Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan is a physician by training who went into the Indian Administrative Service in the aftermath of the Emergency and failure of the Janata Experiment. He was a topper in the IAS exam. During the 16 years of distinguished public service in various capacities, he acquired a formidable reputation in the erstwhile State of Andhra Pradesh. His experience in government convinced him that faulty governance process was the biggest hurdle to India and Indians achieving greater success. And what India needs today is a fundamental change in the rules of the game and not a periodic change of players. In order to translate his vision into practical reality, he resigned from Service (IAS) in 1996, and worked with like-minded colleagues for the formation of Lok Satta. Lok Satta has now emerged as India’s leading civil society initiative for governance reforms. 

Some of his major accomplishments while in government

• As Joint Collector, he created full and permanent employment for 8000 youth from displaced families of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant.
• As Collector of Prakasm District, he was instrumental in the creation of a record 2,00,000 acres of irrigation, the largest such program with direct participation of people
• As Collector of East Godavari District, he spearheaded the reconstruction of drainage and irrigation network in Krishna and Godavari deltas.
• He served as Secretary to both Governor and Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh.
• He worked on strengthening of the credit cooperatives and making them independent of government contro

Dr Jayaprakash Narayan has served on several national panels. Notable among them are:

• The National Advisory Council (NAC) 2004 – 2006.
• Vigilance Advisory Council constituted by the Central Vigilance Commission, 2004 – 2008.
• Second Administrative Reforms Commission constituted by the Government of India from 2005 – 2007.

Dr Narayan, through Foundation for Democratic Reforms, Lok Satta movement and other fora has been actively pursuing reforms in service guarantees in government offices, education, healthcare, local government empowerment, judicial and police reforms, various anti-corruption measures, and political reforms to transform governance, particularly at state and local levels.