Our Staff
Amod Panwar
Amod is a tourism entrepreneur with excellent networking and communication abilities. He runs two hotels/resorts in Uttarkashi town and has been providing training sessions in Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM). He has been trained by the NIM in mountaineering skills. He has great talent of team building and resource management.
Anand Badoni
Anand Badoni has keen interest and experience in community development with great skills of community mobilization. He works with the communities on the issues of community development and conservation of local natural resources.
Bharat Patwal
Mr. Bharat Patwal is the Executive Director of Institute for Development Support (IDS) i.e. one of the partners of RACHNA Society. IDS is a grassroots NGO dedicated to enhance livelihood opportunities and environmental conservation in Uttarakhand. Bharat is an anthropologist by education and has been working in the development sector for last 20 years. Bharat has worked with various NGOs and academic & training institutions in India including Administrative Academy Nainital and SWAJAL project of the World Bank. He has lead several projects on the issues of livelihood promotion, water and sanitation, women and child development and environmental conservation. Mr. Patwal is the fellow of Leadership for Environment and Development (LEAD), India.
Deependar Panwar
Depeendra is a tourism entrepreneur with 15 years of experience of dealing with tourists from all over the world. He is a great trekker and has developed and popularized several new treks in the Uttarkashi region. He is trained by the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM) and now provides training at NIM. The team of local youth in the Dayara villages has been mentored and trained by Deependra. He runs Monal Tourist Home in Uttarkashi town.
Jagmohan Bangani
Jagmohan Bangani was born in district Uttarkashi. He works as freelance artist for last several years. He is an alumnus of the Ford Foundation International Fellowships Program and been associated with a number of social organizations in Uttarakhand and New Delhi. He is deeply committed to both his art and social concerns and wants to improve standards of art education in his state, especially in the mountain areas. He has organized a number of art camps in different part of Uttarakhand for raising funds for different social campaigns. So far, he has held three solo and more than twenty group shows of his art works in India and abroad and also participated with a number of residencies and art camps.
Krishna Nand Bijlwan
Krishna is a great yoga teacher and has been teaching yoga in Uttarkashi as well as in different European countries. He has learned Yoga teaching from the world famous Shivanada Ashram and has been practicing and teaching Yoga for last 10 years. He lives in Uttakashi and has been preparing a team of yoga teachers in the Home in the Himalaya villages.
Manbar Rana
Manbar Rana is the elected village head of village Panchayat Raithal. He is young and enthusiastic. He has been active in promoting tourism activities in his village area. He fully supports and promotes the idea of conservation based rural tourism and has been engaged in HITH activities.
Manoj Bhatt
Manoj Bhatt is a social entrepreneur and has been working on the issues of conservation and sustainable development of the Himalayas for more than one decade. He has rich experience of intensively working with thousands of mountain villages and has gained deep understanding of global issues from the perspective of citizens’ participation in conservation of vital ecosystems. He is the founder and Executive Director of RACHNA Society, the promoter of HITH. He believes that a sufficient and effective human energy can be mobilized in India to initiate solving its environmental challenges by constructively utilizing the power of faith for protection of rivers, forests, water springs and animals. He works for mobilizing local, national and global resources to support environmental action at the grassroots level.
MM Doval
MM Doval started his career as entrepreneur and established few successful businesses in trading sector. He then took formal academic training in entrepreneurship from Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDI) and trained several hundred entrepreneurs from the rural areas and helped them establishing successful micro-enterprises. Later he worked with marginal farmers to provide them a bundle of services, including training, technology, access to market and credit. He then led several innovative water supply and conservation programs financially assisted by the World Bank.
Narendra Uniyal
Affable, swift and professional, Narendra brings with him 10 years of rich experience in incoming business to India. He possesses immense and in-depth product knowledge of the Indian Subcontinent. While working with big brands such as Kuoni Destination Management and Thomas Cook he has gained great insight into specific client needs from Europe and USA. His understanding of different markets ensures his impeccable reputation with the Tourism Industry. Narendra has a Masters degree in Tourism Administration from HNB Garhwal University.
Sampat Singh Rawat
Mr. Sampat Singh Rawat is president of the Eco Development Committee of village Khirsu which has established Khirsu Nature Camp with assistance from IDS/RACHNA project financially supported by NABARD. Mr. Sampat is a community leader of the region and actively participates in community affairs. He was Chairperson of Block Panchayat Khirsu for 5 years and initiated various development programs in partnership with the government.
Vipin Singh
Vipin Rana is a youth leader with extraordinary capabilities of mobilizing youth for action. He initiated many good programs in his village area and supported and has been leading the Village Tourism Management Committee of his village. He knows the Dayara area very well.
Yashpal Singh Negi
Yashpal Singh Negi runs a bird watching camp and is a wonderful birding guide. Mr. Negi has deep interest in the birds of the Himalayan region and has been studying and organizing bird watching camps for last 10 years. Mr. Negi also has a good collection of bird nests and has developed a collection of some classic books on bird identification, wildlife and Himalayan biodiversity. He also makes herbarium of those plant species in which the birds make their nest or feed.