Professor Ravi Shankar Srivastava received his education in the University of Allahabad, Delhi School of Economics, Jawaharlal Nehru University and Cambridge University (from where he obtained his doctoral degree). He is Professor of Economics in the Centre for the Study of Regional Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi since 1999, after having served in the University of Allahabad and G. B. Pant Social Science Institute, Allahabad for over two decades. Professor Srivastava served at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1992 on a Fulbright Fellowship in Development Economics and has been associated with various other universities, including the University of Amsterdam, Oxford University and the Osaka City University. He has lectured at a number of foreign and Indian universities and has attended numerous international conferences on invitation.

 Professor Srivastava’s main areas of research and publication include human development, rural poverty and rural development, decentralization, labour markets and migration. He has written over fifty papers in Indian and Foreign journals. His main areas of research include agriculture and regional development, labour economics, human development, rural poverty and decentralization.  

Professor Srivastava is the principal author of the first State Human Development Report of Uttar Pradesh (forthcoming). He was one of the authors of the World Bank’s report on poverty in Uttar Pradesh. His book on decentralisation and development in UP (“Unequal Partners”, Sage Publications, New Delhi, 1999) has been widely acclaimed. He has recently co-authored a book (Oxford University Press, New Delhi) on Financing of Elementary Education in India (“Uncaging the Tiger: Costs and Financing of Elementary Education in India”). He is a co-author of a book on Child Labour (Manohar Publishers).  He has published extensively on educational finance and health issues.  

He has performed advisory roles and has worked in consultative positions with the Indian Planning Commission, the UP State Planning Commission, SIEMAT, UNDP, UNICEF, the World Bank, DFID, SIDA and the ADB. He has been a member of various task forces, steering groups and consultative committees of the Department of Rural Development and the Planning Commission. In 2001, he was given the University Grant Commission’s award in economics for innovative research on poverty.  

Professor Srivastava has completed more than twenty research studies till date which have been sponsored by agencies such as the Planning Commission, Indian Council for Social Science Research, the World Bank, ILO-IPEC, UNICEF and the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute. His recently completed research studies include a study of the impact of globalization on rural livelihoods in MP, preparation of a development strategy for Rae Bareli district in Uttar Pradesh, a review of the incidence of bonded labourers in various sectors in India (for the ILO), a study on changing trends in agricultural and rural employment for the World Bank’s forthcoming India Employment Report, and social security for migrant labourers in India. His other current research studies include an exploration of the nature of urban poverty in India, a networked study of seasonal migration in diverse locations, and an analysis of access issues in higher education. 

Professor Srivastava is currently a member of the Governing Body of the Indian Council for Social Science Research and the Executive Council of the University of Allahabad. He is also a member of the Board of Governors of the Institute of Development Studies, Jaipur and the Giri Institute of Development Studies, Lucknow. He is a member of the Core Group on the Right to Food (National Human Rights Commission) and has been a member of the Task Force on Social Security of Informal Sector Workers of the National Commission on Enterprises in the Unorganised Sectors. He is also a member of the Academic Committee/Councils of the Agro-economic Research Centre, University of Delhi, and the Institute of Human Development, New Delhi. Further, he is a member of the Core Group of the South Asia Migration Network (SAMREN) and a member of the Steering Group of the Hub for Migration Workers set up by the Institute of Human Development (supported by the Grameen Vikas Trust).  

Professor Srivastava is a member of the Editorial Board of Social Concern, the Journal of Agrarian Change, the Indian Journal of Labour Economics and Sarvekshana and acts as a referee to a large number of international journals.