About Director - Dr. Anil K. Rajvanshi

Dr. Anil K. Rajvanshi (Director and Hon. Secretary)

Dr.Rajvanshi has nearly 30 years of experience in renewable energy R&D and rural development. He did his B.Tech and M.Tech in Mechanical Engineering from I.I.T. Kanpur in 1972 and 1974 respectively. He received his Ph.D. in Mech. Engg. from University of Florida, Gainesville, USA in 1979. He was also on the faculty of University of Florida (Dept. of Mechanical Engineering) for 2.5 years before returning to India in 1981 to work in a small rural NGO - Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) in Phaltan, Maharashtra. He is presently its Director, Trustee and Hon. Secretary.

Dr. Rajvanshi has been a member of many prestigious committees of the Government of India (Office of the principal Scientific Advisor to the GOI, Planning Commission, Advisory Board of Energy, MNES, etc.) and Government of Maharashtra (State Planning Commission, Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission, etc.). He is the author of the national policy on Energy Self Sufficient Talukas, which was run by MNES, New Delhi. IN 1998, he was inducted in the U.S. based Solar Hall of Fame. He was awarded the prestigious Jamnalal Bajaj Award for rural development in 2001. In 2004 his work on electric cycle rickshaw was awarded the Energy Globe Award also called the Oscar of Energy. In June 2009 NARI received the prestigious Globe Award for Dr. Rajvanshi's invention of ethanol lantern and stove.

Dr. Rajvanshi is the principal investigator of 30 projects funded by various national and international agencies with grants totaling Rs. 25 million. He has authored/co-authored more than 160 publications in various national and international journals including 35 editorial articles on sustainable development and spirituality in some of the major newspapers and magazines of India.

He has also written chapters in books entitled Alternative Energy in Agriculture (CRC Press, U.S.A. 1987), Gandhi in 21^st Century (Prachee Publications, Hyderabad, 1999) and a chapter entitled "Sustainable Development - The Gandhian Way" in the book Timeless Inspirator - Reliving Gandhi (Ed. R.A.Mashelkar, 2010).

Dr. Rajvanshi has lectured and given seminars at many leading Universities in India and in US. Dr. Rajvanshi has seven patents to his credit. He has written a book Nature of Human Thought in which he has made an attempt to synthesize the ancient Indian Yogic thought with modern cosmology and brain research. He writes a regular blog on spirituality in Speaking Tree.Recently he has penned his memoirs about his student days in US.

He has been interviewed and featured in many national and international magazines. Recently the Diwali special issue (November 2012) of Marathi Magazine Saptahik Sakal has carried a feature story on him.