Academics

Nimisha Shukla has been working with the department of Rural economics since 1991 she is the professor and current head of the department. Her doctoral work was in the field of Natural Resource Economics under the supervision of Professor Sudarshan Iyengar. Gandhian economic thought environmental economics are her areas of interest, and she has been constantly working to bridge contemporary new classical economic thought and sustainable economics.

For the last two decades, her forte is to work on Gandhian way of life. The distinction between sustainability and samposhitta can be an original contribution of Prof. Iyengar and Prof. Shukla in the field of environment. Professor Shukla is a gold medalist from Gujarat University in the post graduate program. Prof. Shukla has international exposure of attending faculty development course as well as participating in conferences at Thailand and Germany. She has been involved in several research projects and presented her research work at National as well as regional workshops and seminars.

Prof Shukla has delivered lectures on various aspects of Indian economy, Gandhian thought, environmental economics, development Economics at refresher courses. The number of successful PhD's and scholars under her supervision is in double digits. She was Coordinator of Internal Quality Assurance Cell at Gujarat Vidyapih for two cycles of NAAC visit. She was the director of Tribal Research and Training Institute for a year. Trying to keep the Gandhian tradition alive, she has been constantly interacting with students and faculty on contemporary issues and discussing the solutions in Gandhi.

Prof. Hasmukh Desai joined Gujarat Vidyapith in 2002. He is a committed teacher and presently teaching subjects like Quantitative Economics, International Economics and Dairy Cooperatives. Prof. Desai has published 5 books and 61 articles in National and International Journals. 30 PhD scholars has been awarded under his guidance while 15 MPhil students are awarded degree under his guidance.

Dr. Manjula Laxman Dabhi, a Professor at the Department of Rural Economics, Gujarat Vidyapith, since 2004, has been a guiding force in the academic community. Her completion of M.Phil. and NET and her work experience as an Assistant Professor at Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University, Ahmedabad, from 2002 to 2004 laid the foundation for her influential career. Her three research projects from ICSSR, UGC, and Samgra Shiksha, Gujarat Government, have led to significant contributions in the field. She has published five books on land reforms, labor market discrimination, participatory canal irrigation, poverty, and numerous research papers and book chapters. Her research areas include development economics, Public Economics, and Humanistic Economics. Under her guidance, five PhDs have been awarded. She is the esteemed Institute of Equity and Development honorary Director at Gujarat Vidyapith, Ahmedabad.

Assistant professor of the faculty of Social Science, he started working with Vidyapith on 1st January 2005, just after qualifying NET-JRF. He was a research fellow at SPIESR, Ahmedabad, before joining Vidyapith. In 2009, he received his doctoral degree with a specialty in Health Economics. His areas of interest include Dalit Study and the vulnerable section of society. Keeping in ideology of Gandhi regarding upliftment of marginalized society (Antyodaya), he has completed two major research projects funded by ICSSR, New Delhi, three major research projects funded by the Government of Gujarat and completed a UGC-sponsored research project. Naresh has also published various articles in various research journals. His publications in international as well as national journals are mainly based on his research work. He has also translated a book in Gujarati with the title "Ambedkar an Economist Extraordinaire" written by Narendra Jadav, Chief Economist, RBI, and Chairperson, Advisory Committee on RBI. He has presented numbers of research papers in international, national, and regional levels of seminars. He is also a member of multiple professional associations. Besides his academic work, his extension work is also notable. Organizing Gram Jivan Padyatra a unique feature of the institute.

Dhara Vaghadia, has been working as an Assistant Professor with department of Rural Economics at Gujarat Vidyapith since 2012.At present she has been working in the area of Natural Resource Economics. The application of Travel cost Method evaluates the Gir National Park for her doctoral work has been the first in the state in regional language. Her areas of Interest Include rural development with Indigenous and Innovative practices, sustainable development goals etc. She has attended number of workshop and taken part in discussions on rural developmental issues in general and Environmental issues in particular. She has Success fully organized various Panel discussion on "Trends and Challenge in Cottage Based industry" as well as Panchayat and Rural Development. She has Success fully organized various Workshop on SPSS and Census Software. Along with her doctoral supervisor Prof. Nimisha Shukla she has edited a special issue of research journal Vidyapith on Environmental Economics in 2022. She has been updating her subject knowledge through orientation as well as research courses, Ms Vaghadia has expressing her experience in presentations at National and international seminars as well as publishing research papers in several journals. Apart from teaching and learning, Ms Vaghadia has been involved in a major Research project titled Vision of Tribal Economic Development in which she studied to district, viz Dahod and Panchmahal

Dr. Kailas Bhoye has been working as an Assistant Professor, in the department of Rural Economics at Gujarat Vidyapith since 2012. He completed his PhD in 2016 under the guidance of Prof. Nimisha Shukla on 'Economic and Environmental Role of Forest Rights Act-2006'. His areas of interest include rural development with Tribal Development and Rural Economic issues etc. He has attended several workshops and has taken active part in discussions and discourses on rural developmental and tribal development issues. Dr. Bhoye keeps himself updated with the subject knowledge through orientation as well as research courses. Dr. Bhoye has presented papers at National and international seminars as well as published research papers in number of journals. As a part of teaching and learning, Dr. Bhoye has been involved in a major project titled Vision of Tribal Economic Development in which he has studied district, Dang in depth and its tribal vision along with solution for development.

Dr. Nasheman Bandookwala, working as Assistant Professor in the Department of Rural Economics. She has worked with Management Institute viz. Institute of Management, Nirma University and Shanti Business School before joining this esteemed Gandhian University in 2018. She is a passionate teacher, and her teaching skills are in subjects like International Economics/Business, Managerial Economics, Development Economics and Macro and Microeconomics. Dr. Bandookwala has done her PhD under the guideship of Prof. Nimisha Shukla on Human Development, Inequality Adjusted Human Development, Gender Development and Multidimensional Poverty Index of the Districts of Gujarat. Dr. Bandookwala is a committed researcher and her research works have been published at national and international level visit link for few of her research papers (https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1j3COB2IIyXcFeClS79m8ZvDQ7sbqHI-4?usp=drive_linkl). She has undertaken three major projects funded by Government of Gujarat viz. Valsad District Human Development Report, Ecological Profile of Aravalli and Sabarkantha district and A Socio-economic Analysis of Programs, Schemes and Polices under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (SBA) and its impact on Indian Caste System and Social Harmony (https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1OpCNJeNyEvfV479AuW9up08a4M0PbD4i?usp=drive_link). She has been actively participating in national and international seminars and discourses to ameliorate academic canvas.