Oversight that is independent by charter, not by convention.
The board is majority-independent, Audit & Risk is chaired by an independent director, and the Telos Council holds a veto it is structurally unable to be lobbied out of.
Justice (Retd) N. Chandramohan
Chairs the Board. No executive role, no funder relationship.
Lakshmi Venkataraman
Thirty years in audit. The Audit & Risk Committee is chaired by an independent director by charter, not by convention.
Dr Paul Rajkumar
Development economics. Reviews the independence register each quarter.
Anitha Selvaraj
Operations and finance. Signs nothing on research content.
The Council owns the long-horizon question and runs nothing operational, by design. Its one hard power: a veto on any programme that cannot state its kill criteria.
Prof. Rukmini Devarajan
Owns the long-horizon question. Runs nothing operational, by design.
S. Arunachalam
Industrial history of the state. Asks the twenty-one-year question when a programme asks for a one-year answer.
Dr Fathima Beevi
Public health systems. Holds the Council's veto on any programme that cannot state its kill criteria.
- Three of four directors independent
- Chaired by an independent director — charter, not convention
- Independence register reviewed quarterly and published
- No director may hold one; the chair has none
One proposed programme — a state-skills index — was vetoed in its first quarter because its kill criteria were written as aspirations. It returned four months later with criteria a failure could actually trip, and was chartered.
The veto is the Council's only metric. Used once, respected ever since.