Professor S. Mahendra Dev is Distinguished Professor at ICFAI Faculty of Social Sciences, Hyderabad, Telangana, India. He was Director and Vice Chancellor, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research (IGIDR),  Mumbai, India from 2010  to 2022. Prior to this position, he was Chairman of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices, Ministry of Agriculture from 2008 to 2010.He was Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees of International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Washington, D.C. His main areas of interest are agriculture, rural economy, rural non-farm sector, economic growth, global economy, macro policies, employment and unemployment, social protection, development economics and social sector. He published around 150 articles in national and international articles. He has written or edited 20 books.

Dr. Vijay Laxmi Pandey is Professor at Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, India. She is an agricultural economist by training and has over 25 years of experience working in the field of agriculture and its relations with environment, nutrition, and rural economy. She has vast experience of conducting household level surveys. She has successfully completed many national and international research and consultancy projects and has a large number of research publications, which include research papers in peer reviewed journals, book chapters, a book and policy reports.