Archives: Authors

SUSHIL BORDE is president of the Anjani Mashelkar Foundation, driving affordable, high-tech healthcare innovations. He formerly served as president of the Fab Foundation at MIT, where he advanced the global ‘Invention as Aid’ mission through Fab Labs. As senior adviser to the Global Research Alliance, he has helped harness the power of science, technology and innovation for global good. At Reliance Industries, Sushil Borde leads the Reliance Innovation Leadership Centre. He convened the Reliance Innovation Council of Nobel Laureates and global thought leaders and holds a patent for an innovation platform. Sushil Borde was co-creator of Timeless Inspirator: Reliving Gandhi, a book inspired by R.A. Mashelkar.

RAGHUNATH MASHELKAR, FRS, is one of India’s foremost science and innovation leaders. Council of Scientific & Industrial Research transformation, under his leadership as director general, is ranked among the top-ten twentieth-century achievements of Indian science and technology. He was president of Global Research Alliance, a conglomerate of 60,000-plus scientists from leading global research and technology organizations. He was also chairman of the National Innovation Foundation as well as several corporate innovation boards besides being president of the Indian National Science Academy. He holds the record of fifty-four honorary doctorates from universities around the world. Former US President George H.W. Bush (Senior) honoured him with the Star of Asia Award and the President of India honoured him with the Padma Shri, the Padma Bhushan and the Padma Vibhushan—three of the highest civilian honours.

Kaushik Mitra is the vice president and CFO at PepsiCo India with over 30 years of experience across Tata group, GE, and Reckitt Benckiser. He has served as CFO at Suntory PepsiCo JV, Vietnam, and PepsiCo Asia Pacific Region in Hongkong. A strong advocate for D&I, he has increased women’s representation in Southeast Asia and India. He contributes to the industry through articles in IMA CFO Connect and as a speaker at Economist events. An alumnus of St. Xaviers Kolkata, IIM Kolkata, and a Chartered Accountant, Kaushik enjoys music, travel, reading, and writing.

Saira Shah Halim is a social and peace activist, educator, politician, theatre artist, three-time TEDx speaker and writer. Raised in various parts of India and the Gulf due to her father’s army career, she travelled across the country and experienced a variety of cultural and social environments. She began her career in the corporate world, working with top multinational corporations in multiple training and development roles.

Hanging up her corporate boots after 17 years, she metamorphosed into one of the more prominent social and gender activists of the country. Saira has been a strong advocate for the marginalized and disenfranchised–she was associated with the farmers’ movement, the anti-CAA and-NRC protests, and has protested against educational institutions in Karnataka banning the hijab in classrooms. She is associated with multiple associations and platforms promoting secularism, democratic values, gender equality and diversity(LGBTQ), and has worked on various social agendas reflecting these values.

An extremely well-known face on national television, Saira voices her progressive and secular opinions vociferously. Saira made her political debut in March 2022 with the Communist Party of India (Marxist). She contested the Ballygunge Assembly by-poll, demonstrating her commitment to political activism and change. She broke the TMC-BJP binary and defeated the contestants of two national parties, the BJP and the Congress, increasing the CPIM vote share from 5 per cent to 30 per cent. Saira lost by a narrow margin to the TMC candidate.

Baltasar Gracián was an aphorist, imaginary biographer, and novelist, who published studies of ideal figures and handbooks on the arts of rhetoric and comportment. His books include The Hero, Shrewdness and the Art of the Artist, The Art of Worldly Wisdom, and The Master Critic. Many high officials felt attacked by the controversial and critical works of this Jesuit priest-professor. Gracián refused to be censored, and was eventually confined to solitary house arrest, where he died.