Teams

Varun Aggarwal

Founder and Managing Director

Priyansha Singh

CO founder & COO Chalo Network and Operation

Rohini Mitra

Project Associate

Chitra Rawat

Research and Operations Manager

Megha Raha

Marketing Communications Associate

Nidhi Menon

Research and Editorial Associate

Anirudh Ganapathy

Audio Visual Media Consultant

Pratiksha Kumari

Executive Assistant

Varsha Priyadarshini

Research and Operations Associate

Pooja Bhatia

Editorial Assistant

Bhavin Gediya

Back End Developer

Varun Aggarwal

Varun is the Founder and Managing Director at the South East Migration Foundation. Along with strategy and fundraising, his core research and operational focus at IMN are on migration data, designing service delivery mechanisms, and the political economy of migration. Previously, he has worked on projects around digital financial inclusion, informational privacy, nutrition, industry, and competition policy. Varun has a BA in Maths from the University of Washington in Seattle and an MSc in Economics from Maastricht University.

Priyansha Singh

Priyansha is the Operations & Advocacy Lead at IMN. Her current work at IMN focuses on last-mile delivery of financial services to migrant households and she leads operations at IMN’s Chalo Network. Priyansha also works on IMN’s internal migration projects around entitlements, policy advocacy and was involved in developing IMN’s Inter-State Migrant Policy Index (IMPEX). Her work has been published in journals like International Migration, The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Routledge and in media outlets like India Spend, IDR, and Firstpost. Priyansha holds a Master’s in Regulatory Governance from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, and a Bachelor’s degree in social sciences from TISS, Hyderabad.

Rohini Mitra

Rohini is currently a Project Associate at India Migration Now. In her prior role as Research Coordinator, she has been involved in several research projects spanning emigration and overseas recruitment from India, the impact of COVID-19 on migration, migrant decision-making, and internal migration in India. She has also worked extensively with IMN’s policy projects including the Interstate Migrant Policy Index (IMPEX) and the Migrant Integration Policy Index (MIPEX). Rohini’s research interests include international migration, refugee studies, migrant integration, and the sociology of migration. Her work has been published in media outlets including Firstpost, India Spend, Business Standard, and as book chapters in academic publications such as Routledge. Rohini holds a Master’s in Development Studies from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai and is a PhD Scholar at the University of Bonn, Germany.

Chitra Rawat

Chitra Rawat is the Research and Operations Manager at India Migration Now and works on IMN’s Chalo Network. At Chalo, Chitra focuses on the agent ecosystem in India and works towards optimising digital service delivery mechanisms for low-income migrant households across major migration corridors. She has previously worked on IMN’s Digital Financial Services Project, which aimed to improve the financial habits of migrant workers in the construction industry. She holds a Master’s in Development Studies from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai.

Megha Raha

Megha’s role at IMN revolves around creative design for social media, internal and external communications, curating content, and strategizing communication plans for both IMN and Chalo Network. She is interested in working on the state of informal livelihoods, social welfare, and policy. Writing and designing for a larger audience comes naturally to her. She did her Postgraduation in Development from Azim Premji University, Bengaluru where she gained a deeper understanding of the development sector. She has previously worked with various social enterprises on program design, impact evaluation, communications, and outreach roles. She has a knack for innovating cooking.

Nidhi Menon

Nidhi is a Research and Editorial Associate at India Migration Now and has been involved in research projects in the areas of emigration, the impact of COVID-19 on migration, and internal migration in India. Her research interests include international development, international and Indian labour markets, the economics of migration, and migrant integration. Nidhi holds a Master’s in Economics from Symbiosis International University, Pune. She has previously worked as a Research Intern for the International Migration Centre-Karnataka project by Public Affairs Centre (PAC), Bengaluru.

Anirudh Ganapathy

Anirudh is a documentary filmmaker passionate about impactful storytelling focused on migration, climate change and culture. He is keen on exploring various mediums and techniques in an effort to tell the story in the best possible way.

Pratiksha Kumari

Pratiksha is the administrative pillar of the core team at IMN. She provides all human resource support to the team, from payroll to onboarding staff and arranging employee welfare sessions. She also acts as the mediator between the accounting department and the larger team. Her post-graduation in Finance has equipped her to excel in the corporate world. She has previously worked in corporate finance and brings her organizational skills to the team. She enjoys reading, writing, and capturing little moments with her camera in her free time.

Varsha Priyadarshini

Varsha is a Research and Operations Associate at India Migration Now and Chalo Network. Previously she worked as a Migration Research Fellow with IMN and Bandhu Urban Tech during which she was involved in research aimed at assessing state and central level policies, scoping social security benefits and civil society interventions for migrant workers in the fields of financial inclusion, social welfare delivery and housing. She is particularly interested in the theme of aspirational migration, caste networks and small-town economy. She holds a Masters in Development Studies from Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati and a Bachelor’s degree in Social Science from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad.

Pooja Bhatiya

Pooja works closely with the Communications and Research team at IMN. She is involved in editing and proofreading policy documents, drafting newsletters, and ideating for SM posts. She also contributes to IMN’s overall research and advocacy initiatives. Having done her Master’s in Political Science from JNU, she is a public policy and advocacy professional with over six years of experience in the social development sector. She is also the Co-Founder of The Blahcksheep, a new wave inclusive digital platform for fresh creative voices from across the world. She hosts an interview podcast called ‘Path Makers’ that features people who make and shape a country. She would like to write a book and adopt a cat someday.

Bhavin Gediya

Bhavin is the tech ninja of the team at IMN. Being the in-house software developer, his work broadly evolves around maintaining the websites and applications of the company. He works closely with the operations and communications team to generate quality outputs. He likes to explore new projects and the latest developments in technology.