SUMMITPOLCOM - Key Persons

Job Titles:

• Chief Strategy Officer
• Co - Founder
• Freelance Contributor for the Third Pole

Amardeep has been a regular freelance contributor for The Third Pole, an organization primarily working on environmental issues. An out and out political animal, Amardeep, completed his graduation in economics and psychology. He later went on to complete his Master's in mass communication and journalism. He worked as a journalist with the DLA-Mid Day newspaper, Indo-Asian News Service and Amar Ujala before joining the Government of Delhi in February 2015. He joined as Advisor (Media) and was attached primarily with Minister of Law, Government of Delhi. Apart from the law ministry, Amardeep was assigned to work on the school reforms in Delhi and the media outreach around it. He was deeply involved with the team working on the turn-around of the education sector through new innovations. He worked closely with the Deputy Chief Minister, who also held the charge for ministry of education, on initiatives like happiness curriculum, special summer classes, mindfulness initiative, teachers training, Chaunauti, Pragati, incubation centres etc. Later, Amardeep joined the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) as Media Advisor. At Delhi Jal Board, he was in-charge of the team looking after the content management for the outreach programmes. Apart from content management, he focussed on media management of the board and other public relation activities of the board.

Job Titles:

• Chief Executive Officer
• Founder

A science graduate from Delhi University's Kirori Mal College, Arunoday did his Post Graduate Diploma in Mass Communication from Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), New Delhi before working with leading news organizations of the country. He has worked with TV Today Network, ABP-Star News, HT-Mint, DD News and ANI-Reuters before quitting active journalism after a 10-year stint. Thereafter, he started a production house and made audio-visual films for corporate as well as political clients. He has been writing on political and social issues for various journals and digital platforms as well. He edited a book for HarperCollins India on the Anna Hazare movement. Among the range of things he has done also includes work on a UNICEF project on mass immunization, where he trained Information Officers of Uttar Pradesh Government to use different communication tools for better outreach. The year 2015 saw another career shift, which led to his appointment as Advisor (Media) with the Government of Delhi. He was assigned to look after the media management, outreach and image of the government. The task included special focus on building image of the Education Minister and the ministry of education. He was primarily attached with the Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi, who also held charge of the education department. He also worked on the image management of new initiatives such as Mohalla Clinics (Neighbourhood Clinics) and the free water scheme of the Delhi Government. He was then appointed Chief Media Advisor with the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), where he was attached with the Chief Minister of Delhi, also serving as the Chairman of the Board. In this capacity, Arunoday led the public relations team and was a part of the policy-making and feedback team. He has led massive beneficiary outreach programmes for the government of Delhi during his stint with Delhi Government and Delhi Jal Board. Apart from the government assignments, he also worked closely and extensively with the campaign team of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) during the Delhi and Punjab assembly elections. His profile though went much beyond the designations, and involved keeping tab on policy implementation and feedback, besides ensuring media outreach of government affairs. Exposure to policymaking processes and their implementation and challenges were co-benefits, to say the least. Arunoday also has interacted closely with policymakers in China in an attempt to understand the functioning of the different arms of the government. The seminar was for young leaders from India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. The US State Department too has awarded Arunoday a Fellowship. Part of the Professional Fellows Programme fall 2018, the fellowship focused on governance and society. This took him to Ohio, Texas, Washington DC and New York where he engaged with policymakers across different levels of governance. He also worked closely with campaign teams of some of the Democrats and Republicans during the mid-term polls during his stay in the USA, which he feels is an invaluable experience in the conduct of polls and management of people and expectations.