Padma Bhushan Shri D. R. Mehta, a top bureaucrat, is a law graduate who also studied at Royal Institute of Public Administration, London (UK) and Alfred Sloan School of Management, MIT, Boston (USA).

Shri Mehta entered the Indian Administrative Service in 1961. He has held several key level positions both in Govt. of Rajasthan and Govt. of India. He retired from active service as the Chairman of Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the Regulator of the capital market in India after holding this post for seven years upto 2002. Before that, Shri Metha was the Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India and the Director General of Foreign Trade, Govt. of India. Still earlier he served the Government of India and the State Government of Rajasthan on various important key assignments.

On the social side, Shri Mehta set up, in 1975, Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti, Jaipur, an NGO, which provides, free of charge, artificial limbs, calipers and other aids and appliances to the handicapped. In the last three decades, the Society, of which Shri Metha is the Founder and Patron, has benefited around 9,00,000 handicapped including those in 18 other countries.

Shri D. R. Mehta established the Prakrit Bharti Academy, a cultural and literary organization. The Academy has already published 200 books, some of which have been reviewed all over the world. Shri Mehta is also running a center for the leprosy patients and is also serving as Chairman of Gandhi Smarak Nidhi (Rajasthan), which is a branch of Gandi Smarak Nidhi at the national level. The organization works for propagation of Gandhian ideas, Harijan uplift and support for leprosy patients.

Dr. (Mrs.) Kanta Ahuja, Having a through out brilliant academic career (studied at Delhi, Agra and Michigan Universities), is an eminent educationalist and economist. She taught international and development economics at Master’s and Research level for almost 30 years. Dr. Kanta Ahuja has been the Vice Chancellor of University of Rajasthan, Jaipur and MDS University, Ajmer. Before that, she served the University of Rajasthan as Principal, Maharani College, Professor and Head, Dept. of Economics, Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences and Director, Social Science Research Centre.

Dr. Ahuja has been founder Member and Hon. Associate Director of Institute of Development Studies, Chairperson of MGD School and visiting professor of Agnes Scott College, Decatur, USA. Presently, she is faculty in international development courses of the Minnesota University.

Dr. Ahuja’s knowledge and contributions have been widely recognized. Govt. of India nominated her as Director of various public sector banks and Member of a number of committees/councils such as University Grants Commission’s Pay Review Committee, the Governing Council for Universities and Colleges in India, Working Group of the National Sample Survey, High Powered Committee on Fertilizer Prices, Expert Group for review of the structure and programs of the National Institute of Rural Development and the National Assessment and Accreditation Council for Universities and Colleges in India. She has been President of Indian Economic Association and Member of the Governing Council of Tata Institute of Social Science Research. SEBI has recently nominated her as public representative on the Board of Jaipur Stock Exchange.

Prof. Vijay P. Singh, holding MS, Ph.D. and D.Sc. from University of Guelph, Canada, Colorado State University, U.S.A. and the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa respectively, specialize in Hydrology and Water Resources, having professional registration with States of Louisiana and Colorado, American Institute of Hydrology and American Academy of Water Resources Engineers. Prof. Singh possesses about 40 years experience of working with prestigious educational institutions – the present assignment being “Caroline and William N. Lehrer Distinguished Chair in Water Engineering”, Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Texas A & M University, USA.

Prof. Vijay P. Singh has the distinction of being Visiting Professor in 9 countries, supervising 9 Ph.D. and 21 M.S. theses and of teaching/developing 34 courses. He has handled, so far, 25 consultancy projects in various areas. The publications brought out by Prof. Singh include 12 text books, 2 solutions manuals, 44 edited books, 53 book chapters, 9 book reviews, 405 journal articles, 222 conference proceeding papers and 70 technical publications and reports.

A number of honors, awards and recognitions (102 in all) have been earned by him during his career. His contribution as member of editorial boards of journals and books, external examiner ships, keynote speaker and guest lecturer in about 300 seminars has also been significant. He has organized/assisted 67 international conferences and chaired numerous sessions. Prof. Singh has also rendered valuable services to professional societies, university committees and to public service institutions, besides sponsoring 59 research grants/awards in 4 universities. Prof. Singh is President of the G.B. School Board of Management, Naglavishnu, Dist. Agra (U.P.), which he founded in 1994. He is also President of Foundation for Aggrandizenent of Rural Areas (India), established in 1998.

Prof. Vishwanath Sinha, MS (Electronics) and D.Sc. Electrical Engg.) from University of Ljubljana, Slovenia (erstwhile Yugoslavia), is Professor at Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur and is currently working as the Director of LNMIT, Jaipur. He has been a Visiting Professor, since 1977, in a number of foreign Universities/Institutions in Germany, Switzerland, USA, Brazil and Yugoslavia. The main areas of his interest are Telematics, Error Control Coding, Satellite Communications and Technical Education.

Prof. Sinha is a fellow of Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers and Institution of Engineers, India and senior Member of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, USA. He is also a Life Member of Indian Society for Technical Education. Several awards including S.K. Mitra and J.C. Bose Memorial Awards for best papers presented by him and published in 1976 and 1979 have recognized his rich knowledge and contribution in engineering.

Prof. Sinha has a long teaching experience at IIT, Kanpur, Brazilian Space Research Institute and University of Puerto Rico and has supervised 36 Ph.D. theses. He has organized different courses for engineering colleges, working engineers and scientists, and also organized a number of large size national/international conferences. Prof. Sinha has to his credit more than 80 papers published/presented in national/ international journals/ conferences/ seminars. His research activities at IIT, Kanpur and Brazilian Space Research Institute made notable contribution in various areas including development of ‘Remote Tutor’, a product which establishes a Virtual University and provides online interactive teaching tool, Telematics Projects, Graphics and Indian Script Terminal Project, Military Communication Satellite Systems, Systems for Space Telecommunications and Modulation Techniques.

Prof. Sinha is endowed with rich administrative experience in various capacities within and outside the teaching institutes.

Dr. S. S. Acharya, holding Master’s and Ph.D. degrees in Agricultural Economics, has studied at Indian Agricultural Research Institute and the Ohio State University, USA. Dr. Acharya is currently Hon. Professor at the Institute of Development Studies, has been its Director for more than seven years. He has also been the Chairman, Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices, Govt. of India. Before joining CACP, he was Professor and Head of the Department of Agricultural Economics of Rajasthan Agricultural University.

In recognition of his professional contributions, Dr. Acharya was awarded Professorial Chair of National Fellow by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research during 1980 to 1985. He has been the Chairman/ Member of a number of National and State level Commissions and Committees. The American Biographical Research Association has also conferred him with Hon. Membership of Gamma Sigma Delta, the Honour Society of Agriculture of USA. Currently, he is Vice President of National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, President of Agricultural Economics Research Association of India and National Coordinator of an International Project on Food Security.

Dr. Acharya has visited more than 20 countries in connection with academic work. He has remained associated as consultant with or as contributor to several international organizations, important among those being USAID, FAO of UN, ILO, UNDP and CGIAR. He has participated as Chairman or Keynote Speaker in 227 international, 418 national and 298 state level conferences, seminars, workshops, symposia or dialogues.

Dr. Acharya has written extensively and has to his credit 11 books, 33 chapters in other books, 66 research monographs/reports and 368 research papers and articles.

Shri Inderjeet Khanna, a top bureaucrat, who entered the Indian Administrative Service in 1966, is presently holding the post of State Election Commissioner, Rajasthan. Before that, he was the Chief Secretary of the State for three years from January 2000 to December 2002.

Shri Khanna, in his long career, has held several key level positions in Govt. of Rajasthan and Govt. of India. The assignments held in Govt. of India included, among others, Secretary, University Grants Commission, Additional Secretary and later Special Secretary to Govt. of India, Ministry of Finance and Director of Enforcement and Ex-Officio Secretary to Govt. of India, Dept. of Revenue. In the State Govt., besides working in the field administration as District Collector and Magistrate of three districts, he has worked as the head of various Govt. organizations and as Secretary to Government in important departments like Planning, Energy and Finance. As Secretary Planning, he made significant contribution in the formulation of various plans for the development of the State and their close monitoring at the State level.

Shri Inderjeet Khanna has also been the visiting professor of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmadabad.

Dr. S. M. Seth, a teacher, researcher and administrator, has excellent academic career in Civil Engineering, specializing in dam design, irrigation engineering and hydraulics. He did his Ph.D. in Hydrology, as a commonwealth scholar, from Victoria University of Manchester, UK in 1972. A major part of his teaching experience was at University of Jodhpur and University of Roorkee (now IIT Roorkee). As a teacher, he made significant contributions in development of Unesco Sponsored P.G. Course in Hydrology at University of Roorkee and has been examiner at various universities and IITs.

Dr. S. M. Seth possesses research experience of more than 33 years at Universities of Roorkee and Manchester (UK) and as Scientist (15 years) and Director (7 years) at the National Institute of Hydrology (NIH) covering different areas of hydraulics and hydrology. He has been guide for 26 M.E. and 9 Ph.D. theses. He has contributed more than 200 technical papers in national/ international journals/seminars and 125 reports were brought out by NIH under his guidance. He is widely traveled and has visited 20 countries for interaction and exchange of technical knowledge.

Dr. Seth, as a professional in the area of hydrology and water resources, has made significant contributions in establishment of NIH as a UNDP sponsored project and also in coordination of number of consultancy/ research projects including those sponsored by UNDP, World Bank, European Economic Community, WAPCOS and Govt. of India. The work done by him has been recognized at national and international level. He has been actively associated in various assignments as a WHO/World Bank/FAO consultant and as member/expert/ chairman/vice-chairman of various committees/ working groups, such as, the Indian Core Team for National Hydrology Project-World Bank Mission, CBIP National Advisory Committee, Asian Regional Coordination Committee on Hydrology and IHP Working Group on the Governance of the UNESCO-IHP Programme. He is currently actively associated with Dam Safety Review Panels for Rajasthan and Maharashtra states. He has received a number of prestigious awards, namely, CBIP Award, National Hydrology Award, Brij Mohan Lal Memorial Medal and Institution of Engineers Medal.

As the founder Principal of Poornima College of Engineering, Jaipur since October, 2000, he has demonstrated high managerial/ administrative acumen and under his stewardship, the college has earned, within a short period, prestigious position as a premier institute in the field of engineering education.