DILSHAN HARSHA CHITRARANJAN ATURUPANE (son of Chrystabelle and Herbert Aturupane) was born in Colombo on the 14th of July 1961. His siblings are Harinlal and Chonira. Harsha was educated at S. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia. He had a distinguished career in School.  A School Prefect and Head Prefect of Buck House, he was also Captain of the Chess Team and President of the English Literary and Debating Society and Student Christian Movement.

A renowned Chess Player in Sri Lanka, he was National Champion on three occasions and the winner of two Open Championships while still a schoolboy and university student. He represented Sri Lanka in the Chess Olympiads in Buenos Aires, Argentina (1978), Lucerne, Switzerland (1982), Thessaloniki, Greece (1984) and Dubai, United Arab Emirates (1986), playing on top board in the last three Olympiads. He is a Fide Master of the International Chess Federation.

Graduating from the Colombo University with a First Class Honours in Economics, he attended Cambridge University in England for his post-graduate studies, winning a Prince of Wales Studentship from Trinity College Cambridge. He holds a Ph.D and M.Phil in Economics from the University of Cambridge.

He is currently a Lead Education Specialist in the World Bank. He has worked and written extensively in the fields of Human Development, Education Economics, General Education, Higher Education, Labour Economics, Health Economics and the Economics of Poverty and Income Distribution. He has led teams in the preparation and supervision of World Bank Projects and Programs, covering Higher Education, General Education, Health, Social Protection, Economic Reform, Private Sector Development and strengthening fiduciary processes. He has also led teams in the production of World Bank research reports, on areas including Higher Education, General Education and Labour Markets. His work experience, covers countries, such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Afghanistan and the Maldives in the South Asia Region, as well as countries in the Middle East, North Africa Region and the Africa Region of the World Bank. He is also the World Bank’s Human Development Co-ordinator for Sri Lanka and the Maldives.

Harsha married Jennifer Dayanthi Senewiratne at the Cathedral of Christ the Living Saviour in Colombo, in November 1994. Jennifer is the Secretary to the Board of Missions of the Colombo Diocese of the Anglican Church of Colombo.