Manish Thakur is Professor at the Public Policy and Management Group, Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, Kolkata. Previously, he was a lecturer in sociology at Goa University (1997-2007) and a fellow at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla (2011-13). He has published more than thirty research papers in professional journals and edited volumes. He has also authored/edited three books - Indian Village: A Conceptual History (2014), The Quest for Indian Sociology: Radhakamal Mukerjee and Our Times (2014), and Management Education in India: Perspectives and Practices (co-edited, 2017). His published research deals with aspects of water resources management, rural development knowledge institutions and discourses, research-policy interface, political culture, place of sociology in management education, social movements, intellectual history, and indigenous theories. His areas of research interest are rural-agrarian sociology, economic sociology, and disciplinary practices. Dr. Thakur is the recipient of three prestigious awards – Dr. V.K.R.V. Rao Award in Social Sciences (Sociology) 2014 (Institute of Social and Economic Change, Bengaluru and Indian Council of Social Science Research, New Delhi, Prof. M. N. Srinivas Memorial Award for Young Sociologist, 2007 (Indian Sociological Society), and Prof. Radhakamal Mukerjee Memorial Award for Young Social Scientist, 2002 (Indian Social Science Association).