Dr Amitabh Mehrotra completed his Master’s in Social Work from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai in 1987. He has worked in various Organizations like Tata Steel Rural Development Society, Jamshedpur and in NGOs in Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh in the field of rural revelopment and also for persons with disabilities (PwDs)/children with disabilities (CwDs) and marginalized section of the society to bring them into the mainstream. He did his Ph.D. in Applied Psychology on “Inclusion of Challenged Persons in Rural Settings” from Lucknow University. Also, he has been a member of more than 15 National/International committees in the field of disability and rehabilitation viz a member of Governing Council of the National Institute for Empowerment of Persons with Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD), Chennai.
Dr Amitabh has published more than 5 articles in National journals. Recently a write-up on Dr Mehrotra had appeared in a publication jointly published by the National Handicapped Finance Development Corporation (NHFDC), Government of India, and Penguin along with hundred biographies of differently able persons who are social entrepreneurs across the country. He has been a resource person and participant in various training and Conferences at the National as well as international levels. Dr Mehrotra himself is having Cerebral Palsy with tremors and mild spasticity since birth.
After noticing the negligence of the Disability issue and through various personal experiences Dr Mehrotra along with some like-minded individuals founded School for Potential Advancement and Restoration of Confidence (SPARC)-India in 1996 in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. SPARC-India has been implementing Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) in urban slums of Lucknow and rural areas of Deva and Nindura Blocks of Barabanki District in Uttar Pradesh.
He also established Jyoti Kiran School for children with cerebral palsy in 2003. Under his able guidance SPARC-India was identified as a lead partner for the state of Uttar Pradesh by DFID UK in 2012 for its PACS Program.
SPARC-India has received more than 16 awards under his strong leadership, commitment, and vision towards an inclusive society. SPARC-India a think tank of Dr. Amitabh Mehrotra is running its programs in more than 30 districts of Uttar Pradesh and has covered more than 1,50,000 Population and benefitted more than 30000 children / persons with disabilities, and still continuing to work in this direction. Activities of SPARC-India have been telecasted as short films both at regional and national channels of DD News and IBN7 Channels.
Dr Mehrotra is Ex–Board of Director for the General Council of the National Institute for Empowerment of Person with Multiple Disabilities, Chennai.
Dr Mehrotra has been nominated as a member of State Advisory Board on Disability of Uttar Pradesh, nominated 3 times as a member of Steering Committee of State Election Commission, Government of Uttar Pradesh (in 2018, 2020 and 2021), nominated Member of National Advisory Committee Member, Govt. of India on Accessible Election 2024 and nominated as a member of Civil -20 under Presidency of G-20 (January 2023).
