Uday Bhonde Editor

Victor R. Shinde has 17+ years of experience as a scientist and technical expert (water and environment) in nine countries in Asia and Africa. His areas of expertise include urban environmental management; integrated water resources management; water security enhancement; climate change adaptation in water sector; flood risk assessment; and M&E frameworks for water and environmental sector. He is currently leading a project carried out in association with India’s National Mission for Clean Ganga that seeks to promulgate river sensitive development in Indian cities. The project has developed a framework for urban river management (first of its kind in the world), encompassing multiple dimensions, that river cities in India shall use to manage the rivers within their stretches. Prior to joining NIUA, Victor worked at the Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand where he developed a framework for river health assessment for the rivers in Thailand. He has published more than 30 articles through journal articles, conference proceedings, and book chapters. He has a PhD in Urban (Environmental) Management from Kyoto University Japan, Masters in Water Engineering and Management from the Asian Institute of Technology Thailand, and Bachelors in Civil Engineering from Karnatak University India. Rajiv Ranjan Mishra is presently based at NMCG - an ambitious flagship by the Indian government with projects worth USD 3.73 Billion. The Mission’s mandate is the effective abatement of pollution, conservation, and rejuvenation of the River Ganges and its tributaries. In his position as the Director General of NMCG, he drives the strategy and agenda for the Mission in the most populous basin in the world. An officer of the prestigious Indian Administrative Services, Mishra has held top management positions in India’s Ministry of Urban Development; Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change; and the former Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation giving him the unique advantage of cross-sectoral understanding river management from a governance point of view. Uday Bhonde has over 18 years of research and practical experience, out of which the last 10 have been in the urban water sector. His areas of expertise include urban lake management; water resilient cities; innovations in urban water, sanitation & hygiene; and urban flood resilience. He works closely with the National Mission for Clean Ganga projects providing technical inputs on river morphology, hydrology, limnology and geology. He has developed content for the capacity building programmes on sustainable urban water and sanitation management for the Ministry of Urban Development (India) and other international organizations. He has several research publications to his credit, prepared practitioners training manuals, and guidebooks. Uday has Ph.D. in Geology. Hitesh Vaidya has over 20 years of experience in the field of urban management, urban governance and capacity building. He has been involved in providing technical assistance and capacity building support to several Urban Local Bodies and instituting significant urban reforms at local level. He has been associated in areas of urban development, urban governance and urban Infrastructure management with UN, World Bank, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) assignments. Prior to joining NIUA, he was the Country Representative of UN-Habitat in India. He was intensely involved in supporting an eco-system to design and roll-out urban programs including localizing Sustainable Development Goals. Hitesh holds a Master’s degree in Business Development and Post-Graduate Diploma in Urban Development & Planning and specialization in Urban Management from Institute of Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS), Rotterdam, Netherlands.