Careers

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Ms Powell works on policy issues in energy and the environment primarily in the Indian context. Her current interests include energy access, carbon constraints on energy use, clean coal & natural gas for energy and environmental security. She is currently with the Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi. Earlier she has worked for Norsk Hydro and for Orkla, two of Norway’s largest conglomerates whose interests include energy. Ms. Powell has three Post Graduate Degrees - two on Energy Management from Norway and one in Solid State Physics from India. She is a regular participant at The Chao Track India’s Economic Connectivity Dialogue.

Col. Shukla writes for the Business Standard on defense and strategic affairs, international relations and the defense economy. His articles appear in The New York Times, The Guardian, Al Jazeera and other international publications. He has also worked with NDTV from 2001 – 2008 as a prime – time news anchor and war correspondent. He reported extensively on Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and on the insurgencies in India’s North - East and Jammu & Kashmir. Ajai served as a combat soldier in the Indian Army for almost two decades (1979 - 2001) before retiring as a colonel. Ajai graduated from the National Defence Academy, Kharakvasla and Indian Military Academy, Dehradun. Col. Shukla has been associated with the activities of The Chao Track and has been a primary participant in its Strategic Dialogues.

Prof. Lama, a development economist, is a senior Professor in the School of International Studies in Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He is presently Chief Economic Adviser designate in the rank of a Cabinet Minister in the Government of Sikkim. He served as the Founding Vice Chancellor of the Central University of Sikkim; Member, National Security Advisory Board, Government of India; Chief Economic Adviser in the Government of Sikkim with a Cabinet Minister Rank (2002-2007) and the Pro-Vice Chancellor of Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), New Delhi. Acclaimed as the Architect of the reopening of the historic Nathu-la trade route between Sikkim in India and Tibet Autonomous Region in China after 44 years in 2006, he has served as a member of the High Level National Committee to examine the Sixth Schedule Areas in the NorthEast Region (2007); Member of the Prime Ministers’ Task Force on Hill and Mountain Development. He has been associated as a professional with the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, United Nations Development Programme, UNESCAP, USAID, Economic Research Institute of ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA), Australian Aid Agency, IDRC of Canada and ICIMOD in Kathmandu. Prof. Lama is a regular contributor to The Chao Track’s activities and publications.

A former naval officer, Abhijit Singh, Senior Fellow, heads the Maritime Policy Initiative at ORF. A maritime professional with specialist and command experience in front-line Indian naval ships, he has been involved in the writing of India's maritime strategy (2007). He is a keen commentator on maritime matters and has written extensively on security and governance issues in the Indian Ocean and Pacific littorals. His articles and commentaries have been published in the Asian Bureau for Asian Research (NBR), the Lowy Interpreter, the World Politics Review, the Diplomat and CSIS Pacific Forum. Editor of two books on maritime security — Indian Ocean Challenges: A Quest for Cooperative Solutions (2013) and Geopolitics of the Indo-Pacific (2014), Abhijit has published papers on India’s growing maritime reach, security of sea-lines of communication in the Indo-Pacific region, Indian Ocean governance issues and maritime infrastructure in the Asian littorals.

Col. Shukla writes for the Business Standard on defense and strategic affairs, international relations and the defense economy. His articles appear in The New York Times, The Guardian, Al Jazeera and other international publications. He has also worked with NDTV from 2001 – 2008 as a prime – time news anchor and war correspondent. He reported extensively on Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and on the insurgencies in India’s North - East and Jammu & Kashmir. Ajai served as a combat soldier in the Indian Army for almost two decades (1979 - 2001) before retiring as a colonel. Ajai graduated from the National Defence Academy, Kharakvasla and Indian Military Academy, Dehradun. Col. Shukla has been associated with the activities of The Chao Track and has been a primary participant in its Strategic Dialogues.

Prof Gulshan Sachdeva is Jean Monnet Chair; Coordinator, Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence for EU Studies in India; and Professor, Centre for European Studies School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. He is also Editor-in-Chief, International Studies (Sage). As a regional cooperation specialist, he headed the ADB and the Asia Foundation projects at the Afghanistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kabul (2006-2010). He is also a consultant with the ILO. His research is focused on the EU, Asian integration, Afghanistan, development cooperation and energy security. He holds a PhD in Economics from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest. He is a regular contributor at CSDR’s The Chao Track Economic Connectivity activities and publications.

Dr. Joseph is an Associate Professor at Institute for Studies in Industrial Development (ISID), Delhi. He has a PhD in Economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, MPhil degree in Applied Economics from Centre for Development Studies, Kerala and Master’s degree in International Relations and Politics from Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala. Before joining ISID, he served as faculty at Central University of Gujarat (CUG), Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS) and Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT). He specialises on International Political Economy and has written several papers on trade policy making, WTO TRIPS Agreement and public health, patents and innovation, international investment agreements and a book on Indian Pharmaceutical Industry. Currently, his research is focused on the implications of FDI in research and development (R&D) on national innovation capability (with special reference to India).

Ms Powell works on policy issues in energy and the environment primarily in the Indian context. Her current interests include energy access, carbon constraints on energy use, clean coal & natural gas for energy and environmental security. She is currently with the Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi. Earlier she has worked for Norsk Hydro and for Orkla, two of Norway’s largest conglomerates whose interests include energy. Ms. Powell has three Post Graduate Degrees - two on Energy Management from Norway and one in Solid State Physics from India. She is a regular participant at The Chao Track India’s Economic Connectivity Dialogue.

Afaq Hussain is Director and Founding Member of the Bureau of Research on Industry and Economic Fundamentals (BRIEF), a New Delhi based trade and policy think-tank. He has over 15 years of experience of working on International Trade policy and logistics sector. He is an expert on tariff/non-tariff measures/barriers, value chain analysis, infrastructure gaps at ports, and appraisal of infrastructure & policy reforms at sea and land ports in India. His focus areas over the last few years have been aspects of regional integration particularly trade and cooperation in South Asia with a special focus on India-Pakistan. His work on Cross LoC engagements focuses on strengthening the mechanisms of LoC trade and enhancing the connectivity between the communities across LoC. He is a regular participant at The Chao Track India’s Economic Connectivity Dialogue.

Dr. Rahman holds a PhD in Development Studies from the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Guwahati, Assam. His areas of interests include research on Northeast India, mainly on issues relating to transboundary water sharing and hydropower dams, roads and connectivity infrastructures, conflict and insurgency, peace building, development politics, migration and cross border exchanges. His research specialization is on border studies in Northeast India and transboundary water sharing and management issues between China, India and Bangladesh. He is committed to grassroots based alternative community work and development models. He has travelled extensively in parts of Northeast India for research work. He has led research teams in Northeast India, and has travelled parts in China, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Thailand and Myanmar for research.

Dr. Sana Hashmi is Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Fellow at the Institute of International Relations, National Chengchi University. She is a former Consultant in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Government of India, where she worked on the ASEAN region and the Indo-Pacific with a special reference to China from 2016-19. Her primary research focuses on China’s foreign policy, Taiwan’s foreign relations, India-Taiwan relations, China’s territorial disputes, and Asian security. Before MEA, she worked with the Centre for Air Power Studies (CAPS), an autonomous think- tank under the Indian Air Force (IAF), from 2011-2016. She has also worked at South Asia Forum for Human Rights (SAFHR), Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), and Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA). She holds MPhil and PhD from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She has published several book chapters, articles in journals, magazines, web portals and newspaper articles. She is the author of the book, China’s Approach towards Territorial Disputes: Lessons and Prospects (New Delhi: Knowledge World, 2016). She can be reached at sanahashmi2@gmail.com .

Debak is a PhD candidate in Political Science at the Department of Government, Cornell University. His doctoral dissertation examines how regional powers build their nuclear force structures. This research is based on extensive fieldwork in India, the United Kingdom, France, and the United States. Debak is also interested in historical archives, international history, foreign policy, public opinion, and South Asian politics. His research has been supported by the Judith Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies, the Wilson Center, Cornell University’s Graduate School, the Cornell Institute for European Studies, and the Chateaubriand Fellowship in Humanities and Social Sciences. In 2019-20, he was the MacArthur Nuclear Security Pre-doctoral Fellow at the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC), Stanford University.