IRCPI

India Rural Community Projects Initiative is an alliance devoted to developing appropriate solutions and bringing the fruits of the laboratory research and technology advances in the areas of healthcare, energy, and environment to the reach of the underserved populations and rural communities in India.

Dr. Mohan Venkataramana
President & CEO

Dr. Venkataramana brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to IRCPI. He graduated from IIT Chennai with distinction in Chemical Engineering and went on to complete his doctoral studies at MIT. He also has a M.S degree in Energy Engineering from University of Illinois at Chicago. He led the MultiQuest 900 Service project team for AT&T Bell Laboratories. He is currently the President of Syntonix, Inc. which he founded with the goal of helping start-up companies to develop a strong foundation in technology. He has also completed projects for Amazon, Microsoft, and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

He is serving as the founder/president of the PanIIT Pacific Northwest Chapter. He is passionate about advancing science and math education among K-12 children (Verinza Center for Mathematics and Science) as well as mentoring young entrepreneurs (www.iitea.org and Albers Business School of Seattle University).

Dr. Kishan Bhatia
VP Technology Operations

Dr. Bhatia is a retired scientist and devotes full time in USA and India to causes dear to his heart: Empowering rural and tribal youth with education to lift them out of the cycle of poverty they were born in and rural healthcare. Together with his wife, Dr. Kiran Bhatia, they have set up and co-directed the basic mission of INDUSA Endowments to provide seed money to Indian educators who have dedicated their lives to educating rural and tribal youth using innovative and creative “Learning by Doing” method such as the Y4D (Youth for Development) program at VILD (Viveka Institute of Leadership Development affiliated with Mysore University, www.vild.edu.in), primary through high-school education program at the Viveka – Tribal Center for Learning, Hosahalli and Viveka – School of Excellence, Saragur (http://www.svym.net ) and IBT (Introduction to Basic Rural Technology) established at Vigyan Ashram, Pabal (www.vigyanashram.com).

In health care areas in addition to the IRCHI program development, he is associated as a SHARE USA board member supporting REACH (rural effective affordable community healthcare) initiated programs at MediCiti, Medchal Mandal, near Hyderabad, A.P. ( http://www.medicitihospitals.com/html/info.htm and http://www.sharehealth.net/mims.html ) and HIV/AIDS treatments initiatives at Vivekananda Memorial Hospital, Kenchanahalli (www.vigyanashram.com). He is also initiating improvements in nursing care and Ambulance services for the villagers around Vigyan Ashram, Pabal, located about 70-km south of Pune in Pune District.

As an industrial chemist for nearly forty years, Dr. Bhatia specialized in the development and implementation of innovative applications technologies using educational background acquired at Carnegie-Mellon University (Senior Fellow - 1971-75)), University of Arkansas (Ph.D. – 1965), Pune University (M.Sc. - 1960) and undergraduate studies at Fergusson College, Pune (1954 -58). The applications technology R&D were concentrated in areas of refinery chemicals, petrochemical process aids, energy production in oil and gas fields (both on- and off-shore, all across the globe) and waste management.

His several patents covered technologies for control of hydrogen sulfide and mercaptan in produced gas, oil and water. His technical publications covered areas of industrial and organic chemistry, and radiation chemistry applications related to identifying chemicals for cancer treatment and understanding fundamental mechanism of chemical reactions in areas of physical-organic chemistry. As an industrial chemist he developed solutions for tin-plating, technologies for identifying environmental pollutants originating in coking and chemical operations and various formulations for energy production industry. He formulated many products in areas of hydrogen sulfide and mercaptan scavengers, corrosion inhibitors, water treating chemicals, anti-oxidants and oxidizing agents applicable in energy production and associated down stream manufacturing plants.

As a consultant he provided the applications and technical support to marketing, sales, field related problem solving, and training staff, both laboratory and field personnel.

Dr. Kiran Bhatia

Dr. Kiran Bhatia, received her Ph.D in Clinical Psychology from University of Pittsburgh. Since then, she has served as psychologist for Mental Health Mental Retardation Unit of Harris County, Houston, TX and as school psychologist for Katy ISD, TX as well as managing her private practice in Consultation, Diagnostic and Evaluation services to Group Homes for persons with developmental disabilities. Together with her husband, Dr. Kishan Bhatia, she established and is a co-director of INDUSA Endowments to provide seed money to innovative and creative educational initiatives by Indian Educators designed to educationally uplift and empower rural and tribal youth to escape from the cycle of poverty they were born in.

Venkat Jawahar
Managing Director, IRCPI-India

Venkat Jawahar received his BA and MA degrees in Economics from University of Madras. He has worked as an officer in Canara Bank in India, serving in various capacities for over 30 years. He has a strong financial background with extensive knowledge of foreign exchange and credit matters as well as inspection of banking practices and auditing of accounts. He has facilitated the implementation of several programs of interest to rural and urban communities, and has gained extensive experience in successfully managing teams, administering projects and ensuring their success.

Jawahar's broad experience spans both administration of policies of the bank as well as ascertaining the impact of these credit policies on the rural community. He is passionate about ensuring that the programs administered by the bank meet the true needs of the intended population and are aligned with the ground realities of the rural environment. He believes that in order to make a difference in the lives of disenfranchised people we need to recognize their true needs and make them feel part of the upliftment process. This can be accomplished by concerted action and systematic planning and execution.

His extensive inter-personal relationships and people skills coupled with the ability to look beyond the obvious to verify the impact of such policies in real world situations, enabled him to provide valuable feedback to the policy makers of the bank and help make the credit policies of the bank meaningful to the rural community. He is currently the Managing Director of VeSaras (Private) Limited, and is interested in contributing his real world experience to practical efforts such as IRCPI.

Praveen Venkataramana
Director of Programs and Activities

Praveen is passionate about the application of science and technology to healthcare, energy and environmental issues that are critical to human survival, and organizing activities that help others, particularly young children, learn about ways they can contribute to rural development. He is the editor-in-chief of the IRCPI newsletter and is involved in planning various IRCPI activities. Praveen has been instrumental in creating interesting mathematics courses and teaching maths and science to other homeschooled children.

A versatile musician, Praveen also conducts lectures that demonstrate the themes that unify Western and Eastern classical music and provide a platform for communication between diverse cultural groups.

Dr. Satyanarayana Gavarasana

Dr. Gavarasana, a retired surgeon, “adopted” his native village Gollaprolu, East Godavari district, Andhra Pradesh and spends six months in the village devoting to healthcare and educational projects. Along with his wife Subhadra, established two schools that blossomed into upper primary schools. A safe drinking water project “Aqua Americana” is put into operation in the village. Now he is embarked on meeting power needs of the villagers by planning a solar hybrid power plant under the umbrella of IRCPI.

He graduated from Andhra Medical College, Visakhapatnam, received both MBBS and MS degrees. Fulbright Scholarship brought him to USA. After qualifying as a general surgeon in Syracuse, New York, he returned to his native village. After his return from the US, he saw the difficulties of cancer patients and established a charity hospital for cancer patients under the banner of Lions Clubs International. Now works as the Research Director at Lions Cancer Hospital, Visakhapatnam, A.P., India. He has conducted numerous health camps to screen for cancer and chronic diseases among the villages of Andhra Pradesh. He ran a clinic in his native village, Gollaprolu, for 18 years. He is currently the President of Gavarasana Foundation (www.gavarasanafoundation.org) which he founded with the goal of serving the rural poor and the needy.

Dr. Gavarasana is a writer, both in Telugu and English, a keen photographer and a public speaker.

Dr. R. Balasubramaniam

Dr. Balasubramaniam is the Founder President of Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement (www.svym.org.in), a social service organization working in the development sector and more so, for the welfare of the dispossessed primitive tribes in Mysore district of Karnataka, India. He is a medical doctor, with a MPhil in Hospital & Health System Management. He has worked extensively in Health, Education and Community Development Sectors, right up from the grassroot level, for over two decades now. Community Driven Development is his area of special interest. He has served as a member of various State and National Committees including the Task Force of the Planing Commission of India. He is currently a consultant to the World Bank for the Vector Borne Diseases Control Program and is a Visiting Professor and head of the Vivekananda Chair at the University of Mysore. He is also a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the International Journal of Health Management and has several publications to his credit.

Dr. Balasubramaniam has inspired many youth, not only of his generation but also of the next, to take up the cause of Nation Building. He has been the recipient of several honours, including the National Youth Award.