ADVISORY COUNCIL

A development economist, Dr Khan is a Professor at MCRHRDI, Government of Telangana as well as a Visiting Professor at TISS, Indian School of Business and NALSAR in Hyderabad. Prof Khan has previously worked with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and has been an Adjunct Professor at Edith Cowan University in Perth, Director of MANUU CSE Academy, Director at India Development Foundation and Executive Director at Encyclopaedia Britannica. Prof Khan also writes business columns for the Livemint.

A trade economist, Mr Hoda joined the Indian Administrative Service in 1962 and spent a substantial part of his time in the Government of India on trade policy. In 1993, he became Deputy Director General of  the Interim Commission for the International Trade Organization (ICITO/GATT), and in 1995 Deputy Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Between 2004 to 2009, he was Member, Planning Commission and since 2009, Chair Professor of ICRIER’s Trade Policy and WTO Research Program and a Member of its Governing Board.

A Senior Research Fellow / Economist at Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI) in Japan, Dr Rahut was previously a Global Program Manager at International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT); Research Fellow at WorldFish Centre; Senior Fellow and Japan Chair at ICRIER; Chief of Research, Planning and Monitoring and Visa/Mastercard Director at the Bank of Bhutan Ltd.  He was also engaged with the Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan’s Research and Statistics Department. He has published over 100 journal articles on development in Asia and Africa. 

A former President of the European Sociological Association (ESA), Prof Welz has been teaching sociology at the University of Innsbruck since 2006. Until then, he was busy conceptualizing, operationalizing and leading the award-winning MA in Global Studies Programme (GSP) at the University of Freiburg. Under his leadership, the GSP won the prestigious BMW Group Award for Intercultural Learning in 2004 and was ranked among the Top 10 International Master's Degree courses in Germany in 2006. IDF's Founding President, Dr Ali Mehdi, feels privileged to have pursued GSP under Prof Welz's leadership during this time - and to have his continued mentorship ever since.

An eminent economist, Dr Rizvi heads and is a Professor at Jamia's Department of Economics, where she has been since 1998. While in UAE, Prof Rizvi was a Visiting Professor at the UAE campuses of several universities of repute, including University of Clear Lake (USA), Wollongong University (Australia), Ajman University of Science and Technology (UAE), BITS and MAHE (India) - to name a few. Prof Rizvi is a regular invitee to various selection committees at central and state universities and public service commissions.

President and Founder of the Centre for Civil Society (CCS) and Director of the Indian School of Public Policy (ISPP), Dr Shah's research and advocacy work focus on themes of economic freedom (law, liberty and livelihood), choice and competition in education (fund students, not schools), property rights approach for the environment (terracotta vision of stewardship) and good governance (new public management and the duty to publish). He has published extensively in international and Indian journals, on topics as varied as currency regulation and education policy. He holds a PhD in Economics from Auburn University, and taught economics at Michigan University before returning to India to start CCS.

A nationally and internationally acclaimed demographer, Dr Rajan is a Professor at the Centre for Development Studies, Trivandrum. He has worked on all dimensions of demography, starting out with a focus on mortality and fertility patterns - famously developing estimates based on Census of India data since 1981 - and then moving on to ageing and migration. Not only has Prof Rajan led 7 major migration surveys in India and has edited the India Migration Reports (Routledge) annually for more than a decade, he has also undertaken projects on international migration with the European Union, ILO, World Bank, UNESCO, IOM, IDRC, CIHR, SANEI, Rockefeller Foundation and others. Prof Rajan has supported the Governments of India and Kerala with his research. Many of his former students are well-known demographers today.

A human development economist, Dr Mehrotra retired as a Professor at the Centre for Informal Sector and Labour Studies, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University. Between 1991 and 2006, Dr Mehrotra served as the Chief Economist of UNDP's global Human Development Reports and led the research program on developing countries at UNICEF's global research institute, the Innocenti Research Centre in Florence, Italy. He returned to India in 2006 to head the Rural Development Division, and subsequently the Development Policy Division at the Planning Commission until 2009. He authored several chapters of India's 11th and 12th Five Year Plans. Between 2009 to 2014, Dr Mehrotra was Director-General of Planning Commission's Institute of Applied Manpower Research.

A Senior Visiting Fellow at ICRIER, Mr Hussain joined the IAS in 1979 and retired as Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare, Government of India. In his illustrious public career, he also served as Secretary, Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Government of India; Chairman & MD, Food Corporation of India; and held several key positions in the Government of Uttar Pradesh, including Secretary to the Chief Minister. He also served as the Vice Chancellor of Jamia Hamdard University. In 2016, he was awarded Honorary Doctorate by Acharya NG Ranga Agriculture University, Andhra Pradesh. Mr Hussain has authored several research papers on agriculture and the rural economy, and is widely published, interviewed and quoted in the national and international print and digital media.

A political philosopher, Prof Pogge is Director, Global Justice Program and Leitner Professor of Philosophy and International Affairs at Yale University. He is also the Research Director of the Centre for Study of the Mind in Nature at the University of Oslo, a Professor of Philosophy and Global Justice at the Law School of King’s College London and Professor of Political Philosophy at the University of Central Lancashire’s Centre for Professional Ethics. Prof Pogge is also editor of social and political philosophy for the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy and a Member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. Prof Pogge completed his PhD at Harvard under the supervision of John Rawls, whose famous 1971 volume, A Theory of Justice, revived massive interest in theories and pursuit of justice around the world.

An expert in the sociology of knowledge, health and medicine, Prof Sujatha is a Professor at the Centre for the Study of Social Systems, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University. Prof Sujatha has also been a Visiting Professor / Fellow at several universities, including the University of Pompeu Fabra (Spain), FLACSO (Argentina), International Institute of Asian Studies (The Netherlands) and University of Freiburg (Germany).

Dr Hasan is presently a National Fellow at Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICCSR). She has served as Chairperson, Centre for Political Studies, Founding Director of the Centre for Women's Studies and the Centre for the Study of Discrimination and Exclusion as well as Dean, School of Social Sciences at Jawaharlal Nehru University. Dr Hasan has also been Visiting Professor to Universities of Zurich, Edinburgh and Maison des Sciences de L'Homme (Paris), and held fellowships at the Institute of Development Studies (Sussex), Rockefeller Centre (Bellagio) and Centre for Modern Oriental Studies (Berlin). Dr Hasan has also been on the Executive Council of several universities and Editorial Board of various national and international journals. She was a Member of the National Commission for Minorities between 2006 and 2009.