Freak Folks Honest Talk

Mitali Nikore is a pioneering economist with 12 years of experience in gender-mainstreaming, development finance, policy advisory and social entrepreneurship. She advises leading multilateral organisations such as ADB, UN Women and the World Bank. Her experience spans several countries in Africa and South Asia, as well as the United States and the United Kingdom. In recognition of her work, Mitali was felicitated with the India UK Achievers Honours, which celebrates the work of 75 young UK Indian students and alumni who have made an important contribution to their profession and society. She was selected as ‘She is: 75 Indian women in STEAM’ by the Government of India (2022) and named one of the 22For2022 industry leaders by Forbes magazine. Mitali was featured in the 'She Is' book, which honours 75 women in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics), celebrating gender, leadership and sustainable development in commemoration of India's 75th year of independence. She was the keynote speaker at the Global Solutions Summit 2022 by Think20 and Think7 to discuss collective approaches for transforming research-based insights into policy recommendations for the G7/G20. She has been a TEDx speaker and was recently named among the LinkedIn Top Voices for Gender Equality. Recently, she presented her paper on ‘Gender Budgeting in India: Pre and Post Covid-19 Analysis’ at the 30th Annual International Association for Feminist Economics Conference in Geneva. She is also a widely published researcher and writer with the Times of India, World SME News, Indian Express, SheThePeople and EPC World. She has provided her expertise on multiple news segments, including BBC News and India Ahead. Mitali holds a Master of Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Delhi.

Dr. Nitin Aggrawal, a multi-skilled professional, who takes pride in applying technology and management to simplify government service delivery to end-users. He has leveraged his international skills from Development Academy of Philippines, Manila to implement Result-based Management system in all the central sector schemes of Government of India and Director General of NITI Aayog has recognized his contribution in this regard. He possess right mix of qualifications, like Masters of Computer Application, Masters of Business Administration from top-management institute FMS and PhD from very renowned University of Rajasthan. Presently, he is working as Joint Director in Department of Public Enterprises, Ministry of Finance, Government of India, where his division is helping in aligning policies to support Make-in India initiatives and building capacity of Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) in futuristic endeavours. He is the principal architect for national portals like Public CSR Monitoring System to align CSR expenditure of about Rs 5000 crore with national priorities decided by the office of Prime Minister every year. Also, he has designed CRR Monitoring System to facilitate redeployment of voluntary retires from CPSEs. He has modified the architecture of the existing Online Training and Nomination System (OTNS) of DPE to foster growth in no. of competency and skills across major industries. He has been consistently undertaking research and disseminating his work through research publication in building business intelligence, corporate governance, circular economy, Labour Productivity, diversity, equity and inclusion. He has served and provided consultancy to many organizations like National High Speed Rail Corporation, Britannia Industries, Times of India Group, Small Farmers’ Agribusiness Consortium, National Textile Corporation, Indian National Science Academy, Madhya Pradesh Power Transmission Company Ltd., BSES Yamuna Power Limited, BSES Rajdhani Power Limited, Delhi Transco Ltd., Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation, Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Ltd., etc. and more.

Junofy is currently working with Swiggy as a Behavioural scientist. She is also the founder and CEO of India Behavioural Economics Network, the non-profit promoting the field of Behavioural sciences. She has worked as a lecturer, researcher and consultant in the fields of behavioural economics and decision making with organisations including the university of Zürich, Google, UNICEF and UNDP.

Mr. Ajitabh Sharma is an IAS officer from the 1996 batch and belongs to the Rajasthan cadre. He has 26 years of experience in the Indian Administrative Service. Currently, he is serving as the Chairman and Managing Director of Jaipur City Transport Services Limited. He has previously held the positions of Chairman of Rajasthan Tax Board and Chairman and Managing Director of Jaipur Metro Rail Corporation. Ajitabh has worked in various sectors such as water, energy, mining, finance, and has served as a District Collector in 5 different districts. He often writes for various newspapers on issues related to water, energy and sustainability. He holds a BTech degree in Civil Engineering from IIT Delhi and has been felicitated for his contributions to public service by the Hon’ble President of India (2012), the Hon’ble Vice President of India (2003), the Chief Minister of Rajasthan (2013), and the Union Minister of Water Resources (2015). Under his current role as the chairman and managing director of the Jaipur City Transport Services Limited, he is working on developing an Electric Mobility Ecosystem for public transport for Jaipur city.

Ajay Kumar (born 2 October 1962) is an officer of the Indian Administrative Service, of the batch of 1985. He served as the Defence Secretary of India. He is an alumnus of IIT Kanpur and the University of Minnesota and was awarded separate two fellowships by the University of Minnesota. Ajay Kumar is known for his in depth knowledge for technology and was instrumental in path breaking policy formations such as electronics manufacturing, mobile manufacturing and also played decision making role in Govt of India’s flagship Digital India program. He is accredited to scale up defense exports to approximately 13,000 crores with the introduction of modern warfare capabilities and disruptive technologies and innovations. He established the iDEX initiative to help create a conducive and cost-effective defense start-up ecosystem that fosters innovation and technology development. He was in charge of Project 75I, which is developing next-generation submarines and fighters and laying the groundwork for a future marine and aerospace industrial ecosystem in India. Kumar has a Bachelor of Technology in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, has a master's degree in development economics from the University of Minnesota, and has a PhD degree in business administration from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. In 2019, he was felicitated as a distinguished alumnus by the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur for his professional excellence and nation-building efforts Kumar has served in various posts in both the Government of India and the Government of Kerala, such as Principal Secretary (Information Technology), managing director of the Kerala State Electronics Development Corporation, Secretary (Industries), managing director of the Kerala State Co-operative Agricultural and Rural Development Bank, general manager in the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation and as the district magistrate and collector of the Palghat (now Palakkad) district in the Kerala government; and as the Defence Production Secretary, additional secretary in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, joint secretary in the Department of Information Technology of the now-erstwhile Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, director in the Department of Biotechnology of the Ministry of Science and Technology and as a deputy secretary in the Department of Home of the Ministry of Home Affairs in the Indian government. Ajay kumar spent three decade of his service with the Kerala state government where he headed three different departments. Kumar also served as a private secretary to a minister in the Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources (now Ministry of New and Renewable Energy). Principal Secretary He was Principal Secretary to Government of Kerala, Information Technology Department from October 2007 to December 2010. Joint Secretary Kumar held the post of Joint Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and additional charge of Director General at National Informatics Centre from 2010 to 2014. Additional Secretary He was Additional Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology during 2015 - 2019 Defence Production Secretary Kumar was appointed as the Defence Production Secretary by the prime minister-headed Appointments Committee of the Cabinet in November 2017, he assumed office on 1 December 2017. He served as Defence Production Secretary till 23 August 2019 and was succeeded by Subhash Chandra, an IAS officer of Karnataka cadre (1986 batch).