Quick Facts
Biography
Shantanu Gupta is an Indian author and political analyst. He is also the communication advisor to Baba Ramdev and alumni ambassador of the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), University of Sussex, (United Kingdom) in India. Shantanu's recent work as an author has been about Uttar Pradesh and its government. His book Uttar Pradesh - Vikas Ki Prateeksha Mein, published by Bloomsbury Publishing was a hit in strengthening the narrative against Akhilesh Yadav led, Samajwadi Party government. His upcoming book, The Monk Who Became Chief Minister is the biography of current Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister - Yogi Adityanath. As a public speaker, he has been the TEDx Speaker at NIT Silchar.
Early Life and Education
Shantanu was born on 7th February 1979 in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh and brought up in Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, where his father worked in PSU – Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Limited (IDPL). He did his schooling from Kendriya Vidyalaya and has an engineering degree from G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology. He did his Management education from XLRI, Jamshedpur and worked as consultant for many years in India and abroad.
To enrich his knowledge in the social & political themes, in the year 2008 he went to Institute of Development Studies (IDS), University of Sussex, United Kingdom, to do his Masters in Governance and Development. The university earlier in 2015 was ranked as number 1, for development studies by the QS World University Rankings.
Career
Shantanu started his career with a CAD/CAM software company in Hyderabad, names Intergraph and over years worked for different organizations like Quark, Geometric Software, Mercedes Benz, Amdocs and Wipro.
Later he left corporate life and started his social sector career with Naandi Foundation. Under Naandi, he lead large-scale remedial education interventions in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra & New Delhi. He worked with UNICEF too for its Integrated District Approach (IDA) project in the hinterlands of Bundelkhand, Uttar Pradesh. Consequently he became the part of Centre for Civil Society (CCS), the only think tank of India in global top 100 ranking.
Education Policy Expert
With working experience in Naandi, UNICEF and Centre for Civil Society, Shantanu has become an expert in education expert.
Speaking to JESSU JOHN The Hindu Business Line, Shantanu said, “There’s already a 7-10 per cent migration happening from Government to private schools even among lower income groups. State governments can make a difference here.”. Shantanu has taken many sessions of his talk - Education Policy in India – Voice Choice and Incentives. Supporting low fee private schools, Shantanu told Times of India that Sixth Central Pay Commission salary begins at Rs 24,000 and How can a school charging Rs 300-400 per month from a student pay its teachers that much.
Books
Shantanu has authored following four books around policy and politics.
- The Monk Who Became Chief Minister
- Uttar Pradesh - Vikas Ki Prateeksha Mein
- Man Ki Baat
- Education Policy in India: Voice Choice and Incentives (2015)