Rakesh Maheshwari is a former Government Officer having worked for more than 35 years in Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and retired as Sr. Director and Group Coordinator, Cyber Law and data Governance. He had also been Group Co-ordinator Cyber Security and CERT-In in the Ministry. He is an Engineer in Electronics and Comm from Delhi College of Engg. He handled activities related to Information Technology (IT) Act, Cyber Security policies, Social media regulation, Personal data protection Bill, in various capacities including as Group Co-ordinator (GC) Cyber Law, GC Cyber Security, GC for CERT-In, GC for UIDAI and Designated Officer for section 69A of IT Act. He was closely associated with the drafting and implementation of various regulations governing India’s online space.
He has also been involved in the personal data protection Bill along with Sri Krishna Committee and have been involved in some of the JPC discussions after the bill was presented in the parliament in 2019 end. He has also worked on the latest DPDP draft Bill presently under discussion and likely to be introduced in the Parliament shortly. In his long stint of 28 years in STQC directorate, MeitY, he carried out various activities in related to Software Process Improvement (SW-CMM Trainer), quality Management (Certfied Quality Engineer and trainer), Information Security management (ISMS Lead Auditor and trainer), IT and IT enabled Service management and Process improvement relate activities. He has more than 1000 mandays of training and auditing experience. Was also involved in working with BIS on Privacy management Standard development.
Mr Sumnesh Joshi is an officer from Indian Telecom Service Cadre and at present is posted as Deputy Director General , at Joint Secretary level in Ministry of Communications at DoT Mumbai. He is working in area of communication expanding 5G use cases , IoT and implementation the policies to ensure smooth roll out of telecom network by service providers. He has also been made Nodal officer for monitoring of 4G network saturation Project in East and West region of the country. He is working to make digital ecosystem partners like Fintechs , Banks state government departments to make use of Digital Public Good Infrastructure and use AIML to curb the cyber threats.
He worked with UIDAI as a first officer at UIDAI Regional Office Mumbai in April 2010 as a part of the founding team under leadership of Mr NandanNilekani. He was instrumental to roll out the implementation of biometric based Digital Identity“Aadhaar” project in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa, Dadra Nagar Haveli and Daman Diu. He worked with the Aadhaar Eco System Partners like State Governments, Regulators, Banks, Insurance Companies and Fintech Companies and guiding them in designing the solutions for the convenient delivery of various services using “Aadhaar”.
He facilitated the use of Aadhaar -a Digital Identity Platform in E-Governance for Targeted Delivery of Services and Benefits. He also headed Enrolment & Update vertical of UIDAI PAN India. He was in various committees to look into the Strengthening of Aadhaar Enrolment Processes, Revisiting the regulations and SoPs, Automation of various Processes and Universal Client for Enrolment & Update
Mr Joshi is an expert in DPI implementation, use of telecom , cyber security strategies , data analytics and speaking at various forums on digital identity , Fintech , data centres , AI, cyber security, ESG at international and national level. He delivered a TEDx talk on India’s digital identity.
Rajiv Jain (born 17 March 1957) is a retired Indian Police Service officer who formerly served as the Director of the Intelligence Bureau of India. He belonged to 1980 batch of the Indian Police Service. He is from the Jharkhand cadre and was appointed on 1 January 2017 as the 26th Director of Intelligence Bureau after the retirement of Dineshwar Sharma and served there till 26 June 2019. Post, retirement he was appointed as a member of the National Human Rights Commission of India where he served from 1 June 2021 till 1 June 2024.
Advocate Puneet Bhasin is an Internationally Recognised Cyber Law & Privacy/ Data Protection Expert along with being a Pioneer in Cyber Laws in India and Awarded the Best Cyber Lawyer in India multiple times. She is an Honorary Advisor to United Nations, representing India in DPG Alliance.This initiative is in alignment with the UN General Secretary’s Roadmap for Global Digital Cooperation. Noteworthy board members of the Digital Public Goods Alliance include the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), EkStep Foundation, the Government of Sierra Leone, the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad), UNDP, and UNICEF.
She is an advisor to the Rajya Sabha Committees on Internet laws and Recipient of 15 National Awards for contribution in Cyber laws one of them being “Best Cyber Lawyer in India”.
Ms. Puneet is a well known Author in Cyber laws and her articles are published routinely in News Papers and Online portals whereby she shares her views on issues and latest updates in the digital crimes and privacy space. She is also routinely featured on leading news channels like BBC, CNBC, Zee News, DD News etc for her views and recommendations. Her Books “Practical Guide to Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023- Law & Compliance” and “Law Relating to Social Media Crimes, Intermediaries, Digital Media & OTT Platforms” published by Oakbridge Publication are Best sellers and sought after books for her expertise in these areas of law.
Ms. Puneet launched Cyberjure Academy in 2018 to develop Industry skill sets in EU GDPR Compliance, Cyber laws, Cyber Crime Investigation and Data Protection Compliances and till date has trained over 500 CXOs and Professionals. She is a mentor to over 4000 aspiring professionals and law students all over the globe whom she guides
