A Proud Moment for India

 A Proud moment for all the Indians.

Recently one Indian and that's too a Bengali has reached to the top of one very reputed and global organisation - World Resources Institute (WRI)

Aniruddha Dasgupta has become the first Indian President and CEO of WRI. 

The World Resources Institute (WRI) is a global research non-profit organization established in 1982 with funding from the MacArthur Foundation under the leadership of James Gustave Speth. WRI's activities are focused on seven areas: food, forests, water, energy, cities, climate and ocean.

WRI has it's headquarters in Washington, D.C. United States.

The World Resources Institute (WRI) maintains international offices in the United States, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, and Brazil. The organization's mission is to promote environmental sustainability, economic opportunity, and human health and well-being.  WRI partners with local and national governments, private companies, publicly held corporations, and other non-profits, and offers services including global climate change issues, sustainable markets, ecosystem protection, and environmental responsible governance services. WRI has maintained a 4 out of 4 stars rating from Charity Navigator since 1 October 2008.

In 2014, Stephen M. Ross, an American real estate developer, gave the organization US$30 million to establish the WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities. A report by the Center for International Policy's Foreign Influence Transparency Initiative of the top 50 think tanks on the University of Pennsylvania's Global Go-To Think Tanks rating index found that during the period 2014-2018 World Resources Institute received more funding from outside the United States than any other think tank, with a total of more than US$63 million, though this was described as "unsurprising" given the Institute's presence in so many countries.

WRI initiatives include:

The Access Initiative, a civil society network dedicated to ensuring that citizens have the right and ability to influence decisions about the natural resources.

Aqueduct, an initiative to measure, map and understand water risks around the globe.

CAIT Climate Data Explorer, offering chart tools for historic GHG data, Paris contributions and more. As of May 2020 this is being integrated into the similar platform Climate Watch.

Champions 12.3, a coalition of executives to accelerate progress toward United Nations Sustainable Development Goal Target 12.3 to tackle food loss and waste.

Global Forest Watch, an online forest monitoring and alert system.

The Greenhouse Gas Protocol provides standards, guidance, tools, and trainings for business and government to quantify and manage GHG emissions.

LandMark, a platform providing maps and information on lands that are collectively held and used by Indigenous peoples and local communities.

Platform for Accelerating the Circular Economy (PACE), a public-private collaboration platform and project accelerating focusing on building the circular economy. PACE was launched during the 2018 World Economic Forum Annual meeting; from 2019, WRI is supporting the scale-up of PACE and establish an Action Hub in The Hague.

Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance, is an alliance of large clean energy buyers, energy providers, and service providers that is unlocking the marketplace for all non-residential energy buyers to lead a rapid transition to a cleaner, prosperous, zero-carbon renewable energy future. It has over 200 members including Google, GM, Facebook, Walmart, Disney and other large companies, and reached 6 GW capacity in 2018.

The Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTI) helps companies transition to a low-carbon economic profile by setting greenhouse gas emission reduction targets in line with climate science. Through Science Based Targets (SBTs), companies express their intention to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to limit global warming to well-below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit warming to 1.5°C. 

WRI Ross Center helps cities grow more sustainably and seeks to improve quality of life in developing countries around the world.

World Resources Report, WRI's flagship report series. Each report deals with a different topic.

Now something about Aniruddha Dasgupta:

Aniruddha (Ani) Dasgupta is President and CEO of WRI, where he works to advance the institute’s global vision to improve the lives of all people and ensure that nature can thrive. 

Dasgupta is a widely-recognized leader in the areas of sustainable cities, urban design and poverty alleviation. He developed his expertise in positions ranging from nonprofits in India to the World Bank, where he developed the Bank’s first Knowledge strategy.  

He took the helm at WRI after seven years as Global Director of WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities, which is dedicated to shaping a future where cities work better for all people. Under his leadership, the Cities program grew to 400 staff members working in 150 cities, with a reach to more than 400 cities in total. 

He has established large, multi-stakeholder partnerships with city, national and corporate leaders around the world. Ani has helped to create and lead innovative initiatives, including the New Urban Mobility alliance (NUMO) and the Coalition for Urban Transitions, as well as a new line of work around urban air quality. He also brought an increased focus on people and equity to the program. 

 Prior to joining WRI in 2014, Dasgupta served as Director of Knowledge and Learning at the World Bank, where he provided leadership in the Bank’s knowledge services for development.

 He also worked extensively in the World Bank’s Jakarta office as head of infrastructure, where he was deeply engaged in post-2004 tsunami reconstruction in Aceh, as an advisor to the government on housing and infrastructure reconstruction and as the head of the Bank’s housing and infrastructure team.

 His work at the Bank took him throughout Asia and Eastern Europe as a technical expert centered on community-based development, urban environment, disaster management, solid waste management, water supply and sanitation.  

Originally from Delhi, India, Dasgupta developed an interest early in life in buildings and design. He earned a bachelor’s degree in architecture, with an emphasis on low-income housing, from the School of Planning and Architecture in India. Later, he was accepted at a special program at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) focused on affordable housing. Dasgupta holds master's degrees from MIT in city planning and architecture.  

He lives in Washington, DC with his wife and has two sons. 

Here I am enclosing the report which has been published in The Kalinga Chronicle and excerpts of his interview given to Subhamoy Bhattacharjee, senior correspondent of Business Standards.

However one thing is not mentioned here. Ani was an NCC Air Wing Cadet when he was in school. 

But how I have come to know that ?

Very Simple !  The three of us- Ani, myself and Subhomoy were classmates in Delhi's Raisina Bengali  School.