AYANG TRUST
Our Board of Trustees
Bipin Dhane
Trustee
Bipin graduated with BTech/MTech from IIT Kharagpur. After working 3 years as a research engineer at Keppel Fels, Singapore he returned to India to work in the social space. A volunteering stint brought him to Majuli which eventually led him to start The Hummingbird School alongside members of the Mising community. He later founded Ayang Trust along with 2 other co-founders to work towards addressing the larger issues faced by rural and underserved communities of Northeast India. Bipin serves full time as the Executive Director of Ayang Trust and mentors the school education initiatives.
Krishna Pegu
Trustee
Krishna Pegu is a Mising community leader who has been doing social work for the upliftment of the Mising Community since last 20 years. He was earlier a team member of the Mising student organization (TMPK) as well as sevak of Mising Autonomous Council. He has been instrumental in mobilizing the village communties of Kulamua and surrounding villages in setting up The Hummingbird School and later became a founding team member of Ayang. Krishna serves full time as a Community Resilience Coordinator of Ayang Trust.
Dayaprasad Kulkarni
Trustee
Dr. Dayaprasad G Kulkarni - a medical doctor, public health specialist, entrepreneur, artist and development consultant; returned as a Fellow from the East West Centre, Hawaii, USA successfully completing the Asia Pacific Leadership Program and founded DoctorsForSeva Arogya Foundation - a voluntary platform for doctors to provide free healthcare services to the underserved. He is a medical graduate working for the last two decades at the community level with vulnerable populations like commercial sex workers, transgender, migrant labourers, street children, etc. in the field of HIV/AIDS and sexual health.
Our Interim Board Members
Suraj Jacob
M&E, Research, Strategy
Suraj Jacob is a political economist teaching at Centre for Development Studies (CDS), Trivandrum and affiliated with Azim Premji University in Bengaluru. He holds a PhD in Economics from Stanford University and has worked with NGOs in India and the US. He served as CEO of Vidya Bhawan, an NGO in Rajasthan, from 2017 to 2019.
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His research interests include the political economy of development, policy processes, institutions, and governance. His academic work addresses social injustices, state practices, and institutional changes. Jacob has co-authored several works, including Governing Locally: Institutions, Policies and Implementation in Indian Cities (2021), based on fieldwork in Kerala and Gujarat. His research spans topics like gender politics, food politics, maternal health, and rural sanitation.
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Suraj advises Ayang Trust on organisational health, vision, program design, monitoring & evaluation, and community engagement.
Sarika Kulkarni
Livelihoods, CSR, Community Development
Sarika Kulkarni is the founder and chief executive of Raah Foundation, a non-profit organization that operates at the nexus of Planet and People. She leads efforts to support vulnerable communities in the biodiversity-rich northern Western Ghats.
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Her focus on Planet involves creating water-secure villages and transforming barren land into carbon sinks using an integrated approach. On the People side, she fosters community resilience through sustainable, climate-smart livelihoods.
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With her background as an academician, entrepreneur, and management consultant, Sarika designs impactful programs addressing the complex social challenges faced by tribal communities. These initiatives encompass watershed development, agriculture, forest restoration, women’s empowerment, education, and health. She holds a PhD in Operations Management and a professional master’s degree in CSR and sustainable development, along with certifications in social impact strategy and impact measurement.
Dimple Agarwal
Partnerships and People
Dimple is a seasoned Organization Transformation & Talent Global leader with expertise in operating model and organization design, HR and talent strategies, and major transformation programs. Dimple has 20 years of consulting experience post her MBA. Her international consulting experience includes working in UK, Netherlands, France, Switzerland, India, Malaysia, Nigeria and UAE. Dimple's last professional stint was as the Managing Partner for People & Purpose of Deloitte North and South Europe (NSE).
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Dimple contributes to Ayang Trust as a dot connector, supporting the fundraising and partnerships efforts of the organization.
Tultul Biswas
Education and Library
Tultul is the Director of Eklavya Foundation and coordinates the teacher education, outreach and advocacy programmes at Eklavya. She is actively engaged in designing learning opportunities, workshops, short courses for teachers and grassroots level education activists and brings about change in classroom practices. In her work at Eklavya, Tultul shaped the team developing books for children, teachers and lay-readers with a focus on developing and publishing books that portrayed independent, thoughtful children with an agency of their own and hands-on easy to use learning materials for teachers and parents.​
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Tultul enriches Ayang Trust's efforts in contextual, relevant and meaningful education.
Vinay Kulkarni
Strategy, Operations and Organization Development
Vinay retired as the CEO of Recron Malaysia, a 100% subsidiary of India's largest private sector corporate Reliance Industries Ltd. Vinay is a Master of Management (Jamnalal Bajaj Institute, Mumbai) and a Sloan Fellow from London Business School. He won the Change Management Award in 2010 by the South East Asia HR Summit, and was also awarded with the Malacca Chief Minister's Award in 2012.
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Vinay Kulkarni brings experience in impact sector from previous roles at SightLife, Vision India Foundation, and The Vision Mission. With a robust skill set that includes Business Strategy, New Business Development, Strategic Planning, Business Development, Management and more, Vinay ably supports Ayang Trust as a confidante and advisor across organization building areas.