Executive Council

Mr. Alok Perti joined the Indian Administrative Service in 1977 and has held several distinguished positions in both the Central and Assam Governments during his illustrious career. He served in the Ministry of Defence as Joint Secretary in the Department of Defence Production, where he was also the Member Secretary of the Kelkar Committee, constituted to recommend major reforms in defence procurement and production. In the Ministry of Coal, he successively served as Additional Secretary, Special Secretary, and later as Secretary, where he played a pivotal role in policy formulation, governance reforms, and modernization of the coal sector.
Post-retirement, Mr. Perti was appointed Part-time Chairman of the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) under the Ministry of Environment and Forests, responsible for the evaluation of hydroelectric and river valley projects.
He continues to contribute actively to policy and strategic discussions as a Senior Advisor with the Global Counter Terrorism Council (GCTC), bringing his vast administrative experience and cross-sectoral expertise to national and international deliberations.

Dr. S.P. Vaid is a distinguished former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer and served as the Director General of Police (DGP), Jammu & Kashmir Police. With over three decades of experience in policing, counter-terrorism, internal security, intelligence, and law enforcement, he played a pivotal role in addressing complex security challenges in one of India’s most sensitive regions.
During his tenure, he led numerous counter-terrorism and security operations, strengthening coordination among security agencies and enhancing policing capabilities in Jammu & Kashmir. He has extensive expertise in internal security management, counter-insurgency operations, intelligence-led policing, border security, and public safety.
Following his retirement, Shri Vaid continues to contribute to strategic discussions on national security, policing reforms, counter-terrorism, and internal security through policy engagement, public discourse, and advisory roles.
He currently serves on the Advisory Board of the Global Counter Terrorism Council (GCTC), contributing his vast operational and leadership experience to initiatives related to national security, counter-terrorism, policing, and strategic affairs.

Dr. Ashwin B. Pandya is a globally recognised expert in water resources management, irrigation, climate resilience, and sustainable development. He currently serves as Professor of Practice at the Indian Centre for Excellence in Development (ICED), IIT Roorkee. He is the former Secretary General of the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID) and the former Chairman of the Central Water Commission (CWC), Government of India.
With decades of experience in water governance, river basin management, irrigation systems, agricultural sustainability, and climate adaptation, Dr. Pandya has played a pivotal role in shaping national and international policies on water security and sustainable resource management. He has worked extensively with governments, international organisations, research institutions, and multilateral bodies on issues related to water, food security, environmental sustainability, and climate resilience.
Widely respected for his contributions to policy, research, and international cooperation, Dr. Pandya continues to promote innovative and sustainable solutions for addressing global water challenges and strengthening resilience in the face of climate change.

T.C.A. Raghavan, IFS (Retd.) is a distinguished former Indian diplomat and strategic affairs expert with over three decades of service in the Indian Foreign Service. He served as India’s High Commissioner to Pakistan from 2013 to 2015 and held several key diplomatic assignments in South Asia, Southeast Asia, Europe, and the Ministry of External Affairs. During his career, he played an important role in shaping India’s diplomatic engagement on regional security, foreign policy, bilateral relations, and strategic affairs.
Following his retirement, Ambassador Raghavan has remained actively engaged in policy research and strategic discourse. He has served as Director General of the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA) and has contributed significantly to discussions on geopolitics, diplomacy, regional security, and India’s foreign policy priorities. He is also a respected author and commentator, known for his writings on India–Pakistan relations, South Asian geopolitics, diplomatic history, and international affairs.
His extensive experience in diplomacy, policy formulation, and international engagement makes him one of India’s leading voices on foreign policy and strategic affairs.

Aditya Tikoo is the Founder and Convener of the Global Counter Terrorism Council (GCTC), an independent and non-partisan strategic policy think tank focused on national security, counter-terrorism, defence, geopolitics, governance, cybersecurity, emerging technologies, and strategic affairs.
He has led and organised numerous national and international conferences, strategic dialogues, and policy initiatives involving senior government officials, military leaders, diplomats, policymakers, industry experts, and academicians. Through GCTC, he works to promote informed policy discourse, strategic awareness, and collaborative engagement on issues of national and global importance, while fostering dialogue between government, academia, industry, and civil society.

Lieutenant General Kamal Jit Singh, PVSM, AVSM(Bar) is a retired Indian Army officer and former general officer commanding-in-chief of Western Command. After retirement, he was conferred with Maharaja Ranjit Singh Chair of Excellence in Punjab University. and was appointed as Advisor to CM Haryana in November 2018. He graduated from the National Defence Academy, and attended various staff courses in training academies of the Indian Army throughout the country. Singh worked closely with UN Peacekeeping forces stationed in Angola and was commended by the chief and UN Force Commander during his tenure. He held several appointments as commanding officer and also staff appointments at the headquarters of the Indian Army. He has been twice awarded the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal. In 2019, Singh was appointed as State Information Commissioner. Inducted into Chandigarh Advisory Council in Aug 2019.

He is a retired officer of the Indian Army. He served as Chief of Integrated Defence Staff to the Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee (CISC) of the Indian Armed Forces. He is considered a counter-terrorism specialist and has held various important command, staff, and Instructor appointments during his career.He has commanded a battalion and a brigade in counter-terrorism operations in Jammu and Kashmir and the XV Corps (Srinagar). As a Major General of Assam Rifles, he was instrumental in raising a new formation termed IGAR (East) in Northeast India. He has held various staff appointments including Colonel MS (Complaints) in Military Secretary Branch; Brigade Major of Kargil Brigade; Brigadier General Staff (Operations) of XVI Corps (Nagrota); Deputy Director-General in Weapon Equipment Directorate. He has also served as a commando instructor and a defense attache to Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos (2005- 2008).

During his long and distinguished service spanning over 38 years, he has served in a variety of Command, Staff and Instructional appointments. Vice Admiral Sinha, a Qualified Flying Instructor, has over 2700 hrs of flying on 18 different types of aircraft. The majority of his flying has been on the Sea Harrier from the aircraft carriers. He has Commanded two Sea Harrier Squadrons and Air Station INS Hansa, at Goa. His sea Commands include ICGS Ranijindan, INS Saryu, INS Shakti, and INS Delhi. In the Flag rank, Admiral Sinha has held a wide array of appointments such as Flag Officer Naval Aviation (FONA), Assistant Chief of Naval Staff Air [ACNS(Air)], the Flag Officer Commanding Western Fleet (FOCWF) and Controller Personnel Services (CPS) before taking over as the Chief of Integrated Defence Staff to Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee (CISC).

He is a retired officer of the Indian Army. He served as Chief of Integrated Defence Staff to the Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee (CISC) of the Indian Armed Forces. He is considered a counter-terrorism specialist and has held various important command, staff, and Instructor appointments during his career.He has commanded a battalion and a brigade in counter-terrorism operations in Jammu and Kashmir and the XV Corps (Srinagar). As a Major General of Assam Rifles, he was instrumental in raising a new formation termed IGAR (East) in Northeast India. He has held various staff appointments including Colonel MS (Complaints) in Military Secretary Branch; Brigade Major of Kargil Brigade; Brigadier General Staff (Operations) of XVI Corps (Nagrota); Deputy Director-General in Weapon Equipment Directorate. He has also served as a commando instructor and a defense attache to Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos (2005- 2008).

Sudhir Kumar Sopory is an Indian educationist, plant physiologist, scientist, and former vice-chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He is known to be the first to purify a protein kinase C activity from plants and is credited with the identification of topoisomerase as a substrate of protein kinase C. He is an elected Fellow of several major Indian science academies and The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) and is a recipient of many honors, including the 1987 Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize, the highest Indian award in the science and technology categories. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honor of the Padma Shri, in 2007, for his contributions to science and technology.

Air Marshal Rai served in the Indian Air Force for 38 years and retired as Commander – in – Chief, Training Command. An experienced test pilot on fighter and transport aircraft and a qualified flying Instructor (Cat A). Air Marshal Rai held important assignments at very senior positions for policy-level decision making and implementation with regard to the operational and training needs of the Indian Air Force. He held Staff appointments at Air HQs in the Air War Strategy and Procurement departments. Specialist in Aero Space evaluations, procurement procedures of Indian Ministry of Defence, contract negotiations, and program management. Inducted the Hawk Advanced Jet Trainer as base Commander and established the training curriculum for fighter training. As Commander- in – Chief, oversaw all Flying, Engineering, Administrative, Logistics, Leadership training programs for ab- initio entrants to the Indian Air Force and in-service training of all Indian Air Force personnel, personnel of other services and friendly foreign air forces.

His area of Specialization includes Strategic Leadership, Perspective Planning & Management; Aerospace Project Management & Flight Testing; Defence Research & Technology Strategy; Military Tactics and Operational Art; Human Resource Development; EW & Information Warfare; National Security Strategy & International Affairs

Bambawale joined the Indian Foreign Service in August 1984. He studied Mandarin Chinese and served in the Indian missions at Hong Kong and Beijing from 1985 to 1991. Upon his return to the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi, he served as the first Desk Officer for China in the Ministry.From 1993 to 1994, Bambawale was the Director in the Americas Division of the Ministry. From 1994 to 1998, he was the Director of the Indian Cultural Centre in Berlin where he dealt with Public diplomacy. From March 2001 to June 2002, he worked at the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi as the Staff Officer to the Foreign Secretary of India.

Subsequently, he functioned at the Prime Minister’s Office in New Delhi as the Deputy Chief in the Division of National Security Affairs, Defence and International Policy. Bambawale was the Minister (Political) and Head of the Political Wing at the Indian Embassy in Washington, D.C. from July to September 2007. From September 2007 to December 2009, he served as India’s first Consul General in Guangzhou. From December 2009 to July 2014, he was the Joint Secretary (East Asia) at the Ministry of External

Affairs in New Delhi. He also served as the Indian Ambassador to Bhutan from August 2014 to December 2015 and the High Commissioner of India to Pakistan from January 2016 to November 2017

Lieutenant General Chauhan is an alumnus of National Defence Academy, Defence Services Staff College, and the prestigious National Defence College. He was commissioned into the 11 Gorkha Rifles in December 1979. Chauhan served as a ski trooper on the Siachen Glacier in May 1984 as part of OP Meghdoot.Thereafter, as a subunit Commander, he was actively involved in counter-insurgency operations both in Manipur and Jammu & Kashmir.He also held various prestigious instructional and staff appointments during his career ranging from instructor National Defence Academy, Brigade Major of a Brigade and General Staff Officer-1 in Corps, Senior

Instructor DSSC, Defence Attach’e Nepal, Director ALC, DDG PP Strat and ADG PI at IHQ of MoD (Army).He also commanded his Battalion in Operation Vijay and Operation Rakshak as a Battalion Commander.Chauhan is a highly decorated officer with the Yudh Seva Medal, the Sena Medal and the Vishisht Seva Medal for his services. Gen Chauhan also has the unique distinction of handling media relations for the Army in its public information unit.

Rear Admiral S Kulshrestha is an alumnus of Jodhpur University with Gold Medal in Solid State Physics in his Post Graduation. He joined Indian Navy in the year 1975 and was awarded Silver Medal at the Naval Academy, the Telescope and the Sword of Honour for being adjudged the best Naval Officer during initial training. He did his specialisation in Quality Assurance of Naval Armament and adorned various key appointments at Naval Command Headquarters , DRDO establishments, Ordnance Factories and finally rose to become the Director General of Naval Armament Inspection (DGNAI) at the Integrated Headquarters of Ministry of Defence (Navy). During his career spanning over three decades in the Armament Quality Organisation in the Indian Navy, he has gained and attained thorough knowledge of Quality Assurance of sophisticated naval armament, Quality Management Systems, Project Management, Negotiation on technical as well as financial subjects

Shri. Karnal Singh is one of the most decorated IPS officers having served as Director, Enforcement Directorate in his last posting before retirement. He belongs to the 1984 batch. From establishing cyber crime labs to successfully computerizing various policing systems, his indispensable contribution to improving the operations of Indian Police in the digital space has truly been phenomenal. Having represented the country in a number of Financial Action Task Force and Anti-Corruption Summits around the world, his work in the field of AML/CFT is unparalleled. With his service experience spanning over no less than 3 decades, specially in the fields of economic offences and counter terrorism, he has also been one of the key contributes to the draft Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill and the revolutionary revamping of Delhi Police’s technological setup. Having served in special CT units as well, he has also led teams that have successfully convicted terrorists behind bomb blast attacks on Indian soil including those from lashkar-e-taiba from all over India.

Former Special Secretary (Cab. Sect.), GoI Prabha Rao is an IPS officer from Karnataka cadre (1982 batch) who has been a member of the cabinet secretariat and served in several locations abroad. She is the Executive Director of the South Asian Institute for Strategic Affairs and has been

a Distinguished Scholar at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi. Ms. Rao is an Executive Council Member of the Global Counter Terrorism Council. She also runs an foundation- Encourage Foundation India, for empowering artisans and small agri-business through design led market driven interventions.

Dr. Sandeep Marwah is a well-known International media person, with seven World records to his credit. He is the founder of Noida Film City and Marwah Studios and Asian Academy of Film and Television now one of the ten best film schools of the World. Dr. Sandeep Marwah is associated with large number of television programs, feature films and training films. He is the producer of largest number of short films in the World. He has trained more than 19000 media professionals hailing from 145 countries of the World. He is the recipient of 700 awards from all over the World for his contribution to films, television and media inclusive of 170 international accolades. He has been heading more than 100 national and international media and social organizations. he has been titled as Global Cultural Minister. He is also the President of International Chamber of Media & Entertainment Industry. He has already been honored in House of commons at British Parliament in London & Bavaria Parliament in Munich and the Champion of Wales in Welsh Parliament. He is now the Chancellor of AAFT University of Media and Arts and has been appointed as the Chief Scout for India by President of India.

Madhav Das Nalapat holds UNESCO Chair for Peace and Director of the Department of Geopolitics & International Relations at Manipal University. Currently, he is the Editorial Director of Itv network (India) & The Sunday Guardian, Vice-Chairman of Manipal Advanced Research Group.He has been the Coordinating Editor of the Times of India and editor of the Mathrubhumi.

Zafar Sareshwala is an Indian businessman, owner of Parsoli Corporation, and chancellor of Maulana Azad National Urdu University. A member of the strict Tablighi Jamaat branch of Islam, Sareshwala has gained considerable public attention for being a strident supporter and a close confidante of Narendra Modi, the current Prime Minister of India.

Mr Khoda, a 1974 batch IPS officer of Jammu and Kashmir cadre, was the state intelligence chief.As Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), Doda- Udhampur Range, Mr Khoda conceived and implemented the Village Defence Committee (VDC) scheme to combat militancy in the area. In Doda, 100 VDCs were set up in 1995. As the Jammu police chief (IGP), he extended the VDC scheme to entire Jammu province in 1996. It was Mr Khoda who for the first time conceived and implemented the proposal of recruiting and deploying Special Police Officers (SPOs) for counter-insurgency operations in the troubled state.As IGP Jammu, he selected as many as 300 SPOs each for Poonch and Rajouri districts in 1997. During his service, he has won many awards, including President’s Police Medal for Meritorious Services in 1993 and President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Services in 1999 and Operation Vijay (Kargil) medal in 2004.

Neeru Abrol is Member of Standing Conference of Public Enterprises and Associate Member at The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and on the board of 9 other companies. In her past career she was Chairman & Managing Director at National Fertilizers Ltd. and Chief Financial Officer for IL&FS Environmental Infrastructure & Services Ltd.

Before joining IAS in 1984 (Punjab cadre), he served in Indian Railway Service of Electrical Engineers (IRSEE) (1982-84) and National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) (1981-82). Dr. Kalsi was working as Joint Secretary to Government of India, Ministry of Home Affairs at New Delhi. He was looking after the matter relating to the Centre-State relations till 2010. Presently his main responsibilities include management and deployment of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), namely CRPF, BSF, CISF,

ITBP, SSB, Assam Rifles and NSG. He is also responsible for Cyber Security and Information Security as Chief Information Security Officer, MHA and various projects related to Information & Communication Technology. In his 30 years career as a civil servant, he has handled a variety of challenging assignments in the areas of Information Technology, Technical Education and Industrial Training, Science and Technology, Industries, Employment and Vocational Training, etc. besides the assignments as Deputy Commissioner, District Magistrate, ADM and SDM etc. in Punjab. He handled the issues like change management, administrative reforms and process reengineering with a citizen oriented thinking. Dr. Kalsi has worked on several innovative initiatives in promoting Information Technology, e- Governance and Human Resource Development. He contributed to the ICT Industry initiative of Government of Punjab both as Director cum Secretary, Department of IT and as Managing Director, Punjab Information and Communication

He retired as Adjutant General of Indian Army. He commanded the Fire and Fury Corps, responsible for Ladakh region of J&K. He has been Research Fellow at Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses, and is a Fellow of the National War College, Nigeria. He commanded a battalion in North East, Brigade on the Western Border and division in the sensitive Jaurian- Akhnoor sector on the Line of Control. The General Officer had served

Operational Staff as Brigadier responsible for operations of J&K at Udhampur and for Southern Punjab and Northern Rajasthan at Bhatinda. He is currently a Distinguished Fellow at the CLAWS