Hi, My name is Shivanshu. I grew up in a lower-middle-class family in Kanpur, a city the British once called Cawnpore. We were eighteen people in a small house, which meant the house was always full of noise, love, chaos, and an unspoken rule that you made do with what you had. Turns out that is not a bad preparation for a career in social impact space 🙂

My first job took me to rural Andhra Pradesh. That is when everything clicked. The people I was working with were not numbers in a policy document. They were human beings with agency, dignity, frustration, and hope. Much like the rest of us, except they had far fewer safety nets and far more resilience.

I have a Master of Public Administration from Cornell University and a Post Graduate Diploma in Forestry Management (IIFM) from Bhopal. These two degrees and my professional experience between them explain why I cannot stop talking about rural India, rural livelihoods and women farmers.

Outside of work I am a son, a brother, a husband and since November 2025, a father. The last one has become the most humbling and sleep-depriving job I have ever had. Nothing in my Cornell or IIFM coursework prepared me for it.

I am active on LinkedIn and passively present on Twitter. The former for work, the latter mostly to watch the world argue.

This site is where I write about whatever I feel like. Mostly about rural India, development economics, books, life, travel and occasionally things that have nothing to do with any of the above.

Cheers!