New Delhi: A group of more than 400 academics and activists have issued a statement condemning the recent arrests of environmental activist Disha Ravi, labour rights and anti-caste activist Nodeep Kaur and others. These arrests, the statement says, are part of the Centre’s larger tactics of repression, through with it has been targeting rights activists, student leaders and members of the minority community.
“Various Indian law enforcement agencies and state governments have sought to intimidate, discredit, and prosecute students and young activists alongside other groups, such as farmers, laborers, academics, journalists, comedians, and ordinary citizens, for merely exercising their right to disagree with and question the Government, and support struggles they deem just and important,” the statement reads.
Signatories include historian Ramachandra Guha, economist Jean Dreze, linguist Ayesha Kidwai, political scientist Prakash Kashwan and many others.
Also read: The Courage to Think and the Spectre of Dissent
“We stand by the youth activists who have shown the courage to stand up for themselves, their fellow human beings, the future of the nation, and the health of the planet,” the signatories have said, while calling for the immediate release of those arrested.
Read the full statement and list of signatories below.
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We, the undersigned, condemn the arrest of Disha Ravi, a 22-year-old youth climate and social activist, who the Delhi Police arrested from her home in Bengaluru without following due process. We note that Ravi’s arrest adds to the growing number of instances in which the Government has targeted social justice and human rights activists, including the 23-year-old Dalit labour rights activist, Nodeep Kaur, who was arrested on 12 January from the site of Farmers’ Protests near the Singhu border and who has reportedly been tortured in police custody. Indeed, students and young activists, especially from minority communities, have been facing persecution by the Central Government for a long time now, simply because they chose to speak up as conscientious citizens of this country.
Various Indian law enforcement agencies and state governments have sought to intimidate, discredit, and prosecute students and young activists alongside other groups, such as farmers, laborers, academics, journalists, comedians, and ordinary citizens, for merely exercising their right to disagree with and question the Government, and support struggles they deem just and important.
Young people asking questions and protesting against injustice are upholding the most valued tenets of democracy. The increasingly repressive tactics employed by the Government to stifle these voices, create an environment of suspicion, instil fear, and curb any critical discussion and dialogue will undermine India’s democracy. We should strive to be a society in which people, especially the youth, are unafraid to ask questions and have the freedom to stand for democracy, secularism, and human freedoms.
Also read: ‘Right to Dissent Is Hallmark of Democracy, Allows Criticism of Govt’: Retired SC Judge
We stand by the youth activists who have shown the courage to stand up for themselves, their fellow human beings, the future of the nation, and the health of the planet.
We demand that Disha Ravi, Nodeep Kaur and others, arrested merely for supporting the farmers movements and for protesting against the Government, be released, and all charges against them dropped. We also demand that warrants of a similar nature against others be withdrawn.
We demand that law enforcement agencies stop using anti-terror laws to terrorise citizens and repeal the antiquated sedition laws, which have repeatedly been abused to repress peaceful protests.
We urge every conscientious citizen of India, and citizens of the world, to ask questions of those in authority. We intend to keep asking questions of the Indian Government, whose leaders and officials have been speaking for the environment and human rights in global forums while engaging in blatant violations at home.
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Name |
Location |
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Prakash Kashwan |
Connecticut, US |
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Anish Vanaik |
West Lafayette, Indiana, US |
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Babu Rao Kalapala |
Hyderabad, India |
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Ayesha Kidwai |
Delhi, India |
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Onkar Khebudkar |
Pune, India |
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Arunima G |
New Delhi, India |
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Athul George Appadan |
Thrissur (Trichur), India |
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Vandana Singh |
Framingham, Massachusetts, US |
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Ritty Lukose |
New York, New York, US |
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Prava Rai |
Pune, India |
|
meghna dasgupta |
India |
|
Carol Upadhya |
Bengaluru, India |
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Sanchari Sur |
India |
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Sonali Sarma |
Thane, India |
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Ananya Vajpeyi |
New Delhi, India |
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Suvir Kaul |
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US |
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Aditi Chandra |
Palo Alto, California, US |
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Burhan B |
Surat, India |
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Vivek Monteiro |
Mumbai, India |
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Malavika Jha |
Pune, India |
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Pranay Mane |
Mumbai, India |
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pradip datta |
Delhi, India |
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Tomoyo Ihaya |
Vancouver, Canada |
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Supratik Chakraborty |
Mumbai, India |
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Nikhil Rajput |
Pune, India |
|
neeta sane |
India |
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rajesh natrajan |
mumbai, India |
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Jaslet Joseph |
Delhi, India |
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Praveen Gupta |
Mumbai, India |
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Joby Joseph |
Hyderabad, India |
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M. V. Ramana |
Vancouver, Canada |
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Bharati Jagannathan |
New Delhi, India |
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Radhika Chadha |
New Delhi, India |
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Anjali N |
Noida, India |
|
Ankita Pandey |
Noida, India |
|
Shivani Chandra |
Delhi, India |
|
Tamanna Phoughat |
Delhi, India |
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Srimanjari Ballal |
Delhi university, India |
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Shravya Shenoy |
Mangalore, India |
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Shubhangi Gupta |
Patna, India |
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Govind Sreekumar |
Bengaluru, India |
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Snigdha Singh |
New Delhi, India |
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Proma Basu Roy Researcher, Education |
Kolkata, Indiana, US |
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Antony George |
Jaipur, India |
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Smriti Haricharan |
Chennai, India |
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Satyaki Banerjee |
India |
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Jaya Menon |
New Delhi, India |
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Hemanth Kadambi |
India |
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Atul Sood Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi |
Noida, India |
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JANAKI NAIR |
India |
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Krishna AchuthaRao |
New Delhi, India |
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Supriya Varma |
New Delhi, India |
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Tarun Menon |
Bengaluru, India |
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surbhi verma |
Delhi, India |
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Sumana Srinivasan |
Mumbai, India |
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Shivali Tukdeo |
Bengaluru, India |
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Bhakti Shringarpure |
Nairobi, Kenya |
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Durba Biswas |
Bengaluru, India |
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Hanuman Choyal |
Jaipur, India |
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Shivani Meena |
Delhi, India |
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Nisha kumari Akela |
Delhi, India |
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Rikh M |
Kolkata, India |
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Mridul Megha |
India |
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Sakshi Bhadu |
Jaipur, India |
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Harsh Preeti |
Faridabad, India |
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Akshaya Mohan |
Palghat, India |
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Shivani Singh |
New Delhi, India |
|
Nityanshi Chandan |
Delhi, India |
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Muskan Yadav |
Delhi, India |
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Harleen Kaur |
Delhi, India |
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Tommy Pellegrini |
Carlsbad, US |
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Priscilla Baisa |
Phoenix, US |
|
Bhumika Guglani |
New Delhi, India |
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Rasiya Padalkar |
India |
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Subhankar Chakraborty |
Bengaluru, India |
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Diya Kirttania |
Kolkata, India |
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Elaine Becker |
Roanoke, US |
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Sugita Katyal |
New Delhi, India |
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Nayana Vijayakumar |
Palghat, India |
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Madhukar Mane |
Pune, India |
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Abhayraj Naik |
Bengaluru, India |
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Anuradha Kalhan |
Bangalore, India |
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Anandmayi Priyadarshini |
Bengaluru, India |
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Manish K Jha |
Mumbai, India |
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Janki Andharia |
Mumbai, India |
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Praveen Singh |
New Delhi, India |
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Nimisha Srivastava |
Lucknow, India |
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Lavanya Arvind |
Mumbai, India |
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Ashok Swain |
Uppsala, Sweden |
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Sebastin Kolman |
Los Angeles, California, US |
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Prabuddha Chaudhuri |
Kolkata, India |
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Shobana Kolman |
Pune, India |
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Sarath Mookola |
Palghat, India |
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Aniket Shaw |
Kolkata, India |
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bhupinder singh |
gurgaon, India |
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Gisha George |
Ernakulam, India |
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Adithya Raj |
Palghat, India |
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DEEPRANJAN BHARTI |
Chennai, India |
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Jose Pottamkulam |
Ernakulam, India |
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Senthu S |
Chennai, India |
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Anindya Sinha |
Bangalore, India |
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Ani Kuurvilla |
Australia |
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Brian Dsouza |
Mumbai, India |
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Maria Kurian |
Chennai, India |
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Sumit Nag |
Kolkata, India |
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Trilok Shah |
Hyderabad, India/US |
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Sapna M |
Bengaluru, India |
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Silpa Sivasankaran k v |
Ernakulam, India |
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umesh bellur |
Mumbai, India |
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Deepak Johnson |
Bengaluru, India |
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Jaida Sieu |
Alameda, US |
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Nisha Joseph |
Ernakulam, India |
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Hemangi Joshi |
Mumbai, India |
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andrea matos |
New York, US |
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Rahul Ahuja |
Jaipur, India |
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Mrs. Gahan |
US |
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Sachin Joshi |
Bhubaneshwar, India |
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Shrinivas B |
Bengaluru, India |
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Rhenia Anjou |
Kozhikode, India |
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Sheldon Fernandes |
Mumbai, India |
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Sandhya Luther |
Goa, India |
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YaduCR |
Palghat, India |
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Anand Sivaram Sivaram |
Kochi, India |
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Baisakhi Banerjee |
India |
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Cherian George |
Loggerheads, UK |
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Abhinav Mathew |
India |
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Sheela M |
Bengaluru, India |
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Spandana Bakki |
India |
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Prajval Shastri |
Bengaluru, India |
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Akshay S |
India |
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Vertika Soni |
Lucknow, India |
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Poonam Jay |
Bengaluru, India |
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Kakoli Mukhopadhyay |
Vijayawada, India |
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Anjana Kovoor |
Bengaluru, India |
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Manomita Das |
India |
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Nandini Sundar |
Delhi, India |
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Mira Abra |
Göteborg, Sweden |
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Anbarasi Kolman |
Mumbai, India |
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Sunitha Rajan |
India |
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Nitya Shankar |
Göteborg, Sweden |
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Rashmi Dhinu |
Ernakulam, India |
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Naveen Thomas |
Kuwait, Kuwait |
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Amita Baviskar |
New Delhi, India |
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Satarupa Chakraborty |
New Delhi, India |
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Sandipan Baksi |
Bengaluru, India |
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Shankho Chowdhury |
Kolkatata, India |
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SP Arun |
Bengaluru, India |
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ARUN BIDANI |
Delhi, India |
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Tanvi Rai |
Oxford, UK |
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Nalini Nayak |
New Delhi, India |
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Jahnvi Andharia |
Noida, India |
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Shobha joseph Joseph |
Mumbai, India |
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Gautam Menon |
Delhi, India |
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Deepak Malghan |
Bengaluru, India |
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Gustavo Garcia-Lopez |
San Juan, Puerto Rico, US |
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Rajeswari Raina |
New Delhi, India |
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Pushpal ghosh |
India |
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Mausumi Das |
Delhi, India |
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Akshay Chettri |
India |
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Manish Kumar |
Bengaluru, India |
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A.R. Vasavi Aninhalli |
Shimoga, India |
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Nivedita Menon |
Delhi, India |
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Jaisy Paul |
Ernakulam, India |
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Su Khan |
Gurgaon, India |
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Jittu George |
Sydney, Australia |
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REGINA MATHEWS |
India |
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suraj thube |
India |
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Ramlal Debnath |
Bengaluru, India |
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Elizabeth Joseph |
Australia |
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Sarah Varghese |
Sydney, Australia |
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chitra r |
Bengaluru, India |
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Udaya Kumar |
New Delhi, India |
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Pooja Bhaumik |
Kolkata, India |
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Koel Chatterji |
Kolkata, India |
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Vipul Sangoi |
London, UK |
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uzra bilgrami |
Hyderabad, India |
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Elphin j Mathew Mathew |
Chennai, India |
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Rajesh Kasturirangan |
Massachusetts, US |
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Krishna Prasad |
Bengaluru, India |
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Rajeev Poduval |
Boulder, Colorado, US |
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David Ligon |
Salinas, US |
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Vijayasingh Ronald David |
Kushalnagar, India |
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Poonam Bhushan |
Delhi, India |
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Sukanya Pal |
Auckland, New Zealand |
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Mihika Chatterjee |
Oxford, UK |
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Sujit Kumar |
Patna, India |
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Gayatri Menon |
Bengaluru, India |
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Seema Mundoli |
Bengaluru, India |
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NILESH KUMAR |
India |
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Jean Dreze |
Ranchi, India |
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Amrita Ghatak |
Ahmedabad, India |
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Divya Pillai |
New Delhi, India |
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Narayanan Kaliyodath |
Ernakulam, India |
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Devanshi Chanchani |
Norwich, UK |
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Maneesh Chandran |
Kozhikode, India |
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Aseem Hasnain |
North Easton, Massachusetts, US |
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Surinder Jodhka |
New Delhi, India |
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James Zacharias |
Kottayam, India |
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Sayani Malakar |
Kolkata, India |
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Arindam Ghosh |
Ahmedabad, India |
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Shyamashree Roy |
Kolkata, India |
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Supurna Banerjee |
Kolkata, India |
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jay deep singh |
Panipat, India |
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Zaad Mahmood |
Kolkata, India |
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Shikha Sharma Sarkar |
Kolkata, India |
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venite Menezes |
Mapusa, India |
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Rishabh Maniktala |
Lucknow, India |
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Naz Siddiqi |
Pune, India |
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pradip basu |
Kolkata, India |
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anand kundaji |
India |
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Cyril Abraham |
Whitby, Ontario, Canada |
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Jharna Pathak |
Ahmedabad, India |
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Anant Srivastava |
Delhi, India |
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Tanuj Barla |
Delhi, India |
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Aishwarya Padmaraj |
Delhi, India |
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Shalini Nair |
Bengaluru, India |
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Deepali Srivastava Founder, WritefullyOurs |
Bronx, New York, US |
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pervin jehangir |
mumbai, Massachusetts, US |
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Sita Reddy |
Hyderabad, India |
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Simon Stephen |
Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
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Sudhanva Deshpande |
New Delhi, India |
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Seema Arora-Jonsson |
Vallentuna, Sweden |
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Rashmi Singh |
India |
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SUPRATIK GUHA |
Kolkata, India |
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Teslin Augustine |
Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
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नता पवार पवार |
Ahmadnagar, India |
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Manoranjan Mohanty |
Delhi, India |
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Nandini Nayak |
India |
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Muskan Narwal |
Karnal, India |
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Indrajit ROY |
London, UK |
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Sridhar Radhakrishnan |
India |
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Priyanshi Wazir |
Delhi, India |
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Malavika Karlekar |
New Delhi, India |
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Mansee Bal |
India |
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Sujata Roychoudhury |
Kolkata, India |
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Himaja Sathuluri |
Bengaluru, India |
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Ramachandra Guha |
Bangalore, India |
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Sai Vamshi |
Hyderabad, India |
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Mahantesh Kambar |
Bengaluru, India |
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Anu Kumar |
Montville, New Jersey, US |
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Meeta Borkar |
Bengaluru, India |
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Daya Rakshe |
India |
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Snehal Koli |
Pune, India |
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Vinayak Totad |
Dharwad, India |
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Jammy Singh |
Lucknow, India |
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Prakash Jha |
Delhi, India |
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Tanya Sood |
Delhi, India |
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Mahesh Poudyal |
Lewisham, UK |
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Lalremruati Royte |
Aizawl, India |
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Jey Jawahar Narayanan |
Coimbatore, India |
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Sumedh Jiwane |
Pune, India |
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Neelkanth Pan |
Delhi, India |
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Jhansi R |
New Delhi, India |
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Prachi NA |
Delhi, India |
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vandana srivastava |
India |
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Aatish Taseer |
New York, New York, US |
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Pratap Sen |
New Delhi, India |
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Gagan deep Singh |
Jaipur, India |
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KAUSHAL KUMAR |
India |
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Nuzhat Abbas |
Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
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Rahul Rajamuthiah |
Mumbai, India |
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Sampath R |
Bengaluru, India |
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Rajat Jaiswal |
Lucknow, India |
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Monika R |
Pune, India |
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Yogesh Dubey |
Lucknow, India |
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Anjali Kanitkar |
India |
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Reji Thomas |
New Delhi, India |
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Neeraj Shetye |
Thane, India |
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Dennis Thomas |
Pune, India |
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Krishnagopal Chellappan |
Coimbatore, India |
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Rachel Mathew Mathew |
Chennai, India |
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Priya Unni |
Gurgaon, India |
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Parth Dubey |
Lucknow, India |
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Anjani Gupta |
Bengaluru, India |
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Manav Jinger |
Jaipur, India |
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SN |
Mumbai, India |
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Neeru Verma |
Noida, India |
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HARSHITA MURARKA |
Delhi, India |
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Shashi P |
Reading, UK |
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Sarath Kumar |
Chennai, India |
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sumit chahal |
Ernakulam, India |
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Roshan Ansari |
Kathmandu, Nepal |
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Nikhit Agrawal |
Ahmedabad, India |
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Sanjana K |
Mumbai, India |
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Jatinder Singh |
Bengaluru, India |
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Arjun Kohli |
Ghaziabad, India |
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Manohar Chandrasekaran |
Chennai, India |
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Indrani Mukherjee |
New Delhi, India |
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Paridhi Dubey |
New Delhi, India |
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Subharnab Majumdar |
Bengaluru, India |
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Aman Srivastav |
India |
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Navnita Behera |
Gurgaon, India |
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sajesh t |
Bengaluru, India |
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Neeraj Bhaskar |
Australia |
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Alagu Niranjan |
Madurai, India |
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Steve Runge |
Newton Center, Massachusetts, US |
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Dnyanesh Dubal |
Pune, India |
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Aditya Krishna |
New Delhi, India |
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Shrinivas Shinde |
Nanded, India |
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Shubha Gokhale |
Melbourne, Australia |
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Nikita Bagde |
Pune, India |
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Pappu Gandhi |
Pune, India |
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Priyadarshini Narendra |
New Delhi, India |
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Zoya Ayesha |
Kolkata, India |
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Bhaskar Sutar |
Bengaluru, India |
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Snehal Bhosale |
Mumbai, India |
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Asmita Das |
Huntingtin Station, New York, US |
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Kurian Abraham |
Kozhikode, India |
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Jaseem Khan |
Jaipur, India |
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Md Shahrukh Khan |
Patna, India |
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Clarina Viegas |
Mumbai, India |
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Mumbai, India |
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Reshma Shirke |
India |
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Saiba Varma |
San Diego, California, US |
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Raghu Singh |
Jodhpur, India |
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Arun M Nair |
Kozhikode, India |
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Kaumudi Karangutkar |
Mumbai, India |
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Joshua Castelino |
Mumbai, India |
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Pravin Jawale |
Pune, India |
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Khushboo Nandu |
Mumbai, India |
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Kumar Iyer |
India |
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seq boom |
Gresham, US |
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Chitralekha D |
Princeton, New Jersey, US |
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Deepti Chawla |
Maharashtra, India |
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Keya Acharya |
Bangalore, India |
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Amit Kurien |
Bengaluru, India |
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Sarada Natarajan |
India |
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Ali Imran |
Jamshedpur, India |
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Sita Venkateswar |
Palmerston North, New Zealand |
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Asok Dutta |
Kolkata, India |
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shrikant wadewale |
Palam , Dis: Parbhani., India |
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Pushpi Bagchi |
Edinburgh, UK |
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Benjamin Fernandez |
Calangute, India |
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Aniket Chaudhari |
Pune, India |
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Zafar Sultan |
Bhiwandi, India |
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Silpa Satheesh |
Bengaluru, India |
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Alistair D |
India |
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Ajay Batolar |
New Delhi, India |
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Harmandeep Khera |
Chandigarh, India |
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Dr.kusum Kaushik |
Delhi, India |
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S Subramanian |
Chennai, India |
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Jawad Moretti |
Las Vegas, US |
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Nevaeh Porter |
Charlotte, US |
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Vanmala Hiranandani |
Copenhagen, Denmark |
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Ravindra Naik |
Shimoga, India |
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Marshneill Abraham Hamilton |
Ontario, Canada |
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M K |
Pune, India |
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Pooja Rani |
New Delhi, India |
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Mandi Loyal |
Australia |
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Rehan Baig |
Orlando, Florida, US |
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Karen Miranda |
Alpharetta, Georgia, US |
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Rajvinder Bassi |
Corona, California, US |