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About the Speakers

R S Deshpande

R S Deshpande is Honorary Visiting Professorat Institute for Social and Economic Change. He was formerly National Fellow, Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR). He was the initiator of the proposal and founding Director of Bengaluru Dr B R Ambedkar School of Economics,. Prof. Deshpande steered the mega study on “Farmer at the Millennium” and was the architect of Karnataka’s Agricultural Policy 2006 and Chaired many Policy Bodies in Agricultural Sector. He is BSc, M.A with Econometrics and PhD in Economics. Dr Deshpande has authored 22 books, and more that 125 research papers published in national- international journals and completed 49 research studies. He was invited as Visiting Professor to universities and institution in Canada, France, US. He is recipient of many awards and gold medals especially PNASF Gold Medal for Agricultural Policy, Life Time Achievement Award from Aurangabad University, Sir M Visveswaraya award in excellence in Education. He participated in the deliberations at Planning Commission from 9th Plan onwards. He was on the Research Advisory Committee of Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Central Silk Board and also a member of the selection panel under CACP. Recognising his work, he is recently awarded at a special function as Fellow of Karnataka Science and Technology Academy of Karnataka. He was on the Selection Committees of Vice Chancellors in the country. Dr Deshpande supervised as adviser 29 students for PhD. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, where he was educated. He was also unanimously elected as the President of the Platinum Jubilee Conference of Indian Society of Agricultural Economics, held at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana in November, 2015. He was trustee of Indian Institute of Education, Pune, and President of the Foundation for Research in Health Systems, Bangalore.

C.L. Dadhich

Dr. C.L. Dadhich is the Honorary Secretary of Indian Society of Agricultural Economics since 2006. During his long outstanding career spanning over three decades with Reserve Bank of India, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development and National Dairy Development Board he was associated with a number of working groups and committees appointed by Planning Commission and Government of India. He provided services on the Board of Dot Co-operation LLC, Washington, D.C. from 2004 to 2008. As a consultant of World Bank and Rural Credit expert of Reserve Bank India he visited a number of Asian, African and European countries to help development banks and other research and financial Institutions. He is the author of books titled “Overdues in Farm Co-operative Credit” (1977) and “Management Through Folk Wisdom”. Since November 2014, Dr. Dadhich is also Editor of Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics.

Ajit Ranade

Dr. Ajit Ranade is an Economist and Former Vice Chancellor of Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics in Pune. He was earlier Group Executive President and Chief Economist with the Aditya Birla Group. His thirty-five years’ career has spanned both academia and corporate assignments. He has served on various committees of the RBI, including the Committee on Fuller Capital Account Convertibility. Dr Ranade is a member of the executive committees of apex industry chambers. He is a Trustee of Pune International Centre.

Dr. Ranade holds a B.Tech in Electrical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay and a management diploma from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and a PhD in Economics from Brown University. He received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from IIT Bombay in 2009. He writes in the business press on economics and current topics. He is a co-author of an award-winning book “Rising to the China Challenge” (2021).

Vinod Vidyarthi

Vinod Vidyarthi is RBI Chair Professor and Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development. He was a worked as General Manager at NABARD - National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development. His area of interest Biochemistry, Life Sciences and Chemistry. Vidyarthi holds a Bachelor’s degree in Agriculture and Animal Husbandry from G. B. Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, which he completed between 1983 and 1986. His academic foundation strongly complements his professional focus on agriculture and rural finance.

Sudha Narayanan

Sudha Narayanan is a Senior Research Fellow in the Development Strategies and Governance Unit, based in the South Asia Office in New Delhi. Sudha’s research interests span agriculture, food and nutrition policy, and human development. She is particularly interested in survey-based research using microeconometric approaches to understand broader questions of agrarian change and state delivery systems for nutrition security. Her research focuses on contract farming, agrifood value chains, digital technologies in agrifood systems, technology adoption in agriculture, public policies for food security and employment, and agriculture-nutrition linkages.

Sudha was previously an Associate Professor at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research (IGIDR), Mumbai She earned a PhD from Cornell University in Agricultural Economics. She also holds a dual master’s degree in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics, India. Prior to her PhD studies, she worked with the Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi, the Right to Food Campaign in India, and Cornell University, among others.

Dipa Sinha

Dipa Sinha is Associate Professor at Centre of Study of Indian Economy in Azim Premji University. She is development economist specializing in economic and social policy in India. Her expertise spans social policy, food and nutrition rights, public health, and gender. She taught at Ambedkar University Delhi for nearly a decade. Her research includes extensive field studies evaluating the Public Distribution System, child nutrition programmes, and maternity entitlement schemes. She previously worked with the Office of Commissioners to the Supreme Court on the Right to Food, first as senior researcher and later as adviser, engaging with state and union governments on welfare policy design and evaluation. She is also associated with civil society networks such as the Right to Food Campaign India.

Dipa has contributed to major international research projects, including the Palanpur Longitudinal Village Studies and Food Riots and Food Rights. She served on the HLPE report on Nutrition and Food Systems for the FAO’s Committee on World Food Security and was a Health and Population Innovation Fellow at the Population Council. She publishes widely, and her monograph Women, Health and Public Services in India was published by Routledge. She received the Elizabeth Adiseshaiah Citation in 2023.

She holds an MA and PhD in Economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and an MSc in Development Studies from SOAS, London.