Aruna Roy  is a social and political activist. She was born in Chennai in 1946, and worked in the Indian Administrative Service from 1968 to 1975. After having worked at the the Social Work and Research Center in Tilonia, Rajasthan; in 1987 Roy moved to Devdungri in Rajasthan to set up the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS).   Roy is one of the leaders in the movement for implementation of the Right to Information Act in India. Member of the National Advisory Commission, Roy has been awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership (2000) and  the Rule of Law Award in the World Justice Forum held in Barcelona, Spain (June 2011). She is also listed,  by the TIME Magazine, as one of the 100 most influential people in the world for the year 2011. She was former President of NCAS.

Mari Marcel Thekaekara is founder-associate director of ACCORD, an organisation that works with the tribals of Gudalur, Tamil Nadu. She is a frequent contributor to The Hindu and Frontline and was a columnist for New Internationalist, UK . Her articles have also appeared in the Economic and Political Weekly and other leading publications. She is the author of Endless Filth, a book on the safai kamdars of Gujarat , published by Books for Change. She was commissioned by the Directory of Social Change, UK , to do a study of poverty and development in the United Kingdom.

Renana Jhabvala presently chair of SEWA Bharat, Jhabvala has been associated with SEWA ever since its inception in 1978. Through her work with SEWA, Jhabvala is committed  to micro-finance owned and managed by poor women. Presently, SEWA  has 13 lakhs members in 9 states of India and sustains over 120 co-operatives and associations. Jhabvala is a member of the Prime Minister’s National Council on Skill Development. She has a BA in Mathematics from Hindu College, Delhi University and an MA in Economics from Yale University, USA. She was awarded Padmashri by Government of India in the year 1990.