The Manthan Award South Asia & Asia Pacific 2013 Grand Jury was successfully held on 2nd & 3rd October, 2013 at the Godavari Village Resort, Nepal.

The Jury marked the second and final stage of selection of best practices for the 10th edition of the Manthan Award South Asia and Asia Pacific. The Jury marked a fine amalgam of great minds from vastly different walks of life in sync with diversity in 12 award categories.

In totality, there were 430 valid nominations received in its 7 week nomination process. Preceding the two-day Grand Jury process, the internal Jury process in consultation with a panel of virtual Jury members managed to filter 430 valid entries to 131 for the convenience of the main Grand Jury members and for a smooth and quality evaluation process. A panel of 18 member Grand Jury panel looked into the 131 pre-filtered Nominations in 12 different categories.

The discussions of the selected nominations and the voting on each of the category began and on first day with 8 categories completed. It went on till midnight that day.

Day 2 discussed remaining 4 categories. In all, the Grand Jury selected Winners, Special Mentions & Jurors’ Encouragements, and Runner-Ups of Manthan Award 2013.

The intense discussions on each and every nomination and the voting activity brought out the strengths of collective wisdom of the jurors while debating each and every aspect of every nomination. Interestingly and true to Jury norms and guidelines, this wisdom even decided not to recognise any nomination either as winner or even as a special mention in a category or two due to not meeting any standardization or criteria. No wonder roughly 10% of the total nominations received every year get the coveted Manthan Award as is proved by statistics available on the Award website down the years. This year proved no different. As per Award practice, the actual number and names of winners shall be publicized on the 5 – 6thDecember, 2013 when Manthan Award holds its Grand Gala at India Habitat Centre in New Delhi. The Grand Jury concluding marked the moments of felicitation of the Jury members with Jury Citation & token gifts as a token of appreciation to all Jury members for their invaluable volunteering efforts in adding value to the Award process.

Meet the Jurors

Ashis Sanyal, Independent Information Technology and Services Professional : Ashis Sanyal, currently working as an Independent Consultant in the areas of e-Governance, Capacity Building and ICT4D for various e-Governance projects in India and abroad supported by World bank and its sister entities, is former Senior Director in the Department of Electronics & Information Technology, Government of India and was a significant contributor in firming up government policy guidelines, strategy and framework for core e-governance infrastructure related to e-governance.

Shahzad Ahmad, Director Bytes for All : Shahzad is the Country Director of Bytes for All, Pakistan. Bytes for All is an international human rights organization with a focus on Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for development, democracy and social justice. It experiments and organizes debate on the relevance of ICTs for sustainable development and strengthening human rights movements in the country. Shahzad’s focus of work includes ICT policy advocacy, Internet rights, privacy and freedom of expression online.

Ravina Aggarwal, Programme Officer-Media Rights & Access Ford Foundation : Ravina Aggarwal is the Program Officer for the Ford Foundation’s Advancing Media Rights and Access initiative in India. Her grant-making supports infrastructure planning and policy reforms for bridging the digital divide and increasing broadband and broadcast access for the poor. Prior to joining the Ford Foundation in December, 2006, Ravina was a professor of anthropology at Smith College in Massachusetts for 12 years. Her scholarship focused on media, culture, gender, and peace-building, and her extensive field research in the trans-Himalayan region of Ladakh resulted in several publications.

Rajen Varada, Founder Technology For The People : Rajen Varada is a core group member of a think tank group of technology and knowledge management innovators who have been instrumental in the formation of “The Open Knowledge Community” which is being co-founded by UNESCO and civil society organisations. Rajen is the current CEO of the Open Knowledge Community. He has been an ICT practitioner since 1995 and continues to be actively engaged in designing and implementing proof of concept solutions for rural development using technology and in particular ICT.

Amitabh Singhal, Board Member PIR.ORG : He was Founder and former President of Internet Service Providers Association of India, which was in continuation of its predecessor, the Email Service Providers Association since 1994. Various policy and regulatory achievements including, amongst others, helping the Government to write key elements of the ISP policy, opening up Internet for private competition and those that led Indian companies to set up International Gateways and become dominant Bandwidth owners, opening up of Internet Telephony, etc. is credited to him.

Yudho Giri Sucahyo, Lecturer, ICT Expert, Consultant Trainer, And Researcher : Academic staff at Faculty of Computer Science – University of Indonesia, lecturer at Master of Accounting program University of Indonesia (MAKSI UI), board member of PANDI (ccTLD .id Registry), member of Academic Senate – University of Indonesia, highly involved as IT consultant in many national IT projects in Indonesia, jury for Indonesia ICT Award and Indonesia e-Government Ranking, has bachelor degree and master degree in computer science from University of Indonesia, and doctorate degree in computer science (thesis topic: data mining) from School of Computing – Curtin University of Technology, Australia.

Natesh B V, Director – Emerging Markets, Nokia India : Natesh’ s focus has been on introducing India-specific products besides successfully building new start-up business initiatives such as Nokia Life focusing on rural and middle income consumers in India and supporting replication of the same across other emerging markets. His forte has also been to build and sustain long-term strategic tie-ups with key ecosystem partners including Government, Industry and NGO’s leading to Nokia’s transformation to a socially responsible consumer brand.

Mahesh Venkateswaran, Principal- Innovation & Engagement NSDC :Mahesh leads the engagement and innovation practice at NSDC. In his role, he works closely with training partners and external stakeholders, in contributing to the skilling mission. As part of the innovation piece, his team supports and funds products/practices that add value to the skills ecosystem in the country. For almost four years before his present job, Mahesh was associated with KGVK in Jharkhand, a Corporate Social Enterprise arm of the Usha Martin Group, in leadership roles.

Soumya Sarkar, National Editor MINT : Soumya Sarkar is News Editor in Mint, a sister publication of the Hindustan Times published in partnership with the Wall Street Journal. He has been working in Media and Communications for over two decades and was previously with The Times of India, The Indian Express Group, the Telegraph and the Down to Earth magazine. He has also worked as development and communications consultant with organizations that include the World Bank and the Aga Khan Development Network. Besides working in the areas of environment, rural livelihoods, energy and water resources, Soumya is keenly interested in science and technology issues.

Venki Nishtala, CTO Rediff.com : Venki Nishtala is the Chief Technology Officer and at Rediff.com for over a decade. He is an alumnus of IIT Madras where he obtained his Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering. He completed his earlier studies from Hyderabad. Rediff.com’s Internet portal operations offers services to millions of consumers worldwide, using technologies and solutions developed and integrated by Rediff’s engineering team based in Mumbai. Besides the deployment of an extremely-large email system, one of the handfuls in the world, the engineering team has also implemented innovative solutions for large community networks.

Rekha Jain, Professor and Executive Chair, IIMA IDEA Telecom Centre Of Excellence Indian Institute Of Management, Ahmedabad : Rekha Jain is Professor, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, India and the Executive Chair of the IIMA-IDEA Telecom Centre of Excellence. She has a Ph.D. from the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, India. She was a recipient of senior Fulbright Fellowship on Telecom Regulation in 1997-98.

Saleema Razvi, Independent ICT Consultant : Saleema Razvi works on public health issues focusing on linkages between trade liberalization in the healthcare and the health insurance sectors. She is at the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade working on health policy, health reforms and universal access to healthcare. She has worked for the National Council for Applied Economic Research, EPOS Health Consultants, Jawaharlal Nehru University and General Electric Medical Services. She has written extensively on Health insurance regulation and growth in India and is now working on the liberalization of the medical service sector and its impact on the Indian health care delivery system

Hempal Shrestha, Practitioner: ICT For Education and Social Development : “Since past 15 years, Hempal Shrestha has served many national and international organizations from social, educational, private and government sectors in various capacities. His core competencies are in the fields of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) capacity building, knowledge sharing and knowledge management. In the course of his career, had led the Open Development Programme in the Asia region for Bellanet International Secretariat.

Sairee Chahal, Founder & CEO Applied Life Pvt Ltd : Sairee Chahal is the CEO Applied Life Pvt. Ltd, Founder, Fleximoms and Convenor, SHEROES Summit – initiatives committed to connecting women with their careers. Fleximoms www.fleximoms.in is a career destination for women in India and helps connect businesses with female talent. Sairee is a finalist for the Cartier Women’s Award Initiative for 2012, a TED speaker, Business Today, Most Powerful Women in Indian Business 2012 and has been featured on shows like Young Turks, Pioneering Spirit and What Women Want.

Mostafa Zaki Haider, Deputy Director Multimedia Content and Communications Ltd. : With background in marketing, international business and information technology, Zaki worked in international development communication. Acting as a bridge between communication, development and technologists, he has led a highly technical team to develop communication solutions. His works cover from mobile apps to M&E systems, game development to micro documentaries, from IVR messages to SMS push-pull services.

Kishore Balaji, Head – Digital Inclusion-South Asia & Head Strategic Alliance Corporate Affairs – South Asia, Intel : Kishore joined Intel in August’2010 and works as a Head- Strategic Relationships for South Asia, with a keen focus on Digital Inclusion, Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Corporate Affairs Group, he works with universities, schools, governments, foundations and multilaterals to drive innovation & entrepreneurship programs across APAC. Kishore represents Intel Corporation at the various expert advisory committees on Education, Non Formal Education, Entrepreneurship and Innovation and manages strategic programs with the governments on Digital Literacy, Broadband, Education, Environment and Entrepreneurship.

Graham Minton, Director, Corporate and Organizational Partnerships Internet Society : Graham has over 20 years of marketing and fundraising experience at both a national and international level. He joined the Internet Society in February 2011 to develop resources for the organization globally, with a focus on business, foundations and individuals. Graham joined from World Heart Federation where he returned the organization to income growth through developing their global approach to the business sector, as well as broadening their fundraising base in foundations and starting a high net worth individual activity.

Manju Dhasmana, Lead – Community Affairs/Corporate, Social Responsibility, Microsoft India : Manju Dhasmana is Lead – Community Affairs at Microsoft India, where she drives Microsoft’s CSR mandate of building skills and employment opportunities for youth. She also leads the portfolio of partnerships with NGOs on technology, employee engagement and disaster response. Manju has worked extensively in the development sector for 15 years on issues of health, gender, rights and access. In 2009.

Meet the Virtual Jurors

Amir Ullah Khan, President of Glocal University : Amir Ullah Khan is a development economist and President of the Glocal University in Saharanpur in India. He studied Electronics Engineering at Osmania University in Hyderabad, Management at the Institute of Rural Management at Anand and got his PhD from the Jamia Millia Central University in Delhi. He is Fellow at the India Development Foundation, Adjunct Professor of Law and Economics at the Edith Cowan University in Western Australia and Policy advisor to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Madan Mohan Rao, Research Project Director, Mobile Monday : He graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology at Bombay and completed his advanced studies from University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He is M.S. in computer science and a Ph.D. in communications. He works as a consultant and author from Bangalore, in knowledge management and new media. He was formerly the Communications Director at the United Nations Inter Press Service bureau in New York, and vice president at India World Communications in Bombay. He is the Research Projects Director of Mobile Monday and co-founder of the Bangalore K-Community.

Sushil Pandey, Knowledge Management and Communication Specialist, ICIMOD : Sushil Pandey is an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Specialist and leads the information technology (IT) team in ICIMOD’s Information and Knowledge Management (IKM) Programme. He has 16 years of experience in the area of ICT, and his current responsibilities include the management of the enterprise-wide computing and electronic communications environment; planning, designing and implementing information systems; systems integration; and interface with mutually reinforcing systems and technology like enterprise resource planning (ERP) and knowledge management.

Mahesh Venkateswaran, Principal- Innovation & Engagement NSDC :Mahesh leads the engagement and innovation practice at NSDC. In his role, he works closely with training partners and external stakeholders, in contributing to the skilling mission. As part of the innovation piece, his team supports and funds products/practices that add value to the skills ecosystem in the country. For almost four years before his present job, Mahesh was associated with KGVK in Jharkhand, a Corporate Social Enterprise arm of the Usha Martin Group, in leadership roles.

Yudho Giri Sucahyo, Lecturer, ICT Expert, Consultant Trainer, And Researcher : Academic staff at Faculty of Computer Science – University of Indonesia, lecturer at Master of Accounting program University of Indonesia (MAKSI UI), board member of PANDI (ccTLD .id Registry), member of Academic Senate – University of Indonesia, highly involved as IT consultant in many national IT projects in Indonesia, jury for Indonesia ICT Award and Indonesia e-Government Ranking, has bachelor degree and master degree in computer science from University of Indonesia, and doctorate degree in computer science (thesis topic: data mining) from School of Computing – Curtin University of Technology, Australia.

Rajen Varada, Founder Technology For The People : Rajen Varada is an ICT practitioner since 1995 and continues to be actively engaged in designing and implementing proof of concept solutions for rural development using technology and in particular ICT. He has developed solutions for health & early childhood care:(Sisu Samrakshak UNICEF), disaster:(SMS4help – Solution Exchange), district e-governance: (Parishkaram & Samadhan – Govt of AP& West Bengal) and most recently ‘Labnet” a migrant labour tracking and services portal.

Shahzad Ahmad, Director Bytes for All : Shahzad is the Country Director of Bytes for All, Pakistan. Bytes for All is an international human rights organization with a focus on Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for development, democracy and social justice. It experiments and organizes debate on the relevance of ICTs for sustainable development and strengthening human rights movements in the country. Shahzad’s focus of work includes ICT policy advocacy, Internet rights, privacy and freedom of expression online.

Indrajit Banerjee, Director, Knowledge Societies Division (CI/KSD) Communication and Information Sector (CI): Born in 1964, Mr Banerjee obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Arts and Sciences (1985) from the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education, Pondicherry (India), and a Master of Arts degree in French (1988) from the Jawaharial Nehru University, New Delhi (India). In 1990, he obtained a Diplôme d’Etudes Approfondies and, in 1994, Ph.Ds in Communication and in Didactics from the Université de la Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris (France).

Anirban Mukerji, Senior Manager – Wireless Reach : Anirban Mukerji is Senior Manager within Qualcomm’s Government Affairs department. Based in New Delhi, India, he manages Qualcomm’s Wireless Reach™ initiatives in India and South Asia. Qualcomm believes access to 3G and next-generation mobile technologies can improve people’s lives. Qualcomm’s Wireless Reach initiative is a strategic program that brings wireless technology to underserved communities globally.