Founder Members & Core Leadership

An internationally acclaimed biologist, Dr. Debashis Banerji is a gold medallist from Allahabad University. He guides our Agriculture programme. Dr. Banerjee is among the select few scientists in India whose original research has been published in the journal Nature.

Dr. Mridula Banerji is the President of Samaj Pragati Sahayog and is also a gold medallist from Allahabad University. With a PhD in Psychology, Dr. Mridula Banerji guides the administrative processes of the organisation. She continuously urges Samaj Pragati Sahayog to work on the fundamental rights of children.

Nivedita Banerji is a post-graduate from Jawaharlal Nehru University and leads our Women's Empowerment programme. Her design artistry is clearly visible in everything from Kachwa fabrics to all our training books. The innovative architecture of the Baba Amte Centre is also her creative expression.

Jyotsna Jain was Director, Right to Food Program of Samaj Pragati Sahayog and Faculty of the Baba Amte Centre for People’s Empowerment. As Co-Founder, SPS, she was responsible for setting up its administrative systems in the initial years. As Director, Right to Food, she led several initiatives of SPS, including constant monitoring of all government-run food related schemes to ensure that people's legal entitlements are not being violated, creating awareness among village communities about their entitlements, training a cadre of village resource persons who carry the message forward among their own people, initiating the process of redressal of food related complaints, interfacing with the district and block administration so that violations of the Supreme Court's Orders on the Right to Food case are redressed. One of the major achievements of the program was a comprehensive survey of hundreds of tribal families left out of the BPL list and presenting detailed findings to the administration so that the BPL list was suitably modified. As representative of the then Adviser to the Supreme Court Commissioners in the Right to Food Case, she travelled extensively across Madhya Pradesh to investigate complaints of violations made to the Adviser. Samaj Pragati Sahayog also played the role of Support Voluntary Organisation (SVO) for Right to Food with 6 grassroots partners in 6 of the most vulnerable districts of Madhya Pradesh with the responsibility of training and supporting these partners on ensuring effective compliance with the interim orders of the Supreme Court. As part of this initiative, a special survey was carried out under her guidance across 70 villages spread over 7 districts on the Antyodaya Anna Yojana and the Midday Meal Scheme, supported by the ICSSR. She co-authored a paper with Mihir Shah on the “Antyodaya Anna Yojana and Mid Meal Scheme in Madhya Pradesh” (published in the Economic and Political Weekly, 26th November, 2005). 2009 onwards, Jyotsna Jain served as Adviser to the Commissioners appointed by the Supreme Court in the Right to Food Case for the state of Madhya Pradesh. Her responsibilities included monitoring the functioning of all food-related schemes in Madhya Pradesh and suggesting reforms to make them work better.

Dr. Mihir Shah was Secretary, SPS from 1993 to 2009 and from 2014 to 2020 Currently, he is Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Rural Management Program at Shiv Nadar University. This is a first-of-its-kind program, which draws students from the most disadvantaged regions and communities of India and aims to build a cadre of gen-next leaders who will lead a movement for transformation of rural India. Dr. Shah graduated in Economics from St. Stephen's College, Delhi University (where he won the prestigious KC Nag Economics Prize) and did his post-graduation from the Delhi School of Economics (where he was Merit Scholar) in the 1970s, before going on to complete a much-acclaimed doctoral dissertation at the Centre for Development Studies, Kerala. After teaching for some years at the Centre, he resigned to explore fresh terrain beyond the ivory towers of conventional academia, which culminated in 1990 in the formation of Samaj Pragati Sahayog. From 2009 to 2014, Dr. Shah was Member, Planning Commission, Government of India, holding the portfolios of Water Resources, Rural Development and Panchayati Raj. He is the youngest ever Member of the Planning Commission. He was chiefly responsible for drafting the paradigm shift in the management of water resources enunciated in the 12th Five Year Plan. He also initiated a makeover of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), the largest employment programme in human history, with a renewed emphasis on rural livelihoods, based on construction of productive assets. In 2019, the Government of India invited Dr. Shah to chair the committee to draft the new National Water Policy (NWP). This is the first time since the NWP was first drafted in 1987 that a person from outside the government has been asked to chair this Committee. In 2015, the Government of India invited him to chair a Committee on Restructuring the Central Water Commission and Central Ground Water Board, and also to chair a Committee to draft the National Water Framework Law and the Model Groundwater (Sustainable Management) Bill. In 2017-18, he chaired a Task Group set up by the Government of Karnataka, which submitted a new Karnataka State Water Policy in December 2018. In October 2019, the Government of Madhya Pradesh invited him to chair a Group of Experts to draft a new Water Strategy for MP. Dr Shah was the first President of the Bharat Rural Livelihoods Foundation (2013-19), which supports innovative civil society action in close partnership with state governments. He was the first Chair of the Revitalising Rainfed Areas (RRA) Network (2014-18) and the National Coalition for Natural Farming (NCNF) (2021-26). He is a Founding Signatory of the Geneva Actions on Human Water Security, 2017. He was a Member of the International Steering Committee of the CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE) from 2012 to 2018. His research has been published extensively in pre-eminent journals such as Economic and Political Weekly, Current Science, Ambio, Hydrogeology Journal, Journal of Hydrology, Contributions to Indian Sociology, Review of Development and Change, International Journal of Rural Management, Seminar and Indian Journal of Labour Economics. Dr. Shah has addressed audiences on his life’s work all over the world from Stanford University to the World Bank in Washington, the OECD in Paris, the Arctic Circle in Iceland, Chatham House and University College, London, University of Cambridge, England, UNESCO-IHE, Delft, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Austria, the EAT Forum, Stockholm, Rachel Carson Centre, Munich, Sichuan University, China, International Water Management Institute, Colombo, the Asian Development Bank, Manila, the Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok and the Singapore Water Week. He was the Keynote Speaker at the Global Water Summit at Rome in 2012 and the International EcoSummit Congress at Montpellier in 2016. Dr. Shah delivered the Lovraj Kumar Memorial Lecture in 2007, Abhyas Mandal Golden Jubilee Lecture in 2009, Ranjan Roy Memorial Lecture at St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University in March 2010, the Malcolm Adiseshiah Centenary Lecture at the Madras Institute of Development Studies in April 2010, Centre for Study of Developing Societies Golden Jubilee Lecture in February 2013, BG Deshpande Memorial Lecture in December 2013, Smarajit Memorial Lecture in 2014, Ramaswamy Iyer Memorial Lecture in 2016, Commencement Lecture at the Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology in July 2017, Centre for Development Studies Founders Day Lecture in December 2017, the inaugural ML Dantwala Memorial Lecture in November 2018, the Convocation Address at the Ambedkar University Delhi in December 2018, the inaugural Sujathadevi Memorial Lecture at Maharaja’s College, Ernakulam in July 2019, the KN Raj Memorial Lecture, Centre for Development Studies in March 2021 (Thiruvananthapuram), the KN Raj Memorial Lecture, COSTFORD in June 2022 (Thrishur) and the first Jayanta Bandyopadhyay Endowment Lecture on Water Governance at the 12th Biennial Conference of the Indian Society for Ecological Economics, BML Munjal University, February 2024

From Delhi University, Rang Rao provides ground-level leadership for the organisation. His living connection with rural communities constantly guides the organisation in new directions and gives substance to all our efforts. Rang Rao is the Director of SPS's Watershed and Microfinance programmes.

P. S. Vijay Shankar is the Treasurer of the organisation. He holds an M.Phil in Economics from the Centre for Development Studies, Kerala. His aim is to take academic learning out of research labs and connect it with ground realities so that research can stand up to the test of actual implementation.

Pramathesh Ambasta completed his graduation in Economics from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi and holds a Master’s degree in Economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University. As Director, Training and Support of the Baba Amte Centre for People’s Empowerment, SPS, he led the Centre’s training, support and partnership effort working with 120+ grassroots partners across 12 states. He was centrally involved in designing and execution of capacity building programs, training materials and films and the research and policy work of SPS. He was Program Officer of the MGNREGA-based watershed program implemented by SPS between 2008 and 2015. He co-founded and led the National Consorium of Civil Society Organizations for MGNREGA in 76 districts, impacting 500,000+ households. He authored three reports on recommendations for reforms of MGNREGA implementation which were accepted by GoI. Pramathesh Ambasta was the team leader for a comprehensive scoping study conducted by SPS, on Climate Resilient Growth through MGNREGA for DFID, which informed DFID’s interventions in India on the theme. As Treasurer of SPS he was responsible for financial monitoring, audits and compliances and reporting to the SPS board. From 2017 to 2022, he served as the Chief Executive Officer of Bharat Rural Livelihoods Foundation, an autonomous grant making organization set up by Government of India (GoI), which amplifies resources by unlocking greater investments from the state. Under his leadership, BRLF’s work grew three-fold, working with its partners on sustainable livelihoods, with more than 734,000 households across 8 states of Central India. As CEO, he gave overall strategic leadership, vision and direction, oversaw implementation, explored and cemented partnerships, interfaced with the GoI, ensured financial and legal compliance and audits, lead resource mobilization, building teams and framing policies. He led the development of a unique model of state and civil-society partnerships in 6 states for multi-sector programs on watershed regeneration, climate adaptation, and tribal livelihood. Under his leadership, BRLF produced the first ever Tribal Development Report in two volumes, with papers on governance, human development and livelihoods written by experts on the Central Indian Tribal Belt. Over the years, he has held many positions in high powered committees set up by the Government of India, including the Central Employment Guarantee Council and the Empowered Group of Officers of the Government of India to suggest measures for the accelerated development of Left Wing Extremism affected areas. He has authored and co-authored one book and many papers and newspaper articles.

Pinky Brahma Choudhury is the founder and creative director of SPS Community Media at Samaj Pragati Sahayog, a media program empowering young talents from the remote tribal belt to capture the lives of the people in the margin in a language that opens multiple conversations, perspectives, and possibilities. As the director, she has mentored and produced more than 200 films including social documentaries, community videos, training films, as well as e-magazines and audio documentary podcasts. These media stories that are primarily shared within the community through People’s Mobile Cinema across 600 villages have also won recognition in national and international forums winning prestigious awards. ‘Mitti Ke Bandh’ (Earthen Dam), the film she co-directed and edited won the ‘Magna Mater,’ best film of the festival, Agrofilm Festival, Slovakia, 2008 and the ‘Water Award,’ the best work on water resources in Cine Eco, Portugal, 2008. Pinky Brahma Choudhury is also leading media campaigns through SPS Community Media promoting the disappearing edible wild food and nutri-cereals like varieties of millets and sorghum; leading project that engages with children from forest villages in central India reestablish a relationship with the ecology through media, art, and shared story telling. Pinky Brahma Choudhury is an alumnus of Film And Television Institute of India (FTII) with specialisation in Film Direction. Her student film at FTII called “Ether’, a short fiction made in 1992 was widely appreciated at several international festivals. Before shifting to work full time with SPS, Pinky worked briefly as an independent filmmaker. Her debut documentary film Duphang-ni Solo - An Autumn Fable (1997), shot in 16mm, was widely acclaimed. The film essays that the then political violence in the Bodo area Assam, in the northeast of India is bound to permeate cultural crises in the lives of the people. It was the opening film, Indian Panorama section in International Film Festival of India (IFFI), 1999 as well as in Calcutta International Film Festival, 2000; official selection, MIFF’98, Yamagata festival ​1999, Yamagata 2019, Japan, South East Asian Documentary festival, Kathmandu. Duphang-ni Solo - An Autumn Fable is part of the 1001 Documentary Films collection on the UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register. ‘Covering the period 1920–2020, the 1001 Documentary Films collection brings together films from over 150 nationalities (among UNESCO’s 194 member states) and includes more than 350 films directed by women. Composed mainly of heritage films and films awarded at some of the world’s most prestigious festivals, the collection demonstrates the significance and scope of the documentary form, enriching perspectives on cultures and countries worldwide’. She has recently initiated project BERE (Bwiswmuthy Eco-Reverence Ensemble) in Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) in Assam working at the intersections of ecology, culture, and communities. BERE’s values are grounded in the indigenous culture of revering nature and collective responsibility towards protecting ecology. Currently BERE has been working on the ecology of Chakrashila Wildlife Sanctuary, bringing together artists, media practitioners, community and government stakeholders to take actions towards safeguarding the ecological sanctity of the sanctuary. Documenting oral narratives and community practices centred around the ecological heritage of the sanctuary is the basis of all BERE work. These narratives and practices have been taking the shape of installation arts and audio-video productions since BERE’s inception in 2023.

Shobhit Jain has been part of Samaj Pragati Sahayog since its early years and has spent over three decades working in the tribal and rural regions of central India. Trained as a film editor at the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, he began his journey as an independent documentary filmmaker before immersing himself fully in grassroots development work with SPS. Over the years, his work has moved across watershed development, agriculture, livelihoods, community institutions and media, always with a deep engagement with people and place. At SPS, he has helped shape programmes rooted in ecological regeneration, equity and community participation. Along with Pinky Brahma Choudhury, he co-founded SPS Community Media, a filmmaking initiative that grew from the need to communicate rural realities from within the community itself. Over time, it evolved into a unique experiment in participatory filmmaking and people’s media. Young people from Adivasi and rural communities were trained in camera, sound, editing and storytelling, many of whom went on to become filmmakers themselves. The films emerging from this process have travelled widely across India and the world. SPS Community Media films have been screened at more than 100 national and international film festivals and have received several awards, including the National Film Award for Best Location Sound. Yet the primary audience for these films continues to be the villages where they are made and screened through the People’s Mobile Cinema initiative across hundreds of villages in central India. At the heart of Shobhit’s work is a belief in deep documentation, the slow and careful recording of the changes that unfold on the ground over years and sometimes decades. Whether through film or development practice, his interest has been in understanding how communities transform themselves, how landscapes recover, and how memory, culture and lived experience shape social change. His filmmaking process grows out of long relationships and trust rather than observation from a distance.