Vithal Rajan, Officer, Order of Canada, BA Hons (McGill), PhD (London School of Economics), F.I.N.S, is a Canadian national and OCI. He has worked as an information officer, ICI, Canada; as a mediator for the Church in Belfast in the 1970s; and later as a member of the founding faculty at the School of Peace Studies, University of Bradford, UK; as Chair of World Studies, International School of Geneva; as Director, WWF-International, Switzerland; as founding Executive Director, the Right Livelihood Award Foundation, Sweden (also known as the Alternative Nobel Prize); and as founding Councillor, World Future Council, London, Hamburg and Brussels. He is a member of the Transcend Global Peace University and the Galtung-Institut. In India he was Senior Faculty, Administrative Staff College of India. He was Board member of Environment Protection Training Research Institute [EPTRI] of GoI. He has served on several committees of the departments of rural development, environment, and policy of Govt of AP. He was founder-chair of several well-known Indian NGOs, including: Deccan Development Society [working for poor rural Dalits in Telangana], Confederation of Voluntary Associations, Hyderabad [working for communal harmony], SKS Micro-Finance, Permaculture Association of India. He is founder-trustee of AME [Agriculture Man Ecology] India Foundation. Bangalore; and Advisor to Yugantar, an NGO working with GoI and Telangana government on several projects. He is Director, KCP Sugar & Industries Corp, Chennai; and Visionary Lighting & Energy Pvt Ltd. Hyderabad [solar-powered LEDs for poor households]. He has established scholarships at the Ramanujan Institute of Pure Mathematics, University of Madras, in memory of his father, S.Rajan, ICS; and at the Vidyodaya High School for Girls, Madras, in memory of his mother, Mrs Champakavalli Rajan.In 2006, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada for life-long service to humanity; and is listed in the Canadian Who’s Who. He has written several papers in Indian and International academic journals, and lectured in several universities. He is an author and playwright.His spouse Dr K. Lalita, Ph.D [Indian national] is an internationally known scholar and writer. She is the founder of the Anveshi Research Centre for Women’s Studies, Hyderabad; and a Director of Yugantar, an NGO working on developmental programmes with GoI and State governments.Permanent Address: Sun Acre, 17/137 G, Ketti-Palada Road, Ketti, The Nilgiris 643215Contact: Tel:91- 9704540608; email: vithal.rajan@gmail.com
