Meet the speakers behind charcha 2025


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Priya Anant is the Co-Founder and Chief Customer Officer of Life Circle Health Services Pvt. Ltd., a social enterprise delivering affordable, home-based care for older adults across India.
At Life Circle, Priya leads initiatives in quality, customer engagement, and caregiver skilling. Her work focuses on strengthening India’s care economy through gender-inclusive employment, competency-based training, and technology enabled operations that support ageing in place.
Life Circle has been recognised with the DBS Foundation Impact Beyond Award and awarded by the UN Women led Asia-Pacific Care Accelerator, supported by Groupe SOS France and the Ministry of Social Justice, Govt of India, for its elder-care solution. Priya also contributes to national curriculum and policy development in geriatric care, serving on expert committees that advance professional caregiver training and advance quality in care delivery.


Raj Gilda, Co-founder & Director (Strategy and Development), a banker-turned-social entrepreneur leads resource mobilization and external relations at Lend A Hand India. With over 20 years of experience in education, banking, insurance, and IT, he transitioned to full-time in social development sector in 2011. His past roles include positions at Citibank and Deloitte Consulting in New York. Raj has been involved in various government advisory roles, such as a member of the National Skill Development Agency (NSDA) from 2014-17 appointed by Gov of India, part of the committee to review scheme of vocatioanalisation of school education and part of the Curricular Area Group for Vocational Education under the National Curriculum Framework(NCF) 2023. He is a Chevening Gurukul Scholar at the London School of Economics. He's recognized as a top 100 graduate alumni of the University of Texas at Austin and received an award for community service from the U.S. President. Raj is an Electronics Engineer from the University of Pune, and holds an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin.














Shri Raj Shekhar Joshi is Vice President, Setu Aayog ( state niti aayog , earlier state planning commission). He extensively engages with top policy bodies of India, global institutions, industry leaders and state govts. He is an IIT Computer Science Graduate with well over three decades of professional experience in almost all corners of India and abroad as a business, technology and public policy leader in association with many organizations like Reliance, Tatas, Aditya Birla Group, Macmillan including an entrepreneur. He has been on board and Trustee of several sovis Foundations. He has also been Member of National Focus Group for implementing New Education Policy in area of Technology in School Education, University of Pune 's advisory council, spl invitee to Union Cabinet’s Empowered Technology Group, Macmillan Group's global Electronic Publishing Commitee, National Working Committee of Electronics and Computer Software Export promotion Council, CISO Advisory Board Tech Mahindra etc. He has contributed to the public policy sphere in national AI, cyber policies, Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Construction Commitee, Prime Ministers Museum etc. He also led a pioneering digital learning venture in 2003 for continuing education in alliance of Macmillan with IIT Delhi, IIM Calcutta, MDI, NID among others. He is extensively involved in supporting Educational and Teacher Training spl in Uttarakhand, Water conservation in Maharashtra, New Digital Media etc. He writes and speaks on social, governance and economic subjects in publications like Economic Times, CIO News, ET,CII events etc. He was till recently at senior management level in Aditya Birla Group as Global Digital Tech and Transformation Head and President.














Rajat Gupta is a Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company, India, and a founding member of McKinsey’s India office. With over 32 years of experience, he has led large-scale transformations across power, mining, metals, paper, oil, chemicals, and infrastructure, working closely with boards, CEOs, and top management teams. His expertise spans strategy, operations, sustainability, digital/AI, and organization building, and he leads McKinsey’s work with the Indian government and several top Indian conglomerates. He has founded and led multiple practices, including the Asia Sustainability Practice, Energy & Materials, Capital Projects, Operations, and Industrials.
Rajat leads McKinsey’s social responsibility efforts as Chair of the Board of Generation, the world’s largest demand-driven skilling initiative, and is a member of the McKinsey Global Institute Advisory Council. A gold medalist from IIM Calcutta (1992) and BITS Pilani, he has contributed to McKinsey’s thought leadership, co-authoring reports on India’s decarbonisation pathways and the bestseller Reimagining India. He also serves on the boards of Childline India Foundation and the Centre for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP).














Rakesh Bharti Mittal is the Vice-Chairman of Bharti Enterprises, one of India’s leading business groups with interests in Telecom Services, Digital Infrastructure & Devices, Space Communications, Financial Services, and Real Estate. He is the Managing Director of Bharti Land. Rakesh also serves on the Boards of Indus Towers, Bharti Hexacom and Bharti AXA Life Insurance as a Non-Executive Director. Bharti Airtel, the flagship company of Bharti Enterprises, is a global telecommunications company with operations in 15 countries across India and Africa and ranks amongst the top three mobile operators globally. The company also has its presence in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka through its associate entities. One of the largest integrated telecom providers in India and Sub-Saharan Africa, Bharti Airtel serves 550 million+ customers across its operations.
Rakesh served as the President of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) for the year 2018-19. He is the Co-Chair of the India-Uzbekistan Business Council and a member of the CII Australia-India Business Champions. In the past, Rakesh has served as a member of the India-UK CEO Forum. A passionate advocate for quality education, Rakesh is actively engaged in enhancing school and higher education through multiple roles. He is a member of the Board at the Indian School of Business (ISB), Chairman of the ISB Mohali Campus Advisory Board and Chairman of the Advisory Council of the Bharti Institute of Public Policy.
Additionally, he is a Member of the Board of Trustees and the Governing Body Member at Plaksha University. Rakesh is the Co-Chairman of the Advisory Board of Bharti School of Telecommunication Technology & Management at IIT Delhi and has served as a Member of the All India Board of Studies for Post-Graduate Education & Research in Engineering & Technology (AIB-PGERT). He also serves as a Member on CII’s National Higher Education Committee. Rakesh is a keen proponent of enhancing the quality of research in India through his roles as a Life Member of the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), Member of the Founding Circle of the Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP) and as Member of the Advisory Board at the Chintan Research Foundation. Rakesh Bharti Mittal is a strong advocate of supporting the cause of quality education and uplifting vulnerable sections of society. He is the Co-Chairman of the group’s philanthropic arm, Bharti Airtel Foundation. The Foundation currently operates 155 Satya Bharti Schoolsin 4 States providing free, quality education to nearly 37,000 children. So far, it has partnered with over 1,700 government schools through its Quality Support Program and has reached 33,000+ government schools through partnerships with various Education Departments at scale. Through its concerted efforts, Bharti Airtel Foundation has benefitted 3.7 million children since its inception, having reached more than 7 million beneficiaries including children, teachers, parents and rural communities in 18 States and UTs.Rakesh is also Chairman of the Governing Council of Sat Paul Mittal School, Chairman of Satya School and the Founder Chairman of Horizon School of Excellence that is focused on providing free quality education in Ludhiana.
Rakesh has been awarded the Honorary Doctorate of Civil Law by Newcastle University, UK and an Honorary Doctorate in Business Management by XIM University, India. He has served as the Honorary Consul for the Republic of Sierra Leone in India from 2014 to 2020. He is a recipient of the Udyog Ratna Award 2023 from the Panjab University, the prestigious ‘Horasis – Indian Business Leader of the Year 2016 Award’ and ‘Institute of Engineers Award 2004’.

























Rashmi Arun Shami is a senior IAS officer of the 1994 batch, known for her leadership in governance, education, and rural development. Over her career, she has served in key administrative roles including Principal Secretary, School Education; Commissioner, Rajya Shiksha Kendra; and Collector in Dewas, Sehore, and Bhind.
She is a recipient of the Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Administration for the implementation of the Forest Rights Act.An alumna of Loreto Convent and Lucknow University, she holds an M.A. in Medieval and Modern Indian History and a PG Diploma in Public Policy and Management from IIM Bangalore.A keen reader, she has a deep interest in education, human resource management, and environmental issues.














Reinu Shah is the founder of STEP, a leading incubator and accelerator in India supporting over 1,000 women-led startups. Her work empowers women entrepreneurs across India with her latest focus being women in climate action and rural women entrepreneurs. A Mason and John Galbraith Fellow from Harvard Kennedy School, Reinu has received multiple awards for her contributions to diversity and inclusion. Through STEP, she continues to shape India’s startup ecosystem and champion innovation in emerging markets.
There’s a lot happening at charcha 2025
Exciting programming in play - marquee speakers, extensive CSR and CSO network participation, thought-provoking panels and workshops, curated networking, and more.

