Kiran Vissa

Kiran Vissan is the co-founder of Rythu Swarajya Vedika, an organisation that works for sustainable farming and livelihoods in the south Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

He was also a key figure at the Association for India's Development since its formative years. After several years of volunteering, Kiran quit his job in the USA and is now based in Andhra Pradesh, devoting his full time to social issues. He played an important role in setting up many early chapters of AID, and continued to provide inspirational and organizational support to budding chapters and emerging leadership. He was in the board of directors and was an important part of many of AID’s initiatives. Kiran also played a key role in promoting the sangharsh aspect in AID through the Narmada struggle, anti-communalism campaign, and other human rights campaigns. Kiran’s focus interests have been agriculture and farmers’ issues, consumer awareness on food, volunteer mobilization and citizen activism, and tackling organizational challenges in AID.

Kiran holds a B.Tech. from IIT, Chennai and an M.S. from University of Maryland. He became active in AID in his very early days at College Park, inspired by the ideas and energy of volunteers like Ravi, Balaji and Aravinda, as well as meeting many social activists from India.