Arun Kumar

Dr. ARUN KUMAR is an ex-Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the 1979 batch of the Jammu and Kashmir cadre. His last posting in J&K was Vice-Chairman and Director General of the Jammu and Kashmir Institute of Management and Public Administration (IMPA).

Dr. Kumar holds a graduate degree in Economics, a postgraduate degree in International Studies from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and a Ph.D. from IIT Delhi in Energy Studies.

During his over 37 years stint in the IAS with the Government of India as well as the Government of Jammu and Kashmir, Dr. Kumar has held numerous assignments related to education, energy (both conventional and renewable), environment, rural and urban development, food and fertilizer distribution, consumer goods marketing, and anti-poverty programmes in both rural and urban areas.

Dr. Kumar is well-known for his outstanding contribution to professionalizing and modernizing the functioning of two world famous Shrine Boards viz. Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board (SMVDSB) and Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB). As Chief Executive Officer of both these Shrines for over six years from May 2002 to June 2008, Dr. Kumar oversaw management of a corpus of over Rs. 5000 million, the implementation of an annual budget of over Rs. 2000 million, and the supervision of over 2200 employees to optimally serve the interests of over 10 million pilgrims visiting these shrines every year. He is the one who introduced helicopter services for both these shrines and electric buses for Vaishno Devi.

Prasenjeet Kumar

PRASENJEET KUMAR is the author/co-author of over 39 books in four genres: Fiction, motivational books for introverts (the Quiet Phoenix series), books on Self-Publishing (Self-Publishing WITHOUT SPENDING A DIME series) and cookbooks (Cooking In A Jiffy series). His books (51 titles so far) have been translated into French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, and Portuguese, and sell in over 50 countries.

Prasenjeet is a Law graduate from the University College London (2005-2008), London University and a Philosophy Honours graduate from St. Stephen's College (2002-2005), Delhi University. In addition, he holds a Legal Practice Course (LPC) Diploma from College of Law, Bloomsbury, London, and was for a brief while, a solicitor of England and Wales.

Prasenjeet loves gourmet food, music, films, and travelling. He has already covered nineteen countries including Canada, China, Denmark, Dubai, Germany, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Italy, Macau, Malaysia, Mauritius, Sharjah, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, UK, Uzbekistan, and the USA.

Prasenjeet is the self-taught designer, writer, editor and proud owner of the website cookinginajiffy.com which he has dedicated to his mother. He also runs another website publishwithprasen.com where he shares tips about writing and self-publishing.