In Conversation with Professor Dipankar Gupta

Prof. Dipankar Gupta is a retired Professor in Sociology and a prominent public intellectual, known for his work on caste, ethnicity, modernity and citizenship. He taught at the Centre for the Study of Social Systems, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, for nearly three decades and also briefly at the Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi. He has held positions as Distinguished Professor at Shiv Nadar University and is Emeritus Professor at Jamia Millia Islamia, and has served on bodies such as the National Security Advisory Board, the boards of RBI and NABARD, and the News Broadcasting Standards Authority.

He has authored or edited over twenty books and more than a hundred research articles on agrarian politics, caste, social stratification, and public policy. His major books include Mistaken Modernity: India Between Worlds, Interrogating Caste: Understanding Hierarchy and Difference in India, The Caged Phoenix: Can India Fly?, Revolution from Above: India’s Future and the Citizen Elite, Justice before Reconciliation: Negotiating a “New Normal” in Post-Riot Mumbai and Ahmedabad, From People to Citizens: Democracy’s Must Take Road, QED: India Tests Social Theory, and Checkpoint Sociology: A Cultural Reading of Policies and Politics. He coedited the journal Contributions to Indian Sociology for about 15 years and writes regular columns in major Indian newspapers.​
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Prof. Gupta received the Malcolm Adiseshiah Award for Distinguished Contributions to Development Studies and was conferred the title Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Knighthood of Arts and Letters) by the French government, as well as an honorary doctorate from the University of Burdwan.

Prof. Surinder S. Jodhka is a leading Indian sociologist best known for his work on agrarian change, rural society, caste, and contemporary Indian capitalism. He has been a Professor at the Centre for the Study of Social Systems, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and has held visiting positions at several universities and research institutes in India and abroad. His research and public writing have made him an important voice in debates on rural transformations, inequality and social policy in India.

His major books include Caste in Contemporary India, Changing Village India, The Indian Middle Class, and edited volumes such as Contours of Rural Change in India and Community and Identities: Contemporary Discourses on Culture and Politics in India. He has also produced influential reports on rural livelihoods and agrarian distress for national and international agencies. Prof. Jodhka has received several recognitions, including awards and prestigious research fellowships, for his contributions to the sociology of rural India and caste.

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