Incorporated as the Foundation for Participative Sports, a Section 8 company, we are a public-spirited, independent, not-for-profit organization working to shape the world around us through sports and physical activity (SAPA). Our programmes, projects and policy frameworks enable governments, enterprises and individuals to use sport to achieve social goals such as inclusion, equality, sustainability and justice. Our team brings a diverse set of skills and extensive experience in Indian policy, administration, law, and governance to our mission.
Founders' Circle
Ashish Dhawan
Ajit Isaac
Board of Advisors
Dr. Sekhar Bonu, Former Director General, Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office, NITI Aayog – Dr Sekhar Bonu’s expertise spans across many sectors. Before joining NITI Aayog, he worked at the Asian Development Bank (ADB) from 2004 to 2019, where he worked on health, urban infrastructure development and regional cooperation, mainly in the South Asia region.
Dr Bonu worked in the Indian Administrative Services and served as a civil servant in Rajasthan between 1987-2003, including as a district magistrate, director of primary and secondary education, and chief executive officer of state-owned enterprises. He has a PhD from Johns Hopkins University and has a research interest in state capacity building, service delivery, outcomes measurements, etc.
Rukmini Banerji is the Chief Executive Officer of Pratham Education Foundation. A trained economist, Rukmini has worked extensively in Pratham’s education programs in rural and urban areas, playing a major role in designing and supporting large scale partnerships with state governments in India, for improving children’s learning outcomes.
In 2008, Rukmini received the Maulana Abul Kalam Shiksha Puraskar by the Government of Bihar, India. She was the first recipient of this award. In 2021, Rukmini was awarded the Yidan Prize for Education Development. Rukmini writes frequently on education in both Hindi and English dailies in India and enjoys writing books and stories for children.
Joy is a veteran sports administrator. He has been a trailblazer not just in sports media but also on the business and implementation side of sporting events and leagues. A former Head of Production for ESPN Star Sports, he also served as the Team Director of the IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders, the Project Director for the FIFA U-17 World Cup conducted in India. He is currently the CEO of the Prime Volleyball League.
Sharda is a renowned sports journalist, with a career spanning over three decades. Sharda writes across mediums including broadsheet, news magazines and websites. She most recently was the Senior Editor at ESPNcricinfo.com. She has co-authored two books- former Men’s Team India Cricket Coach John Wright’s Indian Summers and former Indian Cricketer Yuvraj Singh’s Test of My Life.
Our Team
Abhishek Anand
Associate Director
Kanishka Bhattacharya
Research Lead
Mridul Kataria
Chief of Staff
Sugandha Vats
Associate
Lokesh Kaza
Non-Resident Fellow
Things We've Built
- Private non-profit that has changed the trajectory of Indian Olympic and Paralympic participation and performance
- Direct impact on national sports, gender and disability narrative
- National Sports Awardee
- Sports Ministry scheme that delivered India’s best ever results at Tokyo 2020
- Design and incubation to support and delivery
- Alignment of various interests and organisations enabled results
- SLPC is the leading the law and policy narrative in Indian sport
- Worldclass research, reports and Symposiums
- Internationally recognised platform for engagement with key issues that matter in sport
- Will remain the key driver of the Accelerator’s research and policy work
