Our Inspiration

Late Shri Adikanda Kar, the inspiration behind the making of ADIRE passed away on 23 Mar 06 at the age of 84. Born an orphan and brought up in rural surroundings in Orissa, India, Shri Adikanda Kar lived in many states of India before settling in an isolated village called Jahangirabad. He always had the urge of helping the poor and the needy. Throughout his life, he fought for the rights of the poor people many a time sacrificing his personal wealth and family life. His ambition of bringing the oppressed class of his village to a level where they can have a descent standard of living, and constant persuasion of his wife Swarna Lata to their son Mr. Durga Prasad Kar led to the making of ADIRE. Mr. D.P. Kar, now a resident of USA has the vision of an integrated development of rural India with the help of modern technology and appropriate skill training of the rural people. To begin with, ADIRE started the initiatives from Mr. Kar's native village Jahangirabad in Orissa and now progressing to the nearby villages.

Late SMT. SHANTI DEVI - Born in a well-to-do family in Orissa in 1936 Late Smt Shanti Devi had spent her school and college days in actively participating in India's freedom movement. Being a writer herself she fought for women power through out her life regularly writing news articles for women upliftment and empowerment. Her ideologies and writings are the inspirations for her daughter Shreemayee Kar, wife of Mr. D.P. Kar to be actively involved in the initiatives of ADIRE.

Bishnu Charan Panda   A journalist by profession Mr. Panda now lives in Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry, India. He is instrumental for ADIRE to adopt some of the expertise and skills from Ashram's ideologies of integral development. With his advice and support, people from the villages have been undergoing various training programs related to energy efficient low cost house construction in the Earth Institute, Auroville.

Trustees of ADIRE

Madhab Charan Dash - Chairman, ADIRE     Mr. Dash spent 30 years of his career in USA as a chartered accountant before returning to India in 1988. He has set-up a college for women in his native village in Orissa, and currently involved in various charitable and developmental work in Orissa.

Durga Charan Naik - Treasurer, ADIRE     Mr Naik currently a station master belongs to the village Kalyanpur. Since his childhood he is involved in many charitable work in his village.

Shreemayee Kar - Trustee, ADIRE     With Information Technology and a Management background Shreemayee is currently involved with ADIRE's activities at the grass root level. She is in charge of human resource development, management and technology in ADIRE.

Dr. Tophan Pati - Trustee, ADIRE   Dr. Pati is a psychiatrist by profession and currently a trustee of ADIRE. Besides his medical profession, he is involved in various charitable activities and is the current president of Rotary Club of Cuttack midtown, Orissa. With his support and guidance and Rotary's collaboration, ADIRE has been able to carry out and implement various health care, nutrition and sanitation related activities in the villages.

Other trustee members Sarbeswara Sarangi, Chaitanya Mohapatra are also involved in direction and guidance of ADIRE team.

Durga Prasad Kar - Founder ADIRE   An economist by profession Mr. Kar has post graduate degrees in Business Administration and Electrical Engineering. He has done intensive research in electricity industry and has shown that the rural India cannot prosper with the expensive and unreliable power grid. He wants to experimentally prove in a Ph.D. dissertation that renewable energy can accelerate rural economy for both economic independence and sustainable development without any need of long-term subsidies. He is now pursuing his Ph.D. in Economics from Colorado School Of Mines under Professor Carol Dahl.

Dr. H. G Kulkarni   A biotechnologist by profession and a retired scientist from Bangalore Dr Kulkarni has the passion for rural development, plantation, and technology transfer for the betterment of poor. He is currently associated with Center for Research, Development & Projects in Biotic, Abiotic & Frontier Technologies, Pondicherry and the industrial and Environmental Advisor for Sri Aurobindo Handmade Paper, Pondicherry. He is a constant source of inspiration and motivation for ADIRE team.

Dr. Maitreyee Nanda - Dr. Nanda has post graduate degree in Physics and Ph.D. in cryogenic engineering from Indian Institute of Technology. A scientist by profession she has been an advocate of women empowerment and is actively associated with many charitable, developmental activities. ADIRE's woman groups Adi'kruti and Adi'shikha were formed and are functioning with her advice and guidance.

Aparajit Panda - A chemical Engineer by profession Mr. Panda has considerable management experience with a degree in chemical engineering from Indian Institute of Technology and Business Administration from Carnegie Mellon University. ADIRE seeks his consulting and expertise in various areas related to biogas, biomass, biodiesel, home modernization and workshop.

Ganesh Kumar Dash- Mr Dash is a reputed mechanical engineer and has over 25 years experience in the development of industries in Orissa. He will take over the charge of the power plant, modern workshop, overall project management, and implementation of all the projects of ADIRE.