Behind SARPF’s mission is a dedicated team that drives coordination, research, and collaboration across the region. Our Secretariat ensures smooth operations, fosters partnerships, and supports members in advancing a just and sustainable energy future.
Senior Advisor
Mukul Sharma is the Senior Advisor to the South Asia Regional Parliamentary Forum for Energy Cooperation. For over three decades, he has worked extensively in the areas of environment, energy, and climate change, bringing a wealth of experience as a development professional, writer, journalist, and academic across India, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. He has held senior national, regional, and international positions with organizations such as the Heinrich Böll Foundation, ActionAid International, Amnesty International, Climate Parliament, The Times of India Group, the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, and Ashoka University. Additionally, he specializes in legislative and policy work on energy and climate change.
Advisor
Sumedha Basu is the advisor to the South Asia Regional Parliamentary Forum for Energy Cooperation. With more than 15 years of experience in the field of climate change and sustainable energy transition, she specialises in parliamentary engagement, strategic advisory, and policy analysis across multiple geographies, including South Asia. She has helped build and maintain dynamic parliamentary networks on issues of energy policies, energy justice, and regional energy cooperation in India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. In the past, she has worked in multiple international energy think tanks where she has implemented technical advisory, policy evaluation, and capacity-building projects on behalf of government agencies, development bodies and international donor organisations. Sumedha is also an academic researcher. In 2016-17, she was awarded the International Climate Protection Fellowship of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Germany. Sumedha holds a PhD in Politics and International Studies from the University of Warwick, UK.
Operations Lead
Ayisha R. Wadhwa has been serving as the Operations Lead at the South Asia Regional Parliamentary Forum (SARPF) since August 2025. With over 10 years of experience across event management, organizational operations, and stakeholder engagement, she plays a key role in ensuring the smooth functioning of SARPF’s regional initiatives.
In her role, Ayisha oversees administrative systems, policy development, and communication frameworks while coordinating with parliamentarians, partners, and program teams to advance the Forum’s mission of promoting energy transition and sustainable governance in South Asia.
Prior to SARPF, Ayisha worked with Climate Parliament as Events Coordinator for South Asia, managing international and national-level events that mobilized legislators around renewable energy and climate action. Before her transition into the Energy sector, she built a strong foundation in the finance and banking industry.
Regional Energy Trade Lead
Mr. Rajiv is an international energy expert, electrical engineer, researcher, energy, and climate policy professional with nearly two decades of expertise and experience in Cross Border Energy Trade (CBET), Regional Energy/Power Grid Integration strategy, Regional Power/Energy Markets (REMs); Policy, Regulatory, Legal, Technical, Operational, Planning, Investment, Political-Economy, Geopolitical aspects of CBET & REM, Regional Institution Building, Clean Energy Transition, Sustainable Development, Climate Change (CC), Energy Security & CC strategies, etc. He possesses a unique set of knowledge/expertise across many regional markets: South Asia (SA)/SAARC, the Middle East (GCC), Africa, Southeast Asia/ASEAN, Asia-Pacific, North Asia, Europe, the Mediterranean, North America, Latin America, and Central America on strategies for Energy Grid and Market Integration, Trans-Regional and Intercontinental Energy Grid Connectivity/Integration, OSOWOG, Green Grid, Super Grid, and Regional Green Power Pool. He engages & renders his technical expertise and thoughts as a technical resource person to a wide range of stakeholders: policymakers, regulators, members of parliaments, system planners, researchers, & think tanks for societal well-being. He is an avid reader & keen observer of energy cooperation politics, international relations, & geopolitics in South Asia, BIMSTEC, ASEAN, Central Asia, and across the Indo-Pacific region. Mr. Panda is credited with authoring more than 80 national and international publications. As a multidisciplinary professional, outside of his core area of expertise, he takes learning interest in and engages in intellectual endeavors in very diverse areas such as history, socio-cultural, inter-faith & religion, nationalism & multilateralism, statecraft, Vedic philosophy, space & plant science, artificial intelligence, political psychology, human competition & concept of human in science of philosophy, etc.
