Shashikant Kumar Author

Lancy Lobo is Director at the Centre for Culture and Development, Vadodara. Earlier, he had served as the Director, Centre for Social Studies, Surat. He has conducted extensive studies on the tribes, Dalits, OBCs and minorities in rural and urban Gujarat. He has authored six books and has contributed several articles to professional journals. His published works include The Thakors of North Gujarat Poor in Urban India: Study of Surat Slums (co-authored with Biswaroop Das) and Communal Violence and Minorities: Gujarat Society in Ferment (coedited with Biswaroop Das). He was an International Fellow at the Woodstock Centre, Georgetown University, Washington DC (1999–2000) during which he worked on Globalisation, Hindu Nationalism and Christians in India. At present, he is working on degradation of forests and its impact on the tribals of Gujarat. Shashikant Kumar, planning consultant in the area of urban and regional planning, has focused his interests on development planning issues in India in general, and Gujarat in particular. He is presently involved in research related to development planning, evaluation and spatial analysis techniques in various organisations. Earlier he held the position of Vice President, Scanpoint Geomatics Limited (Ahmedabad); and Associate Project Director (DIDR Project), Centre for Culture and Development (Vadodara). At various stages of his professional career, he has provided consultancy to Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, 1999–2000; Centre for Culture and Development, Vadodara, 2003 to till date; Green Eminent, 1997 to till date; and various other institutions. He is a visiting faculty in the Faculty of Science, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda; and Bhaikaka Institute of Human Settlement, APIED, Sardar Patel University, Vallabh Vidhyanagar.