ROLE PLAYERS 2018 - Dr. Ramesh Awasthi


Dr. Ramesh Awasthi

Co-Convenors
Mahila Sarvangeen Utkarsh Mandal (MASUM), Pune

Ramesh Awasthi is an alumnus of IIT, New Delhi until his MTech. He obtained his PhD degree in Chemical Engineering from UDCT, Mumbai and Masters in Economics from Meerut University. He has been active in struggles related to civil liberties in India, since the early 1970s. He co-founded MASUM, a rural women's organisation in 1987, after living in a drought prone rural area for five years and has been its Co-Convenor since then. He spent one year in the department of International Health at the John Hopkins University in Baltimore as a visiting fellow.

He has made significant contribution in the development sector through his interventions at the community level in economic empowerment of rural community including micro-credit, in addressing child labour and in advancing minority rights. He has been actively involved in participatory reviews and capacity building of NGOs at the national level. He is currently President of Maharashtra unit of PUCL (People's Union for Civil Liberties), and National President of the Indian Renaissance Institute.