is available for our use, making every drop count. Further, the continuing growth in population growth and industrialization is not helping and demand continues to escalate in a supply-constrained domain. Despite these myriad challenges in the water domain, the spectrum of promising innovations is amazing from a variety of water purification approaches – from home use to industrial-scale; lake and spring rejuvenation; de-silting of age-old water tanks; water conservation techniques; micro-irrigation systems; smart crop-rotations; borewell recharging systems, etc,. Given the scale of the problem, nearly 1.4 Billion people and a huge and diverse geography, world-record rainfall and floods to nearly no annual rainfall, it becomes critical to leverage resources across the spectrum through public and private partnerships, individual entrepreneurship et al.
In this Webinar / Panel discussion, our 4th in the Series after recent ones on Education, Health, and Livelihood, we are pleased to feature six pioneers to discuss their original thinking, creative & scalable business models, unique public-private partnerships for large-scale interventions, and the role of Government policy and infrastructure, and of course, all that underpinned by technology and community engagement for long-haul capacity. We look forward to the participation of all mission-aligned alumni, professionals, partners, public-private entities, and of course donors for an engaging session and interactions.
Join US LIVE on ZOOM
Saturday ~ Sep 28, 2024
10 am EST, 7:00 am PST, 7:30 pm IST
(Registration is Free)
You can join the webinar 15 min early (i.e. 09:45 AM EST OR 7:15 PM IST) to watch the slide show on WGF-related projects & videos.
WHEELS Global Foundation (WGF), “An Initiative of IIT Alumni, USA” with the mission of Technology-Enabled Philanthropy. WHEELS has also been selected by NITI Aayog, Govt. of India as a member of the Committee for Innovation and Technology Transfer. WHEELS has also signed an MOU with the Ministry for Panchayati Raj for a technology partnership in Rural Development.
Panelists Overview
Shanti Lal Muttha is a social entrepreneur and strategic philanthropist, who touched millions of lives through his work in water conservation, disaster relief and rehabilitation, and values education. His relentless pursuit of grassroots impact for four decades firmly established him as a changemaker par excellence. He is the founder of two non-profit organizations—Bharatiya Jain Sanghatana and Shantilal Muttha Foundation. In 2013, driven by a deep commitment to alleviate the impact of drought on communities, he spearheaded a grassroots movement to rejuvenate water bodies. In the past decade, he has been able to significantly enhance the water storage capacities in drought-affected villages through community participation. By 2014, this decentralized approach helped to rejuvenate over 14,000 waterbodies, adding an impressive 10,600 Crore liters of additional water storage, helping more than 3,100 villages to fight recurring droughts. (Shanti Lal Muttha | Linkedin)
Dr. Maneesha Vinodini Ramesh, Provost of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, holds multiple portfolios such as Strategic Initiatives, Research & Innovation, Interdisciplinary, International, and AI+X. She is the Dean of School for Sustainable Futures, and the Director & Professor at Amrita Center for Wireless Networks and Applications (AmritaWNA). Dr. Maneesha was the National Coordinator for the Civil 20 (C20) sub theme, Sustainable and Resilient Communities: Climate, Environment & Net Zero targets, during the year Dec 2022 to Nov 2023, when the Govt. of India had taken over the Presidency of G20. She was highly effective in collaborating with over 700+ CSO’s, Civil servants from various Govt departments and International communities to represent the concerns of common people and support in development of a policy pack under this thematic area. As part of C20 around 12,000+ events were conducted, including policy dialogues, chaupals, samajshalas, and mass outreach campaigns (Jan Bhagidari) in every state of India and abroad. Overall, 154 countries had participated in C20. (Dr. Maneesha | Linkedin)
VK Madhavan has spent fifteen years living and working in rural India on an integrated development approach. First, in districts of North-Western Rajasthan with the Urmul Rural Health Research and Development Trust till 1998, and then in the Kumaun region of Uttarakhand with the Central Himalayan Rural Action Group (CHIRAG) (2004 – 2012). In the interim, Madhavan worked on policy-related issues with ActionAid, as an independent consultant and then on women’s leadership and governance with the Hunger Project. For a three-year stint between 2013 and 2016, Madhavan headed a skill development company that sought to provide unemployed young people with access to jobs in the organized sector. Since May 2016, Madhavan has been the Chief Executive of WaterAid India.
Madhavan has a Master’s in Politics (International Studies) from the Jawaharlal Nehru University. An avid reader, he enjoys music and tweets as @CeWateraidindia. (VK Madhavan | Linkedin)
Rahul Bakare has over 30+ years of experience in the Corporate & Development Sector particularly in: Environmental Sustainability, Water Audits, Groundwater Mapping & Management, Hydrogeological investigations, Stormwater Management & Rainwater Harvesting, Drinking Water Security, Watershed Treatment, Water & Waste Water Treatment & Reuse, Hydrological & Water Resource Evaluations, Water Quality Assessments, GIS & Mapping, IT Solutions for Social Problems, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Governance, Project Management, NGOs Functioning, Strategic Alliances, Management System Review.(Rahul Bakare | LinkedIn)
Dr. Upal Ghosh is a professor in the Department of Chemical, Biochemical, and Environmental Engineering at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. He has an undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering (IIT-B’89) and MS and Ph.D. degrees in Environmental Engineering. His group performs research in environmental engineering and science with a focus on the fate, effects, and remediation of toxic pollutants in the environment. His fundamental research has contributed to the development and transition of nature-based remediation technologies that work by altering sediment geochemistry and enhancing biological degradation. Technologies developed in his group are being implemented in full-scale to provide sustainable solutions for large-scale coastal restoration cum remediation efforts. Dr. Ghosh has also led the development of advanced monitoring tools for pollutant bioavailability, especially work on passive sampling for measuring ultra-low concentrations of pollutants in water. (Dr. Upal Ghosh | LinkedIn)
Amrtha Kasturi Rangan heads the Rural Development vertical at A.T.E. Chandra Foundation and helps run the Foundation’s flagship programs on Rejuvenation of Waterbodies and Regenerative Agriculture. She has spent more than 17 years in the development sector with 15 of those being focussed on rural water. Amrtha is a published author and has contributed to SAGE, India Development Review and India Water Portal, etc. She has also served as a peer reviewer of Participatory Groundwater Management articles from India and around the world for Journals such as Groundwater for Sustainable Development, Water International, etc.
(Amrta Kasturi Rangan | LinkedIn)
Gauri Kumar is the Chairperson of WHEELS Water Council, Retd. member of the 1979 batch of Indian Administrative Services (IAS), Former Secretary to Govt of India & Former Chairperson, Public Sector Enterprises Board, Govt. of India. In the course of her distinguished career, she served as Secretary to Government of India, in the Union Ministry of Labour & Employment, the Cabinet Secretariat and the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (Border Management). She served as Member/Chairperson of the Public Enterprises Selection Board, post her retirement. She has served in various capacities in the Union Ministries of Mines, Environment and Forests, Finance and Textiles. While serving with the Government of Gujarat, Mrs Kumar has held the positions of Principal Secretary, Urban Development; Principal Secretary, Industries & Mines; Industries Commissioner and Secretary, Education Department. The Vibrant Gujarat Summit 2009 was held under her stewardship. (Gauri Kumar | LinkedIn)
Mr. Kishan Goenka leads the WHEELS North Chapter and also serves on the WHEELS Water Council. Kishan has held executive leadership roles in corporations across three continents over nearly four decades of illustrious career – from vice-president at Hindustan Gas & Industries to running Birla International’s Europe operations, and then country head for PT. Akraya and Mediterranean Fertilizers Company. He has also held board roles at several corporations including Clean Energy India AG, Vasundhara Bio Sciences Pvt Ltd, and Akraya Energy International Pvt. Ltd. All along, Kishan has been a passionate Rotarian with nearly 40-years of service. Additionally, he has supported several other impact organizations including PHS, ESRAG, and ISKCON.
Kishan has a B.Tech (Hons) in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur (IIT- Kharagpur) and an MBA in BITS Pilani, India. (Kishan Goenka | LinkedIn)
