Meet The Team
The Tribe
We believe Bengal's policy space needs strong voices now more than ever to thrive. That brought the Bengal Development Collective together. We are a bunch of students, policy folks, lit majors, research minds, design geeks, tech nerds belonging to premier Indian institutions (IITs, IIMs and NLSIUs), international universities (Oxford, Harvard, Cambridge) as well as practitioners like civil servants and consultants working at recognized multilateral institutions, all sharing a common passion for the state of West Bengal.
Devarchan Banerjee
Devarchan is currently a Doctoral Student at the Said Business School, University of Oxford. He looks at how organizational design and strategy create developmental divergences in the Indian States. He brings experience in research, advocacy, and strategy to India and East Africa and was a Rajiv Gandhi Scholar at the University of Cambridge. His key interest is in bringing organizations and strategy to the study of development.
Rai Sengupta
Rai Sengupta is a development consultant & policy researcher, pursuing an MSc at Oxford University, as a Weidenfeld Hoffmann Scholar. Previously, Rai conducted evaluated 6 national programmes implemented by the Ministry of Rural Development in India. She also evaluated a cash transfer programme in Myanmar for UNICEF and analyzed the UK Government’s development programmes in Zimbabwe. Further, Rai worked at Invest India on strategic research for the Ministry of Women and Child Development.
Arkopal Datta
Arkopal is currently pursuing the MPA ID program at Harvard Kennedy School. He has worked with the World Bank as an international consultant in Bangladesh and brings experience in rigorous policy evaluation as a part of his time at JPAL.
Dyuti Sen
Dyuti is a public health practitioner with five years of experience in designing and implementing gender-sensitive and equitable healthcare programs in rural India. She has a bachelor’s in economics from Calcutta University and is currently pursuing her Masters in International Health and Tropical Medicine at the University of Oxford as a Felix Scholar. Dyuti has been a part of the India Fellow Social Leadership program in 2016. She is a Regional Advisor to the Frontline Health Workers Coalition, a US-based alliance advocating for greater and strategic investments for healthcare workers.