Board Members

Shalini Kala

Shalini Kala holds an Advanced Degree in Economics, and has worked on issues of agricultural policy reform in India for her M.Phil dissertation. She has 20 years of professional experience in the field of rural development, particularly in the areas of food and agriculture, focusing on knowledge networking, livelihoods and capacity building both in India and the Asia-Pacific region. Most recently, Ms. Kala was at the World Food Programme (WFP) where she worked on design, testing and advocacy of innovative approaches for food aid as a tool of development. She has also been associated with the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) and has worked on various USAID projects.

Natasha Badhwar

A post graduate in Mass Communications in MCRC, Jamia Millia Islamia University, Natasha started her career as one of India’s first women camerapersons in news television. She worked with NDTV for 13 years and resigned as Vice President, Training and Development. Natasha leads the media team at Karwan e Mohabbat – a people’s campaign devoted to the universal values of the constitution – equality, freedom, justice and compassion. They make short docs that reflect the values of solidarity and inter-faith harmony.

Natasha Badhwar is the author of the memoirs, “My Daughters’ Mum” and “Immortal For A Moment”. Along with Harsh Mander and John Dayal, she has co-edited “Reconciliation – Karwan e Mohabbat’s journey of solidarity through a wounded India”. She has also co-edited “When The Mask Came Off: Lockdown 2020” with Harsh Mander and Anirban Bhattacharya.

As a columnist, Natasha is best known for her 10 year long series of personal-political essays published in Mint Lounge. She currently writes a monthly column for The Morning Context and a fortnightly column titled “Immortal For A Moment” for The Tribune.

Osama Manzar

Osama Manzar works at the intersection of rights, access, and meaningful content. A Senior Ashoka Fellow, British Chevening Scholar, and International Visitors Leadership Program Fellow of the US State Department, he also serves as an advisor to the Women in Digital Economy Fund (WiDEF). After a career in tech journalism, he founded the Digital Empowerment Foundation in 2002, working on “access to rights and rights to access,” and has since digitally empowered over 35 million people. He has played a key role in shaping policies and impact initiatives such as India’s National Digital Literacy Mission, the banning of FreeBasics, liberalising ISP licensing through PM-WANI, and launching a fight against misinformation with WhatsApp that has since been institutionalised. Osama has served on boards and advisory groups including APC, World Summit Awards, GNI, Barefoot College, Protsahan, and MISSING, and was profiled by The Hindu as “the man who travelled more than 10,000 villages.” He is a regular columnist at Mint (Livemint.com) and author of several books, including Internet Economy of India.

Shaifali Chikermane

Shaifali Chikermane is an expert in creative design and is playing a leadership role within DEF to provide digital design-based solutions to the organisation’s various community-centric programmes, websites and publications. An alumnus of Jawaharlal Nehru University, she has over 20 years of professional experience. A designer and expert on information design, she is an enthusiastic volunteer for many educational institutes like the Aurobindo Ashram’s Mirambika School. Ms. Chikermane also works as a freelance designer and consultant, providing design and information development services to organisations.

Shobitha Kedlaya

Shobitha Kedlaya holds a textiles degree and a masters in Management studies. She worked in the corporate sector with J.K (Bombay) Ltd and Huhtamaki Van Leer, post which she embarked on an entrepreneurial journey. She set up a corporate gifting company and a designer brand called Inspira. She then moved on to the social sector to join Protovillage – an intentional community based in Andhra Pradesh. Here she practices permaculture and works on building an education model based on “context enabled purpose oriented learning”. Shobitha is also a Bharatnatyam dancer and an author.

Sharada Kerkar

Sharada Kerkar is a development practitioner working at the intersection of arts, culture, and education. She has over seven years of work experience in digital education, social entrepreneurship, and women’s empowerment. She is the Director of Community Arts and Crafts Foundation and a Program Lead at the Museum of Goa where she specializes in organising skill development projects and the integration of art into livelihoods. She is also a freelance illustrator with a strong passion for visual storytelling. She holds a Master’s in Public Policy and Human Development from the United Nations University in the Netherlands and is a Policy and Design Consultant at Justice Adda. Her strong commitment to social justice and creativity fuels her drive to empower marginalized communities and improve lives.

Dr. Madanmohan Rao

Dr. Madanmohan Rao is the research director at YourStory Media, charter member of TiE Bangalore, and research advisor at the Asian Media Information and Communication centre (AMIC). An author of five books, he was formerly the communications director at the United Nations Inter Press Service bureau in New York, and vice president at IndiaWorld Communications in Bombay. Madan is an editor and DJ in world music and jazz, and writes for World Music Central and Jazzuality. He produced channels on jazz and world music for RadioWalla.in, and was previously world music editor at Rave magazine, and RJ at Worldspace Satellite Radio.

Amitabh Singhal

Amitabh has over 38 years of work experience in both corporate and non-profit executive and leadership positions mostly in Internet & Telecommunications sector.

Was a Co-Founder and then President of ISP Association of India, from mid 90’s & one of earliest faces of the Internet Industry. He was instrumental in freeing Internet from government monopoly, ushering in Internet privatization, drafting & pushing reforms in Internet/Telecom Licensing, Policy and Regulatory regime, which became the foundation for wider proliferation of Internet in India.

He was the Founder, Board Director and CEO of National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI), setting up Internet Exchanges, .IN Domain Registry, Root Servers, etc.

In 2010, he became a Board Director & Secretary of US based Public Interest Registry, the Registry for. ORG, .NGO top level domain names. He served 3 terms there till 2021.

He is also on the Boards/AC’s of some NGO’s/Non Profits which work on ICT access for grassroots and other such initiatives. Personally, Amitabh runs a Consulting practice in Internet & Telecom policy and Regulatory sphere & has an interest in Solar microgrids and Telecom/IT Infra business.

He has a BA (Hons) & a Bachelor of Law degree, PG Diploma in Marketing and holds a Certificate in Corporate Directorship (his dissertation was on Building High Performance Boards).