M.A. in Public Policy

Prof. R. Sudarshan, a Rhodes Scholar, has had distinguished careers in the domains of research, development programming and governance. He has over a dozen years of experience in inter-disciplinary research and teaching, including development economics, human development, law and state, constitutional law, international human rights law, judicial review of economic legislation, the interface of law and poverty at the universities of Delhi (1972-74), Oxford (1974-77), Cambridge (1977-82), and East Anglia (1982-83). In addition, he has over 28 years of experience working on governance, public policy, justice and human rights, providing policy advice, development programme formulation and evaluation, and managing Ford Foundation and UNDP grants to governments and civil society partners. Furthermore, he has completed a decade as the Founding Dean of the Jindal School of Government and Public Policy, which has pioneered public policy education in India since 2012. Prof. R. Sudarshan has noteworthy publications comprising books, articles, and United Nations policy reports, reflecting his inter-disciplinary research, teaching and policy experience in development programmes, human development, law, governance, institutions and policy.

Dr. Singh is Professor and Professor & Executive Dean, JSGP, and Director of the Centre for Complexity Economics, Applied Spirituality and Public Policy (CEASP). He has a transdisciplinary PhD in Environmental Sciences, with more than three decades of public policy experience in senior positions in the United Nations and the Federal Government of Canada.

He teaches courses on Complexity and Public Policy, Legal Empowerment of the Poor, Systems Thinking as a Strategy for Sustainable Development Policy and Applied Spirituality and Public Policy. He has published several books and journal articles. Prof. Singh has a wide range of research

With over 28 years of experience, Professor Malhotra has worked with the Government of India, where until August 2012 he served as Economic Adviser to the former Union Finance Minister. He has also worked at the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva between 2002 and 2008.

Professor Malhotra's expertise is in macroeconomic issues in development policy; fiscal policy and budgeting; planning, monitoring, evaluation and impact assessments; poverty estimation and human development; and human rights and development. He has led research on human rights and rights sensitive development indicators at the UN, and is seen as an international expert on the subject.

Dr. Vidya Subramanian is a sociologist of education researching education policy and development, civil society and public-private partnerships, and entrepreneurial cultures among urban youth. She has a PhD and MPhil from the Zakir Husain Centre for Educational Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, during which she was a doctoral fellow at the Transnational Research Group (TRG) of the Max Weber Foundation-German Humanities Institutes Abroad. She also holds an MA in Development Studies from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. She has taught at TISS Mumbai and was earlier a consultant to the Tata Trusts. Her ongoing research explores the trajectories of young corporate professionals entering the developmental sector to further aspirations of service, self-making, and entrepreneurship.

Dr. Naveen Joseph Thomas completed his Ph.D. in Economics at the Department of Economics, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi. He received his M.Sc. in Economics from the TERI School of Advanced Studies and his B.Sc.(H) in Physics from St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi. His research interest lies in household economics, growth theory, labour economics, industrial policy and issues of the manufacturing sector.

Prof. (Dr.) Bhuvaneswari is trained in architecture, urban planning and social sciences. She was educated at the School of Planning and Architecture in Chennai, Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok and the London School of Economics in the UK. She completed her doctoral degree in urban social policy at the London School of Economics, UK. Her research interests are in the areas of: transformation of urban land, urban politics, economic geography governance, research methodology, gender and urban poverty.

She has held research position at the LSE, UK and has consulted for academic institutions including the University of Amsterdam, Netherlands, and the University of Birmingham, UK as well as international development agencies including the World Bank and the UNESCO. She has experience with implementing urban poverty alleviation programmes having worked as a sector head for the habitat component of the Bangalore Urban Poverty Alleviation Programme. Currently, she is researching about the transformation of land in small towns and large urbanizing villages in South India and the role of new technologies in spatial governance. Besides, she is involved in research collaboration with the London School of Economics to explore the effects of squatter relocation policies in two cities viz. Chennai and Bangalore.

Prof. (Dr.) Milindo Chakrabarti has distinguished experience of over 27 years as a Professor of Micro-economics, International Trade & Business, Environmental Economics, Indian Economics and Development Economics, nationally and internationally. Along with his long-standing career in teaching, Dr. Chakrabarti holds Research Experience of 27 years and has written and published numerous research paper, articles and books from India and abroad. He has also delivered lectures at Indiana University, Bloomington, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, Entrepreneurship Development Institute, Gandhi Nagar. Dr. Chakrabarti has extensive experience in policy development and practice, and wide knowledge and experience working in different sectors such as: natural resources, social sectors, rural development, key cross-cutting issues, environment, governance and institutional development.

Prof. (Dr.) Swagato Sarkar is an interdisciplinarian, who draws from political theory, sociology and political economy. He is interested in understanding the state-society relationship in India, politics of land and rural transformation, and theory of power and governance. His research interest lies in the areas of Political Anthropology, Continental Political Theory, Political Economy, micro-political, agrarian studies, resource politics.

Dr. Subhasish Ray is trained in Political Science and Economics. He received a PhD in Political Science from the Department of Political Science, University of Rochester. He has MA and MPhil degrees in Economics from the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University. Prior to joining JSGP, he was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science, National University of Singapore, and a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science, University of Rochester. Subhasish’s research interests fall in the area of civil conflict, broadly construed. He serves as an editor of the Journal of Genocide Research. His most current line of research examines how a legacy of civil conflict shapes elections, public opinion, and voting.

Dr. Namesh Killemsetty is a transdisciplinary researcher working in the fields of urban poverty and slum community rights. He completed his Ph.D. in Public Policy from University of Massachusetts Boston in 2021. He has an M.S. in Public Policy from University of Massachusetts Boston, M.Tech In Infrastructure Management from CEPT University Ahmedabad and B.Tech in Civil Engineering from MNNIT Allahabad. Prior to joining UMass Boston, he worked as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Civil Engineering, O.P. Jindal University. He also has relevant industrial experience working in the Civil Engineering sector. As a scholar of issues related to urban governance and poverty, Namesh’s work particularly focuses on housing, tenure security, and community rights of slum dwellers integrating theories and methods from Urban Studies, Policy Analysis, Operations Research, and Decision Sciences. His research looks at identifying and using participatory approaches that amplify the voices of marginalized populations such as slum dwellers for effective policymaking.

Geeta Sinha is trained in International Development, Gender and Social Sciences. She is completing her PhD from the Oxford Brookes Business School. She received the International Ford Foundation Fellowship and obtained her M.A in Gender and Development from IDS, University of Sussex, UK. She holds PGDRD with specialisation in Project Management from XISS. Prior to O.P. Jindal Global University, she taught at Regents University London and has extensive research and consultancy experience across India, Nepal and Bangladesh. She has published across academic journals and edited volumes in her areas of research.

Prof. Vatsalya is a Ph.D. candidate in Economics at Tilburg University expecting to graduate in the second half of 2018. His research interests lie in using the tools of Microeconomics, particularly Game Theory, to better understand how societies organize themselves.

Deputy Manager, Jindal School of Government and Public Policy