About the Book

Book Synopsis

Consisting of essays by scholars across disciplines in the social sciences, this volume celebrates two outstanding economists and public intellectuals in contemporary India, Professor Utsa Patnaik and Professor Prabhat Patnaik, who are well known for their contributions to the social sciences, often using the lens of Marxian political economy. Their theoretical and empirical writings with respect to a whole range of diverse themes, especially about India's economic transformation, are widely recognized both nationally and internationally. It hardly needs stressing that their contributions have been seminal in setting the terms of discourse and debate in several areas over the last few decades.

The essays in the volume present a rich bouquet of ideas, inquiries and reflections that resonate with the Patnaiks' formidable intellectual canvas. The book covers a wide range of issues which include, inter alia, the philosophical foundations of economic rights, the role of public intellectuals, the intertwined nature of capitalism and imperialism, generalized semi-proletarianization, land and peasant questions, gender, patriarchy, India's uneven transition to lower middle-income status and its chequered economic transformation trajectory, the GST regime and its implications for fiscal federalism, technology's ideological role, and caste hierarchy in the access to higher education.

Together, these essays form a rich tapestry of critical inquiry - spanning history, theory, empirical research and policy critique. They not only honour the Patnaiks' intellectual commitment, but also carry forward the conversations they have helped shape over decades. The book will be of interest to students, scholars, practitioners, policymakers and engaged citizens who are concerned with some of the major and critical questions of our time.

About the Author

Praveen Jha is Sukhamoy Chakravarty Chair Professor of Economics at the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning and Adjunct Professor at the Centre for Informal Sector and Labour Studies, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, India. He has been a visiting fellow at a number of universities and institutions in Germany, China, Switzerland, South Africa and Zimbabwe, and has collaborated in research programmes with UN agencies including the ILO, the UNICEF, the UNDP and the FAO. He has published widely on labour and agrarian relations, the economics of education and public finance. He is one of the editors of Agrarian South: Journal of Political Economy.

Sudhanshu Bhushan is former Professor and Head of the Department of Higher and Professional Education at the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA), New Delhi, India. He specializes in internationalization, policy issues and planning in higher education. His notable works include The Future of Higher Education in India (2019), Governance of Higher Education in Bihar (2021) and The Evolving Landscape of Higher Education in India: Post-Pandemic Policies and Transformations (2024). He received the Amartya Sen Award in 2012 for distinguished social science research. He is the editor of the Indian Economic Journal.