The Team

A core team of research and coordination staff, along with a wide network of research collaborators from across the globe

Trustees

Madhura Swaminathan

Madhra Swaminathan

Madhura Swaminathan is Professor and Head, Economic Analysis Unit, Indian Statistical Institute Bangalore Centre. She is one the Trustees of the Foundation.

V. Namasivayam

Namasivayam is currently a member of the Kerala State Planning Board. He has over 37 years of consulting experience of which over two decades have been spent on leading several large, complex, multi-year reform engagements in various sectors, with a special focus on the electricity sector.

Parvathi Menon

Parvathi Menon is a writer, and former journalist. She was Resident Editor of The Hindu, Bengaluru, and also served as the London Correspondent of The Hindu.

V. K. Ramachandran

V. K. Ramachandran is retired Professor and former Head, Economic Analysis Unit, Indian Statistical Institute Bangalore Centre. He currently serves as the Vice Chairperson, Kerala State Planning Board. He is one among the Trustees of the Foundation. He is also the Editor of Review of Agrarian Studies. Webpage

Sarita Alexander

Sarita is a special teacher and certified trainer in QST for autism spectrum disorders. She has been working at the Spastics Society of Karnataka from 2007, and is currently the Head of the Autism Spectrum Unit.

FAS Staff

Sandipan Baksi

Director

Arindam Das

Joint Director

Tapas Modak

Joint Director

Noopur Varma

Honorary Consultant, Human Resources

Sandipan Baksi

Director

Sandipan is a historian of Science, with a Ph.D. from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai. His research interest lies in the history of agricultural science in India. He started his professional career as a Software Engineer and a Business Analyst with the Tata Consultancy Services Pvt. Ltd, before shifting to social science research

Arindam Das

Joint Director

Arindam is the Joint Director of the Foundation. He is pursuing Ph.D. in Economics from Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS)-Pilani, Hyderabad. Arindam leads the Project on Agrarian Relations in India (PARI)

Tapas Modak

Joint Director

Tapas is a Joint Director of the Foundation. He has a Ph.D. in Social Science from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. His research interests include the irrigation economy of India, water policies and institutions, agricultural policy, economics of farming, and rural incomes.

Noopur Varma

Honorary Consultant, Human Resources

Noopur Varma is Honorary Consultant, Human Resources at the Foundation. She has more than 30 years experience in the area of Human Resources. She started her career in Tata Steel, Jamshedpur, where she worked for 14 years and her last corporate job was with Deloitte Bangalore.

Pinki Ghosh

Manager (Accounts, HR & Admin)

Pinki works as the Manager (Accounts, HR & Admin) at the Foundation. She holds a Master’s degree in Financial and Management Accounting from Sikkim Manipal University and a Master’s degree in Economics from University of North Bengal.

Rebecca Rose Varghese

Coordinator (Communication and Events)

Rebecca is the Coordinator (Communications and Events) at the Foundation. She holds a Master’s degree in Sociology from the Delhi School of Economics. A former data journalist with The Hindu, her expertise lies in data research and analysis Jayamary is our Office Assistant. She assists the administrative division of the Foundation in maintaining office supplies and in upkeep and maintenance of office premises.

Ajil Mankunnummal

Research Officer

Ajil holds an M.Phil. in Applied Economics from the Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram, Jawaharlal Nehru University, and is in the final stages of his doctoral research. His doctoral study focuses on the impact of government regulation on the technological developments in, and performance of, the chemical fertiliser manufacturing industry in India.

Sudha N.

Administrative Assistant

Sudha is an Administrative Assistant of the Foundation. She assists the administrative division of the Foundation and also has taken part in fieldwork organised by the Foundation.

Pinki Ghosh

Manager (Accounts, HR & Admin)

Sudha N.

Administrative Assistant

Nikita Gupta

Editorial Assistant

J. Jayamary

Office Assistant

Nikita Gupta

Editorial Assistant

Nikita is an Editorial Assistant at the Foundation. She is involved with the coordination of the Review of Agrarian Studies (RAS), the peer-reviewed academic journal of the Foundation. Nikita has extensive experience as a copy editor. She holds a Master’s degree in English from The English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU), Lucknow campus.

J. Jayamary

Office Assistant

Jayamary is our Office Assistant. She assists the administrative division of the Foundation in maintaining office supplies and in upkeep and maintenance of office premises.

Harshan T. P.

Associate Research Fellow

Harshan is an Associate Research Fellow at the Foundation. He holds a Ph.D. in Social Science from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai, specialising in climate change and disaster studies. His research focuses on the socio-economic impacts of environmental shocks and disasters

Kristy Saikia

Research Officer

Kristy is a Research Officer at the Foundation. She holds a Master’s degree in Development Studies from IIT Guwahati and has previously worked with various civil society organisations. Her research interests include women and gender, rural development, and WaSH (water, sanitation, and hygiene).

Rebecca Rose Varghese

Coordinator (Communication and Events)

Harshan T. P.

Associate Research Fellow

Nikita Gupta

Editorial Assistant

Dona Safui

Research Assistant

C.A.Sethu

Senior Research Officer

Sethu is a Senior Research Assistant at the Foundation. He holds an Integrated Master's degree in Development Studies from Indian Institute of Technology Madras. He has experience of coordinating a field survey of two villages in Nagapattinam district, Tamil Nadu in 2019. He is proficient in R programming language for statistical analysis.

Dona Safui

Research Assistant

Dona is a research assistant at the Foundation. She holds a Master's degree in Development from Azim Premji University . Her research interests include studying agrarian relations, and land tenancy in rural India.

Rithika Pulagiri

Research Assistant

Rithika is a research assistant at the Foundation. She holds a Master's degree in Applied Economics from Christ (Deemed to be University), Yeshwanthpur Campus, Bengaluru. Her research interests include, agricultural economics and the public policy.

Daya Susan Thomas

Research Assistant

Daya is a Research Assistant at the Foundation. She holds a Master's degree in Applied Economics from CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bengaluru. Her research interests include Gender and Development in Rural India.

Nagesh Maurya

Research Assistant

Nagesh is a Research Assistant at the Foundation. He holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy from the National Law School of India University, Bengaluru. His research interests include sustainable agriculture, electoral policies, and poverty and inequality.

Sai Chandan Kotu

Senior Research Assistant

Sai Chandan Kotu is a Senior Research Assistant at the Foundation. He holds a Master's degree in Economic Growth, Population & Development from Lund University, Sweden, and an Integrated Master's in Development Studies from Indian Institute of Technology Madras. He has previously worked with FAS as an intern and is currently working on the entry and processing of data collected through our recently concluded survey in two Uttar Pradesh villages.

Ajil Mankunnummal

Research Officer

Kristy Saikia

Research Officer

Rithika Pulagiri

Research Assistant

Daya Susan Thomas

Research Assistant

Interns

Sandipan Baksi

Director

Arindam Das

Joint Director

Tapas Modak

Joint Director

Noopur Varma

Honorary Consultant, Human Resources

Barbara Harriss-White

Emeritus Professor and Fellow, Wolfson College, University of Oxford.

Bheemeshwar Reddy

Assistant Professor, Department of Economics and Finance, BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

Daisuke Sakata

Associate Professor, Kanagawa University, Japan

Jayan Jose Thomas

Associate Professor of Economics, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi

Ajil Mankunnummal

Research Officer

Kristy Saikia

Research Officer

Rithika Pulagiri

Research Assistant

Daya Susan Thomas

Research Assistant

Current Research Collaborators

T. Sundararaman

Aardra Surendran

Abhinav Surya

Aparajita Bakshi

T. Sundararaman

T. Sundararaman is an Independent Consultant and Adjunct Faculty at the JIPMER International School of Public Health, Puducherry. A former Professor of Medicine at the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research (1984–2002), he has served as Director of the State Health Resource Centre, Chhattisgarh and Executive Director of the National Health Systems Resource Centre.

Biplab Sarkar

Associate Professor, Department of Management Studies, PES University, Bengaluru

Abhinav Surya

PhD Fellow, Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram.

Awanish Kumar

British Academy Newton International Fellow, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Aravindhan Nagarajan

Senior Lecturer, School of Development, Azim Premji University, Bengaluru

Yoshifumi Usami

Retired Professor, Osaka Prefecture University

Fumiko Oshikawa

Professor Emeritus, Kyoto University

R. Vijayamba

Research Fellow, Centre for Sustainable Employment, Azim Premji University, Bengaluru

Aravindhan Nagarajan

Awanish Kumar

Barbara Harriss-White

Bheemeshwar Reddy

Barbara Harriss-White

Emeritus Professor and Fellow, Wolfson College, University of Oxford.

Bheemeshwar Reddy

Assistant Professor, Department of Economics and Finance, BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

Daisuke Sakata

Associate Professor, Kanagawa University, Japan

Jayan Jose Thomas

Associate Professor of Economics, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi

Biplab Sarkar

Daisuke Sakata

Daizo Sugimoto

Deepak Johnson

Mrityunjay

Research Scholar, School of Economics, University of Hyderabad, and Technical Assistant, Office of the Vice Chairperson, Kerala State Planning Board

Niladri Sekhar Dhar

Associate Professor, Bihar Institute of Public Finance and Policy, Patna, Bihar.

Daizo Sugimoto

Professor, Department of Economics, Meijo University, Japan

Deepak Johnson

JSPS Postdoctoral Researcher, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University

Kunal Munjal

Senior Research Fellow, Economic Analysis Unit, Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), Bengaluru, and Ph.D. Scholar, Department of Liberal Arts, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Hyderabad. Associate Professor of Economics, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi

S. Niyati

Postdoctoral Fellow – Gender Research, Sustainable Impact Platform, International Rice Research Institute (IRRI)

R. Ramakumar

Professor, School of Development Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai

Ranjini Basu

Garware Post-Doctoral Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania Institute for Advanced Study of India, and Non-Resident Visiting Scholar at the Centre for Advanced Study of India, University of Pennsylvania

Fumiko Oshikawa

Jayan Jose Thomas

Kunal Munjal

T. Jayaraman

Ritam Dutta

Senior Research Fellow, Economic Analysis Unit, Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), Bengaluru, and PhD Scholar, Department of Economics, M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), University of Madras.

Satheesha B

Research Fellow, Azim Premji University, Bangalore

Shruti Nagbhushan

Research Scholar, Department of Development Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London

Shamsher Singh

Assistant Professor - Sociology, FLAME University, Pune

M.Thangaraj

Former ICSSR National Fellow, Former Professor and Head : 1. Department of Economics, University of Madras 2. Dr. Ambedkar Centre for Economic Studies, University of Madras

Soham Bhattacharya

Post Doctoral Researcher, Moturi Satyanarayana Centre for Advanced Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences, KREA University.

V. Sridhar

Former Associate Editor, Frontline magazine, Bangalore.

Venkatesh Athreya

Consultant, M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, and Retired Head of Department, Department of Economics, Bharathidasan University.1. Department of Economics, University of Madras 2. Dr. Ambedkar Centre for Economic Studies, University of Madras

T. Jayaraman

Senior Fellow, Climate Change, M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, Chennai