Centre for Legislative Research and Advocacy

Advisory Council

Prof. N.R. Madhava Menon is a distinguished academic and is noted for his role in shaping national legal education policies and curriculum. Prof. Menon set up the Bangalore based National Law School, which has since become the basis for mainstream legal education throughout India. Professor Menon has held a number of distinguished positions on Expert Committees and he was the first Director of the National Judicial Academy in Bhopal. He has authored several books and has contributed over a hundred research articles and seminar papers on a wide variety of legal and judicial topics. Prof. Menon was honoured by the International Bar Association with the Living Legend of Law Award in 1994, and, recognising his contribution to public services, the President of India honoured Professor Menon with Padma Shree in 2003. He is presently serving as a Member of the Commission on Centre-State Relations established by the Government of India in 2007.

Prof. Ajay K. Mehra currently holds Ford Foundation Chair in Dalit Studies in the Jamia Millia Islamia (a Central University), New Delhi. An expert commentator on institutions, governance and Indian politics, he has authored and co-authored several books and has also edited and contributed articles to various journals and collections. He has been consultant to the World Bank and SIDA and has traveled widely on academic assignments. He is also the Honorary Director of the Centre for Public Affairs, New Delhi, a forum for debate and research promoted by leading scholars and policy thinkers.

Dr. N.J. Kurian

CLRA Team

Vinod Bhanu
Executive Director of CLRA: He has been a consultant/advisor to several organisations. His expertise includes parliamentary affairs, legislative advocacy, parliamentary development work. Mr. Bhanu is incharge for all activities of the CLRA and also coordinates activities of the Indian Medical Parliamentarians' Forum and other parliamentary groups. His areas of interest include Parliamentary studies, governance and public policy research.

Dr. R. Sugathan
Senior Fellow: He holds PhD and Postdoctorate in Philosophy from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He has been working with CLRA since november 2007 and coordinates research programmes at CLRA. Dr. Sugathan's areas of interest include development and public policy research.

Ms. Sohini Karmakar
Programme Officer; Research and Advocacy: Ms. Sohini has been working in CLRA since November 2011. She has done her Masters in Philosophy and M.Phil in Cognitive Science from Jadavpur University, Kolkata. During M.Phil, the areas of research undertaken were Cognitive Development, Theory of Mind, Behavioral Studies and Child Cognition. She has worked for both Print and Audio-Visual media in the past. Current areas of interests are Child Rights in India, Effective governance and Socio-Cognitive perspective of the Parliamentarians.

Ms. Sheen Handoo
Programme Associate; Research and Advocacy: Ms. Sheen joined CLRA in November, 2011. She has completed her B. A. LL.b (Honours) from University School of and Legal Studies, GGSIP University, Delhi. She has experience in the area of litigation in the Delhi High Court. Her areas of interest include human rights advocacy, public international law, constitutional law, law & governance, and policy research.

Mr. Vishesh Johl
Research Fellow: Mr. Vishesh has done his B.B.S Majors-Finance from Delhi University. He has been part of the Money Manager Division of the Private Equity Team at Standard and Poor's - Capital IQ. He has gained experience as a Research Associate in the Mutual Funds and Hedge Funds universe. His current research interests include political economy of the poverty reduction methods, Climate Change, economic policy and various development policies.

Ms. Ziba Mirza
Programme Officer; Research and Advocacy: Ms. Ziba joined CLRA in December 2011. She has completed her MSc in Development Studies from London School of Economics and Political Sciences and MBA from ICFAI Business School, Bangalore. She had worked in the corporate sector in the human resource and learning function for 5 years prior to shifting to the development sector where she has worked with an academic research organization, focusing on measuring public health systems and policy effectiveness. Her areas of interest include health care, education, social welfare policies, and environment.

Ms. Manjeet Kaur
She has joined CLRA in June 2010. She is graduated (BA-Hon's) from Delhi University. She is in charge of Administration and Account

Ms. Sushma Singh
Administrative Associate: Sushma joined CLRA in June 2010.She is graduated (BA-Pass) from Delhi University. She is assisting the Administration.

Mr. Mathew
Webmaster\Administrator: He has been working with CLRA since February 2009 as a webmaster and System administrator.

Mr. Dulat Singh Rawat
Office Assistant