Balaji Sampath

Balaji's journey with AID began in 1994 when he joined the University of Maryland, College Park's Electrical Engineering program after graduating from IIT Chennai. He joined the AID-College park chapter as a volunteer. At this time AID was still a local organization. By 1997, he along with other volunteers had brought AID to a national level, with chapters in several cities/universities. It was in the same year that he obtained his PhD and decided to return back to his homeland India as a full time AID volunteer.

He is a central figure in AID and has made vital contributions in planning and executing large-scale campaigns in health, literacy and improving quality of education in India. His work has culminated in the Hundred Block Plan (HBP), a multi-pronged rural intervention and development program across India - which he pioneered with Dr. Sundarraman of the All-India People's Science Network (AIPSN). HBP is currently the largest development program undertaken by AID at this time.

Learn more about Balaji and his work here.

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Ravi Kuchimanchi

Ravi founded AID in 1991 with the vision "problems are interconnected, so must be the solution." At this time he was a graduate student at the University of Maryland. AID has matured into a volunteer movement for sustainable, holistic development with 50 chapters in USA, Australia and India. It brings highly skilled professionals such as the Non-Resident Indian community, to partner with the poor, and underprivileged so that there is a deeper understanding of causes beyond the mere symptoms of poverty.
In 1989 while a graduate student, along with a friend, he obtained a US patent for a toy-puzzle that was featured by NY Times and several Television channels in USA. This was one of his early ideas for raising money to help tackle poverty. However as the economy was slow at that time, despite the interest it generated, it did not get picked up. That was when he hit upon the idea of AID and ever since has been focused on it. After obtaining his post doc from the University of Virginia, Ravi decided to return to India with his wife Aravinda.

He played a lead role in developing the pedal power generator to light remote, off the grid village schools. He collaborated with the grassroots groups and electrified 12 hamlets of the tribal village Bilgaon, where there was an ongoing struggle against large dams in the Western India. He has taken keen interest in Indian democracy's latest achievement -- the Right to Information (RTI) Act that gives citizens of India access to government documents and increases transparency. This along with the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) which promises 100 days of work to all rural families at with an annual budget of $3 billion has the potential to change the face of India.

Learn more about Ravi and his work here.

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LS Aravinda

Aravinda Pillalamarri has worked with people fighting for social justice in India since 1998. Raising awareness on fair trade and sustainable livelihoods, she works with tailors designing and marketing khadi (handspun) garments with a view to sustaining traditional living in modern times. Recognizing the role of natural birth, breastfeeding, babywearing, sleepsharing, natural hygiene and free learning in promoting maternal and child health and empowerment, she works with parents and teachers in better understanding the value of these practices, how they are already in use, and how they are threatened and resources required to sustain them. IN this context she also works in Srikakulam district to promote programs that help people take control of their learning, food security, and health, such as village libraries, kitchen gardens, whole foods, and accountability in government services to mothers and children.

She also serves on AID Publications Team, working to ensure that people who are marginalised by poverty, oppression or disasters appear as central and active driving forces for change rather than as victims or targets. Through this AID newsletters, calendars and occasional publications help urban middle class people to understand the perspectives and analyses voiced by the people central to the processes of social change, who are too often marginalised from prevailing development planning owing to poverty and oppression.

Aravinda's blog can be found here.

A number of articles written by Aravinda can be found here

Read more...

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Ravishankar Arunachalam

Given resources and freedom, people are generally smart when making choices about their lives.

Ravishankar Arunachalam has worn many hats in his nine years as an AID volunteer. He was the co-editor of AID News, Executive Board projects coordinator, founder of the water cell at AID Austin, coordinator of post-earthquake efforts in Gujarat, and Hundred Block Plan coordinator. On his return to India in 2002, Ravishankar became the joint secretary at AID India. At AID India, he has worked on the secondary school science education program, on the equitech program on low-cost solutions for data collection, in tsunami relief & rehabilitation efforts, with Tamil Nadu Science Foundation and other groups in the campaign against construction of a Coke bottling plant in Gangaikondan, Tamil Nadu.

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Rachna Dhingra

I truly believe in the power of ordinary people because they simply are capable of doing extraordinary things. As we say in Bhopal - Janta ki chale paltnaya Hill lai lai Jagjoor duniya!

Rachna joined AID Ann Arbor chapter in 1999, when she was an undergraduate studying business administration. Always interested in developmental issues, she found a perfect outlet in AID. Her no-nonsense talk and her limitless energy became legendary. She developed an interest towards activist and women's issues, keenly following the struggles in the Narmada valley and in Bhopal. In Ann Arbor, she and other AID volunteers set up the Bhopal Action Network to echo the concerns not only of the Bhopal survivors, but also those of survivors from chemical disasters all over the world. This network has been a continuous thorn in the side of Dow Chemical,located a short distance away from the university in Midland, Michigan.

After graduation, Rachna joined Accenture where her first client, ironically, was Dow Chemical! After just a few months in this job, she followed her passion and quit to join the peoples' struggle in Bhopal.

Since 2003, Rachna has been living in Bhopal and has immersed herself in getting the balance of compensation to survivors, initiating efforts for clean drinking water, generating employment and mobilizing local and global communities. She has become a key organizer for the campaign, and her enthusiasm and energy is an inspiration to all.

AID Austin's repository, including presentations and updates can be found here

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Kamiyani Swami

"Working in the 'field' of 'development' at a time when the term itself has come to be contested, AID has had to grapple continuously with the idea of development."

Kamayani, our newest associate Jeevansaathi, is not new to the field of development and activism. With a Masters in social work from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), she worked with the Shramik Adivasi Sangathan in Madhya Pradesh for 6 months and Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) in Rajasthan for 2-1/2 years before coming to the US. In the US, she has worked with AID-Milwaukee chapter, the Bihar-Jharkhand cell, the Bhopal and anti-communalism campaigns in AID, other groups such as Students for Bhopal.
Having returned to India in September 2005, Kamayani is working in Bihar on community health, local governance and other issues, particularly focusing on the Hundred Blocks Plan (HBP).

A brief outline of Kamayani's educational qualifications and work experience is listed here

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Kiran Kumar Vissa

Kiran Vissa has been a key AID figure since its formative years and has worn many hats of leadership and organizational roles in the past 14 years. Since 2008, Kiran is working in Andhra Pradesh as a full time activist in the role of AID's Jeevansaathi. Kiran's focus interests have been agriculture and farmers' issues, consumer awareness on food, volunteer mobilization and citizen activism, and tackling organizational challenges in AID.

Kiran played an important role in setting up many early chapters of AID, and continued to provide inspirational and organizational support to budding chapters and emerging leadership. As a member of the board of directors, he has been an important part of many of AID's initiatives. He has played a key role in promoting the sangharsh aspect in AID through the Narmada struggle, anti-communalism campaign and other human rights campaigns

Kiran holds a B.Tech. from IIT, Chennai and an M.S. from University of Maryland. He became active in AID in his very early days at College Park, inspired by the ideas and energy of volunteers like Ravi, Balaji and Aravinda, as well as meeting many social activists from India.

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