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R S Deshpande

Dr Ramchandra S Deshpande (R S Deshpande0 is currently the Director of the Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC), Bangalore, an all-India Institute of interdisciplinary research and training in social sciences. Prof Deshpande was born at Risod in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra and educated in Vidarbha and at Aurangabad. He was an ardent activist during his student days. He holds a Bachelor of Science and Masters’ Degree with a Ph.D. in Economics. Initially, he worked as a faculty member at ISEC till 1988 and thereafter shifted to Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Pune.  At Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics he worked as a faculty member as well as Registrar.   In 1998,  he returned to the Institute and worked as Professor and Head of Agricultural Development and Rural Transformation Centre till he took charge as Director of ISEC  His specialisations include, Agricultural Development Policy, Watershed Development, WTO - Agriculture & Trade, Rural Policy and Poverty, Economics of Drought-prone Areas and Rainfed Regions, Economics of Irrigation and Applied Econometrics.

Professor Deshpande has authored 13 books and more that 100 research papers published in national and international journals. Among his books Agrarian Crisis and Farmer Suicides, Where Water Seeps, NGOs and farmers’ Movements in India, Moon in the Mirror: Farmers and MSP in Karnataka are a few. He was invited as visiting Professor to the University of Ottawa, Canada, Saskechewan Institute of Policy Planning, Regina. He worked as a consultant to many organizations that include the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Land Equity Australia etc.

Professor Deshpande has contributed significantly as member of the many policy bodies which include Advisory Body of the Ministry of Commerce, Government of India, WTO Cell of Government of India, Committee on Farmers’ Suicides appointed by the Government of Karnataka, etc. He is currently editor of the Journal of Social and Economic Development, and on the Editorial Board of Agricultural Economics Research Review, and a reviewer of some of the reputed journals. Apart from all these he is a poet and a painter.