Sunil Jain

Founder Trustee and Chief Enabler

Fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. Sunil is a practicing Chartered Accountant in Bangalore, specializing in the area of Tax & Corporate Consulting, Audit & Assurance functions for 15 years now. For 10 years he was a faculty at Landmark, an international personal and professional growth, training and development company. Creating ASTHA was an outcome of his participation in the Curriculum of Living, that is offered by Landmark.

Sunil is a recipient of the Karmaveer Chakra instituted by International Confederation of NGOs with the UN that recognizes people who have the courage of conviction to think differently and to act on ideas which make a difference in our world. He is one among the first India Inclusion Fellows offered by India Inclusion Summit.

He mentors and guides para-athletes and students to excel in their chosen fields.

Pratima Dani

Architect, Award Winning Artist,

Pratima commenced her journey into the world of art since her toddler years. Her mother Smt. Sandhya Dani and grand father Shri Laxmanrao Kulkarni who have been accomplished artists and Pratima has carried forward the legacy infused with her own ingenuity. Her first recognition was when she bagged the 1st prize at state level painting competition at the age of 4.

For her art works Pratima has earned accolades over the years. Few of these are

• Awarded the prestigious 'Peace Award' in 2004 for an artwork named 'Dream of Peace'. This was a National recognition.
• International Competition conducted by Toyota - Japan shortlisted Pratima’s work as amongst the 10 Best entries in 2008.
• 1st Prize in the “Government of Karnataka” State level painting competition.
• Pratima held her first painting exhibition at the Glasshouse in hubli which housed about 200 paintings in 2004.
• Pratima won The Bangalore Talent hunt twice consecutively in 2011 and 2012.
• She is now extremely excited to be a part of 'Astha' and contribute in making difference.

Priyanka Shylendra

Trustee and Director Operations

Priyanka Shylendra graduated with a Masters degree in Forensic Science from the UK. She works as a consultant at Apex Forensic Lab in Bangalore.

In 2011 she took on a project to introduce the option of organ donor on driver's license card. She worked with the Government of Karnataka and had this implemented for the first time in India in 2012. She is now working with the Central Government to make it a national project. This project brought her into the social sector and since then there has been no looking back. She is part of the Gift Your Organ Foundation that creates awareness on organ donation.

At Astha, Priyanka partners with the Founder to execute projects that fulfill on the vision of the foundation. She believes that differently abled people have as much right in leading a fulfilling, comfortable life as anyone else in the community.

She is a recipient of the Karmaveer Chakra instituted by International Confederation of NGOs with the UN and also a recipient of Leadership Award by World Women Leadership Congress for her contribution to the social sector.

Volunteers

Astha's Projects and initiatives are completely driven by its young and dynamic Volunteers who comes from all walks for Life.

N. Santosh Hegde

Former Justice of the Supreme Court Of India

Santosh Hegde began as Advocate General for the State of Karnataka in 1984 and rose to the position of Judge of Supreme Court of India. He was also the Former Solicitor General of India, Lokayukta(ombudsman) for the Karnataka State of India from 2006-2011.

His views about Astha are expressed as below.

“In my view, this section of people whom the world normally call disabled are not disabled in the true sense of the term. A person is disabled only when he stops believing inhim/herself and stops attempting to give wings to their dreams. I have seen people withvarious bodily disabilities going beyond their physical constraints and achieving resultsin life with more zeal and joy than we who have all bodily abilities. There is always anopportunity to learn from each other’s world. Astha’s Jugalbandi is a brilliant idea tobring people from both the world together and give them an opportunity to interact witheach other. Slowly but surely these kinds of platforms will go a long way in empoweringpeople to be more responsible and fruitful citizens of the society. I would request all tosupport and encourage all the initiative of Astha.”

PG Bhat

Founder, Smart Vote

PG Bhat is one of the founder members of Smart Vote. He retired from the Indian Navy in 1996 after serving as a technical officer for 21 years.

Then he worked as a Senior Manager at HCL Perot Systems, VP at Object Orb Technologies and as founding Managing Director of Parity Computing India. He is currently the President of Pluma Knowledge Solutions (P) Ltd.

He has taught technical and behavioral subjects in about 40 software companies and several reputed educational institutes. He is a visiting faculty at National College, Bangalore, and Indian Statistical Institute, Bangalore.

His work on correcting mistakes/bugs in Karnataka voters lists attracted the attention of Election Commissioner of India.

Through his intervention we at Astha contributed to the amendment of Form 6 of the Electoral Commission that now captures disability information of the voter.

Sridhar Pabbisetty

CEO, Namma Bengaluru Foundation

A techie with a management degree from IIM-B, Sridhar chose to pursue a path of improving governance a decade ago. He believes transparency, accountability and citizen participation is key to governance. An avid traveler & certified climber, Sridhar enjoys high altitude treks.