Background: Kennedy and Iyer

Background Information

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. went to Harvard College and graduated with a B.A. in government. He is married to Mary Richardson and has six children. In 1983, Kennedy was arrested for heroin possession when he was found in an airplane bathroom with a needle in his arm. He was sentenced with 1500 hours of community service and became involved the Riverkeeper organization. After working with them on a case he was hired after his 1500 hours were finished. He later became involved with Environmental lobbying and became the senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council. He has an umbrella organization known as the Waterkeeper Alliance, after his work with the Riverkeeper group. He and two other individuals created a bottled water company that donates all its proceeds to the Waterkeeper Alliance.


Ramaswamy R. Iyer graduated from Bombay with a M.A. in English Language and Literature in 1948, and later earned his Post-graduate Diploma in Economic and Social Administration from London School of Economics in 1965. Throughout life Iyer has held a number of civil service positions for various governments. He has been a member of various organizations such as Pricing of Irrigation Water set up by the Planning Commission (1992), National Commission on Integrated Water Resource Planning (1996-1999) and most recently he has served as a member of a panel for the Ministry of Water Resource. He is also a life member for numerous institutions, which included Indian Institute of Public Administration and Indian Water Resources Society. Iyer currently serves as the Secretary to the Government of India. He has expertise in water resources, public enterprises, public administration and governance issues, and general political and social issues. He is also an honorary research professor for the Centre for Policy Research.