ISpA National Advisory Committee (NAC)
Dr Arvind Gupta, Director of Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF) is the First Chairperson of NAC. The Secretarial Support to NAC would be provided by the Director General of ISpA, Lt Gen AK Bhatt (Retd) as Convener and Director of ISpA, Wg Cdr Satyam Kushwaha (Retd).
The Committee members comprise nine eminent professionals* with a track record of distinguished service. They hail from multi-sectoral backgrounds which would include, Academia, Bureaucracy, Defence, Industry, Technology, and Space. ISpA would also be inviting Serving Government Officers to attend NAC proceedings as Special Invitees, to seek their expert opinion on a case-to-case basis.
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Chairperson - Dr Arvind Gupta, IFS (Retd)
Present Engagements
Director, Vivekananda International Foundation
Professional Background
Deputy National Security Adviser & Secretary at the National Director-General at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses; served in various capacities at the Ministry of External Affairs and Indian missions abroad
Area of Expertise
National Security; International Relations & Foreign Policy; Governance; History, Culture & Civilization. He also writes articles on popular science.
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Convener - Lt Gen AK Bhatt (Retd) PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, SM, VSM
Present Engagements
Director General, ISpA
Professional Background
Military Secretary; Director General Military Operation; and, Corps Commander.
Area of Expertise
Defence; Human Resources; Space
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Secretary - Wing Commander Satyam Kushwaha (Retd)
Present Engagements
Director, ISpA; Founder, Scytale Alpha Pvt Ltd.
Professional Background
Entrepreneur; Fighter Pilot; Defence Specialist at NSCS; Satellite Image Analyst; and, represented India at UN GGIM forums.
Area of Expertise
National Security; Defence, Space, & Aerospace Matters; Space Industry; Government Policy; Geo-intelligence; Geospatial-AI Transformations; Design, Develop, Implement & Steer programs of National Importance; Multi-agency Coordination; and Nation Building & Social Work.
National Advisory Committee Members
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Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria (Retd), PVSM, AVSM, VM, ADC
Present Engagements
President, Air Force Association.
Professional Background
Chief of the Air Staff; Fighter Pilot; & Experimental Test Pilot.
Area of Expertise
National Security; Defence; Military Aviation; Defence & Aerospace Industry;
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Amb. Arun K Singh, IFS (Retd)
Present Engagements
Distinguished Fellow, VIF.
Professional Background
Member, NSAB; Ambassador to US, France & Israel. Joint Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs.
Area of Expertise
Econometrics; Development Policy; Macroeconomics; and Indian economic history.
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Dr Shailesh Nayak
Present Engagements
Director, National Institute of Advanced Studies; Member, IN-SPACe; Chancellor, TERI School of Advanced Studies; Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Indian Society of Remote Sensing, Dehradun.
Professional Background
Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences; Director, ESSO-Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Systems, Hyderabad; Group Director, Space Application Centre, ISRO, Ahmedabad; President, Technical Commission (TC) IV on ‘Geodatabases and Digital Mapping’; International Society of Photogrammetric and Remote Sensing (ISPRS),
Area of Expertise
Oceanography; Hazards; Remote Sensing; Climate change; Polar science.
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Lt Gen VG Khandare (Retd), PVSM, AVSM, SM
Present Engagements
Principal Adviser, MoD.
Professional Background
Former Military Advisor, NSCS; Former DG DIA & DC IDS(Int), HQ IDS.
Area of Expertise
Comprehensive National Security; Policy; Defence; Human Resources; Space; Cyber; Data Sovereignty; International military training, Comprehensive National Security, Defence Diplomacy and Peace Keeping
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Prof V Kamakoti
Present Engagements
Director, IIT Madras.
Professional Background
Member of the National Security Advisory Board, Government of India.
Area of Expertise
Software aspects of VLSI design; Cluster computing; High-performance computing; Algorithms; Data structures, and Computational geometry.
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Dr Siddharth Shekhar Singh
Present Engagements
Associate Professor of Marketing, Indian School of Business.
Professional Background
Former Senior Associate Dean, ISB; Director of the Doctoral program, ISB; Former, Board of Directors of Dlabs; Independent Director on the Board of Directors, Petronet LNG Limited and International Schools of Business Management.
Area of Expertise
Marketing and Finance, Electronics & Communications, Digital Transformation.
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Maj Gen Dr R Siva Kumar (Retd)
Present Engagements
Director IIT Tirupati NiF, Director Emeritus OGC, Formerly President Geospatial Solutions, IIC Technologies.
Professional Background
Military Survey; Former Head NRDMS & CEO NSDI, DST.
Area of Expertise
Defence; Surveying & Mapping, Photogrammetry Cartography; Geointelligence; OGC,UNGGIM
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Gp Capt Ajay Lele (Retd)
Present Engagements
Head, Centre on Strategic Technologies in the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses
Professional Background
Veteran Officer from Indian Air Force; Researcher.
Area of Expertise
Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD); Space Security & Strategic Technologies.
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Mr JS Deepak, IAS (Retd)
Present Engagements
Group Director- International Strategy & Public Policy, Bharti Enterprises
Professional Background
Former Secretary, Department of Telecommunications; Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of 1982 batch of UP cadre; Former Additional Secretary, Department of Commerce; Former Chief Negotiator at the World Trade Organisation (WTO)
Area of Expertise
Policy; Telecommunication; Business; Management; Trading; International Strategy
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Mr Ravinder Pal Singh
Present Engagements
Partner, Kalaari Capital
Professional Background
Harvard Business School Alumni; Professor of Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Leadership, Rishihood University; C-Level Leader: Technology & Engineering
Area of Expertise
Deep Tech, Entrepreneurship, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics
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Mr K Krishna
Present Engagements
Professional Background
Former Vice President, Chief Technical Officer & Chief Regulatory Officer, Hughes Communication India
Area of Expertise
Satellite Industry, International Regulatory Affairs, Flight and Maritime Connectivity
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Dr Ranjana Kaul
Present Engagements
Partner, Dua Associates. Litigates in Delhi High Court, NCLT & Supreme Court. Serves as Editorial Board of Room, The Space Journal
Professional Background
Legal Advice on Aviation & Space Law, FDI, IPR, Dispute Resolution. Prior to joining Dua Associates, she was in private practice, and regularly assisted Government in legislative drafting. Ranjana also served as Member, Delhi State Commission for Women and has been a consultant to the World Bank and the Indian Council for Research in International Economic Relations.
Qualifications
LLM from the Institute of Air & Space Law, McGill University; PhD – Poona University. Affiliate of International Institute of Space Law, Paris. Awarded IISL 2017 Distinguished Services Award.
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Mr Amit Kumar Ghosh
Present Engagements
Additional Secretary, MoRTH
Professional Background
Health Services; National Highways; Infrastructure linked Policy; Departmental Reinvigorations and Transformations; Land & Revenue Administration; and, Implementation of flagship developmental schemes.
NAC Subject Matter Expert
NAC Special Invitee
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