Jaya Prakash Pradhan is an associate professor at the Centre for Studies in Economics & Planning, School of Social Sciences, Central University of Gujarat, India. He has earlier served on the faculties of the Central University of Karnataka (Gulbarga), Sardar Patel Institute of Economic & Social Research (Ahmedabad), the Institute for Studies in Industrial Development (New Delhi), the Gujarat Institute of Development Research (Ahmadabad), and has worked as a consultant to the Research and Information System for Developing Countries (New Delhi). He obtained his M.Phil. and Ph.D. degrees from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He is a recipient of UGC Research Award (2014-16) and at present undertaking a study on the linkages between quality of inward FDI and development.He has been involved in research studies for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Geneva; Department of Scientific and Industrial Research under the Ministryof Science and Technology (Government of India); and Indian Council for Social Science Research under the Ministry of Human Resource Development (Government of India).He is the author of Indian Multinationals in the World Economy: Implications for Development (Bookwell Publisher, New Delhi, 2008); co-editor of The Rise of Indian Multinationals: Perspectives on Indian Outward Foreign Direct Investment (Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2010) and Industrialization, Economic Reforms and Regional Development: Essays in Honour of Professor Ashok Mathur (Shipra Publication, New Delhi, 2005); and co-author of Transnationalization of Indian Pharmaceutical SMEs (Bookwell Publisher, New Delhi, 2008).Keshab Das is a professor at the Gujarat Institute of Development Research, Ahmedabad, India. He holds M.Phil. (Applied Economics) and Ph.D. (Economics) degrees from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi through the Centre for Development Studies, Trivandrum. He is a recipient of the VKRV Rao Prize in Social Sciences (Economics). He holds a bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Mass Communications from the Berhampur University, Orissa.He has been a visiting researcher or faculty at the University of Insubria, Varese, Italy; International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), The Hague, Netherlands; University of Manchester, Manchester, UK; Institute of Developing Economies, Chiba, Japan; CNRS-REGARDS, Bordeaux, France; Maison des Sciences de l'Homme (MSH), Paris, France; and Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex, Brighton, UK. He has undertaken CNRS Research Missions to the Netherlands and Italy and CNRS-British Academy Research Mission to the United Kingdom concerning issues on SME competitiveness and regional development in Asian developing countries.He has undertaken research studies sponsored by various Indian Government Ministries (Industry; Science and Technology; Rural Development; Human Resource Development; and Environment and Forests); Planning Commission; Government of Gujarat; International Commission of Jurists; UNICEF; UNIDO; ILO; Ford Foundation; University of Sussex; French Ministry of Research; IWMI-Tata Water Policy Program; Centre for Environment Education; Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation; Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA), Bangkok; International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada; National Agency for Research on AIDS and Viral Hepatitis (ANRS), Paris, France; Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), UK and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.He has authored/co-authored/edited the following books: Globalization and Standards: Issues and Challenges in Indian Business (Springer, New Delhi, 2014); Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Competitiveness: Issues and Initiatives (Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation, Gandhinagar, 2011); Micro and Small Enterprises in India: The Era of Reforms (Routledge, New Delhi, 2011); Policy and Status Paper on Cluster Development in India (Foundation for MSME Clusters, New Delhi, 2007); Indian Industrial Clusters (Ashgate, Aldershot, UK, 2005); The Growth and Transformation of Small Firms in India (Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2001); and Peasant Economy and the Sugar Cooperative: A Study of the Aska Region in Orissa (CDS, Trivandrum, 1993).Published extensively, his research concerns issues in regional development, industrialization, small firm development, industrial clusters, informal sector, labor and basic infrastructure in both rural and urban areas.
