Trustees

Trustees, Colleagues and Partners

Working Trustees

S.No.	Trustee Name	Description	Address	Contact Details
1	Dr. Anil Babubhai Patel	Founder Trustee of ARCH, Dr. Patel is a very distinguished figure in the civil society of India. Highly qualified medical professional trained in epidemiology and community health from London School of Hygiene; he has led ARCH from front and has been shaping and guiding the diverse work of ARCH group among tribal people of Gujarat. Dr. Patel heads the Mangrol based health care activities that has inter alia chartered a novel course in treating and counselling the Tuberculosis patients.	ARCH, At.Mangrol, Ta.Nadod, District: Narmada (Rajpipla)	ababulal44@gmail.com 9979366261
2	Ambrish Mehta	An ace activist and researcher, Ambrish, one of the founding trustees, joined ARCH in prime of his youth and started his activist life with proper rehabilitation of Sardar Sarovar project affected tribal families in 1980. The sustained efforts of Ambrish and ARCH team resulted in a new landmark rehabilitation policy declared by Gujarat Government in 1987, providing minimum 5 acres of land of choice to all project affected families. Thereafter, he played a crucial role in the implementation of the R&R policy, so that the affected families actually got what they were entitled to. From 2008, he joined Trupti for proper implementation of FRA in-depth in Dediapada tehsil of Narmada district and in all tribal districts of Gujarat in general. Their efforts, including an innovative use of GIS technology, have led to recognition of 96% of IFR claims and 100% of Community Forest Resource rights (CFRRs) in their organizational villages, of more than 90% claims in Narmada district and of more than 50,000 claims in Gujarat so far. They are also working with village Gram Sabhas to build up their capacity for management of their community forests for sustainable use.	ARCH, E-702, Samrajya complex, Near Fatehganj post office, Baroda	m_ambrish@hotmail.com 9825411540
3	Trupti Parekh Mehta	One of the Founding Trustees, Trupti has been an able organiser. She along with ARCH team started with proper rehabilitation of Sardar Sarovar project affected tribal families in 1980. From 1988, she started working with the tribal families affected by Shoolpaneshwar Sanctuary in Dediapada for protection of their land and forest rights. During 2003 to 2007, she played an active role in the national campaign for enactment of Forest Rights Act, a historical legislation that recognizes the rights of the Scheduled tribes and other traditional forest dwellers on forest lands and forest resources. From 2008, Trupti and Ambrish are working for proper implementation of FRA in-depth in Dediapada tehsil of Narmada district and in all tribal districts of Gujarat in general. Their efforts, including an innovative use of GIS technology, have led to recognition of 96% of IFR claims and 100% of Community Forest Resource rights (CFRRs) in their organizational villages, of more than 90% claims in Narmada district and of more than 50,000 claims in Gujarat so far. They are working with village Gram Sabhas to build up their capacity for management of their community forests for sustainable use.	ARCH, E-702, Samrajya complex, Near Fatehganj post offce, Baroda	truptipare@gmail.com 9427591540
4	Rajesh Mishra	Mr. Rajesh Mishra, one of the founding trustees, worked from his adolescence with tribals near Kawant in Vadodara district. He then took charge of these villages for Narmada Project displacement problems. He has also been working as motivator for the teens in Mangrol and other villages. He is working for the implementation of the FRA in Chhotaudepur district. He has also taken up the onerous responsibility of handling and managing accounts and audit of the entire ARCH work.	ARCH, At.Mangrol, Ta.Nadod, District: Narmada (Rajpipla)	arch.rajesh@gmail.com 9426125617
5	Rashmi Kapadia	One of the Founding Trustees, Rashmi Kapadia studied at Grant Medical College, Mumbai. He left the studies during third year of M.B.B.S. He has developed work around training and learning programmes for health workers and drop out school children. Presently he is engaged in preparing education learning kits and materials and taking them through demonstration and training to various schools in Gujarat. He is in-charge of ARCH, Dharampur centre and Co-ordinator ARCH.	ARCH-Dharampur, District Valsad, 396050	rashmi.dharampur@gmail.com 9879178223
6	Sudarshan Iyengar	A member of the ARCH Core Group since 1990s along with his wife Dr. Laxmi Iyengar, an Ayurvedic Physician, Mr. Iyengar joined as a Trustee during recent years. He is former Vice Chancellor of Gujarat Vidyapith, Ahmedabad, a university founded by Mahatma Gandhi in 1920. He joined Dr. Laxmi at ARCH Dharampur Centre in 2015 and has been actively supporting the work at ARCH, Dharampur.	ARCH-Dharampur, District Valsad, 396050	sudarshan54@gmail.com 9898636916
7	Dr. Nishith Vohra	General Physician at Dharampur & Physician at ARCH Dispensary.	Address not specified	Contact details not available
Other Trustees
8	Dr. Mahendra Chotaliya	Other Trustee. Formal Technical Director Children University Gandhinagar and formerly reader English department, Sardar Patel university Vidhyanagar	Address not specified	Contact details not available
9	Dr. Manjusha Sridhar	Other Trustee. Ophthalmologist Baroda.	Address not specified	Contact details not available
10	Dr. Paresh Shah	Other Trustee. General Surgeon, Surat.	Address not specified	Contact details not available
11	Late Dr. Daxa Patel	Founder Trustee of ARCH, Dr. Daxa Patel was a vibrant persona who took fresh initiatives and explored new areas for work. Dr. Daxa dedicated her life to care, serve, treat and train tribal women in remote areas of Gujarat since 1982. She initiated work in Dharampur area in Valsad district – her home district in since 1999. Unfortunately, she passed away suddenly in November 2016 by terminal illness. ARCH family continues to draw inspiration from her life and work. .	Address not specified	Contact details not available

Colleagues & Partners

ARCH operates with a spirit of collaboration, maintaining formal and informal contacts with numerous organizations.

Colleagues:Vinayak Dave, Dr. Laxmi Bhatt, Dr. Bhavna Vohra, Dr. Keyuri Shah, Dr. S. Shridhar.
Collaboration: ARCH was formed with a spirit of collaboration and creativity. We are constantly in contact and conversation – both formal and informal – with other organizations working in Gujarat on similar issues.
We have partnerships with: Dhruv Bhatt (Nachiketa Trust), Aparna & Pankaj Kadikar (Kaivalya), Kaushik Joshi (JNPCT), Sujata Shah, (Sarvoday Trust), District Science Center – Dharampur, Eklavaya – Madhya Pradesh, Navnirmiti – Mumbai, and the American Jewish World Service – USA.
Government Partnership: a Mother and Child Health (MCH) project in the Mankuniya area of Dharampur taluka.

Financial Support

Friends of ARCH (New York, Tampa, USA)
Rashmin Sanghvi (Friends of Dharampur, Mumbai)
Private donors in India

Last updated on 13 Nov 2025, 01:02 PM