Host City India: New York

Balasubramanian Geetha

Dr. B. Geetha is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Liberal Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Bengaluru. She holds a PhD in Film Studies from the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. Her research interests include film history, stardom, comedy studies, film aesthetics, and archival studies within South Asian visual cultures. She was the recipient of the Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research Fellowship in Visual Arts at Michigan State University (2022–2023). She also received a travel grant from the UCLA Center for India and South Asia (2023) for her doctoral work on Tamil cinema.

Dr. Geetha’s academic publications have appeared in journals such as Celebrity Studies, South Asian Review, Senses of Cinema, Screen, and Journal of Cinema and Media Studies.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Dr. Geetha’s work engages with the physical modality of slapstick to theorize the performative possibilities of the comic body in Tamil cinema. This research finds its methodological grounding by drawing on conceptual tools from the fields of film studies and performance studies to examine concerns around embodied caste labor through the gestural registers of the comedian. Overall, the research excavates the comedic strand of thought within the historiography of Indian cinema by studying the aesthetico-ethical stakes of laughter, pain, and film form.

Shristi Borthakur

Ms. Shristi Borthakur is a lawyer practicing in New Delhi and works on disability rights. Shristi’s work is deeply influenced by personal experience, driving her to focus on disability rights, especially for persons with mental and development disabilities. She works closely with persons with disabilities, caregivers, educators, and special schools to access legal protections, such as appointment of a guardian, travel regulations, access to higher education, insurance, estate planning, and so on. Her long-term goal is to contribute to the development of disability rights jurisprudence in India, including legal reforms addressing transition to adulthood, guardianship, training modules for lawyers and judges, and policy integration.

She holds a BA LLB degree from Symbiosis Law School. She worked for five years at the office of senior advocate Ms Arundhati Katju and also independently argued cases. She has worked on diverse cases ranging from civil to commercial and criminal to constitutional before the Supreme Court. Notably, Shristi has worked on the landmark case of marriage equality before the Indian Supreme Court, an experience that shaped her commitment to constitutional and social justice.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Master’s fellow, Shristi is pursuing a Master of Laws degree to undertake a study on the equivalent disability laws and processes in the United States and test their applicability to the existing framework in India. She is focusing on public and social infrastructure that exists in the US, and its impact on people with disabilities. Shristi plans to continue to build her independent litigation practice in India.

Naveen Kumar Banageri Thimmappa

Mr. Naveen Kumar is a writer, filmmaker, and educator from Hosabale, a village in Soraba Taluk, Karnataka. A first-generation student from an indigenous community and a strong believer in diversity and representation, his work is rooted in community-led storytelling and focuses on rural life, caste, memory, and social justice. Naveen has written, directed, shot, and edited several short films made collaboratively with over a hundred people from his village. His films have been screened at international film festivals and have won multiple awards. He has also conducted grassroots filmmaking workshops at major educational institutions across Karnataka.

Naveen holds a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences from St Joseph’s University, Bangalore, and a master’s degree in journalism and mass communication from Bangalore University. He writes in both Kannada and English. His personal essay Track 01 won the Barbra Naidu Award for Personal Essay (2023) and is included in the third-year BA English syllabus at St Joseph’s University. He is the recipient of the Toto Award for Kannada Creative Writing (2024) and was recognized as a Deccan Herald Changemaker in 2026. Naveen has collaborated with multiple non-profit organizations as a filmmaker and social media consultant. He also runs Bheemashaale, a community learning center in his village, where he works with over 150 first-generation learners from indigenous backgrounds through arts-based education.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Master’s fellow, Naveen is deepening his practice in ethical, community-centered documentary storytelling through global artistic and academic engagement. He plans to strengthen independent documentary cinema and grassroots storytelling in India.

Natasha Maheshwari

Ms. Natasha Maheshwari is a constitutional and human rights lawyer. She graduated from the Maharashtra National Law University Mumbai in 2021, after which she has been practising in New Delhi – first at the chambers of Ms Vrinda Bhandari, and then with senior advocates Mr Shadan Farasat and Ms Warisha Farasat.

Natasha’s practice is focused on expanding, broadening, and reshaping the contours of the right to freedom of speech and expression in India, as well as limiting the increasingly aggressive attempts made by private and public institutions to interfere with this right.

Natasha has worked on more than 30 cases involving the regulation and restriction of speech, press freedoms, intermediary liability, and digital rights. Alongside litigation, Natasha has taught certificate courses on digital rights and cybercrimes, contributed to research and scholarship on the subject, and advised intergovernmental organisations and corporates on tech policy.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Master’s fellow, Natasha is studying comparative constitutional law and American constitutional law and theory. In particular, she wants to compare doctrine and standards of review used by Indian and American courts while determining the constitutionality of measures limiting free speech.

Manasa Ramakrishna

Ms. Manasa Ramakrishna is a lawyer specializing in criminal law, constitutional rights, and the death penalty. She has worked at The Square Circle Clinic, NALSAR University of Law (formerly known as Project 39A) where she represented individuals on death row before the Supreme Court of India and various High Courts. Her work with prisoners and their families and the lived realities of the criminal justice system informs her interest in the structural and institutional dimensions of the criminal justice system. She has also contributed to research and strategic litigation at the intersection of criminal and constitutional law.

Manasa graduated from Jindal Global Law School with a BA LLB (Hons) degree in 2020. Thereafter, she worked at Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas in Mumbai, where she advised on white-collar crime, arbitration, and commercial disputes. This experience sharpened her understanding of institutional processes and accountability, which continues to inform her approach to criminal law.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Master’s fellow, Manasa is studying criminal law and procedure and constitutional theory. She will engage with interdisciplinary approaches in the United States to deepen her understanding of the criminal justice system. Manasa hopes to build her litigation practice and contribute to rights-based criminal justice advocacy in India.

Arthita Banerjee

Ms. Arthita Banerjee is a consultant at Environmental Resources Management (ERM), where she works at the intersection of sustainability and development. Her work focuses on how environmental and social risks are assessed, priced, and managed within large-scale investments across emerging markets. She has advised on over 45 transactions across India and the Asia-Pacific region, working with institutions such as the World Bank – IFC, Green Climate Fund, and major private equity investors. Her sectoral experience spans renewable energy (hydro, solar, wind), transmission infrastructure, data centers, and healthcare and pharmaceuticals.

Arthita holds a BA LLB (Hons) from Hidayatullah National Law University. She is a Fellow of the Women in Climate & Energy Fellowship (WICEF) at EnergyLab, a major climate tech startup accelerator, where she was selected to a global cohort of sixteen and developed a parametric insurance model aimed at improving financial resilience to climate shocks. Her work reflects a broader interest in designing market-based mechanisms that make climate risk more effectively priced and managed.

Arthita was part of ERM’s Foundation Committee, where she supported initiatives advancing women’s livelihoods in the low-carbon economy through Swadhina, a non-profit organization, and mentored first-generation university students through the Bloomberg x Asian University for Women program.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Master’s fellow, Arthita is pursuing a Master’s in Climate Finance at Columbia University. She is deepening her understanding of how financial systems can be designed to respond to a changing climate, not only by managing risk but by directing capital toward more resilient and inclusive futures.

Aparimita Pratap

Ms. Aparimita Pratap is a lawyer with over seven years of experience, currently working at the intersection of criminal law, sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), and access to justice for marginalized communities in India. She holds a BA LLB (Hons) from The West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata (2019).

Aparimita designed and led a legal aid program at the Migration and Asylum Project, a New Delhi-based refugee legal aid center. Her work focused on increasing legal awareness on SGBV, training beneficiaries and creating community structures such as legal aid clinics and women’s groups where beneficiaries could openly discuss violence. She worked on strengthening the capacity of private and state actors to respond to SGBV, training paralegal volunteers, legal aid lawyers, women panchayats, and counsellors across Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, and Himachal Pradesh.

Alongside, Aparimita has represented over 100 survivors and built a network of lawyers to expand legal representation in SGBV cases. She has also used strategic litigation, including before the Delhi High Court, challenging coercive mediation in domestic violence cases. She now has independent practice and continues this work.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Master’s fellow, Aparimita is focusing on criminal law and trauma-informed, survivor-centric jurisprudence in SGBV cases. She is studying how legal frameworks in the United States protect survivors during investigation and trial and will bring these learnings back to India to challenge gaps in criminal law through litigation and advocacy. She will also continue her work to improve the legal aid system in India.

Tanika Chakraborty

Dr. Tanika Chakraborty is an Associate Professor of Economics at the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, specializing in Development Economics. Before joining IIM Calcutta, she worked at IIT Kanpur and DIW Berlin, after completing her PhD at Washington University in St. Louis. She is affiliated to IZA Bonn, CESifo Munich, and the Global Labor Organization.

Dr. Chakraborty’s research primarily focuses on informing policies that address human capital inequality. Her work has been featured in the Journal of Development Economics, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Demography, and the Journal of Comparative Economics, among others. In addition to publishing in academic journals, she writes for print media and policy platforms such as VoxDev, Project Syndicate, and Ideas for India to reach out to a wider policy audience. She has also partnered extensively with various government bodies in India and served as an expert on the Minimum Wage committee of the Government of India.

During her Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence (Research and Teaching) Fellowship at City College, City University of New York, Dr. Chakraborty is expanding on her ongoing research, exploring effective ways of reducing inequalities in health, a key component of human capital. She is examining the widespread shift in healthcare delivery models, from direct public provision to public-private partnerships. She will engage with students to develop a course on health policy that combines perspectives from the US and India. The goal is to contribute to the global dialogue on rising healthcare costs and growing health inequalities.

Gunanka Dundanayakanahally Basavaraju

Mr. Gunanka D. B., an Indian Forest Service officer, has served as Additional Secretary to the Government of Meghalaya, with over 16 years of experience in technology and public administration. He has led state-wide programs in natural resource management, climate resilience, and digital governance.

Gunanka spearheaded the World Bank-financed Community-Led Landscape Management Project, which pioneered the Village Community Facilitator model, training more than 14,000 local champions in community-led natural resource management, spring mapping, bamboo resource assessments, and seedball-based afforestation. He led the launch of GREEN Meghalaya, India’s first state-scale Payment for Ecosystem Services program, empowering communities to conserve over 1,000 sq. kms of forest. He championed the conservation of over 150 living root bridges through cooperative federations and community co-nomination for UNESCO World Heritage status. Under the JICA-financed MegLIFE program, he strengthened community-based forest management, cooperative livelihood models, and climate-resilient bamboo value chains.

Gunanka advanced geospatial governance by promoting the State Geo Portal and UAV Centre, expanded open data policies, and developed agile management information systems with real-time monitoring tools. He played a key role in integrating service delivery, grievance redress, and community data collection through the MeghalayaOne digital governance platform.

An electronics and communications engineer from R.V. College of Engineering, Bengaluru, Gunanka is pursuing the Fulbright-Nehru Master’s Fellowship to deepen his expertise in sustainable development, institutional reform, and technology-enabled governance. He aims to leverage this training to design scalable, community-driven governance systems that enhance climate resilience, inclusive growth, and data-driven policymaking in India’s public administration.

Khadija Aslam

Khadija Aslam is a Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Economics, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi. She has completed her Masters in Economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University and her B.Sc. in Economics from Presidency university. She has previously received the Ford Foundation fellowship for academic excellence in her master’s programme and has qualified the UGC-NET exam for assistant professorship in India. She has also been a recipient of the JRF and the SRF fellowship.

Khadija’s interest lies at the intersection of behavioural economics and development economics. How difference in religious beliefs and cultural practices transcends into varying social choices and economic outcomes prompted her research on the influence of religion on borrowing behaviour. In her earlier work, she has explored the differential impact socio-religious groups have on child health outcomes. Through her research, Khadija aims to understand how the tenets of Islam can influence a Muslim’s preference and the institutions that may then emerge as an outcome of this interaction. She believes that while religious or cultural norms may be perceived as hard to rationalize or too outdated to internalize, what economists often oversee is that these set of traditions when followed by a sizeable group of people and over a long period, in itself may trigger alternative structures conducive to existing institutions thereby generating a sub-economy.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research Fellow at Barnard College, Columbia University, Khadija examines the impact of residential segregation on intergenerational mobility in educational outcomes. Drawing on historical data on urban planning within cities, her research investigates how patterns of segregation and class dynamics shape access to opportunities and produce long-lasting effects across generations.

Besides Economics, Khadija enjoys good conversations, good food and sitcoms.