Hope in a Challenged Democracy: An Indian Narrative

Ashwani Kumar, a Congress Party member of Rajya Sabha from Punjab, and Chairman, AICC Vichar Vibhag, is a practicing Senior Advocate at the Supreme Court and was appointed Additional Solicitor General of India in 1990 at the age of 37. He has appeared before the Court in landmark cases which include the Bhopal Gas case, the Gujarat Presidential Reference case and the recently decided Electoral Reforms case. At 33, he first represented India as a non-official member of the Indian Delegation to the UN General Assembly in1986 and later again in 1996. Ashwani Kumar ahs also served as a Spokesperson of the Congress Party and as member of the Congress Party's Economic Policy Introspection Group. He has travelled extensively and was as Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington. He has also lectured at the University of Nice. He is currently a member of the Standing Committee of Parliament on Commerce and has also served as a member of the Standing Committee of Parliament on Energy. Ashwani Kumar is the son of Late Prabodh Chandra, a veteran freedom fighter, distinguished parliamentarian and Congress leader from Punjab.

Dr. Indu Anand is an acclaimed educationist and academician. At present, she servers as the Principal of Janki Devi Memorial College, University of Delhi. She received Charles Wallace India Trust fellowship sponsored by the British Council to participate in Art History at Cambridge.