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| | Madanjeet Singh - SAF Founder Trustee UNESCO GOODWILL AMBASSADOR Born in Lahore: 16th April 1924. Academic Qualifications: Government College, Lahore: B.Sc. (Honours School in Chemistry), M.Sc. (Technical Chemistry) — Italian Institute for Middle and Far East, Rome, Italy: Diploma in Buddhist Art and Culture. — Rome University: Diploma in European history of Arts. Joined the Indian Foreign Service (1953 - 1982), and served as diplomat in Italy, Yugoslavia, Greece, Laos, Sweden, Denmark, Spain, USSR, Consul General in South Vietnam, and as Ambassador in Colombia, High Commissioner in Uganda, Ambassador in Rwanda, Ambassador in Burundi, Ambassador in Finland. Appointed to the United Nations Educational and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Paris, as Director in the Cultural Sector (1982 to 1985) — in charge of Scientific and Cultural History of Mankind; History of Africa; History of the Caribbean; History of the Civilization of Central Asia; History of Celtic group of languages; and The World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theater. Supervised the Cultural Sector publications, books and periodicals. Prepared reports on the 1982 World Conference on Cultural Policies, Mexico City; the Terminal Report on Amarbayasgalan Monastery in Mangolia; and the restoration and preservation of ancient manuscripts in the Museum of Ulan Bator. Represented UNESCO at a number of international conferences on education and culture. Author of several books and monographs: Indian Sculpture in Bronze and Stone (1951), Etruscan Cave Painting (1953), India, Painting from Ajanta Caves (1954), Indian Miniatures (1963), Ajanta, Paintings of the Sacred and the Secular (1964), Himalayan Art (1968), The White Horse (1976), Madanjeet, The Early Sixties (1986), This My People (1989), The Sun in Myth and Art (1993), Renewable Energy of the Sun (1996), The Timeless Energy of the Sun (1998), The Sasia Story (2005), The Oral and Intangible Heritage of South Asia (2007). A painter and a photographer of international repute, his paintings were exhibited at the 1953 Biennale in Venice, Italy, and purchased by the Museum of Modern Art, Stockholm, Sweden, and by private collectors. He also produced an award-winning documentary in Rome on the Buddhist paintings in Ajanta caves, and recently a DVD on The Oral and Intangible Heritage of South Asia. Imprisoned in 1942 during Mahatma Gandhi’s Quit India movement. He declined to accept a Padma award offered by Government of India in 2006, as he believes that there is no higher award than a Tamra Patra which he received as a Freedom Fighter on 12th August 1972. In recognition of his lifelong devotion to the cause of communal harmony and peace, the biennial "UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize for the Promotion of Tolerance and Non-Violence" was unanimously created by the 52-member UNESCO Executive Board at their meetings in Paris and Fez (16th May to 4th June 1995), marking the 125th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. In 2000, he was designated as a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador on the United Nations’ International Day of Tolerance. In 1995, Madanjeet Singh founded Sumitra Foundation (SF) for family planning and protection of the environment in India and South Asia Foundation (SAF) in 2000, to promote regional cooperation among the eight SAARC countries — Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka. Contact email | | | | | 
| | Kamal Hossain - SAF Trustee
Former Minister of Foreign Affairs (1973-1975). Senior Advocate of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh. He was Chairman of the Constitution Drafting Committee of Bangladesh (1972), Member of Parliament (1973 - 1975), Minister of Law (1972 - 1973), and is currently United Nations Special Reporter on Afghanistan, and Chairman of a Panel of the United Nations Compensation Commissions. He is also Vice-Chairman of the International Law Association, Chairman of the Advisory Council of Transparency International, and Chairman of the Bangladesh Legal Aid & Services Trust.
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Contact email | | | | |  | | France Marquet - SAF Trustee Born in France in 1943, has lived in Venezuela, Canada, Syria, Lebanon, and currently lives in France. She studied Primary and Secondary school in Caracas, Venezuela, High school and Bachelor of Arts: Political Sciences and Arabic Language at McGill University, Montreal, Canada (1958 - 1963). Social worker (1975 - 1981). Joined “Renaissance des Cites d’Europe" a non-governmental Organization (1981 - 1998) and participated in restoration of heritage buildings in a number of old towns and city centres in France, Budapest (Hungary), Geneva (Switzerland). Joined Sumitra Foundation (1998) and partly worked in India setting up 40 solar energy systems in health and education centres that the Madhya Pradesh Government had established in the tribal district of Bastar. Since 2000 has worked for the South Asia Foundation, periodically travelling to attend meetings of the SAF Governing Council and help in establishing SAF projects in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Contact email | | | | |  | | Lady Mohini Kent Noon - SAF Trustee Mohini Kent is a London-based author, journalist and film-maker.
Books: Author of ‘Chief Longhooknose & Trader Jim’ (published by HarperCollins). Currently writing a novel titled The Black Taj.
Films: Director & script writer of feature film on the Indian epic, The Ramayana, with commentary by Ben Kingsley. Director & script writer of ‘Curry Tiffin’, a documentary on the history of India through cuisine. Directed other documentaries and TV commercials.
Theatre: Producer of stage play on Mevlana Rumi titled Rumi: Unveil the Sun. Director of stage dance-drama Nritya Natika Ramayana, premiered before HRH Prince Charles in London. Staged London shows of theatre groups from India and Bangkok.
Plays: Co-author of the play ‘Dance of the Hour’.
Print Journalism: Former columnist with India Today. Freelancer with ITPLUS, The Times of India, Indian Express, The Tablet, Asian People and Asian Voice.
Radio Journalism: Had her own dedicated fortnightly slot with BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Radio Scotland.
Charity work: She is committed to humanitarian work. She was Founder Trustee of the Parvati Foundation charity (1987 - 2002). Trustee of the Arpana Trust, India. Raises funds in London for the Arpana Trust India and the Balagurukulam orphanage (Chennai).
Hobbies: Reading, visiting museums and art galleries, opera, walking, gardening.
Education: B.A. First Class (Hons.) Psychology, Delhi Univ.; Hornsey School of Art, London; trained with Jay Film Services in film production. Born in Amritsar, India.
She is married to Sir Gulam Noon, an industrialist in the food business. Contact email | | | | |  | | Narasimhan Ram - SAF Trustee Narasimhan Ram (born 4th May 1945), Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu and other group publications, Frontline, Business Line, and Sportstar, is a political journalist and analyst. Educated in history at the University of Madras and in journalism at Columbia University, New York, he has been in the media field since 1966. His areas of special journalistic interest include Indian politics, India’s foreign policy and nuclear policy, external pressures on India’s economic and political sovereignty, issues of corruption and abuse of power, the challenge of communalism and fundamentalism in India, the Sri Lankan ethnic crisis and India’s interaction with it, freedom of expression issues, and the role of media in society. Honours and awards include the Padma Bhushan (for journalism), (1990); the Asian Investigative Journalist of the Year Award from the Press Foundation of Asia (1990); the B.D. Goenka Award for Excellence in Journalism (1989); the National Citizen’s Award (1995); XLRI’s first JRD Tata Award for Business Ethics (2002); an Alumni Award, 2003 from Columbia University 's Graduate School of Journalism Alumni Association; and Sri Lanka Rathna (2005). He is co-author with Susan Ram of the biography, R.K. Narayan: The Early Years, 1906 - 1945, and the author of Riding the Nuclear Tiger, a Signpost publication, LeftWord Books, New Delhi, 1999. His research publications include studies of "The Indian Nuclear Dispute: An Indian Perspective’’ and "An Independent Press and Anti-Hunger Strategies: The Indian Experience", the latter published in a book, The Political Economy of Hunger, Volume-1: Entitlements and Well-being, ed. Jean Dreze and Amartya Sen, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1990. A 15,000-word essay, "The Great Indian Media Bazaar: Emerging Trends and Issues for the Future", has been published in India: Another Millennium?, a book of essays, ed. Romila Thapar, Viking, Penguin India, 2000. He is a founding Trustee of the Media Development Foundation, which administers the Asian College of Journalism, Chennai. He is a member of the National Integration Council and the president of Harmony India, a Chennai-based organization devoted to communal amity and secularism. A first class cricketer, he played for Tamil Nadu in the Ranji Trophy and captained the Madras University cricket team. Contact email |
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