Kiran Vissa is a long time social activist who works on issues related to the agrarian crisis and sustainable organic agriculture in India. His work has simultaneously focused on village-level work with local farmers as well as system-level changes that help solve the problems of millions of farmers. His efforts have helped reach assistance to thousands of farmer suicide affected families, focus the attention of the government on the issues of tenant farmers and farmers who are facing the brunt of climate change, and initiate a Farmers' Helpline that addresses farmers' distress and prevents suicides.

After obtaining a B.Tech. at IIT-Madras and Masters at the University of Maryland, Kiran was a key volunteer of AID since its formative years and has worn many hats of leadership and organizational roles. After several years of volunteering, Kiran quit his job in the USA 15 years ago, and returned to India to address the crisis of farmer suicides in his native Andhra Pradesh. Kiran is the founding convener of Rythu Swarajya Vedika, a broad platform of farmers and their well-wishers in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Over the years, Kiran has become a key figure in farmers' movements and helps coordinate national level coalitions such as the Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture (ASHA-Kisan Swaraj).

Dr Abhay Shukla is a public health physician, working on health issues in collaboration with people’s movements and grassroots NGOs in Western India for over two decades. He is the Senior Program Coordinator at SATHI (Support for Advocacy and Training to Health Initiatives), a member of the National Health Mission Advisory Group for Community Action (AGCA), and is part of the core health group on the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). He is one of the national convenors of Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (JSA or People’s Health Movement) and was centrally involved in organization of the National Right to Health Care campaign during 2003-04. Dr. Shukla is a graduate from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

Dr Shukla has co-edited and authored the books ‘Review of Health Care in India’, ‘Report on Health Inequities in Maharashtra’, ‘Health System in India – Crisis and Alternatives’ and ‘The Rights Approach to Health and Health Care’. Along with Dr Arun Gadre, he co-authored the popular book published by Penguin – ‘Dissenting Diagnosis’, exposing malpractices in the private medical sector in India. He has been involved in developing the framework of community based monitoring and planning (CBMP) of health services at national level, and has mentored the innovative implementation of CBMP in Maharashtra for over a decade. He is actively involved in campaigns for patient’s rights, social regulation of the private medical sector, networking among ethical medical professionals, and developing a system for Universal Health Care.