Trustees and Advisory Board

Neelu Khanna, Secretary

Neelu, a qualified teacher & travel trade executive, left the corporate world (Singapore Airlines) to pursue her dream of working with the under-served.  A social activist for the last 20 years, she is working for educational opportunity for economically deprived children. Based in Dehradun, she organized cancer screening camps for the underprivileged, (with the Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Research Institute, Delhi)  volunteered with Raphael for 3 years and now supports several projects which work with children from poor backgrounds. A Trustee of  The John Martyn Memorial Trust, she supports Udayan Care as a core member of the team at Dehradun.

Neelu co-initiated Street Smart, a project of Aasraa Trust which fulfills the educational, nutritional & medical needs of 2150 street and slum children.

Neelu is a Board Member of the Welham Girls’ School.

B K Joshi

Dr Bhupendra Kumar Joshi, ex Vice Chancellor Kumaon University, Chairman Fourth State Finance Commission, Government of Uttarakhand, is a Founding Trustee since 2009.

After completing his Masters from Allahabad, BK Joshi did his doctorate from the University of Hawaii, USA (Ph.D Pol Sc) and was a Professor at the same University from 1963-1979.

His illustrious career in education included the following:

• Professor and Director, Giri Institute of Development Studies, Lucknow (1980-1996)
• Vice Chancellor, Kumaun University, Nainital (1996-1998)
• Independent consultant on Primary Education and Participatory Approaches with Save the Children-UK in South & Central Asia (Uzbekistan & Tajikistan), UNICEF in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, Serbia & Macedonia (1998-2006)

Dr BK Joshi is also Founder Honorary Director, Doon Library & Research Centre, Dehradun (2006-Continuing) and Member of Policy Planning Group, Uttarakhand.

Aditi P Kaur

Aditi started out with a career in Hotel Management which she left to join the social sector more than 15 years ago. She worked at Shri Bhuveneshwari Mahila Ashram in Tehri ,Uttarakhand where she got her experience in working for the community. In 2003 she was one of the founding members of the Mountain Children’s Foundation that works with children and focuses on child participation and child rights in the state of Uttarakhand. She is also the Director of CHILDLINE an emergency helpline for children in Dehradun.

Vibha Puri Das

Vibha Puri Das completed her stint of 37 years with government, in December,2013, having worked as Secretary Government of India, for over 4 years, in the Ministries of Human Resource Development, and Tribal Affairs. She also served as District Magistrate and Collector Dehradun in the years 1987-89. Vibha served in diverse assignments with distinction, both in the state and Union government after graduating from Political Science from Jawahar Lal University.

Vibha Puri Das is a life member of the INTACH, IIPA, member of the India Habitat Centre, and Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, and has served as member of the Grass Root Innovation Augmentation Network (GIAN), northern chapter. She has an abiding interest in social justice issues. She has worked with and alongside multilateral agencies, on issues of child labour, food safety, human rights for underprivileged.

She works as Electricity Ombudsman, an appellate body for grievance redress in Uttarakhand. She is presently associated with development organisations in Dehradun and elsewhere in different capacities, eg. Himmothan Pariyojana, Latika Roy Foundation, Sustainable Development Forum, Uttarakhand, the Bhasha Trust, Vadodara, and Aide et Action, France.