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Dr. Sukhadeo Thorat is currently the Chairman of University Grant Commission and a Professor of Economics in the Centre for the Study of Regional Development, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He studied at the Milind College of Arts (Aurangabad, Maharashtra), Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University (Aurangabad), Jawaharlal Nehru University (Delhi), and Main School of Economics, Warsa (Poland). During 1989-1991, Dr. Thorat was a visiting fellow at Iowa State University (Ames), Centre for International and Comparative Studies, Iowa City, and International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington DC (U.S.A.). He was a founding Director of Indian Institute of Dalit Studies during 2002-2005. Dr. Thorat's research work relates to mainly Agricultural Development, Rural Poverty, Institution and Economic Growth, Problems of Marginalized Groups, Economics of Caste System, Economic Discrimination, Human Rights Issues, Economic and Social thoughts of Ambedkar, and Slums etc. He has to his credit eleven books and more than fifty papers in national and international journals.

Born in Minneapolis, USA, Gail Omvedt is an Indian citizen. She has an MA and PhD in sociology from the University of California, Berkeley. She has been living in India since 1978, settled in Kasegaon Village in southern Maharashtra, with her husband, Bharat Patankar, and other members of an Indian joint family. She is currently a Senior Fellow at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi. Among her numerous books focusing on social and economic issues are Buddhism in India: Challenging Brahmanism and Caste (2003), Dalits Visions (1995), Dalits and the Democratic Revolution (1994), Reinventing Revolution: New Social movements and the Socialist Tradition in India (1993) and Cultural Revolt in a Colonial Society: The Non-Brahman Movement in Maharashtra (1966). Of late, she has been involved in translations from the Marathi into English in collaboration with Bharat Patankar. If Gandhi was Bapu, the father of a society in which he tried to inject equality while maintaining the Hindu framework, Ambedkar was Baba to his people and the great liberator from that framework.

Martin Macwan is a human rights activist based in Gujarat. He founded the Navsarjan in 1989 to promote the rights of Dalits, addressing issues of discrimination, land rights, wages and women’s rights. He has also served as a convener of the National Campaign on alit Human Rights. Is work has been recognized internationally, with the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award In 2000.