Mr. Madhu Pandit Dasa
(B.Tech., Civil Engg., 1981)

Mr. Madhu Pandit Dasa, formerly known as Madhusudhan Sivashankar, obtained his B.Tech. degree from the Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Bombay.

Having found the path that answered his quest for the Absolute Truth, right after his days in IIT-Bombay, Mr. Madhu Pandit Dasa dedicated his life to serving the mission of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

He is a dynamic visionary, an able leader and a thought engineer. He has demonstrated his risk-taking ability in achieving organizational excellence and is held in high esteem for his spiritual, cultural and humanitarian contribution to the society. He has been instrumental in conceiving and implementing many initiatives that have, are and will change the presentation of the heritage and culture of India.

Inspired by the idea of simple living and high thinking, Mr. Madhu Pandit Dasa envisioned an eco-friendly and sustainable organic farm. His initiatives led to creating the Hare Krishna Nature Farm, in Mysore. This concept of impacting rural development through sustainable agriculture was conceived by him long before the organized sector realized its potential. The Hare Krishna Nature Farm grew to be a model farm and a case study in sustainable and organic farming in Karnataka, specific to the farmers of dry lands. Thousands of farmers all over India have benefited from this project.

The Akshaya Patra programme initiated by Mr. Madhu Pandit Dasa has, in a short span of seven years, grown by leaps and bounds and been honoured with several prestigious awards. A Harvard Business School case study, Akshaya Patra is one of India’s best conceived, technology-intensive social sector initiatives, strategically intervening in the education of underprivileged children by providing unlimited, free, nutritious mid-day meals to them.