Covid-19 Pandemic, Public Policy and Institutions in India: Issues of Labour, Income, and Human Development

This book looks at the institutional and governance issues faced by India during the first and second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and its adverse impact on the vulnerable sectors and groups. It will be a useful reference to researchers, policymakers, and practitioners who are interested in Indian institutions and their policy responses.

Indranil De is Associate Professor in Social Sciences and Economics in Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA). He holds a PhD from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. His areas of interest are institutional economics, political economy, public policy, basic service delivery, housing and gender. He has recently published a book "Social Norms, Gender and Collective Behaviour: Development Paradigms in India" with Palgrave Macmillan. He has published several research articles in reputed journals including Housing studies, Development Policy Review, Water Policy, Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Development, International Journal of Social Economics and Economic and Political Weekly. He is Editor of International Journal of Rural Management. He has worked with United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Department of Science and Technology - Government of India, Government of West Bengal and National Institute of Rural Development & Panchayati Raj (NIRD&PR) as a researcher or consultant. He was also Member of Expert Committee, National CSR Award 2018 and 2019, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India.

Soumyadip Chattopadhyay teaches at the Department of Economics and Politics, Visva Bharati University. He holds a PhD from University of Calcutta. He was associated with Graduate School of Geography Clark University as a C V Raman Fellow and Department of Urban Studies and Planning University of Sheffield as a Commonwealth Academic Fellow. His research interests lie in the field of development studies and more specifically focuses on urban finance, urban inequality and ongoing transformations in urban governance in Indian cities. His research works have been published in the Progress in Development Studies, Development in Practice, Environment and Urbanization ASIA, Journal of Infrastructure Development, South Asian Survey, Economic and Political Weekly, Journal of Rural Development, Journal of Development Policy and Practice and Review of Market Integration, as well as in other Journals and edited volumes.

Hippu Salk Kristle Nathan is an engineer-turned development researcher with an M. Tech. from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, and Ph.D. from Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai. Currently he works as an Associate Professor at the Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA). Prior to joining IRMA, he was with the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore serving in the Energy Environment Policy Programme. Dr. Nathan has won the Elsevier-National Academy of Sciences, India Young Scientist Award 2017 in Social Sciences. He was the Subir Chowdhury Post-doctoral Fellow at the London School of Economics 2016-17. Dr. Nathan is also one of the winners in the GDN Awards and Medals Competition in the category of Outstanding Research on Development and a recipient of Young Scientist Award conferred at Odisha Environment Congress. Dr. Nathan's areas of interest lie in energy, economic measurement, sustainable use of resources, human development, and disarmament.

Kingshuk Sarkar has mainly worked for Govt. of West Bengal as a Labour Administrator. He is presently visiting faculty at the Goa Institute of Management, Goa. He has PhD in Economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. His areas of interests are labour economics, industrial relation, labour administration, informal sector labour etc. He has worked as Fellow at the V V Giri National Labour Institute, Noida. He had also worked as Assistant Professor in the National Institute of Rural Development, Hyderabad. He has in his credit number of publications in reputed journals. Attended and conducted numerous conferences, workshops, seminars in India and outside. He has carried out important research assignments in India and abroad and has represented India on global forums on few occasions.