Mr. Vijaysai Reddy has represented the state of Andhra Pradesh from the YSR Congress Party in the Rajya Sabha since 2016. He is a chartered accountant by profession and has played an active role in the politics of Andhra Pradesh for many years. 

Mr. Reddy is an active member of the upper house of Parliament and introduced numerous private member bills over the years across different issues including a bill to make the right to health a fundamental right. He has served on a number of Parliamentary Committees including the Committee on Subordinate Legislation, General Purposes Committee,  Joint Committee on Office of Profit,  Consultative  Committee for the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Select Committee of Rajya Sabha on the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2019, among others.

Mr. Baijayant ‘Jay’ Panda is a Member of Parliament of India, Lower House (Lok Sabha), representing the Kendrapara constituency, Odisha. Earlier he has also been a member of the Upper House (Rajya Sabha), also from the State of Odisha.

He graduated from the Michigan Technological University and, with a background in Engineering and Management, worked in the corporate sector before joining politics. He takes keen interest in India’s foreign affairs and is involved in a number of Track 2 dialogues with the US, Japan, China, Pakistan, South Korea, etc. He has been associated with the India-USA Forum of Parliamentarians since its founding.

In Parliament and public life, Mr. Panda passionately espouses the cause of his home state Odisha as well as other national issues close to his heart, such as economic development, education and information technology. He was given an award for best parliamentary practices by the Hon’ble Chief Justice of India in 2008.

Dr. Fauzia Khan is a Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha from the Nationalist Congress Party. As the National President of the Women’s Wing of the Nationalist Congress Party, she is also a member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Food, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution.

Dr. Khan has a rich political background spanning over two decades. She has also been a two-time M.L.C., i.e., a member of the Legislative Council, the upper house of the Maharashtra Legislature. As the first Muslim woman in the state to serve as a minister in Maharashtra, she served as Minister for General Administration, Education, Health, and Women and Child Development, where she initiated several progressive reforms to improve the state’s governance and welfare system.

Mr. KR Suresh Reddy is a Member of Rajya Sabha from Telangana. He was the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Andhra Pradesh from 2004 to 2009. He represents the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) party in Parliament and is currently its Deputy Floor Leader.

Educated at Nizam College, Osmania University in Hyderabad, Mr. Reddy has previously been President, Andhra Pradesh Branch of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and Director, Andhra Pradesh Industrial Development Corporation.

He began his political career as the Mandal Youth Congress president in 1984 and rose up the ranks, while contesting elections at different levels of government.

Mr. Pradyut Bordoloi is a politician from the state of Assam, and currently serves as a Member of Parliament for the Nowgong Lok Sabha constituency. He is a member of the Indian National Congress party.

Previously, he was a member of the Assam Legislative Assembly from Margherita and became a cabinet minister in the Tarun Gogoi led government. He was elected to the State Assembly from Margherita four times and during his student days, he was the President of National Students’ Union of India in Assam.

He has an MA from Cotton College, Gauhati University, an M.Phil. from JNU, and a PGDM (M) from the Delhi Institute of Management.

An author, politician, and former international civil servant, Dr. Shashi Tharoor straddles several worlds of experience. Currently a Lok Sabha MP representing the Thiruvananthapuram constituency, he has previously served as Minister of State for Human Resource Development and Minister of State for External Affairs in the Government of India. During his nearly three-decade long prior career at the United Nations, he served as a peacekeeper, refugee worker, and administrator at the highest levels, serving as Under-Secretary General during Kofi Annan's leadership of the organisation. Dr. Tharoor is also an award-winning author of works of both fiction as well as non-fiction.

Born in London in 1956, Dr. Tharoor was educated in India and the United States, completing a PhD in 1978 at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. While there, he received the Robert B. Stewart Prize for Best Student and also helped found and served as the first Editor of the Fletcher Forum of International Affairs, a journal now in its 39th year. Dr. Tharoor is a recipient of several awards that include a Commonwealth Writers Prize and the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, India's highest honour for overseas nationals.

Mr. S. Niranjan Reddy is an Indian lawyer, practicing in the Supreme Court of India and National Company Law Appellate Tribunal. He is a Member of Parliament in Rajya Sabha where he represents the State of Andhra Pradesh and the YSR Congress Party.

Previously, he was the standing counsel for the Election Commission of India and Medical Council of India. He was designated as a Senior Advocate in the year 2016 and has since shifted to and is currently practicing in the Supreme Court.

He is the Founder Trustee of Art @ Telangana, an Art Foundation. He is also a producer and has produced Telugu films such as Kshanam (2016), Ghazi (2017), Wild Dog (2021), and Acharya (2022). He is a graduate from the Symbiosis Law School in Pune.

• Analyse the current state of India's civil aviation sector, focusing on airport and airline operations. Trace the history and key turning points of public and private aviation in India.
• Assess the status of civil aviation in Andhra Pradesh, including the number of existing airports, those under construction, and the impact of greenfield airports. Identify prioritised regions and explain the reasons for their prioritisation.
• Evaluate key policies and programs in the civil aviation sector, such as the UDAN scheme. Discuss potential outcomes for Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) services, including land leasing through open tenders, and milestones achieved toward making India a global MRO hub.
• Based on your analysis, map the biggest challenges affecting the civil aviation sector in India generally, and in Andhra particularly. Study the provisions of the Cape Town Convention Bill to understand what problems it is trying to solve and how?
• Undertake a comparative analysis of the civil aviation sector in India and other similarly placed economies to map opportunities and challenges. Based on your findings, suggest some reforms that you think the government should prioritise.

• How has the approach towards welfarism by political parties in India evolved over the past few decades? How do welfare schemes influence voter behaviour and electoral outcomes? Which segments of the population are most targeted by these policies, and why?
• Provide a detailed overview of the super six guarantees made by the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in their election manifesto in 2024. How sustainable are these welfare measures in the context of fiscal constraints and socio-economic realities of Andhra Pradesh? What are the short-term and long-term challenges associated with these guarantees, especially the impact on state debt?
• What is the efficacy of Direct Benefit Transfers in lifting people out of poverty? Are there any alternative ways to empower socially and economically backward classes instead? Can a balance be struck between welfare spending and economic growth?
• Compare TDP’s election guarantees with welfare measures adopted by ruling political parties in other similarly placed states in India. What are some lessons from the successes and failures of such welfare measures?
• Based on the analysis above, what would be your recommendations for making welfare policies more effective and sustainable? How can political parties be encouraged to adopt a more balanced approach towards welfare and development?

• Provide an overview of the tourism industry in Odisha. How has the industry evolved over the last few years? Specifically, track the industry’s share in the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP). What are the different types of tourists that the state attracts? 
• What is the economic potential of the tourism industry in Odisha and what measures have been undertaken by the Odisha government to promote tourism? Analyse the Tourism policy of Odisha (2022) in detail and identify the major thrust areas as well as challenges emerging from the policy. Are there any measures being taken to protect the diverse flora and fauna in the state in light of rising tourism? 
• While analysing the full range of policies, specifically examine the implementation of the Swadesh Darshan and PRASHAD schemes in Odisha. Are there any bottlenecks hindering their implementation? If so, how can they be alleviated?
• Compare Odisha with other large states (and similarly placed countries) that have successfully branded themselves as tourist attractions (like Rajasthan and Kerala) and delineate lessons for Odisha. Based on your research, make recommendations for improving the performance of the tourism industry in Odisha.

• How have deepfake and AI manipulation tools evolved in sophistication and accessibility over time, and how widespread is their use in India? Can the estimated impact of deepfakes on various sectors (e.g., politics, finance, social media) be quantified? Additionally, can deepfakes and AI misuse undermine democratic processes, erode public trust in institutions, and present national security concerns that policymakers should address?
• Do India's digital use patterns and levels of media literacy contribute to the spread of deepfakes and AI-manipulated content? Are there any socioeconomic disparities that make certain populations more vulnerable to manipulation? 
• How effectively do existing laws in India (e.g., IT Act, IPC) address the creation and dissemination of deepfakes and malicious AI content? What are the limitations of these laws in tackling the evolving nature of this threat?
• Study measures being taken by other countries to address this problem. What are the key learnings and best practices that can be adapted to the Indian context? Based on your research, recommend policy measures for India to strike a balance between encouraging responsible AI development and enacting effective regulation to contain the misuse of this emerging tech.

• How do existing gender roles and access to resources (land, water, information) affect women's vulnerability to climate change (e.g., droughts, floods, extreme weather)? Can we quantify the gender gap in terms of increased health risks, economic losses, and social challenges faced by women? Are there any limitations or gaps in existing data collection methods that hinder our understanding of these disparities?
• Map existing policies and programs currently in place to address the gendered impacts of climate change. How effective are these policies in empowering women and promoting gender equality in climate adaptation strategies?
• How are other countries or regions addressing these issues? What are some key learnings and best practices that can be adapted to India’s specific context? 
• Based on your research, recommend policies and programs that can be designed to support women's economic resilience and climate adaptation. Specifically, suggest policy measures to promote gender equality, address health vulnerabilities and protect women from climate-induced displacement and violence.

• What are the different types of health challenges that plague women working in the unorganised sector in urban and rural India? Do socio-economic and cultural factors also have a role to play? Specifically identify the health hazards associated with poor working environments including lack of menstrual hygiene, nutritional deficiencies, maternal care, economic instability, and physical and mental strain.
• How do the health challenges faced by women in rural areas different from those in urban and semi-urban areas? Do these challenges vary by industry? 
• Pick any two Indian states and map the central and state legislations (including labour laws), policies and schemes (e.g. social security schemes) that are targeted at improving the health of women in the unorganised sector. How have these policy measures performed and what are some challenges in implementation?
• Undertake a comparative analysis of countries of similar socio-economic standing as India to analyse and map best practices in improving the health of working women in the unorganised sector. Based on your research, recommend policy specific measures for the Indian context.

• Study state autonomy and federalism in India by analysing devolution of finances and central intervention in state subjects over the last 30 years. Do you see an increase in centralisation in recent decades?
• What are the key factors contributing to the centralisation of power in India  (e.g., single party dominance, national security concerns, economic considerations)? How has this affected state government autonomy and responsiveness to local needs,  service delivery to citizens at the state level as well as  inter-state cooperation and national integration?
• How do other federal countries with similar socio-economic development status manage the balance between central authority and state autonomy, particularly regarding financial devolution? Are there any best practices that can be adopted in the Indian context to strengthen federalism?
• Propose specific recommendations for: (1) enhancing financial devolution to states; (2) building safeguards and establishing clear boundaries between central and state subjects; and (3) strengthening inter-governmental institutions for cooperative federalism.

• Estimate the prevalence and scale of substance/narcotics abuse in the North Eastern states of India. How does this compare with the rest of the country? Analyse existing literature and speak to stakeholders to map the most commonly abused substances in the region.
• Identify the socio-economic and geographical factors contributing to high substance abuse rates in the North East (e.g., unemployment, underdevelopment, insurgency). How has substance abuse impacted individuals, families, and communities in the region? 
• Analyse current central and state government policies aimed at tackling the problem. How effective are these policies in reducing the demand for narcotics in this region?
• Explore successful behavioural change interventions used in other countries or regions. How can these interventions be adapted and implemented in the North East to address the specific needs of the region?
• Based on your research, outline key recommendations to: (1) reduce demand; (2) expand access to evidence-based treatment and harm reduction services; and (3) strengthen social reintegration programs for recovering addicts.

• Provide an overview of the issue of river erosion in Assam. Analyse the magnitude of the problem and the reasons for its occurrence. How has this issue impacted the overall development of the state? What are its humanitarian, environmental, social, economic and health-related impacts?
• Map the different stakeholders that have a role to play in mitigating this problem and critically analyse the policies and measures that have been adopted by the central and state government to tackle the issue of river erosion in Assam. How have measures such as building erosion control structures, integrated river basin management and the adoption of advanced technological interventions helped in alleviating the effects of river erosion? While undertaking your review, specifically focus on measures taken to address the issue of loss of land and displacement of communities.
• Is there a need to create a collaborative policy for the North East to check river erosion? Analyse the North East Water Management Authority Bill, 2023 and assess whether the proposed authority is well equipped to tackle the problem.
• Draw lessons from successful policy measures adopted by other similarly situated states in India and  regions across the globe. Based on your research, outline key recommendations for preventing and mitigating the effects of river erosion in Assam.

• Prepare a profile of the Indian migrant workers abroad. How many workers migrate from India to different parts of the world? Trace the regions or countries that attract most Indian workers and explain their general working conditions.
• What are some issues (including legal and regulatory issues such as weak labour laws, contract substitution, visa and documentation) that affect the welfare of Indian migrant workers overseas? How does this affect their working conditions and access to healthcare, finance etc.? What challenges do they face with respect to social and cultural barriers in foreign countries (like language barriers, isolation and discrimination)?
• Critically analyse the Indian government’s policies, schemes and bilateral agreements to address these challenges. Do these schemes and policies tackle the problems associated with repatriation and reintegration in the event of job losses or crisis?
• How do other labour-surplus countries ensure the protection of their workers abroad? Based on your analysis above and lessons from other countries, suggest recommendations to strengthen policies and programs to enhance working conditions, improve social and cultural integration, and ensure smooth repatriation and reintegration, if required.

• What potential do emerging technologies like AI and enablers like DPI hold for public service delivery in India? Can AI be leveraged to ensure equitable access to public services, particularly in underserved and rural areas? How can AI-driven analytics be used to optimise resource allocation and reduce wastage in public service delivery?
• Map promising AI-based public service solutions from around the world. How has the tech enhanced the efficiency and accessibility of services to the common citizen? Based on your research, craft a few case studies that could offer valuable lessons for India. Particularly look at outcomes for public services in healthcare, education and social welfare.
• Does India need to invest in robust and scalable digital infrastructure that can support the integration of AI technologies across various public sector interventions?
• What are the potential ethical and legal concerns associated with the use of these technologies in public service delivery? Map the legislative framework (including the data protection law) that governs such tech deployment in India. Are there gaps in existing laws that need to be overcome to prevent harm? 
• Based on your research, recommend measures on use case deployment and how it could be incentivised, while also suggesting changes to the legislative framework.

• How can modern agricultural technologies and climate-adaptive practices be disseminated to small and marginal farmers in India? What role can mobile technology and digital platforms play in bridging the information gap between research institutions and farmers? 
• What are the primary barriers for small and marginal farmers in accessing modern agricultural technologies? How do financial constraints, lack of technical knowledge, inadequate infrastructure and social and cultural factors hinder technology adoption?
• What is the current adoption status of climate-resilient agricultural practices (e.g., drought and flood-resistant crops, soil conservation, sustainable water management) in India? How has the National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture contributed to the adoption of such practices?
• Critically evaluate central and state government policies and programs aimed at enhancing agricultural productivity and building climate resilience through modern technologies and sustainable practices. How successful have these initiatives been, and what implementation gaps exist? Have these schemes improved food security at the national or state levels?
• Compare and contrast the performance of two or three Indian states on the metrics outlined above and identify global best practices that could inform national and state-level agricultural policies. Based on your research findings, suggest some policy recommendations for the government.