In this first episode of Grassroots Nation we meet Dr Ashok Khosla,  an environmental visionary, a pioneer of sustainable development and the founder and Chairman of Development Alternatives.  

Dr. Khosla began thinking about the environment and our collective future well before climate change became something we hear, discuss and worry about on a daily basis. 

An experimental physicist by training, his early memories were marked by partition, and as a young man Dr. Khosla went on to study science, first at Cambridge University and then at Harvard University. At Harvard,  Dr. Khosla worked with Roger Revelle, one of the pioneers who studied global warming and helped design and teach the first undergraduate course on the environment.

He’s built global institutions that have been at the forefront of environmental work, he’s shaped and designed India’s early environmental frameworks that set the country on course for sustainable development. 

A man with a deep love for the job, a wry sense of humor and an absolute technophile and self-confessed gadget geek, Dr Ashok Khosla is in conversation with his longtime colleague and friend, the CEO of Development Alternatives, Shrashtant Patara. 

To know more about Development Alternatives visit https://www.devalt.org/. Shrashtant Patara is the CEO of Development Alternatives and Executive VP, Development Alternatives Group. An architect by training, Patara has been with the Development Alternatives Group since 1988. You can read more about his work here. 

Grassroot Nation is a podcast from Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies and has been produced by Vaaka Media. For more information, including additional resources please go to www.rohininilekaniphilanthropies.org. 


Audio used: Integral India: Four Days in 1947 by Indian Diplomacy (CC BY 3.0)1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (Part 1) by MDJarv / 1992 Rio Earth Summit Adverts by ricjl (CC BY 3.0) / IBM Computer commercial 1986 by jlehmann

Dr Ashok Khosla: It’s possible to do good, and to do good business

In this episode of Grassroots Nation we hear from Dr Ravi Chopra is the founder Director of the People’s Science Institute in Dehradun, Uttarakhand. Through his career he has helped establish several pioneering organisations in the social and development sector, from livelihoods, disability rights, human rights, water resources management and much more. 

Born in 1947, the year India gained her independence, Dr. Chopra was one of the country’s midnight children. After earning a B.Tech. in Metallurgical Engineering and Materials Science from IIT Bombay in 1968 he went on to complete his doctorate in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology, New Jersey.

Dr Ravi Chopra has always been guided by his keen interest in the interactions between technology, society and the environment and his unwavering belief in the role of young people in nation building. He has spent his entire career of over fifty years committed to improving the lives of his fellow Indians and has been associated with many different organisations and projects, from FREA,to helping produce the first citizens' report on The State of India's Environment in 1982 to working with pani panchayats, PRADAN, and finally establishing the People’s Science Institute in Dehradun in 1988. PSI as it is commonly known has pioneered work in water resources management, environmental quality monitoring, disaster mitigation and conservation of rivers, particularly in the Himalayan region.

From the optimism of the 50s to the tumultuous years of the Indo-China War and the Emergency, to more recent upheavals in the nation, Dr. Chopra recounts the story of both his life and that of  this nation. Both are deeply intertwined. 

Dr Chopra lives in Dehradun with his family. His wife, Jo Chopra Mcgowan, is the founder of the Latika Roy Foundation. 

In this episode, Dr Chopra is in conversation with Suchitra Shenoy, a non-fiction writer who has worked extensively in the social sector. Suchitra is a founding member of the Inclusive Markets team at the Monitor Group, that examines market-based solutions to poverty.

This conversation was recorded at the People’s Science Institute in Dehradun. 

For more information, go to www.rohininilekaniphilanthropies.org

Dr. Ravi Chopra says that selfless service is an article of faith

Few will remember that in 1980 the average life span in India was 52 whereas now it’s 82.

It is thanks to the ingenuity, presence of mind and advocacy of India’s public health workers that India has made tremendous advances in the space of public health in the past few decades. 

In this special episode you will hear from three doctors talk about  the communities and cases that inspired their ground breaking work. 

This is a mini-series from Grassroots Nation that presents some of the key themes that have arisen in our conversations with some of India’s greatest social leaders.  Each episode will explore a set of ideas: from watershed moments in India’s history that have left lasting impressions, to reflections on how their personal philosophies took shape and how they see their work contributing to the larger efforts of nation building. 

This is the fifth of six episodes that present important themes that have arisen in the conversations with the guests of Grassroots Nation. These episodes showcase what shaped their thinking, their relationships, and how small acts form the basis of collective action. 

Featuring Dr. H.D Sudarshan, Dr Armida Fernandes, Dr Abhay Bhang, Mari Marcel Thekaekara and Dr Rukmini Banjerji.

Grassroots Nation is a podcast from Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies. For more information go to www.rohininilekaniphilanthropies.org or join the conversation on social media @RNP_foundation. 

In sickness and in health: India’s public health story

Grassroots Nation is a new podcast series from Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies in which we deep dive into the life, work and guiding philosophies of some of the country’s greatest leaders of social change. Part personal narrative, part oral history, each episode gives you, the listener, a chance to revisit watershed moments in India’s past through the eyes of the country’s social architects and find out how these events were the catalysts for their life’s calling.