Neeraj Malik President

Dr. Neeraj Malik taught English at Indraprastha College, Delhi University. She retired from teaching in 2013. Neeraj is a feminist and civil and democratic rights activist. Neeraj has been an active participant in democratic struggles against social and economic inequalities, caste, religion, and gender-based discrimination in and outside the university. She was a member/chairperson of Committees Against Sexual Harassment at the workplace both in her college and at the university for several years.

Shweta Verma Vice-President

Dr. Shweta Verma is a social entrepreneur and a social work professional whose work is informed by the framework of intersectionality and social justice. She has a Ph.D. (Social Work) in resilience in the context of conflict & two decades of work experience in the field of disability rights & mental health. Shweta is the co-founder of Ginny’s Planet- a social enterprise that spreads empathy, respect for diversity, the spirit of inquiry, and inclusive practices.

Akanksha Sharma Treasurer

Coming from an interfaith marriage background, Akanksha Sharma believes in inclusivity, equality, and the right to love beyond societal boundaries. Her personal experiences inspire a deep commitment to supporting individuals navigating interfaith and inter-caste relationships.
Professionally, she works in the IT industry, leading programs that drive digital transformation. While her career is rooted in technology, her passion lies in fostering social change and advocating for a more accepting and inclusive society.

Nayana Chowdhury

Nayana is a gender rights champion who has worked in the development sector for more than 2 decades. She began her journey working with some of the most marginalized communities in India and organizing around their fundamental rights. This period of 7 years made her aware of the lack of space for women’s leadership and how women’s issues take a back seat even in rights-based movements. Since then, she has concentrated on women’s and girls’ rights, focusing on leadership building. Through more than a decade’s work in donor foundations, she has focused on issues such as the socio-economic rights of women as well as on the effects of gender-based discrimination and gender-based violence in multiple countries of Asia and Africa. She currently works as Director, Program at an Indian NGO, where she leads the programs in several states of North India, reaching out to almost 100,000 adolescents

Purnima Gupta

Sumit Chauhan

Sumit Chauhan is the Founder & Editor of The News Beak, a leading digital media platform in India. With over a decade of experience in journalism, he has worked with prominent news networks like ABP News, Zee News, India News, and News Nation before venturing into independent media.
Coming from a Dalit background, Sumit has firsthand experience of caste-based discrimination in both society and mainstream media. This motivated him to establish The News Beak, a platform dedicated to covering casteism, social justice, human rights violations, and marginalized communities’ issues. His work has been widely recognized, with features in The Straits Times, Outlook India, The Print, and The Wire.
Through his fearless journalism, Sumit continues to challenge dominant narratives, advocate for the Bahujan community, and empower independent creators and community journalists across India.

Sheeba Aslam Fehmi

Sheeba Aslam Fehmi is an Indian journalist, writer, TV panelist, Islamic Feminist, Research Scholar, Gender Trainer, Public Speaker, Art and Literature enthusiast, and traveler.
She has written extensively on issues of identity formations through cultural markers such as language, cuisine, etc. in the modern democratic Nation-State.
The linguistic identity and tensions around various claims of cultural groups, particularly in India’s Urdu-Hindi belt, have been a constant theme in her editorials, columns, writings, and TV discussions.
As an Adab (literature) enthusiast she has been organizing Adabinashists, mushairas, kitabitabsira, Dastangoi, musical events to promote Urdu literary culture in the Old City of Shahjahanabad in Delhi- once the home of many stalwarts of Urdu Shayari but has been bereft of any Adabi activity since last 4-5 decades due to various socio-economic reasons and the emergence of a particular kind of political discourse.
She has been living in Delhi for the last 25 years since getting married into the Fehmi family – well known for the publication of India’s oldest surviving Urdu magazine- ‘Deen Dunia’ which was started by her noted writer-journalist father-in-Law, Janab Mufti Shaukat Ali Fehmi, in the year 1921. Deen Dunia magazine has completed its 100th year of undisrupted service of Urdu language in the subcontinent in the year 2021.
Sheeba completed her higher education at the reputed Jawaharlal Nehru University- JNU (Centre of Political Studies), New Delhi, and is currently pursuing her doctoral research on the Protest Movement of Muslim Women in India.

Zamrooda Khandey 

With over 25 years of experience in the social work field as an acclaimed researcher and senior leader, Zamrooda Khanday has been one of the youngest recipients of the Ford Foundation grants to conduct independent research in India. A Master in Social Work from TISS Mumbai, she has proven expertise in human and gender issues and has published multiple works on the same which have got global recognition. For the last four year she has been heading Aidbees’s the worlds first kindness platform.

Zamrooda is an avid reader, curious researcher and likes to be precise in her approach towards social welfare, gender, sexuality, health and the impact.

Asif Iqbal Ex-officio

Asif has a rich work experience of more than two decades on crucial multi-sectoral issues of social development gained by working with various stakeholders, national and international social organizations, individuals, people’s organizations and campaigns of repute. Over the last twenty-five years, he has worked on the issues of natural livelihood resources, livelihood, and child rights. He worked in the capacity of Member Child Welfare Committee – South Delhi. Asif is associated with various groups and organizations working on issues of gender equality, domestic violence, forced marriage and equal peaceful co-existence of faiths.

Hilal Ahmed

Hilal Ahmed works on political Islam, Indian democracy, and politics of symbols in South Asia. He is associated with the Lokniti programme of the CSDS.
His first book Muslim Political Discourse in Postcolonial India: Monuments, Memory, Contestation (Routledge 2014) explores these thematic concerns to evolve an interdisciplinary approach to study Muslim politics.
Ahmed’s recent books, A Brief History of the Present: Muslims in New India (Penguin, 2024), Allah Naam ki Siyasat (Setu Prakashan, 2023), Siyasi Muslims: A story of Political Islam in India (Penguin-Random House, New Delhi, 2019) and Democratic Accommodations: Minorities in contemporary India (With Peter R deSouza, and Sanjeer Alam, Bloomsbury, 2019) further elaborate these themes and make a modest attempt to explain the discursively constituted nature of contemporary Muslim political discourse in India.
He has edited Companion to Indian Democracy: Resilience, Fragility, Ambivalence (With Peter R deSouza, and Sanjeer Alam, Routledge, 2021), Rethinking Muslim Personal Law: Issues, Debates and Reforms (with R. K. Mishra & K. N. Jehangir, Routledge, 2022) and Sudipta Kaviraj: A Reader (Hindi, Setu Prakashan, 2023).
Ahmed was one of the Principal Investigators (with Sanjeer Alam and Nazima Parveen) for the project Rethinking Affirmative Action for Muslims in Contemporary India (USIPI-CDPP 2025).
Ahmed is the Associate Editor, South Asian Studies, journal of the British Association of South Asian Studies. He is also part of the editorial team of CSDS’s Hindi journal Pratiman. He was a Visiting Scholar, Center for the Advanced Study of India (CASI), University of Pennsylvania (2024), Visting Professor at Krea University (2021-22), Visting Fellow, Institute of Advanced Studies-Nantes (IAS-Nantes, France, 2018-19), Visiting Fellow, at Victoria University Wellington, (2013-14), Visiting Asia Fellow, University of Dhaka, (2011) and Visiting Professor at University of Pune (2011).
He has designed and conducted courses on Research as Practice (2017, 2018), Politics of Political Representation (2016), Research Methods and Identities: Issues and Debates in Postcolonial India (2015), History, Memory and Identity (2009) for the CSDS Teaching Programme, Researching the Contemporary.
He also taught a course Political Sociology at the Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand. Ahmed has worked as a lecturer of political science at University of Delhi.
Ahmed writes for academic journals, newspapers, and websites in English and Hindi. He has produced two documentaries, Encountering the Political Jama Masjid (English, 2006) and Qutub: Ek Adhura Afsana (Qutub: an unfinished story, Hindi with English subtitles, 2016).
Ahmed has also conceptualized and developed an academic mobile app SHARC-DILLI an app on the Partitioned City of Delhi, (with Deborah Sutton, Lancaster University). It is an outcome of a project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), UK.
Ahmed did his PhD from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London (2007).
He was awarded the CASI, Visiting Scholar Fellowship, 2024, Institute of Advanced Studies-Nantes (IAS-Nantes, France) Fellowship, 2018-19, the Rajya Sabha Fellowship (2015-2016), the Asia Fellow Award (2008/2010), the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies Fellowship (2009), the Ford Foundation-IFP Fellowship (2002), the ATRI-Charities Aid Foundation Fellowship (2001), and UGC Senior Research Fellowship (1999) and the UGC Junior Research Fellowship (1997)

Kavita Sharma

Kavita Is a senior Journalist with more than 20 years of experience in various streams of media including TV, print and digital. Also a Media Faculty

मुन्ना लाल वर्मा सह संस्थापक

मुन्ना लाल वर्मा, दिल्ली सरकार के स्कूल से सेवानिवृत टीचर हैं। यों तो आप धनक के सह-संस्थापकों में से एक हैं पर भारत में नियमित रूप में न रह पाने कारण सक्रियता बाधित हैं. आप मूलतः वाराणसी के निवासी हैं। मुन्ना जी की पत्नी रज़िया काज़मी हैं, जिनसे आप सन 1985 में एकीकृत हुए. वर्त्तमान निवास रोहिणी दिल्ली में है।

मुन्ना जी शौकिया हिन्दी कविताएँ लिखते हैं जिनमे से अनेक प्रकाशित हो चुकी हैं. आपकी रंगमंच पर भी सक्रियता रही है। “नीली छतरी” (द ब्लू अम्ब्रेला – रस्किन बांड) और “पंदेरा” नाटकों में अभिनय उल्लेखनीय है।

आपको धर्मान्धता का वर्तमान परिवेश चिंचित करता है। आप मानते हैं कि, जीवनसाथी चुनना सर्वथा निजता का विषय है। इस सन्दर्भ में समाज के तथाकथित ठेकेदारों के हस्तक्षेप का प्रतिरोध आवशक है।

इतना भी सहज नहीं है सहज रह पाना।
बहुत मुस्किल है अपने बारे में कुछ कह पाना।

Natasha Badhwar 

A post graduate in Mass Communications in MCRC, Jamia Millia Islamia University, Natasha started her career as one of India’s first women camerapersons in news television. She worked with NDTV for 13 years and resigned as Vice President, Training and Development. Natasha teaches Media Studies and Creative Writing at Ashoka University.

As an independent film-maker and writer, she has won the Laadli Media Award twice for her work on gender.

Natasha Badhwar is the author of the memoirs, “My Daughters’ Mum” and “Immortal For A Moment” that focus on family, raising children and selfhood in an increasingly fractured world. Along with Harsh Mander and John Dayal, she has co-edited “Reconciliation – Karwan e Mohabbat’s journey of solidarity through a wounded India”. She has also co-edited “When The Mask Came Off: Lockdown 2020” with Harsh Mander and Anirban Bhattacharya.

As a columnist, Natasha is best known for her 10 year long series of personal-political essays published in Mint Lounge. She has also written columns for The Morning Context, Indian Express, The Hindu, Outlook and The Tribune.

Shailaja Rao 

Shailaja Rao is a human rights advocate whose work involves cross-cultural dialogue internationally. In her leadership role as former Board President of Tasveer based in Seattle, she strategically amplified underrepresented voices and advanced diverse narratives on the global stage.
As a founding member of South Asia Peace Action Network (Sapan) and Advisor for Dhanak of Humanity, Shailaja navigates the intersection of socio-cultural dynamics, women’s rights, gender equity, and human rights advocacy through her transnational initiatives. Her extensive professional network encompasses positions with the Alliance for a Secular and Democratic South Asia and various international diaspora organizations that highlight marginalized perspectives. Shailaja has been associated with Dhanak of Humanity for 15 years.
Complementing her advocacy work, Shailaja advances narrative transformation through her writing, producing essays, analytical articles, and poetry that further her vision of a more inclusive global community.

Suresh Mathew Co-founder 

Suresh Mathew is a scriptwriter and media professional, currently involved in the creative development of films and series with Maddock Films Pvt Ltd. He has over two decades of experience in broadcast and digital media, journalism and entertainment reportage. A post-graduate from St Stephens College, Delhi University, he has worked with several prominent media networks including TV Today, News 18, and Quint Digital Limited and is a recipient of the prestigious Ramnath Goenka Award for Excellence in Journalism from the President of India.

Utkarsh Singh

Utkarsh Singh is a practicing lawyer who has done thorough analysis of India’s judicial landscape, with a focus on significant legal developments in human rights, constitutional law, and social justice. Key court rulings, including Supreme Court and High Court directives on contempt proceedings, gender justice, interfaith marriages, and caste-based discrimination, are closely monitored and examined by him.
He has a strong understanding of judicial accountability, legal reforms, and the judiciary’s role in protecting fundamental rights is demonstrated. Engagement with complex legal issues impacting marginalized communities is maintained, contributing to discussions on justice, policy advocacy, and legal interventions that uphold constitutional principles.
Cases involving police accountability, fair trials, and the protection of vulnerable groups are of particular interest. Emerging legal challenges, such as digital privacy concerns and due process violations, are studied. By assessing landmark cases and policy shifts, a nuanced perspective on legal discourse is offered, ensuring meaningful contributions to the broader legal and human rights community.

Ranu Kulshrestha Co-founder

Ranu is a development professional with CSR and Sustainability as her core expertise.

In her professional career that spans over 25 years, Ranu has worked at various levels – from grassroots to planning and implementation, advocacy, and policy development at different ministries and Industry bodies. Over the years, she has worked with several renowned corporates, NGOs, UN Bodies, and Industrial Associations. She has extensively worked for Rural, Tribal, Urban, and International Refugee communities.

Besides having a master’s degree in Social Work, she holds a diploma in HR and CSR & Sustainability from the Swedish Institute of Management.

As a co-founder of Dhanak, she has been involved since its inception.

Indira Pancholi

Indira Pancholi is a feminist-human rights activist and a founder of Mahila Jan AdhikarSamiti (MJAS) – a women-led organisation based in Rajasthan, India. She has closely worked with rural and urban women, children, adolescents, PRIs and other local self-governments for over 35 years. Her experience encompasses grassroots action, training,young/women leadership development, Women’s safety; documenting the experiences of women& girls, knowledge management, and research in various states of India, in the larger context of women’s and Girl’s rights.

Recently, Ms. Pancholiconducted a study on ‘Assessing young, resource-poor women’s livelihood aspirations and opportunities in Delhi’ for Azad Foundation and she led a research project titled “COVID19: Impact on Girls, making their voices heard” conducted in 13 districts of Rajasthan. Another important A KAP (Knowledge – Attitude – Practice)study was done on ‘Socio-Cultural Determinants of Child Marriage in Ajmer District’ along with other studies based on issues of young girls.

She pioneeredthe “Football for Freedom, Unity, and Solidarity program for girls” and “Technology Enabled Girls Alliance” in rural Rajasthan transforming the lives of girls.
Indira is a member of the Advisory Board for Guidance on GBV Case Management Responses to Child Early and Forced Marriage (CEFM), UN Head office, NYC (2023-2024-2025).
She holds a Master’s degree in Philosophy.

Abdul Mabood

Mr. Abdul Mabood, Founder & Director of Snehi, is a trained counsellor and Master Trainer to train professionals in community mental health care, trauma counselling & care, resilience building, initiating intervention with survivors of violence within community, and has been working as trained counsellor/therapist and trainer for the last 30 years.

An alumnus of JNU, he has over 36 years of work experience in strategic planning, advisory, general management and supervisory roles in humanitarian development within the not-for-profit sector particularly in areas of human development, community mental health, child and adolescent wellbeing &mental health, child development, rights of people with psychosocial disabilities, education & training, peace education & interfaith dialogue.

He is ardent believer that “No Health (physical and social) without good Mental Health”.He advocates that Good Mental Health is prerequisite to have sustainable development in the society.

He has educated and trained more than 5000 people from all walks of life to have positive attitude, self-dignity, wellbeing and robust emotional/psychological resilience in order to have sustained positive mental health to grow as compassionate individual and remain productive in life. He has trained and educated 1580 counsellors/therapists to develop knowledge and effective client centric counseling skills focused to community based preventive intervention. He has attended and counseled more than 20000 children and young people in distress in the last 30 years. He has also saved more than 624 people’s lives who were suicidal and helped them to think otherwise and attain healthy wellbeing and positive mental health to remain productive.

Arvind Anjum

Prof. Shahina Tabassum

Satyam Shrivastava

Seema Misra

Vasuda Arora

Mudit Maheshwari

Dharmendra

Rajiv R Singh

Shweta Tripathi 

Seema Sharma 

Asif Iqbal General Secretary  

Asif is heading the team in the capacity of General Secretary of the organisation. Rest will be repeated…….

Syed Danyal Sadiq Manager Operations  

Syed Danyal Sadiq has a diverse background in operations management, business development, and sales. He did Masters in Commerce and MBA in Marketing. Danyal has developed a strong foundation in business operations, event management, market strategy, and client relationship management. With more than 11 years of experience across various organisations. He has honed his expertise in managing organisational activities, leading teams, and executing strategic goals. His well-rounded experience makes him a versatile and strategic professional capable of contributing significantly to any organizational environment.

Poonam Child Rehabilitation Executive  

My name is Poonam, and I completed my Master’s in Sociology (MSO). I joined Dhanak of Humanity on 06.01.2025 as a Program Executive – Child Rehabilitation Officer. I have over 3 years of experience with DCW, during which I have worked with children and handled major sexual assault cases, providing counseling, helping them write complaints, guiding them through medical examinations, and accompanying them to CWC and court proceedings. As a social worker, I also work with PLHIV (People Living with HIV) patients, and currently, I am working with children to provide socio-economic assistance.

Saloni Survivor Support Executive  

Saloni has a legal background, with a law degree from Aligarh Muslim University and an LLM from Jindal Global Law School. She works with adult survivors and is deeply passionate about gender justice, striving to use the law as a tool for social change. When she’s not engaged in legal research, she enjoys expressing herself through music

Chanchal Vats Victim Support Executive  

Chanchal is a dedicated social work professional with a Post Graduation in Social Work (MSW) and a bachelor’s in social work (BSW). She works with Dhanak since January 2025 in the Capacity of Program Executive-Victim Support Officer. She holds a certification in Geriatric Care from the National Institute of Social Defence (Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment). With 11 years of experience in the social work sector, she worked extensively in child development, women empowerment, senior care, and healthcare services. Her work with women’s helpline in Delhi has given her indepth knowledge and experieince of working with different stakeholders dealing with survivors and victims of domestice violence.

Ravi Kumar Saxena Social Outreach Executive  

He has completed a Bachelor of Social Work from IGNOU. He has worked with various NGOs on different issues, such as the rights of construction workers and domestic workers including youth group and children group.

He participated in an International Fellowship under the FK Exchange Program, focusing on how to use community radio for human rights. He has also worked as a school trainer in disaster management and as a school facilitator for the Digital Equalizer Program in Haryana.

He possesses strong skills in developing linkages with NGOs, individuals, stakeholders in the community, and schools.

He is a scriptwriter for street plays and enjoys performing various roles in them. He is also capable of directing street plays.

He loves writing poetry on social issues. He is a working house husband and enjoys cooking.

Padma Field Executive  

पदमा ने IGNOU से मास्टर ऑफ सोशल वर्क की पढ़ाई की है। पदमा को लिखना, घूमना और बच्चों के साथ काम करना अच्छा लगता है। बच्चों से बातें करना, उनकी बातों को सुनना, बच्चों के साथ craft के माध्यम से नई चीजें तैयार करना और नए-नए तरीकों के खेल करवाना बेहद पसंद हैं। उनका अन्य संस्थाओं के साथ भी जुड़ाव रहा हैं जो बच्चों के साथ काम करते आ रहे हैं। पदमा अन्य संस्थओं में वैकल्पिक शिक्षा और रचनात्मक लेखन से सम्बंधित फैसिलिटेटर की भूमिका से जुड़ी और उसी तरह डिज़ास्टर मैनेजमेंट प्रोजेक्ट के लिए स्कूल ट्रेनर की भूमिका में रहीं हैं।
पदमा वर्तमान में धनक के सेण्टर फॉर लर्निंग एंड एम्पावरमेंट (CLE) को संभालती हैं और त्रिलोकपुरी और चिल्ला गाँव में बच्चों और उनके परिवारों के साथ काम करती हैं। आप लगातार कुछ नया करने की कोशिश में खुदको और निखरती रहती हैं।

Manvi Giri – Part Time Counselling Psychologist  

Manvi is a dedicated Counseling Psychologist with 2+ years of experience in providing mental health support to children, adolescents, and adults. She currently works at Dhanak of Humanity in part time capacity, counseling children declared as CNCP (Children in Need of Care and Protection) by the Child Welfare Committee (CWC), ensuring their psychological well-being and rehabilitation.
She works with adolescents who have left their house, particularly in cases or romantic relationship overlapping with POCSO, ensuring their continued education and family reintegration through psycho-education and intervention strategies. Manvi has served as an intern at the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) and in Reawakening Wellness Foundation (rehabilitation centre), offering psychosocial support to vulnerable children and families. She has also conducted menstrual health and hygiene workshops in schools. Manvi holds an MSc in Counseling Psychology from CHRIST (Deemed to be University), and a Bachelor’s degree in Applied Psychology Honors from Amity University, Noida. She is committed to making mental health support more accessible.

Pappu Mishra – Part Time Accounts Executive  

Nida Rehman – Part Time Instructor  

Nida is a professionally trained teacher of Science & Mathematics with four years of school teaching experience and eight years of personal teaching experience.
Nida adheres to the constitution when it comes to any decisions on her life’s issues. She is in an inter-faith marriage but, does not believe in any faith other than humanity. Nida believes that humanitarian values can lead to a better world. She knows that her small effort cannot change the entire world but can change her surroundings. Nida is teaching English to children of marginalised families.