Director
Mr. Parasuram has more than four decades of experience in the management of public policy and systems. He brings expertise in governance, strategic partner development and change management to his role on the Operation Eyesight India Board of Directors. He currently provides strategic guidance for development initiatives for a number of non-governmental organizations. At Operation Eyesight his ambition is to widen and deepen the organization’s work in eye health care in remote areas of the country.
Parasuram, a graduate in electrical engineering, joined the Indian Administrative Service in 1978. He spent a year at the International Development Research Centre / University of Ottawa / Carleton University, Canada as a Lester B. Pearson Fellow in Public Policy. He was awarded an honorary doctorate in public policy for agriculture and rural development by the Jawaharlal Nehru Agriculture University, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh.
During one of his tenures in the Government of India, Parasuram served as Minister (Agriculture) at the Embassy of India, Rome and represented India at the three UN agencies on food and agriculture headquartered there.
He has served in several positions in both the Central Government of India and the government of Madhya Pradesh, including Chief Secretary, Government of Madhya Pradesh.
Parasuram, after retiring from the civil service in 2013, has served as the State Election Commissioner and as the Director General of Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Good Governance and Policy Analysis, Bhopal.
He helped found (Bundelkhand Initiative on Water Agriculture and Livelihoods (BIWAL), a consortium of six like-minded NGOs, working in Bundelkhand for collaborative and convergent action for social and economic development of the region.
He is a now a Senior Fellow at the World Resources Institute, India and advises on issues relating to ecological restoration, rural livelihoods and sustainable development. He is also associated with a number of frontline NGOs like the Centre for Advanced Research and Development (CARD), Self-Reliant Initiatives through Join Action (SRIJAN) and the Samarthan-Centre for Development Support.