Sekhar Raghavan holds a Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics from The University of Madras (1976). He was with the Centre for Policy Studies, a socio-economic Research Institute, as a Research Fellow during 1992-2002. It was during this period that he got an opportunity to visit some of the rural areas and learn about the traditional water harvesting systems. In 1995, he initiated a door-to-door campaign in Chennai city to create awareness, among the residents, of the importance of rainwater harvesting. Since 2002, he has been the Director of Rain Centre in Chennai. Since 2005, he has also been sensitizing the residents living in peri-urban and rural of the importance of Ecological Sanitation. He was selected an Ashoka Fellow in 2003 by the Ashoka Innovators for the public, U.S.A. and was selected for the Harmony Silver Award in 2010 by the Harmony for Silvers Foundation, Mumbai.