Dr. (Mrs) Janak Palta McGilligan serves as a Director at the Centre. She is a prominent Social Worker, Social Scientist and committed to Sustainable Development.She left her home, job and family in Chandigarh and   moved to Indore, as a   Baha’i pioneer ,on  June 1, 1985  in response to the call from National Spiritual Assembly of Baha’i’s of India  to  establish  Barli Development Institute For Rural Women.She served as a director of the Institute for about 26 years for empowerment of 6000 tribal and rural young women from 500 socially and economically deprived villages of   India to  become  social change agents for sustainable community development. 

She   was  able to do this work along with her dedicated husband Jimmy McGilligan who also left his home country  ,family and business as a UK Baha’i pioneer  and served a Manager of the Institute (1988-2011 ). For  both of them this Institute   was   home, place of work, centre of their  world, full of all concerns, worries, challenges,excitements and blissfulness.She was awarded Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award of India, in 2015.