Ken Gnanakan

He was also the Vice President of the Global Challenges Forum (GCF),[5] Switzerland and an Advisor to the United Nations Institute of Training and Research (UNITAR), Geneva.

[9] Gnanakan initiated the Programme for Environmental Awareness in Schools (PEAS), a nationwide network aimed at motivating students into action.

The programme initially funded by CIDA has hundreds of schools networked in an environmental movement bringing together thousands of children from all over the country.

After completing his Ph.D. in philosophy at King's College London and returning to India, he and his wife Prema set up the ACTS Institute,[10] a vocational training school, which also imparted practical skills and spiritual values to young people.

The institute took the couple into needy areas in slums and villages, and gradually grew to become a large network of education, health and environmental projects, all over India under the banner of ACTS.

The band known as "the Indian Beatles" kept Bangalore, Calcutta and Bombay swinging in the '60s and included Biddu, a prominent pop musician.