Balwant Singh Mehta is Professor at the Institute for Human Development (IHD), New Delhi, India. He holds a Ph.D. from Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, and postdoctoral in Economics from Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), New Delhi, India. He has authored 10 books and published over 75 articles, in national and international journals. His primary research area includes employment and labour, poverty, inequality, child well-being, education and technology. In recognition of his scholarly contributions, he was selected as ‘Amy Mahan International Fellow’ by the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Spain, 2010–11; awarded a ‘Research Fellowship’ by Singapore Internet Research Centre (SiRC), 2009–10; and selected as an ‘Emerging Researcher’ by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada, 2009. He has also received alumni status from the International Training Centre of the ILO. Prof. Mehta is Associate Editor of The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, published by Springer, and regularly contributes opinion pieces and editorials to national dailies.
Ishwar Chandra Awasthi holds a Ph.D. from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He has been a Professor at the Institute for Human Development (IHD), Delhi, India, and the Giri Institute of Development Studies, Lucknow, India. An alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA), he specialies in labour, employment, livelihood issues, and development evaluation. He has contributed over seventy papers to professional journals and authored two books: ‘Livelihood Diversities in Mountain Economy: Constraints and Opportunities’ (2012) and ‘Women and Labour Market Dynamics: New Insights and Evidences’ (co-authored, 2019), with the latter published by Springer. Currently, he serves as the Honorary Secretary of the Indian Society of Labour Economics and Member Secretary of the Indian Association of Social Science Institutions (IASSI). He is also the Managing Editor of the IASSI (Indian Association of Social Science Institutions) quarterly, Contributions to Indian Social Science.