Board of Trustees
Mr.B.Chandrasekaran is the Founder-Chairman of the Agapuram Policy Research Centre.He has about two decades of diverse experience in the sector of public policy with notable publications in English and Tamil. He is a policy researcher and commentator focusing on policy analysis with a long-term and an institutional perspective. His area of interests includes urban community development, education, vocational and skills development, health, urban development, institutional reforms, decentralisation, infrastructure, waste management and water management. He has been invited as a panelist, speaker on regional, national and international policy issues and challenges at seminars, conferences, workshops, public policy courses, and roundtables. He writes extensively on contemporary issues and challenges of Indian economy and regional developments especially on Tamil Nadu economy, civic institutions, role of local administrations in the implementation of projects and programmes. He also contributes to media publications and books.
He has been the founding CEO for non-profit organizations including Olirum Erodu Foundation, Erode; Trichy SEED Forum, Trichy; and Manuneedi Foundation, Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu that worked as a catalyst for various social welfare initiatives. Further, he led these organisations and supported few other organisations on a number of advocacy and social sector projects, like capacity building & skilling of local population, and rejuvenation of natural resources like water bodies, healthcare & sanitation etc.He had served as a Consultant to the erstwhile Union Planning Commission of India (now NITI Aayog), New Delhi and worked on the sectors of Education, Vocational Training and Skills Development, Labour and Employment, National Skills Development Mission, etc. He had also served asan Associate Fellow at Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Contemporary Studies, New Delhi. He had also served as UGC-Project Fellow at School of Economics, Devi Ahilya University, Indore.
Contact : chandra@agapuram.in
B.Chandrasekaran
Dr M Saravanan
Dr. M. Saravanan has over 17 years of experience in the area of consultancy and academic administration. He possesses extensive professional experience working with state and central governments, as well as higher education institutions. He is actively involved in higher education policy-making, planning, project management, research, government liaison, monitoring and evaluation, report writing, and budgeting. Additionally, he has published scholarly research articles on topics related to higher education, school education, skills development, and other social sectors.
He had served as a Consultant to the former Union Planning Commission of India (now NITI Aayog), New Delhi. He also served as a Senior Consultant with the Technical Support Group (TSG) at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), which collaborated on the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) with the Union Ministry of Education, Government of India. After working closely with the higher education departments of several states under RUSA, he now serves as a Consultant to the Higher Education Council of a state government, supporting the implementation of various initiatives outlined in the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. In addition to his role in policymaking, he has served as a Deputy Registrar at a private university, ensuring regulatory compliance and took an active part in the NBA accreditation process. Additionally, as an Associate Professor of Practice, he taught postgraduate students of management program.