About Us

Our Team

Hasiru Dala All Staffs

Founder & Trustees

Hasiru Dala Our Team Nalini Shekar

Nalini Shekar

Nalini Shekar is the Co-founder and Director of Finance and Special Projects at Hasiru Dala. Her passion lies in restoring the dignity of workers in the unorganised waste sector, improving their access to predictable livelihoods and providing social security for their families.

Over the years, Nalini has trained hundreds of waste pickers on new ways of solid waste management and helped develop their skill to become waste management professionals. In addition she has worked with state officials, students and citizens, creating awareness on the need for sustainable waste management practices and integration of waste pickers.

Before her work in Bengaluru, she advocated the need for rights of survivors of violence for a decade in the US where she was honoured by the Santa Clara County Human Relations Commission, San Jose City Government and presented with a Certificate of Honour from the then Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

In a career spanning 33 years, Nalini has won many accolades including the Kempegowda Award 2015, from the City of Bengaluru. In 2015, she was chosen as one of 100 women in India who have made a difference in the society by BBC.Com.

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Hasiru Dala Our Team Anslem Rosario

Anslem Rosario

Anslem Rosario is the co-founder of Hasiru Dala, and the Founder/Director of Mythri Sarva Seva Samithi, a nongovernmental, registered, nonprofit organisation that specialises in poverty and environmental issues, located in Bengaluru.

He also heads WASTE WISE TRUST (WWT), which is a nonprofit subsidiary of MSSS. Anslem Rosario functions as the Managing Trustee of WWT. Anslem Rosario holds a number of honorary positions in many organisations and institutions and main among them are, Co-founder of Hasiru Dala Trust, Trustee, Child Right Trust and Vice President, Consortium for Dissemination of Dewats Systems.

He is a pioneer who promoted Decentralised, Community-based Solid Waste Management, involving the resident’s group and integrating waste pickers in the late 1980s. He is the recipient of the “Ashoka Fellowship” from Ashoka Innovators, Washington, USA, and Environmental Award from Karnataka Pollution Control Board.

Currently, he is involved in promoting Integrated Sustainable Waste Management, Water and Sanitation Facilities and Ecological Sanitation in Bengaluru Urban and Rural District. He has travelled extensively in India and abroad and held the position of Regional Manager for South Asia for the Integrated Sustainable Support for Urban Environment Programme of WASTE, Netherlands, which operates in 18 countries of the world.

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Hasiru Dala Our Team Pinky Chandran

Pinky Chandran

Pinky Chandran is an independent journalist, researcher, author and waste
management campaigner.

She is the founding member of the Solid Waste Management Roundtable (SWMRT), a collective of SWM practitioners working on decentralised & inclusive waste management since 2009, Bengaluru and a Trustee at Hasiru Dala, a social impact organisation that works with waste pickers and other waste workers to ensure a life of dignity, since 2010.

She has co-authored Valuing Urban Waste: The need for a comprehensive recycling policy Version 1 (2018), Hasiru Dala; , A Mirage: Assessment of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and SWM Rules 2016: Wastepickers Perspectives across India, supported by Alliance of Indian Waste Pickers and IGSSS ( 2019); “Communicating the Sustainable Development Goals-A Toolkit for Community Radio Stations”, developed by SMART and Supported by UNESCO and UNICEF ( 2020). Garbage inspires her to write poetry.

She is passionate about community media, and believes that everyday people
should have access to create their own media, and currently serves as a Board
Member at Seeking Modern Applications for Real Transformation (SMART) SMART, an NGO committed to empowering communities and runs Radio Mewat, a community radio in Haryana.

In the past she co-founded Radio Active 90.4 MHz Bangalore’s first community
radio station, in 2007 which attained an exemplary status of being the most
inclusive community centered station in the country, before handing it over to Jain University in 2021.

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Hasiru Dala Our Team Lakshmi Karunakan

Lakshmi Karunakaran

Lakshmi Karunakaran is an educator and a communication professional based in Bengaluru, India. She started her career as a telecom engineer but soon shifted gears to work first as a communication specialist and later as an educator. She is the program lead for the Parag Initiative of the Tata Trusts across India.

Over the years, she has worked with children experiencing social exclusion in government schools, special needs schools, remedial schools, and in disadvantaged communities. For years she led the Buguri Children’s Program at Hasiru Dala.

In 2017, she was an artist in residence at the Centre for Contemporary Arts, Warsaw, working on a project on children from abandoned mines in Poland. She was a fellow at the Arts for Good Fellowship 2019 at the Singapore International Foundation. In 2020, she won the India Reading Olympiad award at the Hyderabad Literature Festival for her contribution towards encouraging reading among children and young adults from under-served communities. She writes regularly for Teacher Plus, a magazine for contemporary teachers.

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Arzu Mistry

Arzu Mistry is an educator and artist who maintains a high level of dedication and enthusiasm for art, craft, and design, as mediums for pedagogy, advocacy, transformation, and intervention for building sustainable, inclusive communities. Arzu has facilitated the education working group for Creative Dignity, A consortium of organizations working with crafts communities in India. Arzu is the founder of the Art in Transit and placeARTS public art projects in the city of Bangalore, with a focus on art as a medium for dialogue between people and the urban spaces they inhabit.

Arzu co-facilitates the Accordion Book Project and is the co-creator of the artist book Unfolding Practice: Reflections on Learning and Teaching. Her art and education practice connect teachers, youth, and families with place using memory, story, play, and design practices through inter-disciplinary education and public community art facilitation, integrated curriculum development, livelihoods training, teacher professional development, and educational research and practice. Arzu led the Creative Education undergraduate program and co-led the Public Pedagogy and Arts Practice Masters program at the Srishti Manipal Institute for Art Design and Technology in Bangalore. She is a fellow with Reimagining Migration and has taught with the Project Zero Classroom, the Future of Learning, and Arts and Passion-Driven Learning programs at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Arzu has a BFA from the California College of the Arts, an Ed.M from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and is currently pursuing her doctoral work at Teachers College, Columbia University
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Srikant Rao

Srikant is presently serving as the Honorary Vice President of the National Association for the Blind, Karnataka (www.nabkarnataka.org). NABK is an NGO founded in 1977 that is focused on enabling the visually impaired to become self-sufficient and lead a life of dignity.

Srikant is the Founder and CEO of Affordable Business Solutions (www.abs.in).

Affordable Business Solutions (ABS) targets Small and Medium Businesses (SMEs) and offers them industry-vertical solutions built on Microsoft Dynamics and SAP Business One hosted on the Cloud. Prior to launching ABS, Srikant S. Rao was the Country Manager for India for BEA Systems, Inc., which established its business operations in India. In his previous assignments, he launched NCR’s Computer Systems business in India, established NCR’s Channel Marketing program in Asia/ China and managed regional product marketing and business development functions to launch and establish NCR’s PC business in Asia/ China. Prior to joining NCR, Srikant held executive positions in project management, materials management, marketing, sales, and business development with Microland, TVS Electronics, and Sundaram-Clayton Ltd. Srikant is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, and the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, and has played an active part in their Alumni activities. He received the Distinguished Service Award from IIT Bombay for his contributions to the Village Knowledge Center project. Srikant has served as the Convener of CII Karnataka’s Panels on Education, Skills Development and Vocational Training and as the Co-Convener of the CSR Panel. He has served as the Chairman of the Government Industrial Training Institutes in Ramanagaram and Belthangady.
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Directors 

chinmayi

Chinmayi

Chinmayi is a dedicated advocate for informal waste workers, drawing on her expertise in urban planning, l abour policy and worker solidarity, she works towards building collective power among waste pickers—ensuring fair wages, safe working conditions, and gender justice. As Executive Director of Hasiru Dala, she works collaboratively with waste pickers, civil society, and government stakeholders to improve livelihoods through fair and dignified work opportunities.

Inspired by the resilience of the waste picker community, her leadership focuses on strengthening community-based organizations, promoting gender equity, and advancing socially just policies in the waste management sector. By fostering dialogue and participatory approaches, she helps develop scalable models that benefit both workers and sustainability efforts.

Guided by Hasiru Dala’s commitment to inclusive development, Chinmayi supports innovative, evidence-based strategies that align with national policies on waste management, social security, and workers’ welfare. Her work underscores the importance of integrating informal waste workers into sustainable ecosystems while respecting their contributions to the economy and environment.

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    Initiative Heads

    Sathwik  NN

    “Working with children has added a new dimension to my life. I have learnt to be patient and trust that children are experts of their own lives, and all we need to do as librarians and care givers is to nudge them to look at things they might have missed seeing. If what they see excites them, they go all the way chasing their dream and passion. For me, working with children is also a very selfish endeavor of planting values of equity and justice among them.

    Location Heads

    Hasiru Dala Anil Kumar

    Anil Kumar

    “I have now been associated with Hasiru Dala team for over three years. I was impressed by Hasiru Dala’s objective to work for the waste pickers’ welfare through social security and livelihood opportunities. Hasiru Dala has also earned a reputation for working for solid waste management practices in rural and urban areas with a close concern for nature. There have been no boundaries or limits to work here as I have had the space to explore innovative ideas to create livelihood opportunities for waste pickers families. It is my pleasure and pride to be a part of Hasiru Dala.”

    Textile Waste Recycling Team

    Bengaluru Social Security Team

    SS team

    Bengaluru Livelihoods Team

    Health Team

    Health Team

    Research Team

    Research Team

    Housing Team

    Buguri Team

    Mysuru Team

    Chikkabalapura Team

    Tumakuru Team

    Zero Waste Team

    Hubli-Dharwad and Belgaum team

    Hubli-Dharwad and Belgaum team

    Davanagere Team

    Rajamahendravaram Team

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    English