Logo

R.S. Deshpande is currently Professor and Head of the agricultural Development and Rural Transformation (ADRT) Unit of the Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC), Bangalore. Beside 29 years of research and reaching experience, Professor Deshpande has served on various policy bodies of Government of India and Government of Karnataka, and has been consultant to several national and international organizations. Prof. Deshpande was one of the three coordinators for the Ministry of Agriculture sponsored 27-volume mega study State of the Indian Farmer: A Millennium Study published by Academic Foundation (2004). He co-authored two of the volumes under the Millennium Study, namely Vol. 9: Crops and Cultivation and Vol. 23: NGOs and Farmers’ Movements. Having several other books to his credit, he has published extensively on agricultural development. WTO and its impact on agriculture, droughts and drought mitigation, farmers’ movements, irrigation and watershed development. His current academic interests include: farmers suicides in India, droughts and natural disasters, WTO and its impact on agriculture, and watershed development. Prof. Deshpande is currently a member of the Karnataka Agricultural Prices Commission and an Expert Group on WTO and Agriculture under the Ministry of Commerce, Government of India.

V.M. Rao (b. 1954) holds a doctorate in Dairy Economics and is currently working as Professor and HOD, Department of Research and Publications at Vaikunth Mehta National Institute of Cooperative Management, Pune. He has earlier worked with National Institute of Rural Development, Hyderabad (1984-88), Ahmedabad (1988-92). On a British Council’s fellowship, Prof. Rao visited Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and United Kingdom. He has authored/co-authored six books: (a) Dairy Framing Socio-Economic analysis of Milk Production (1991), (b) Castor Economy: A Profile and analysis of India and International Market (1991), (c) International Castor Oil Market: An Econometric Analysis (1994), (d) Developing Agro Enterprises Among Farm Women: A Case of Amul (2000), (e) Empowering Farm Women through Dairy Cooperatives: A Study in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka (2003), and (f) Socio-Economic Status of Tribal women in Arunachal Pradesh (2003). Besides these books, he has published over 60 research papers in various professional journals/books. Dr. Rao also participated in a number of national and international seminars/conferences. His areas of interest are (a) animal husbandry economics, (b) agri-business management, and (c) gender related issues. He has completed 19 research studies sponsored by Government of India, ICSSR, and other state governments in the above areas during 1980-02. Currently, he is engaged in (a) integrating tribal women into cooperative: an experience of Girijan cooperative corporation, (b) impact of women dairy project in Orissa, and (c) impact of women dairy project (Phase 4) in Bihar.