Introducing our Team Members

Subir Raha, former CMD ONGC and former Chairman ONGC Group of Companies left for heavenly abode on 01 February, 2010.

Subir Raha, born on August 28, 1948, graduated in Electronics & Tele-communication Engineering from Jadavpur University in 1969. He was also an alumnus of the Administrative Staff College at Henley of Leeds University, UK.

He joined Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd as Chairman & Managing Director in May 2001; and separated on completion of 5 years tenure in May 2006.

ONGC achieved multiple milestones during his tenure. ONGC’s market capitalization zoomed to become the highest among all Indian Corporate. He was personally instrumental in ONGC acquiring MRPL and turning it around from almost BIFR status to the present Mini-Ratna status. He also led ONGC into aggressive exploration, especially in the deep waters of India, and initiated IOR/ EOR projects to arrest the production decline of its mature fields.

He also led ONGC from a sectoral E&P company to become an Integrated Energy Major on global scale; acquiring many equity assets overseas. He also initiated the expansion of ONGC into various value integration projects in the field of Petrochemicals, SEZ, Power, clean coal energy, and alternate sources of energy.

Under his dynamic leadership, ONGC was the first Indian Corporate to sign the Integrity Pact with Transparency International (India) Ltd in April 2006. To further improve transparency in business transactions in ONGC, he introduced IT along the entire supply chain management of ONGC. Introduction of regular meeting with Vendors, Analysts, Investors even Employees were also unique initiatives of Mr. Raha. He branded ONGC from a Govt undertaking to a global oil and gas major through series of media interactions and branding activities.

He started his career with Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, as a Management Trainee in 1970.  After a series of field and staff assignments in various disciplines, he joined the Indian Oil Board as Director (Human Resources) in June 1998.

Before joining the IndianOil Board, he also served on deputation (1996-98) with the Government of India as the Head of the Oil Coordination Committee, Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas.

Subir Raha is survived by his wife Mita, daughter Shuva and son Abhijit.

Mr. R. S. Sharma was on the Board of ONGC as the CMD from May 24, 2006, to January 31, 2011. Mr. Sharma has been credited to have brought in numerous business improvements in ONGC; leveraging strengths to build up its fortunes over the last few years. In these five years, he played an important role in providing value dimensions to ONGC’s business, which grew from less than 6 billion US dollars to around 20 billion US dollars. He was also on the Board of ONGC Videsh Ltd. (OVL), India’s biggest multinational, before taking over as Director (F) on the Board of Parent ONGC. Sharma played a pivotal role in the financial engineering of ONGC’s other subsidiary MRPL also, which was sick when ONGC acquired it. `In 2006-07, the ONGC board cleared investment proposals worth over Rs. 34,000 crores. Mr. R S Sharma is a Fellow Member of the Institute of Cost & Works Accountants of India and an Associate Member of the Indian Institute of Bankers. His run-up to this career peak commenced 35 years ago in 1972 with the Union Bank of India. After serving there in Credit Appraisal and related spheres for a decade, the banker relocated to Baghdad, to head the Finance function of another public enterprise The Indian Road Construction Company. The next six years in the construction company (four years in the Middle East) saw him pilot many important projects single-handedly before he joined ONGC in July 1988 as Joint Director (Finance), posted at Assam. Under his stewardship, ONGC was assigned Baa1 Credit Rating, the highest-ever Credit Rating assigned by Moody’s to any Indian Corporate. Several awards have come his way, in recognition to his individual contributions like the CNBC TV-18 CFO Award 2006 for excellence in Oil and Allied services category, India’s most recognized award for excellence in the financial field. He was also conferred with India CFO Award 2005, Excellence in Finance in PSU in December 2005, by International Market Assessment (IMA), in association with BNP Paribas, Sun Micro Systems, and CNBC TV-18.

Mr. Ajit Kumar Hazarika, a First class graduate in Mechanical Engineering from Assam Engineering College, Guwahati, joined ONGC as Graduate Trainee in 1976. Having more than three and half decades of varied experience in ONGC, Mr. Hazarika has vast knowledge of the entire gamut of oil and gas industry.

Mr. Hazarika joined the ONGC Board as Director (Onshore) in September 2004. He has been given the charge of the Chairman & Managing Director w.e.f. February 1, 2011, while he continues to be the Director (Onshore). The additional responsibilities of Shri Hazarika include the Chairmanship of ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL), Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) and six other ONGC Group companies (OPaL, OMPL, MSEZ, OTPC, OMEL and OTBL). Mr. Hazarika is also a Member of Governing Council of Petroleum Federation of India (Petrofed), Chairman of Working Group for UCG (Underground Coal Gasification) constituted by the office of Principal Scientific Advisor, Government of India and Indian representative of Oil & Gas sub-committee of International M2M (Methane to Market) partnership under USEPA (United States Environment Protection Agency)- nominated by MoPNG.

Mr. Sudhir Vasudeva, former President, Global Compact Network India, served as the Chairman, Managing Director at Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited until February 28, 2014, and also served as Head of its Offshore Oil & Gas Fields.

Mr. Vasudeva, a Gold Medalist Chemical Engineer from National Institute of Technology, Raipur joined ONGC in 1976. He climbed the corporate ladder steadily and joined ONGC Board as Director (Offshore) in February, 2009 and finally took over as CMD in October, 2011. Credited with many path-breaking initiatives in complex offshore project management, he has been conferred with the coveted CEPM-PMA Fellowship on Project Management in December, 2011.

With immense experience on the larger canvas of oil and gas industry, Mr. Vasudeva was quite clear on his priority: pursuing energy security for the nation by accreting and acquiring new hydrocarbon reserves, improving production from brown fields and augmenting production through fast track development of newly discovered fields.

 Mr. Vasudeva also served as Chairman of Petrotech Society, Chairperson of SPE Indian Council as well as a Director At-large in SPE International Board of Directors, the first by any Indian. A passionate technical man Mr. Vasudeva was also associated with many other professional bodies.

 A strong proponent of pursuing alternate and renewable sources of energy, Mr. Vasudeva Chaired the ONGC Energy Centre Trust. A firm believer in transparency and ethical business practices, Mr. Vasudeva embraced the Ten Principles of United Nations Global Compact since the beginning of this initiative in India.

Mr. Arun Kumar Singh has assumed the charge of Chairman, ONGC on 7 December 2022. Mr. Singh is also the Chairman, ONGC Group Companies viz: ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL), Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL), ONGC Petro Additions Limited (OPaL), ONGC Tripura Power Corporation Limited (OTPC), Mangalore SEZ Limited (MSEZ), Petronet MHB Limited (PMHBL) and ONGC Energy Centre Trust (OECT). The ONGC Group is having dominance in the E&P sector in India and abroad and is having significant presence in the refining, petrochemicals, power and renewables. He is also on the Board of Petronet LNG Ltd. (PLL).

Mr. Singh is an industry stalwart bringing with him extraordinary rich portfolio of diverse roles in the Oil & Gas industry, spanning close to four decades. He is a Mechanical Engineer with 1st rank from National Institute of Technology, Patna.

Prior to joining ONGC, Mr. Arun Kumar Singh was the Chairman & MD of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), a ‘Maharatna’ Public Sector Enterprise and a Fortune Global 500 Company. While with Bharat Petro Resources Ltd (BPRL), a wholly owned Subsidiary of BPCL, engaged in the exploration and production of Oil & Gas, largely overseas, he held the position of the President (Africa & Australia). Mr. Singh was also the Chairman of Indraprastha Gas Ltd. (IGL) a Joint Venture (JV) City Gas Distribution (CGD) Company, listed on Indian bourses.

Mr. Arun Kumar Singh is the President of Global Compact Network India (GCNI), the Indian Local Network of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) which provides a robust platform for Indian businesses, Academic Institutions and Civil Society organizations for embracing Universal Ten Principles of Global Compact Network and facilitates in taking forward the UN Agenda on sustainability through balancing the three dimensions of sustainable development, i.e. economic, social and environmental.

Ratnesh has more than three decades long experience at the National, State and District level in designing, financing, implementing, and evaluating development interventions to reach out to the unreached social groups in challenging geographies in India. His domain expertise include financial inclusion, enterprise promotion and development, poverty alleviation, women empowerment and inclusive growth. He has provided technical assistance to the Ministry of Finance, Micro Small and Medium Enterprises, Ministry of Rural Development, and NITI Aayog, Government of India as well as social sector departments in UN focus states.

He has successfully built multi stakeholder platforms for improving access to development sector policies and programmes through Enterprise Development, Microfinance, Financial Inclusion, and Public Finance Management across the Small Industries Development Bank of India, United Nations Development Programme. He joins UNGC NI from India’s leading think tank on Public Finance – National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, where he worked as a Senior Fellow.

Ratnesh has completed his Master’s degrees from University of Manchester (Development Finance) and University of Delhi (both M.A. and M.Phil in Sociology). He completed his graduation in Economics and Mathematics from Delhi University.

Email id– ratnesh@globalcompact.in

Ratnesh has more than three decades long experience at the National, State and District level in designing, financing, implementing, and evaluating development interventions to reach out to the unreached social groups in challenging geographies in India. His domain expertise include financial inclusion, enterprise promotion and development, poverty alleviation, women empowerment and inclusive growth. He has provided technical assistance to the Ministry of Finance, Micro Small and Medium Enterprises, Ministry of Rural Development, and NITI Aayog, Government of India as well as social sector departments in UN focus states.

He has successfully built multi stakeholder platforms for improving access to development sector policies and programmes through Enterprise Development, Microfinance, Financial Inclusion, and Public Finance Management across Small Industries Development Bank of India, United Nations Development Programme. He joins UNGC NI from India’s leading think tank on Public Finance – National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, where he worked as a Senior Fellow.

Ratnesh has completed his Master’s degrees from University of Manchester (Development Finance) and University of Delhi (both M.A. and M.Phil in Sociology). He completed his graduation in Economics and Mathematics from Delhi University.

Email id– ratnesh@globalcompact.in

Ratnesh has more than three decades long experience at the National, State and District level in designing, financing, implementing, and evaluating development interventions to reach out to the unreached social groups in challenging geographies in India. His domain expertise include financial inclusion, enterprise promotion and development, poverty alleviation, women empowerment and inclusive growth. He has provided technical assistance to the Ministry of Finance, Micro Small and Medium Enterprises, Ministry of Rural Development, and NITI Aayog, Government of India as well as social sector departments in UN focus states.

He has successfully built multi stakeholder platforms for improving access to development sector policies and programmes through Enterprise Development, Microfinance, Financial Inclusion, and Public Finance Management across Small Industries Development Bank of India, United Nations Development Programme. He joins UNGC NI from India’s leading think tank on Public Finance – National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, where he worked as a Senior Fellow.

Ratnesh has completed his Master’s degrees from University of Manchester (Development Finance) and University of Delhi (both M.A. and M.Phil in Sociology). He completed his graduation in Economics and Mathematics from Delhi University.

Email id– ratnesh@globalcompact.in

Suman has over 25 years of work experience in the corporate and development sector. She has worked with bilateral and multilateral donor agencies and national and state governments in India and Southeast Asia. She has worked on projects focused on governance, climate change, human resource management and Sustainable Development Goals. She has successfully lead teams for UNDP, The World Bank and The Verulam Group. This entailed substantial work with Government of India (Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, and Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change), and State governments (Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Haryana).

Her areas of expertise include strategic planning and management, multi-agency coordination, monitoring and evaluation, and team management. Suman has completed her Master’s degree in Sociology from Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi and is a Graduate in Sociology from Miranda House, University of Delhi.

Email id– suman.singh@globalcompact.in

Mr. Deep Chandra Papnoi is a Postgraduate in Social Work from Indore School of Social Work, DAVV, Indore. He has more than 20+ years of professional experience in the development sector and has diverse experience of working with NGOs, UN Agencies, Business Chambers and Corporates for developing their sustainable agenda through aligning 17 SDGs and 10 Principles of UNGC into their core business practices. He has a wide experience in all SDGs goals and expertise in Gender Equality, Quality Education, Clean Water and Sanitation and Partnership for the Goals.

He has a rich experience in Corporate Governance, Project Management, Resource Mobilization, Monitoring & Evaluation, Human Resources Development, Networking, Liasoning with government agencies/civil societies/corporations, coordinating board meetings along with strategic partnership management with several local chapters. He has excellently contributed to sustainability trends implementations. His skills also include mobilizing corporate sponsorships, business development and efficiently coordinating major national and international-high level events.

Email id– deep.papnoi@globalcompact.in

Dr. Somnath is a thorough development Professional as well as an academic practitioner with over 22 years demonstrative experience of working with different sectors which include, Government, corporate, CSOs, Academia and UN system and his innovations brought positive changes in organization’s operations, Govt machinery as well as in target communities.

In 22 years of service in the development sector, Dr. Somnath worked in different roles and capacities ranging from the position of program Officer to the Program Director and Head of the programmes. His area of expertise lies in Public Health, ESG, Women and Child development, Gender Equality, Livelihood, UN ten Principles (Human Rights, Labor Standard, Environment and Anti-Corruption), SDGs and City development programmes like Climate Smart City, AMRUT City and Smart City Mission of GoI.

Dr. Somnath was recognized for his various initiatives and innovations while working with Ministries and multiple national programmes of Govt of India and UN organizations like USAID, UNAIDS, UNDP, FHI and The Union.

He is specialized in developing and executing strategic interventions through multi-stakeholder engagement and skilled at organization leadership, Project designing & management, Resource mobilization, Stakeholders management, Trainings and Research.

Currently, at UN Global Compact Network India (UNGCNI) Dr. Somnath, in the capacity of Programme Manager for India, is leading the Centre of Excellence for Governance, Ethics and Transparency (CEGET) and heading diverse initiatives of the organization around Corporate Governance, Health Governance, Environmental Governance, Urban Governance, Anti-Corruption and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Dr. Somnath believes that Public Private Partnership and collective action are the key for the success of each development initiative /issue and hence he practices it and gains success in all his professional and personal endeavors.

Regarding academic background, Dr. Somnath has completed his graduation and Master in Social Work from Delhi University. Though he stepped into the service sector in 2000 he kept his ambition of learning and enhancing knowledge about society and business behavior live, he gained master degrees in Sociology from Annamalai University, In Rural Development from Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) and In Business Administration (MBA) from Sikkim Manipal University in India. In December 2020, he was awarded a doctorate degree in Management by OPJS university, Churu, Rajasthan/India.

Email id– somnath.singh@globalcompact.in

Arya Dev is a law graduate from Faculty of Law, University of Delhi. He possesses a legal experience of over 7 years and has appeared before the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, the Delhi High Court and the Patna High Court. He has previously practiced as an Associate Advocate in the chambers of Late Mr. Hari Shankar (Advocate – on –record, Supreme Court of India) and as a Junior Counsel to Mr. Dhruba Mukherjee, Additional Advocate General in the Patna High Court. He has rendered his professional services mainly in cases relating to criminal, service, and constitutional matters.

Though having a considerable legal experience in areas of litigation and other juridical matters, his heart lies in legal research, policy advocacy, and stakeholder strategizing. He is a strong advocate of a principled approach to sustainable and socially responsible corporate policies. United Nations Global Compact Network India provides an apt platform for his aspirations by catalyzing corporate sustainable actions into UN Goals like Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Email id– arya.ceget@globalcompact.in

Subha Kawatra is a development professional with more than 4 years of experience in the domain of local governance, social welfare schemes, and rural development. In the past, she worked with Kudumbashree- National resource Organization as a State Project Coordinator in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Meghalaya, and Kerala and oversaw the implementation of a national-level project; Panchayati Raj institutions- Community based organizations (PRI-CBO) Convergence. The project aimed to increase the participation of members of the self-help-group in local governance to improve the service delivery of various government programs and schemes. After an enriching field experience, she worked with Prof. Puja Guha at Azim Premji University as a Research Associate on a project to map the rights and entitlements of three Indian states across themes of livelihood, social protection, health, and education.

Email id– subha.kawatra@globalcompact.in

Seerat holds an Engineering degree from the National Institute of Technology Srinagar in Electronics & Communication. In her role as a student, she has worked on projects with core emphasis on the use of Technology in Sustainability. She has a wide research experience in the field of Precision Agriculture with JNU. Her Qualifications are reinforced by an MBA (Sustainable Development & Management) from the noted Nalanda University, Rajgir Bihar.

She is working with academicians from HBS & World Bank on research related to Climate Change in the megacities of India and its affect on mental health. She has also worked with IOCL on the research themed over ESG evaluation.

She specializes in Climate Change & Management, Sustainable Urbanization & Development, Agriculture & Technology, Sustainable Business Leadership, Social Entrepreneurship & Sustainability, Wireless & Data Communication. She has a standard understanding of Public Administration & International Relations. Apart from this, she has volunteered for various social organizations and spearheaded various social- scientific programs specially related to Education of underprivileged students in the valley of Kashmir. Currently at Global Compact she is working as a Membership Officer therefore, supporting the vision, mission & aims of GCNI.

Email id– seerat.tajamul@globalcompact.in

Neeta is a Public Health professional with over four years of experience in the development sector in project planning and implementation, program management, evaluation and research, networking and partnership. She is also a practicing lactation and nutrition counselor.

Prior to GCNI, she has headed all programs in Adharshila NGO, Delhi and worked with Govt. of Madhya Pradesh as Chief Minister’s Fellow, where she has worked as part of the district administration in Damoh, on the Aspirational Districts program by NITI Aayog and various Govt. schemes and policies covering issues of Good Governance, Education, Health, Public Service Delivery, etc.

She holds a Masters degree in Social Work with a specialization in Public Health from TISS, Mumbai. She also holds certificates in Rural Development (IGNOU), Lactation education (BeginEd India), Maternal and Child Nutrition (IIPH) and a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration (GGSIPU, Delhi).

Currently, she is working as a Programme Officer at UN GCNI.

Email id– neeta.aggarwal@globalcompact.in

Srishti holds a Master’s degree in Diplomacy, Law and Business (MADLB) from OP. Jindal Global University and a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science honors from Indraprastha College for Women, University of Delhi. She has wide research experience in the field of Gender Equality, Water and Sanitation, Human Rights, Foreign Affairs and Tribal Livelihoods.

Prior to GCNI, she has worked with UNESCO on Sustainable Development Projects and Peace and Conflict Resolution, along with having a 1.5 years’ experience with the Peacebuilding Projects and Rohingya Human Rights Initiative in imparting early childhood development education, refugee crisis and mitigation. Her qualifications are reinforced by virtual courses such as ‘Global Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility: Be Sustainable”. Driven by interest in the development sector and international affairs, she has published five articles in reputed journals such as International Journal of Political Science and Governance.

Apart from this, she has volunteered for street children and underprivileged community in imparting Quality Education and Livelihood through organizations such as Salaam Baalak Trust, UTSAH NGO, Smile Foundation and ‘Project Rakshan’ on Anti-Child Labor Campaign.

Hailing from the Northeaster part on India, Srishti has worked for the Rabha Tribal community and other social issues and implementation projects in the area such as ‘Clean Water Availability and Sustainability in the smart city of Guwahati’, along with conducting primary research on the practice of Witch-Hunting and the Stigmatization of Women in Assam.

Currently at Global Compact, she is working as a ‘Programme Officer’ in providing support to the members in implementing the 10 principles of SDGs in India.

Email id– srishti.gautam@globalcompact.in

Hari Raj Singh joined UN Global Compact Network India (UN GCNI) as an Administrative Assistant in December 2011. Prior to this, he worked as Operations Executive in AEGIS, a leading BPO in Gurgaon, and as an operator for 7 years at Spatter Cure Enterprises in New Delhi. Mr. Raj completed his formal education in Welding and Fabrication (Diploma) from Jamia Millia Islamia University in 2006 & graduated from Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), New Delhi in 2018.

Email id– gcni.admn2016@gmail.com