Partha Pratim Pathak
MD, Fresh Air Waste Management Pvt. Ltd.

Partha Pratim Pathka is the founder of Fresh Air Waste Management. A 1995-96 batch pass out from Assam Engineering College (Guwahati), he founded the company Fresh Air Waste Management Services Pvt. Ltd. in the year 2003 with an objective to work for waste management. The company own and operates one of the 178 Common Bio Medical Waste Treatment Facilities in the country, which is the one and only fully fledged common facilities of its kind in the whole North East India. At present the company is responsible for disposal of solid bio medical waste generated by Health Care Facilities of Guwahati, Kamrup Metro, Kamrup Rural, Nagaon, Marigaon and Nalbari. The Company also designs and supplies waste water treatment plants which includes more than 200 Effluent and Sewage Treatment Plants in different parts Assam, Meghalaya, Sikkim, West Bengal, Urisa and Bhutan. The company was awarded with '2010 entrepreneurial excellence award' by North Eastern Development Finance Corporation of India, Indian Leadership Award 2014, PariveshBandu Award 2018 and Green Future Leadership Award 2019.

Dr. Shantanu Kumar Dutta
Additional Director, Central Pollution Control Board

Presently working as an Additional Director in CPCB and has gathered 20 years of experience in industrial monitoring and waste management. Completed Civil Engineering from REC Kurukshetra, presently NIT Kurukshetra, in Civil Engineering in 1994 followed by M. Tech in Environmental Science and Engineering from the Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad in 1997. He completed his PhD in Engineering from IIT Kharagpur in Environmental Pollution in Coal Mining Areas in the year 2007. He is trained by Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) for environmental restoration of degraded lands. He is a person dedicated for the improvement of the Environment. He has planted more that 5.25 lacs of trees in the industrial areas of Assam and Meghalaya

Dr. Amarjyoti Kashyap
President and Chief Functionary, ENVIRON

Dr. Amarjyoti Kashyap, the President and Chief Functionary of ENVIRON is conducting all the activities of ENVIRON particularly in the field of Environmental Management and Sustainable Development. He was in teaching profession in the Department of Environmental Science under Gauhati Univarsity for 10 years. He has completed Ph.D. research work in Environmental Science (Solid Waste Management) from Gauhati University, and participated in different seminars and workshops and presented and published papers, seven (7) in National Seminars, four (4) inInternational Seminars and also published three (3) research papers in the National Journal. He has developed and invented some simplified ways and technology for the successful Solid Waste Management Practice, like- “Household Plastic Craft” to utilize plastic waste at source; “Waste Assimilator” for the management of biodegradable solid waste at source and “Money Earning Litterbin” for the source segregation of plastic waste, “SeujBahan” for door to door collection of segregated plastic waste etc. He has been invited as an expert by the various organizations like, Department ofAdministrative Reforms & Public Grievances, Govt. of India; Public Health Engineering Department, Govt. of Assam; Assam Science Society, Assam; Assam Engineering College, Guwahati, Assam; Assam Institute of Management, Guwahati, Assam; Kasturaba Gandhi RastryaSmarak Trust, Guwahati, Assam; Plastic Engineering and Technology(CIPET), Assam;National Institute of Rural Development(NIRD), Assam; Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Guwahati, World Bank Project (Solid & Liquid Waste Management), PHE, Govt. of Assam etc. Dr. Kashyap has also given editorial support on ‘STATE OF ENVIRONMENT REPORT’ published by the Assam Science Technology and Environment Council and also published different articles on environmental management.

Mr. Merwyn Coutinho
Co-Founder Further and Beyond Foundation

Merwyn Coutinho is the Co-Founder of Further and Beyond Foundation, working of sustainable energy and waste management for the last 8 years in Northeast India, our flagship program of batti( lighting homes with renewable energy) led to the creation of Northeast Waste Collective to build and facilitate solutions on Waste. Further & Beyond Foundation explores cultures and facilitates self-driven sustainable development in communities by designing and implementing locally relevant and ecologically sensitive frameworks. Northeast Waste Collective is an initiative of Further and Beyond Foundation, a Bangalore based Not-for-Profit that creates a discussion around waste in Northeast India. It is a platform to address the challenges and explore the solutions of waste management by conducting surveys, engaging governments and helping communities create a waste free society. They are currently involved in: Installing community based waste management models in villages of Arunachal Pradesh, Create Zero Waste campuses in Assam. They collect electronic waste from households in Guwahati and Bangalore help de-clutter homes and brings awareness on the subject.They also work with communities to make them waste aware citizens.

Dr. Alka Sarma
Executive Director of Akshar Foundation

Prof. Alaka Sarma is an accomplished educator, columnist, activist, social leader, and law maker. She currently serves as Commissioner on the Pranam Commission under government of Assam, and honorary director of the Center for Gandhian Studies at the University of Science and Technology, Meghalaya, where she was former Pro-Vice-Chancellor. Formerly, she was elected to two terms as a member of the Assam State Legislative Assembly, representing the district of Nalbari, serving the people of her husband’s constituency after his assassination by separatist forces in Assam. She completed her doctoral dissertation on the economy of Nagaland at the University of Bombay, and has over 20 years’ experience as a lecturer at several colleges in Maharashtra and North East India. She has been involved in people’s movements in Bihar and Assam and has been a champion of social causes for decades, serving with many charitable organisations over the years.

Mr. Sanjib Sabhapandit
Entrepreneur

A veteran filmmaker, who is known to have knack in dealing with social and human themes, be it through films like Juye Pura Xoon, Dikchow Bonot Palash and Janfai Junak; Mr. Sabhapandit is also an entrepreneur whose work in the field of solid waste management is making quite the sound. A mechanical engineer by profession, he is quite well known for developing environment-friendly and cost-effective device for collection and disposal of municipal solid waste (MSW).

Mr. Adwait Joshi
The Clean Energy Access Network

For over a decade now, Adwait has delivered in setting up new ventures, organizational development, and market development through strategic leadership roles. Before CLEAN, Adwait was Associate Director at Samhita Social Ventures Pvt. Ltd. He has been instrumental in the growth of the organization from its start-up stage to the position of the trusted and leading CSR Consulting firm in India. He led a team to secure grants and investments, build synergistic relationships with companies, philanthropic foundations, social organizations and bi-lateral / multi-lateral agencies. Prior to Samhita, Adwait started with co-founding a waste-to-energy start-up, CH Four, which grew to $200,000 revenue in just 3 years. Problem-solving for sustainable solutions in society and for the environment has been at the core of Adwait's professional journey.

Mr. Mrinal Krishna Chaudhury
Additional Director, Assam Energy Development Agency

Mrinal Krishna Chaudhury is Mechanical Engineer by profession from Assam Engineering College -1986, M. Tech in Energy Science & Technology from Jadavpur University, Kolkata Presently Additional Director at Assam Energy Development Agency, he is involved in implementation of different renewable energy projects including Remote Village electrification, Grid Connected Roof Top Solar Plants, Floating solar power plants, Livelihood projects through renewable energy intervention etc.

Mr. Achitra Borgohain
CEO, Binbag Recycling

Achitra Borgohain is the founder and CEO of Binbag Recycling. Binbag is addressing the problem of electronic waste by creating distributed, mini recycling plants across India. It currently operates plants in Bangalore, Guwahati and Mumbai. The Guwahati plant is the first e-waste Recycling unit in entire Northeast. Before becoming an entrepreneur and after finishing his MBA he has invested 10 years in venture capital, investment banking and consulting services. Achitra also works closely with entrepreneurial ecosystem by engaging as a Speaker, Mentor/Jury and Advisor.

Mr. Bhaskar Kakoty
Director, Free Power Technology Private Ltd.

After completing 20 years of corporate life, Bhaskar Kakoty has co-founded the company “Free Power Technology Private Limited” in 2013. The driving force behind this venture of renewable / green energy was the untiring passion and love for the Mother Nature. The north eastern part of India, which blessed by God with its varieties of flora and fauna has been struggling for its development. Energy being a critical factor to development his company has been engaged with the mass for educating the value of clean energy. His company, Free Power has been closely working with government agencies like Assam Energy Development Agency and Arunachal Pradesh Energy Development Agency, Rashtriya Gramin Vikash Nidhi (RGVN) to name a few. The company is mainly focused on providing end to end solutions to its customers from design, supply, installation, commission and after sales services for solar energy solutions like solar power plants, solar pump, solar water heater, solar street lighting etc. As a member of Federation of Industry & commerce for North Eastern Region (FINER) he is working actively in the promotion of renewable energy and development of tourism industry in the region.

Sanjeev Sharma

Sanjeev Sarma is the Founder Director of Webx Technologies Private Limited, a Technology Consulting company that he founded in the year 2001. He has over 18+ years of IT experience in delivering enterprise solutions on Web Platforms and Mobile Technologies.

A post graduate in Computer Applications, Sanjeev has worked for multinational companies like ZAP Infotech and IBM Global Services and then decided to start his own software firm “Webx” in the year 2001 and later in 2009 it became private limited. Sanjeev also represents North East Information Technology Association (NEITA) as a Chairman.

At Webx, Sanjeev is working at consulting, architecture and development of enterprise solutions on the latest web technologies. His Award Winning Solutions are running in various corporates and Govt. Departments. He was acknowledged as “Technology Hero” by Microsoft Corporation for the online ticketing system implemented way back in the year 2004 for Assam State Transport Corporation.

Currently, Sanjeev is also serving as:

• Member, Advisory Board, Software Technology Parks of India (Assam, Tripura and Meghalaya)
• Consultant at NF Railways (Cons.) for Management Information System
• Member, Leadership Excellence, Harvard Square
• Member, Intel Atom Developer, Intel India Technology Pvt. Ltd.
• Member, IT Pro Marketing Panel, Microsoft
• Chief Technology Advisor at South Asian Regional Development Gateway
• Member, Advisory committee for B.Voc curriculum at Gauhati University
• Mentor, StartUp NE, an initiative of Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship

Sanjeev is also instrumental in mentoring young entrepreneurs of North-East Region through various other platforms like StartUp Assam, UpStart and Megaminds. Sanjeev also served as Jury member in various B-Plan Competitions organised by State Government and Premier Institutions.