Grassroutes started off as an idea, accompanied by enthusiasm to create change. The valuable inputs given by our Advisors have helped us convert this romantic idea into one that can make tangible impact on-ground. They have tempered our exuberance with their experience.

Dilip D’souza:

Dilip D’Souza is a Mumbai based writer and journalist. He writes about social and political causes as well as travel and current affairs articles. His columns have appeared in Washington Post, Tehelka, The Sunday Observer, Rediff.com, Outlook and Mid-Day. He has a BE in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from BITS Pilani (1976-81) and an MS in Computer Science from Brown University (1984). Dilip has written two books viz. Branded by Law: Looking at India’s Denotified Tribes and The Narmada Damned: An Inquiry into the Politics of Development. Dilip has won several awards for his writing, including the Statesman Rural Reporting Award, the Times of India/Red Cross prize, the Outlook/Picador nonfiction prize , the Sanctuary Magazine prize and more.Dilip won the Outlook/Picador prize in 2004 for his essay “Ride Across The River” . Dilip wrote an account for salon.com, “Rain, Blood and Sirens” , about the July 2006 train bomb blasts in Mumbai. Dilip has contributed to various social causes through his writings. He has created awareness about issues ranging from Naramada dam to Kashmir. Dilip also maintains a blog “Death Ends Fun” which is forthright and thought provoking.

Aditi Pany:

Aditi Pany currently is working with Ashoka’s Full Economic Citizenship team in India. Aditi completed her undergraduate degrees in engineering and economics from BITS Pilani. Here she broke new ground by becoming the first woman president of the students’ union and helped found the Centre for Entrepreneurial Leadership. Aditi drove a rural entrepreneurship initiative which encouraged students to develop appropriate technology and income-generation projects for rural communities. Aditi interned for a year at the National Council of Applied Economic Research and then joined a CSO, TARAhaat – Development Alternatives. At TARAhaat, Aditi developed an ICT-enabled entrepreneurship training and support service and marketed it to prospective rural entrepreneurs in rural Uttar Pradesh. Aditi continues to mentor students involved with the entrepreneurship centre at BITS and has formed a Women’s Council to enable networking among alumni. For her community building endeavors, she was presented with the “30 under 30″ award for all-round leadership by the BITS Pilani community given to achievers under the age of 30. Aditi’s interests include handlooms and handicrafts, sea-swimming, painting and more recently photography.