Nitin Pai is director of The Takshashila Institution in Bengaluru

Nalini R Mohanty is director, Jagran Institute of Management & Mass Communication, Noida. He was elected president of JNU Students’ Union in 1982-3 on a Students for Democratic Socialism platform

Achal Dhruva is a travel enthusiast and freelance writer based in Mumbai

Manjula Padmanabhan is an author and artist

Mitali Parekh is a Mumbai-based journalist

Adoor Gopalakrishnan is India’s foremost internationally acclaimed filmmaker who was awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2004 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2006

Mohit Hira is the Chief Executive & Publisher, Open magazine

Rahul Bhattacharya is the author of Pundits from Pakistan and The Sly Company of People Who Care

Dr MV Ramana is the Simons Chair in Disarmament, Global and Human Security at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver

Nalin Mehta is a political scientist and journalist