M.Jayachandran, is currently the Program Director, TN-GIS in Tamil Nadu e-Governance Agency. He is a Geomatics Engineer holding BE (Geo Informatics) and MS (By Research) in Digital Photogrammetry and GIS from Anna University, Chennai, India. He joined TNeGA in January 2023 and is responsible for all the geo-enabling departmental functions and decision-making process amongst the TN Government departments. As part of TNGIS activities, he is heading the GRAINS program and the KMUT, the largest data-driven DBT program of the state and instrumental in the usage of geospatial technologies in these programs. Prior to it he was Project Director, in KSRSAC and heading the Karnataka GIS program. As part of K-GIS he was instrumental in integration of all geospatial activities across the departments of Karnataka and develop an unified Geospatial Applications portal for various business activities. Under his leadership, the K-GIS Portal was developed, seamless spatial framework is established and various departmental assets and thematic maps are integrated and being disseminated. More departmental data and workflow/business process integration, is being done under K-GIS under his guidance. The K-GIS portal & applications and activities carried out under this program are being appreciated and has received many awards. He worked in Navayuga as Vice President and was responsible for all geospatial activities like aerial/LIDAR survey & processing, GPS, total station, GPR, house hold surveys, 3D-modeling topographic/cadastral mapping, utility mapping, enterprise application development and related activities. Earlier, he was working with National Remote Sensing Agency (Dept of Space) as scientist and was responsible for various digital mapping activities using Aerial and satellite data, LIDAR and Digital Camera processing. Initially started the career as Project Associate in Anna University and later joined DSM Soft Pvt Ltd and started as the first Digital photogrammetry Engineer after getting trained in Scotland. He managed the complete photogrammetry and GIS activities of the company before joining NRSA.

Sixteen years of experience of more than 30 local and national schemes/projects in the field of Urban and Regional Development in Government and Private Sectors with the expertise of use of state of art technologies i.e. GIS, Remote Sensing. During the above said era, he worked in various capacities such as Town and Country Planner, Assistant Town and Country Planner in Town and Country Planning Organisation, Ministry of Urban Development, Govt. of India, Research Associate in School of Planning and Architecture (SPA), New Delhi, Senior Planner and Research Associate in Private Sectors. He published more than 10 research papers.

P.V.Rajasekhar is a graduate in Civil Engineering from University of Calicut, Kerala, India; and a post graduate in Business Administration from Bangalore University, Karnataka, India and in Geoinformation Management from the International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), Enschede, Netherlands.

He presently works for Survey of India as Additional Surveyor General of Eastern Zone, Kolkata, North Eastern Zone, Shillong and Southern Zone, Bangalore. During his career in Survey of India spanning over 30 years, he has designed, developed and executed large projects in all fields of geo-informatics. He has also been the Project Director of national projects such as Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) Project, National Hydrology (NHP) Project.

Milap Punia is the Professor and Former Chairperson for Centre for the Study of Regional Development (CSRD), School of Social Sciences and one of founding members of Special Centre for the Disaster Research (SCDR), Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. He is specialized in Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS). He worked as scientist in Indian Institute of Remote Sensing-Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)and adjunct faculty to Centre for Space Science and Technology Education in Asia and the Pacific (Affiliated to the UN), Dehradun, India. He was awarded C. V Raman fellowship to carry out post-doctoral research work on urban studies from School of Forestry and Environment Studies, Yale University, USA. His areas of research include urban studies, spatial data analysis for urban planning and regional development; sustainability studies, land use change, disaster management, spatial aspects of governance and to bridge research gap between social sciences and geospatial discipline. He completed many international research projects, namely Subaltern Urbanization funded by ANR France, Remapping of Global South funded by DAAD, Ecosystem services and alleviation of poverty funded by ESRC, UK and in collaboration University of Sussex, UK; andcompleted national projects, namely Snow spectral properties and Regional Climate funded by DST, Spatial Governance of Decentralised Local Bodies funded by ICSSR. He published two books: Marginalisation in Globalizing Delhi: Issues of Land, Livelihoods and Healthand Development and Disaster Management: A study of the Northeastern States of India. He has more than 60 research papers in the reputed international and national journals. He held administrative positions of Chairman,Campus Development Committee (CDC), Director Admissions (DoA), Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and part of various national academic bodies of University Grants Commission (UGC), Indian Council of Social Sciences Research (ICSSR) and Department of Science and Technology.

I am Abhyudaya Saxena, heading the GIS and data processing division at Aereo, which was formerly known as Aarav Unmanned Systems. I lead a proficient team that transforms drone data into 2D and 3D maps, models, and analytical reports, providing solutions to pressing and relevant challenges. Beyond this core responsibility, I am deeply involved in numerous large-scale drone mapping projects, shaping strategies around data collection, processing, archiving, and dissemination. My leadership extends to projects of national importance, like Land Parcel Mapping in states such as Haryana, AP, and Karnataka, as well as the digital transformation of mines for Coal India and water resource projects in MP and Karnataka.

A significant passion of mine is educating others on the power and potential of geospatial technology. I frequently conduct workshops and discussions about the practical applications of drones in areas like worksite intelligence, site planning, project monitoring, physical verifications, and audits.

My academic foundation is built on a Bachelor's Degree in Aerospace Engineering and a Master's in Geoinformatics and Remote Sensing. With more than 5 years dedicated to the drone industry and over 8 years of broad professional experience, I am well-equipped and excited to drive innovation in my field.

Dr. Namita Wahi is a Senior Fellow at the Centre for Policy Research, and Founding Director of the Land Rights Initiative, a pioneering initiative in the land policy space in India. She is also a Global Fellow at the Centre for Law and Social Transformation, at the University of Bergen, and was previously Yggdrasil Visiting Fellow at the Chr. Michelsen Institute in Bergen. Namita's research interests are broadly in the areas of land and property rights, social and economic rights and eminent domain law. She has written extensively on these issues, and taught courses in these areas, at Harvard University, European University Institute, University of Bergen, and the National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata. Namita holds a doctorate in juridical sciences (S.J.D.) degree from Harvard Law School, where she wrote her dissertation on "The Right to Property and Economic Development in India". She was awarded the New India Fellowship for her forthcoming book on this subject. Uniquely positioned at the intersection of academia and policy, Namita's scholarship has informed her extensive policy engagements with the government, including with the National Commission on Scheduled Tribes, the Department of Land Resources at the Ministry of Rural Development and the NITI Aayog. Before entering academia, Namita was a litigator with Davis Polk and Wardwell in New York, where she practised primarily in the areas of bankruptcy, securities, criminal defence and asylum law. Namita also holds an LL.M. from Harvard Law School, where she was awarded the Laylin Prize for the "Best Paper in International Law", which was recently recognised for being on Social Science Research Network's "All time top ten downloaded papers in the area of Other Decision Making in Public Policy and the Social Good". She consistently features amongst the top 5% of authors on SSRN in terms of top ten downloads. She also holds B.A. and LL.B. (Hons.) degrees from the National Law School of India University, Bangalore, where she graduated first in her class, and received several gold medals for her academic achievements.

Shri Wadodkar is a prominent figure with over three decades of experience in applying space technology to agriculture. He has worked with renowned organizations like the National Remote Sensing Centre, ISRO, Hyderabad, ICAR-National Bureau of Soil Survey & Land Use Planning, Nagpur, and the Uttar Pradesh Remote Sensing Applications Centre, Lucknow. His expertise lies in soil survey, mapping, and utilizing space technology for crop and soil planning. He has significantly contributed to various national projects, including soil mapping at different scales, field crop and horticulture plantation mapping, land degradation assessment, and watershed management. Shri Wadodkar, a post-graduate in Agriculture with a specialization in Soil Science and Pedology, holds a post-graduate diploma in Remote Sensing and an MBA degree. He has received multiple awards, authored numerous research papers and reports, and actively participates in academic and advisory roles in agriculture and remote sensing at the national level.

Accomplished civil servant with 33 years of experience in the Indian Administrative Services (Karnataka Cadre). Previous positions held include Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) Land Revenue Administration, Commerce & Industries Department.

Strong competencies in enhancing ease of doing business for industries; reduction of compliance burdens; use of technology in governance (including geospatial technology and digitisation of property records); disaster management; strategic partnership with stakeholders for project & policy implementation (including political executive, industry leaders and international agencies).

I am an experienced Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) professional with a diverse background spanning research institutions, industry, and academia. I currently serve as a Scientist at the Rural Development and Watershed Monitoring Division within the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), ISRO, Hyderabad, since 2017. My current work revolves around national-level projects, including MGNREGA and IWMP with research interests in rural development, watershed analysis, GIS-based asset planning, spatial data analysis, visualization, rural sustainability, sanitation, and migration. I have extensive experience in various RS applications such as forest mapping, biodiversity characterization, landscape planning, forest fire monitoring, and NTFP mapping.

Previously, I contributed to research and academic activities at the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Dehradun, focusing on forest fire mapping, carbon sequestration, and ecosystem services. I also gained industry experience at RMSI Pvt. Ltd., earning recognition with the Team Excellence Award. My early career included a role as a Project Associate at the Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM), Bhopal.

Sanjay Chakraborty, currently works as the Head of Technology for Adani Natural Resources. A seasoned Digital Transformation professional, with more than 24 years of relevant natural resources industry experience in both technical and techno-commercial roles, across the entire mining and E&P Life cycle; hands on experience in, software product development, AI/ML and Analytics, data and information management, Digital Infrastructure Management, and GIS & Geo-Spatial Analysis. With a strategic leadership style, extremely passionate about leading high performing teams, created and managed large multi-disciplinary teams of business and IT and commercial professionals. For the past few years, had been leading the digitalization initiatives as part of corporate digital transformation at Cairn Oil & Gas and Adani Natural Resources.

Mr. Sanjay has completed M.Sc. Tech in Applied Geophysics from IIT(ISM), Dhanbad and subsequently went through various leadership and management training at IIMA and ISB.

Sanjay started his career with A.C.C. Limited and subsequently worked with Rolta India & Rolta Middle East, TCS Ltd, Reliance Ltd and Cairn Oil and Gas of Vedanta Limited, prior to joining Adani Enterprises Limited in different geographies, India and abroad.

Dr. Ashutosh Roul is a highly accomplished professional with over 25 years of experience in mining and project management. Dr. Roul holds a B.Tech in Mining Engineering from NIT Rourkela, an M.Tech and PhD in Environmental Engineering with a specialization in Mining Environmental from IIT Dhanbad, along with an MBA in Operational Management and an M.Sc. in TQM. Dr. Roul is presently serving as the General Manager (Mines) at NALCO, overseeing the operations of a 4-million-tonnes-capacity greenfield coal mines project. Dr. Roul career highlights include successfully obtaining all statutory clearances and commencing coal mining operations in the Utkal-D Coal Mines after reallocation in 2016. Dr. Roul is a recipient of various scholarships and awards, including the Young Mining Engineering Award, and is a member of several prestigious engineering and geoscience associations. Dr. Roul has also received specialized training from the World Bank and the University of New South Wales, and Dr. Roul has authored over 40 papers and articles in international and national journals and seminars.

With over a decade of experience in the Geospatial Industry, Dr. Satarupa Bhattacharjee Kapoor earned her Geology doctorate from Pune University after a successful career in research and academia.

Before joining Trimble Inc, she made significant contributions in various roles, including a fruitful tenure at Rolta and RMSI, where she led numerous impactful projects. Dr. Kapoor is also the Founder & CEO of Pristdel Private Limited, demonstrating her entrepreneurial spirit.

Her current focus at Trimble Inc involves driving technology adoption across diverse sectors and actively collaborating with international monetary funds (IMFs) and the public sector to advance sustainable development goals. Her leadership plays a pivotal role in Trimble's developmental initiatives in the region.

Dr. Manish P. Kale is working in the domain of forestry and ecology for last 24 years. At present he is holding the position of 'Joint Director' at Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), A Scientific Society of Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Govt. of India.

Dr. Kale holds Ph.D. degree in Environmental Science and has carried out many projects of national importance in the field of Forestry and Ecology. At present he is the chief investigator of the project on 'Forest Fire Spread Simulation' which involves use of the technologies like Satellite Remote Sensing, Computational Fluid Dynamics and High Performance Computing System. This project is awarded by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Govt. of India, and DST Sikkim and IIT Kharagpur are the collaborating institutes.