Mr. Swashpawan Singh, Former Ambassador (Board Member and Trustee)
Mr. Swashpawan Singh as a member of the Indian Foreign Service held wide range of appointments in the ministry of external affairs and in the Indian embassies. He was ambassador of India in Kuwait from January 2002 to October 2005 and there after ambassador and permanent representative of India to the United Nations in Geneva from December 2005 to December 2008. He was Secretary to the Vice President of India from Nov. 2013 to Aug. 2017 and was a leader of the Indian delegation to the 62nd Session of the Commission of Human Rights). He was also a member of the Ministerial Delegation at the First Session of the Human Rights Council (June 2006); leader of the Indian delegation to the Second, Third, Fourth,Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Sessions of the Human Rights Council between September 2006 and December 2008.
Mr. Kuldeep Thakur (Board Member)
Mr. Kuldeep is Master of Arts (MA) and a very active social worker. He was the General Secretary of Chandigarh Association for Visually Challenged from 2002 to 2004. He was the Vice President of National Federation of Blind, Himachal Branch from 2005 to 2011. In 2011. He assisted SAKSHAM to establish SAKSHAM Himachal Pradesh branch for all-round development of persons with visual impairment. He was also the General Secretary of National Federation of Blind, Himachal Branch from 2018 to 2021. By demonstrating assistive technology solutions to persons with visual impairment, he inspired them to develop more and more technically. He has a vision to see Rohru becoming a Centre of Technical Education for persons with visual impairment for their education and empowerment.
Mr. Anubhav Mitra (Board Member)
Mr. Anubhav Mitra has 15+ years of Project Management and SME experience in building, managing and deploying accessibility-related project with Agile development along with experience of providing role based training in banking, retail and content based project including Target.com, ManUTD, Microsoft, World Bank, Daisy consortium, Bank of Montreal, Bookshare, WIPO etc. with managing the accessibility development and testing team for both Web based application and Native application.
He is an expert in creating road map for implementing accessibility in independent components of website and native app, code analyzing to improve accessibility, excellent knowledge of Area codes and there use in HTML, assistive technology tools and visual design accessibility analysis. He is experienced in conducting accessibility in regional and other international languages.
Mr. Dipendra Manocha (Honorary Founder Managing Trustee)
Mr. Dipendra Manocha is an Alumnus of Delhi University and a firm believer in braille as a base for education and literacy for persons with blindness. He left his research work to follow his passion to work for a mission of providing information and content in an accessible format to persons with print disability.
Today Mr. Manocha is the Director of, the Developing Countries Programme and Lead of Training and Tech Support with the DAISY Consortium. He is also the president of the DAISY Forum of India and is the founder trustee of “Saksham”. He is the president of the Delhi State branch of the National Association for the Blind and plays a major role as a key partner in the Assistech Lab of IIT Delhi which is involved in the development of assistive technology for persons with blindness. He represents Civil Society Organizations on behalf of the DAISY Consortium in the working group of UNESCAP that monitors the implementation of the Incheon Strategy in the Asia Pacific Region. He is the designated focal person of the DAISY Consortium for the training and technical support in capacity-building programs of the accessible Books consortium of WIPO.
Ms. Rummi K Seth (Honorary Founder Managing Trustee)
In 2003, Ms. Rummi started Saksham to establish a distribution system of assistive devices for persons with blindness to plug in the huge gap and worked relentlessly for the empowerment and independent living of persons with sight loss. Since then, Saksham has taken up several path-breaking initiatives under her leadership. Every moment of her life is dedicated to her mission. She is a full-time honorary leader of the organization.
Her key contributions to the society include:
- Availability of affordable assistive technology compatible with Indian languages for persons with blindness that has changed what persons with blindness can or cannot do.
- starting of audio description of films in India
- Accessible gallery for persons with blindness in the National Museum
- Introducing accessible replicas of monuments
- Model institution of quality education for children with blindness and multiple disabilities
Mr. Prashant Ranjan Verma (Board Member)
Mr. Verma is an Independent consultant to the DAISY CONSORTIUM for technical support and software testing. Responsible for conducting training in Digital Talking Books production and providing support to libraries and publishers taking up inclusive publishing worldwide.
Mr. Verma is credited with several innovations including the Currency Identification Device for India and Mauritius and Bank Cheque Printing Templates for the blind. He launched www.GoodFoodTalks.in, India’s first accessible restaurant finder and menu reading app in 2016. He has written several books and manuals on computer training and the use of technology for the visually impaired.
Mr. Verma is also the Founder & CEO of accessible www.accessable.co.in a company that provides accessibility and inclusion services. He is an experienced Accessibility and Usability evangelist and has provided accessibility testing services to numerous companies and organizations like Microsoft, UNESCO, UNICEF, Dolphin Computers, RNIB UK and more.
