Trained as an economist, Jyotsna currently heads Centre for Budget and Policy Studies, located in Bangalore, India. She has led a number of research initiatives and has written a few co-authored books and contributed chapters on issues related with equity in education, gender, women’s empowerment and public finance. In recent years, she has worked on wide range of public policies and finance issues, including gender budgeting, health finance and public spending on children. She also writes on development related issues in newspapers and news portals. Prior to joining CBPS, she worked as an adviser at Commonwealth
Secretariat in London, where she undertook research and policy advocacy in a
large number of countries in Africa, the Caribbean and South Asia. Before that
she has worked with the union and state governments as well as with civil society
organisations in different parts of India on issues of equity in education.
Srinivas joined CBPS in December 2011. He served in the Indian Audit Accounts Service (1982 batch) and in various other capacities in the government. He has also worked with the Centre for Good Governance (CGG), Hyderabad and Fiscal Policy Institute (Govt. of Karnataka). In CBPS, his research areas include decentralisation, governance and budget analysis.
Niveditha has been working with us since April 2015. She has a PhD in Sociology and Demography, with a minor in Women’s Studies from Pennsylvania State University. Prior to CBPS, she was working with International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Bangalore. At CBPS, her work includes gender related projects.
Archana joined CBPS in October 2018. She has recently completed her doctoral work at Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) in the area of Public Policy. She also has a PG Diploma in Rural Management from Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA) and has worked with various organisations including ICICI Bank Ltd. and IWMI -TATA Water Policy Program. Her research interests lie in the areas of Inclusive Growth, Poverty and Inequality and Financial Inclusion.
An agricultural economist by education, Madhusudhan’s interests lie in the field of decentralization, public finance and policy. He has developed expertise in the analysis of budgets of local governments (rural and urban) as well as in the field of training elected representatives and government officers on budgets. He has trained over 1,000 elected representatives on budgets during his work with various projects. He is currently involved in studies related to decentralisation. He was at CBPS for 7 years and for a brief period of 8 months he worked as a Senior Research Fellow, Grassroots Research and Advocacy Movement, Mysuru.
He joined CBPS back in March 2017.
Sridhar joined CBPS in April 2017. He has a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University. Prior to joining CBPS, he worked as an Engineering Manager at General Electric, Bangalore focusing on energy systems, renewables, organisational development and technology innovation.
Neha is a Research Advisor at CBPS where her engagement has primarily been with gender studies and the education sector. She has recently undertaken a multi-national research study on the impact of COVID 19 in the lives of adolescent boys and girls. She has worked on several projects related to education and empowerment, Open and distance education, community participation in educational governance to name a few. She has also worked extensively on the Right to Education, 2009. A Sociologist by training, she has always had a keen interest in the education sector and has several publications to her credit.
Achala joined CBPS in October 2019 after working as an Expert Economic Analyst (Consultant) for one year at CBPS. She has Masters in Economics from Madras School of Economics. She has previously worked in Citi Analytics and AXA Business Services before making a switch to the development sector. Her research interests include public finance and economic policy.
Gayathri joined CBPS as a Public Health Consultant in August 2018. Previously, she worked as a Research Associate with CBPS in the year 2014-2015. A General Physician by education, her interests in community medicine led her to specialize in Public Health. She has completed her Master’s in Public Health degree from University of Massachusetts, Amherst and her MBBS from MGM Medical College in Mumbai. Her main area of work has been health insurance and health budget analysis. Her areas of interest include health equity, universal health coverage, urban health and non-communicable diseases.
Sowmya is a Senior Research Associate at CBPS. She has a Masters in Economics from Bangalore University. She has over 7 years of experience across different research domains. When she joined CBPS in 2017, she was deputed for one and a half years in the crop insurance section of the Department of Agriculture, Government of Karnataka. She has worked on various research projects namely public finance for children, analysis of budgets of local governments and child nutrition at CBPS.
Shiboni joined CBPS in August 2019. She has completed her Masters in Economics from Symbiosis School of Economics, Pune . Her Masters thesis focused on “Estimation of Farmland Prices” in the Purandar Taluka of Pune, Maharashtra. She has previously interned with HDFC Bank House, Mumbai.
Amukta joined CBPS in October 2020 and currently engages with projects on gender and education. During 2019-2020, she worked in the roles of research assistant and trainer respectively. In 2019, she received her Master’s Degree in Development from Azim Premji University (APU), Bangalore. During master’s, she engaged in two major research undertakings – firstly, on the theme of intoxication and domestic violence in rehabilitation slum at Bawana, North Delhi; and secondly, regarding dry waste management in urban Bangalore. She worked on the topic of prohibition of liquor in India and its links to welfare, through a
law-based research paper.
Shruthi joined CBPS in October 2020. She has completed her Masters in Social Work with specialisation in Dalit and Tribal Studies and Action from Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai and Bachelors in Social Work from University of Delhi. She has previously worked with National Association of Street Vendors of India as a Program Coordinator for a year in Delhi. Her research interests include caste, gender and urban planning.
Hardik joined CBPS in February 2022. He has a postgraduate degree in Sociology from the Delhi School of Economics. Before this, he was working as a field investigator with a Cambridge University Research Scholar. He has previously engaged as a Professional in NABET, Quality Council of India, and also an intern at the Delhi Government’s Health Ministry.
Rajat joined CBPS in April 2022. He has a Master’s degree in Development Studies from IIT, Mandi and a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the University of Delhi. He was also an Urban Fellow at Indian Institute for Human Settlements, Bengaluru. Before joining CBPS, he was working as a Research Assistant on a project titled ‘Covid-19 and Punjabi Migration to Canada’ which was carried out by York University, Canada and O.P Jindal Global University, Sonipat, India.
Raghavi joined CBPS in October 2020 as a Research Assistant. She is working in a project titled, ‘Gender violence in public spaces: Studying the approaches and theorising the pathways of change‘ and is based out of Hyderabad. She completed her Master’s in Public Policy and Governance from Azim Premji University and BA in Public Administration, History and Geography from Osmania University. Prior to the internship with CBPS, she interned at the Public Affairs Centre in Bangalore and at the District Collectorate of West Godhavari, AP. Her areas of interest include policy analysis and evaluation in the domain of public
health, human rights and women empowerment.
Tanushka joined CBPS in February 2022 as a Research Assistant. She is working in a project titled, ‘Gender violence in public spaces: Studying the approaches and theorising the pathways of change‘ and is based out of Jaipur. She has completed her graduation in Political Science Honours from Delhi University and Masters in Public Administration from Panjab University. During her course of education, she has interned with the Ministry of Women and Child where she has worked on RTIs and Grievances and reports under the Domestic Violence Act. She has also interned in ‘Becoming-I’ foundation where she has taught economically weaker
section students of a private school in New Delhi. Before joining CBPS, she worked
as a Research Officer on Dr. Ambedkar Chair in Social Justice, Indian Institute of
Public Administration.
Thyagarajan R.
Administrative and Liaison Officer
Thyagarajan has been associated with CBPS since 1998. Since 2008, he has been working as a Administrative and Liaison Officer. He now coordinates administrative issues of the organization in different projects and also involves himself in documentation and other activities.
Usha P.V.
Finance and Accounts Officer
Usha has been a Finance and Accounts Officer at CBPS since 2006. Her major responsibilities are overall maintenance of Accounts, facilitating the research team in their field travel and other administrative issues. Prior to CBPS, she worked as an accountant at MYRADA/PLAN.
Mrinalika R. Pandit
Communication and Information Manager
Mrinalika joined CBPS in 2013. She has a Masters in Commerce from the University of Bangalore with a specialisation in Marketing and Finance. Earlier, she worked as Junior Project Manager with Swissnex, scientific wing of Swiss Embassy, Bangalore. She was also a consultant at IDPMS. She is a Certified Human Resource Management Professional (C.H.R.M.P). At CBPS, she handles communications, data archives and event logistics.
Vanaja S
Administrative cum Accounts Assistant
Vanaja S joined CBPS from 1 August 2017 as Administrative cum Accounts Assistant. She had worked Tide Technocrats Private Limited, Bangalore for 3 years as Administrative cum Accounts Assistant and Technology Informatics Design Endeavour (TIDE), Bangalore for 11 years as Administrative Assistant (Front Office Maintenance). Overall, she has nearly 22 years of work experience.
Ramesh K. A.
Office Assistant
Ramesh has been working at CBPS as an office assistant since May 2010. Prior to CBPS, he worked as a Supervisor to House-Keeping staff at India Satcom Ltd.
Shreekanth Mahendiran 
Shreekanth Mahendiran worked with CBPS from November 2011 to July 2019. His work at CBPS mainly focused on education related projects. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. at the Department of Strategy, Globalization, and Society, University of Lausanne. He has a Masters in Economics from Madras School of Economics, Anna University.
Puja Minni
Puja Minni worked with CBPS from September 2012 to July 2019. Her work at CBPS mainly focused on education related projects. She has a Masters in Economics from Mount Carmel College (Bangalore) and Masters in Public Policy and Administration from University of Massachusetts (Amherst) on a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship for Low Income Countries.
Varun Sharma
Varun worked as a Research Advisor at CBPS in 2012-13. It was a great experience working with the team at CBPS, and he had ample opportunities to learn and demonstrate his expertise. He left CBPS to pursue post-doctoral research at the Tata Institute of Social Science in Mumbai. Soon after completing his PDF, he worked as a senior researcher for an anti-human trafficking organization and for a brief stint as a health economist with Oxford Policy Management. Following that, he worked as a Research Manager at TISS Mumbai and then as an Associate General Manager Research at Child Rights and You (CRY). Presently, he is associated with
Jhpiego as an MLE Specialist.
Shobha Veigas
Shobha has been a Consultant with CBPS since July 2009. She has a Masters in Social Work (MSW) from Mangalore University and in Kannada Literature from Mysore University. Currently, she is freelance trainer, working with CBPS on specific projects.
Shubhashansha Bakshi
Shubhashansha worked at CBPS from March 2009 to March 2013, focusing on education related projects. Currently, she is pursuing her PhD from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai and also working with Ernst & Young.
Dr. Aiyar is a Health Economist & serves as Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). Prior to joining UNR, she worked at the Tata-Cornell Institute of Agriculture and Nutrition at Cornell University as a Post-Doctoral Associate. She studies the direct and indirect impacts of health policies on improving access to health, income, food and nutrition security. Anaka’s research has been published in premier academic journals such as Journal of Development Economics, World Development, Journal of Development Studies, Economics Letters and the Journal of Business Ethics. Her book “Transforming Food Systems for a Rising India” explores the inter-linkages between health, agriculture and economic development in India. She has received several honors and awards including the Postdoc Achievement Award for Excellence in Leadership at Cornell University, Taraknath Das Foundation Grant in Aid (Columbia University) and the Dean’s Distinguished Fellowship Award at the University of California, Riverside. At CBPS, Anaka worked on impact evaluations of public health policies in Karnataka. She was affiliated with CBPS first as an intern in the summer of 2005 and then as a Research Associate between April 2009 and June 2011. Read more about her research here or follow her on twitter – @AiyarAnaka.
Sandeep MS
Sandeep was largely focused on empirical work in the drinking water sector during his tenure (March 2009 and August 2011). He is currently at University of Loughborough and has submitted his PhD thesis.
Dr. Rahna K
Institution: Central University of Kerala
Duration: 1 March 2021 to 1 June 2021
Ankit Raj
Institution: Xavier School of Rural Management
Duration:20 April 2020 to 20 June 2020
Raghavi Purimetla
Institution: Azim Premji University
Duration: 4 November 2019 to 4 January 2020
Swathi Krishnamurthy
Institution: National Law School of India University (NLSIU)
Duration: 21 October to 21 December 2019
