Fulbright-Nehru Grant Category India: Fulbright-Nehru Master’s Fellowships

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.

Shivangi Sharma

Ms. Shivangi Sharma is the General Manager (Programs) at Kautilya School of Public Policy in Hyderabad, where she oversees program design, curriculum development, academic and industry partnerships. She has co-developed and facilitated the adaptation of the Stanford Interpersonal Dynamics T-Group course for Indian classrooms. She has been associated with Kautilya since its founding in 2021, serving as Executive Assistant to Dean, Program Manager and General Manager.

Shivangi is a first-generation college graduate from a farming family of Ashoknagar district in the Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh. She holds a BSc (Hons) in Mathematics from Rajdhani College, University of Delhi and an MA in Liberal Studies from Ashoka University, where she was also awarded a Young India Fellowship. She also holds a senior diploma in Kathak from Gandharva Mahavidyalaya.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Master’s Fellow, Shivangi is pursuing an MA in International Education Policy Analysis at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education. Her studies focus on global and comparative education policy and economics of education. She plans to strengthen international collaborations in Indian higher education and build institutions that are accessible to students from underserved communities.

Sarthak Arora

Mr. Sarthak Arora is a researcher based in Delhi, working at the intersection of environment and machine learning. His research looks at river remediation, wildfire risk-prediction, biodiversity monitoring, and remote sensing. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Statistics from Ramjas College, Delhi University, and a PG Diploma in Machine Learning from Plaksha University.

Having worked with corporations such as Nearbuy, Paytm, Disney+ Hotstar, and Indifi as a Data Analyst/Scientist in the past, Sarthak pivoted to academia to pursue interdisciplinary research with universities and non-profits. As a part of Collaborative Earth’s Ganges Lab, led by Dr. Anthony Acciavatti, he has been engaged in developing a comprehensive River Remediation strategy for the Ganges River. At Wuuii Inc, he designed computer vision architectures using multi-modal earth observation datasets to improve wildfire risk assessments.

Sarthak is pursuing a master’s program in environmental studies to further engage with spatio-temporal ecological systems, especially how they are impacted by climate variability. After that, he plans to undertake projects which will focus on designing scalable, resource-efficient modelling approaches for active environmental challenges in the Global South. As a Fulbright-Nehru Master’s fellow, Sarthak is aiming to integrate data-driven insights with environmental justice and policymaking to help guide global conservation practices. The scope and scale of interdisciplinary research needed to address the complexities of environmental resilience requires access to global networks, which he is eager to leverage during the fellowship period.

Raju Manjali Rhee Johnson

Dr. Raju Manjali Rhee Johnson is an award-winning pharmaceutical physician and med-tech innovator, currently leading the Kerala Genome Data Centre, a flagship genomics program under the Kerala Development and Innovation Strategic Council. His work focuses on leveraging genomics and digital health to enable population-scale public health transformation and economic development.

Dr. Raju began his career in pharmaceutical medical affairs before moving into strategy and leadership roles across digital health and med-tech. He has held key positions at Wolters Kluwer, supporting clinical decision systems across South Asia. He also served at Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, where he worked on advancing digital therapeutics and medical technologies. Dr. Rhee actively mentors and advises incubators, accelerators, and over 50 startups in healthcare and technology.

Beyond healthcare, Dr. Raju is a storyteller and creative practitioner. He has hosted a solo photography exhibition at Mumbai’s Jehangir Art Gallery. A sought-after speaker, he has delivered talks at more than 500 scientific forums and has also been featured at prominent literary platforms such as the Kerala Literature Festival, Global
AI Summit and other major management and tech conferences. He has authored multiple articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals and contributed to national newspapers, shaping conversations at the intersection of healthcare, technology, and public policy.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Master’s fellow at Harvard University, Dr. Raju is pursuing a master’s in public health. His goal is to integrate med-tech innovation, genomics, and policy to design scalable, equitable public health solutions for India and other emerging economies.

Pratiksha Sanjay Basarkar

Ms. Pratiksha S. Basarkar graduated with a BA LLB (Hons) from the National Law School of India University, Bangalore in 2018, where she was awarded the Heyning-Roelli Foundation Scholarship to attend a semester at the University of Zurich, Switzerland.

Since graduation, Pratiksha has worked as a litigation lawyer across roles. She began her career at a major law firm before joining Project 39A (now The Square Circle Clinic, NALSAR University of Law), a criminal justice organization. Here she led teams providing pro bono legal representation to persons sentenced to death before the Supreme Court of India and various High Courts, contributing to several acquittals and commutations of sentences. She has facilitated mitigation investigations and worked on strategic litigation addressing broader issues in the criminal justice system, such as unreliable forensic evidence and mental healthcare in prisons. Beyond litigation, she has written on new criminal laws and engaged with stakeholders including social workers and policy researchers through training and discussions.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Master’s fellow, Pratiksha is pursuing an LLM at Harvard Law School. She is studying comparative and interdisciplinary approaches to criminal law and systemic reform, with a focus on wrongful convictions, to inform litigation and reform efforts in India.

Pradip Das

Mr. Pradip Das is a consultant in the Inclusive Financial Systems team at the Gates Foundation, India, where he focuses on advancing digital financial inclusion for underserved communities. His work spans BC (business correspondent) agent network strengthening, digital merchant payments, and financial services for women, encompassing grant oversight, impact assessments, and the design of new financial inclusion initiatives in partnership with the Government of India.

Prior to the Gates Foundation, Pradip served as a Resident Representative at the World Bank Group, providing technical assistance to the National Rural Economic Transformation Project (NRETP), a flagship initiative under the Ministry of Rural Development implemented in partnership with the World Bank and IFC. Earlier, he led a nationally recognized, CSR award-winning financial inclusion project at CRISIL Foundation in Assam and served as Mission Executive at the Uttar Pradesh State Rural Livelihoods Mission where he developed state-level policies and launch strategies for community development programs.

Pradip holds a postgraduate diploma in environmental management from the Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Master’s fellow, Pradip is pursuing a Master of Science degree in economics at Arizona State University. His studies will sharpen his analytical skills to design and evaluate evidence-based digital finance interventions to improve formal credit access for underserved and women entrepreneurs in rural and low-income communities 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.

Blesson Mathew

Mr. Blesson Mathew is a governance and public policy professional working at the intersection of policy, diplomacy, and international development. A graduate of St. Stephen’s College, Delhi, with a degree in English and political science, he went on to pursue a master’s in international relations and diplomacy on a Chevening scholarship.

With over a decade’s experience in public policy implementation, Blesson has worked extensively with the Government of India, particularly within the Ministry of Rural Development, driving large-scale development initiatives. He has contributed to India’s foreign policy engagements through his work with the Ministry of External Affairs, including in key divisions such as the G20 Secretariat. During India’s G20 presidency, he played a role in supporting negotiations around the New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration and was closely associated with the Trade and Investment Working Group and Startup20 engagement track.

Beyond government, Blesson has designed and led global fellowship programmes aligned with India’s Neighbourhood First policy. He has helped establish self-learning ecosystems across Rwanda and other parts of Africa, creating accessible, open spaces for youth-led innovation and skill development.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Master’s fellow, Blesson is now focused on integrating education policy with diplomacy to drive systemic change in India’s higher education landscape. His long-term vision is to build world-class academic institutions that advance the vision of Viksit Bharat and democratize access to transformative education.