Grassroots Nation is a new podcast series from Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies in which we deep dive into the life, work and guiding philosophies of some of the country’s greatest leaders of social change. Part personal narrative, part oral history, each episode gives you, the listener, a chance to revisit watershed moments in India’s past through the eyes of the country’s social architects and find out how these events were the catalysts for their life’s calling.
What does it mean to use professional knowledge not just to build a career, but to build institutions that work for people at the grassroots?
In this episode of Grassroots Nation, we trace the remarkable life and legacy of Deep Joshi, a development practitioner who has helped reshape how professionals could contribute to rural India.
A Magsaysay award winner, Padma Shri Deep Joshi was born into a farming family in a remote Himalayan village. Deep went on to study engineering in India and then management in the United States. But it was his return to India that set him on a different path. In 1983, alongside Vijay Mahajan, he co-founded PRADAN, Professional Assistance for Development Action, pioneering an approach that placed skilled professionals alongside rural communities to tackle poverty, livelihoods and institutional challenges.
In conversation with Tarun Cherukuri, founder of Indus Action, Deep reflects on his ideas about talent, institutions and development and how they took shape in practice. Deep and Tarun talk about why he believed young professionals could find meaningful work in the field, what it meant to build PRADAN around that conviction, and what he learnt from working alongside communities over decades. It is a conversation across generations about leadership, professional purpose and the enduring question at the heart of Deep’s work: how do we build an India that works for everyone?
This episode was recorded at the PRADAN offices in Delhi. Grassroots Nation is a podcast from Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies. Learn more at www.rohininilekaniphilanthropies.org or follow @ RNP_foundation on social media.
17 Sept 2026
Dr Himanshu Kulkarni: Aquifers, Communities and the Path to Sustainability
Groundwater is one of India’s most important natural resources and one of its least visible. On this episode of Grassroots Nation, we speak with Dr. Himanshu Kulkarni, Co-founder and Director of ACWADAM — the Advanced Centre for Water Resources Development and Management in Pune— about a lifetime spent understanding groundwater.
Dr Kulkarni is one of India's foremost hydrogeologists. Over more than four decades, his work has taken him from scientific research and academia into villages and communities across India, where he has worked to understand aquifers not simply as geological formations, but as shared natural systems that have to be understood and managed collectively. At the heart of his work is a powerful idea: when it comes to common resources like groundwater, knowledge has to reach the people who depend on the resource every day.
Through ACWADAM, Dr. Kulkarni has worked with communities to map and understand their aquifers, and develop locally grounded approaches to managing water. His work sits at the intersection of hydrogeology, community action and public policy, by bringing scientific knowledge into conversation with the lived experience. In 2025, Dr. Kulkarni became the first recipient from the Indian subcontinent of the biennial International Water Prize, awarded by the Water Center at the University of Oklahoma, an international recognition of his life's work.
In this conversation, we talk about aquifers, groundwater, water equity and sustainability. What does decades of working with communities teach us about natural resources? What can science learn from local knowledge? And can a deeper understanding of the water beneath our feet help us build a more sustainable and equitable water future?
In this episode, Dr. Himanshu Kulkarni is in conversation with Uma Aslekar, a senior scientist who has been working with ACWADAM since 2002. This interview was recorded in Pune at the ACWADAM office. Grassroots Nation is a podcast from Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies. Learn more at www.rohininilekaniphilanthropies.org or follow @RNP_foundation on social media.
27 Aug 2026
Sunita Narain: Reflecting on four decades of environmental work
Sunita Narain, Director General of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), sits down for a conversation about India’s environmental journey, the politics of pollution, and the fight for a more just and sustainable future through the work of the CSE.
For over four decades, Sunita Narain has been one of India’s most influential environmental voices. Joining CSE in 1982 under its founder, the late Anil Aggarwal, she co-edited the landmark first State of India’s Environment report in 1985 and has since worked at the forefront of debates around air pollution, climate change, water, sustainable mobility, and the rights of communities affected by environmental degradation. Her approach has consistently connected environmental protection with the needs of India’s poor and marginalised.
Sunita Narain is in conversation with Anumita Roychowdhury, the Executive Director at CSE. She has led some of CSE’s most significant campaigns on clean air and sustainable mobility, including the Right to Clean Air campaign, which helped drive stronger vehicle-emission standards and Delhi’s transition to CNG public transport. Together, they reflect on the evolution of India’s environmental movement, what has changed and what hasn’t and why science, public action, and grassroots mobilisation remain essential to environmental justice.
This episode was recorded at the Centre for Science and Environment in Delhi. Grassroots Nation is a podcast from Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies. Learn more at www.rohininilekaniphilanthropies.org or follow @RNP_foundation on social media.
Who has been a guest on Grassroots Nation
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Madhav Gadgil
Ravi Chopra
Yellappa Reddy
Kamal Bawa
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8 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 27 / 100
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Engagement
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