Advisory Council and the CLRA Team

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 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.

Robert Kharshiing is a former Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha).

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. Laura Keenan
Programme Manager: Laura has been working with CLRA as a Campaigner and Researcher since December 2007. She graduated from the University of Oxford (Lincoln College), after which she worked as a campaigner on International Trade at Oxfam's head office in the United Kingdom . Her work largely focused on Access to Medicines and the impact of Trade Related Aspects of International Property Rights (TRIPS) in developing countries. Her particular areas of interests are in rights-based approaches to health and governance.

Mr. John Butler
Programme Manager; Research and Advocacy: John has been working with CLRA since September 2008. Following his graduation in political science from the University of Nottingham, John has worked for South Africa's leading HIV/AIDS NGO; the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC). Work included researching, writing and editing TAC's health magazine; Equal Treatment and project managing the prosecution process of an Aids profiteer. For the past year John worked for Children England, working between NGO's and the UK Parliament to achieve positive changes for children. As well as HIV/AIDS and children rights, John is also interested in public health and environmental issues.

Ms. Suneha Kandpal
Programme Manager; Research and Advocacy: Suneha has been working in CLRA since October, 2008. She has pursued her post graduation in Social Work from the Department of Social Work, Delhi University, after which she worked in Sanjivini Society for Mental Health. Since then she has worked at Swanchetan, an organization working with the victims of trauma. Here, she worked closely with the criminal justice system in counseling victims of sexual and domestic violence. She has also done extensive research for a UNIFEM study on “Human Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation”, which included direct interface with the victims/survivors of sexual trafficking and documentation. Her areas of interest include counseling, research, and advocacy in the area of gender especially violence and trafficking.

Ms. Anjali Yadav
Programme Officer; Research and Advocacy: Anjali has been working with CLRA since October 2008. She completed her graduation in Business Economics from Delhi University in 2005, after which she pursued her PG Diploma in NGO Management from YMCA, New Delhi. She then completed her Masters in Social Work from Indore School of Social Work. She has held a number of internships in various organisations such as Bharti Foundation (CSR wing of Bharti Enterprises), Nicholas Piramal , Dabur India Limited and the Deaf, Dumb and Blind School. Her areas of interest include Corporate Social Responsibility, Environment, Research and Advocacy.

Ms. Seemi Zafar
Researcher: Seemi did her graduation in Economics from Sri Venkateswara College, University in Delhi and Post Graduation Diploma in Development Communication from Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia. She is currently pursuing her post graduation in Social Work from Delhi School of Social Work, University of Delhi. Her areas of interest are women and child health, minorities’ developmental issues, research and documentary making.

Mr. Arpan Jolly
Webmaster\Administrator: He has been working with CLRA since May 2007 as a webmaster and administrator. Apart from managing the website, Arpan has also been involved in designing for CLRA.

Ms. Vinita Kapoor
Office Assistant: