Abha Chauhan is Professor and Director at the Centre for Kashmir Studies, Central University of Himachal Pradesh, Dharamshala (H.P.). She taught at the Department of Sociology, University of Jammu, for twenty-two years until March 2023 and held several academic and administrative positions. Before this, she taught Sociology for nearly nine years in Agra (U.P.) and IIT Delhi and worked as a Fellow at the Centre for Women’s Studies, New Delhi, for three years. She did her graduation from Delhi University (Miranda House) and received her M.A. M. Phil/ Ph.D. Degrees from the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi. Her research interests include gender, tribal and community studies, kinship, marriage, Sociology of religion and culture, conflict, and borderland studies. Besides several publications on these issues, her two most recent edited books include Understanding Society and Culture in India: A Study of Sufis, Saints and Deities in Jammu Region (Springer, 2021); and Gender, Law and Social Transformation in India (with Ajailiu Niumai, Springer, 2022). She has attended many national and international conferences, presented papers, and chaired and organized sessions. A member of prominent organizations like the Indian Association of Women’s Studies (IAWS), Ethnographic and Folk Culture Society (EFCS), and International Sociological Association (ISA) for many years, Abha Chauhan has been the Managing Committee (MC) Member (2002-2007), the Secretary (2016 - 2017), and the President of the Indian Sociological Society (2022-2023).Ajailiu Niumai is a Professor of Sociology and former Head, Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion & Inclusive Policy, University of Hyderabad & Senior Research Associate, Department of Sociology, University of Johannesburg, South Africa (2023-25). She is the Visiting Fellow, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, West Virginia University, Morgantown, USA, October 2024. She was on a Post-doctoral Fellowship at the Gender, Women’s and Sexuality Studies, University of Iowa, USA under UGC Raman Fellowship in 2013-14. She is the First Fellow of CARTHA (NGO) in Iowa City, USA (2006). She has published articles on gender issues like trafficking of women and children, women’s sexual health, migration, and Indian Diaspora, NGOs, and development in journals like Economic & Political Weekly, Indian Journal of Gender Studies (Sage), Sociological Bulletin (Sage), Contemporary Voice of Dalit (Sage), The Eastern Anthropologist, Man in India, and the like. She is the Editor-in-Chief of ‘ANTYAJAA: Indian Journal of Women and Social Change,’ Sage journals (September 11, 2024 onwards). She is a Guest Editor of the Special Volume on Gender Inequality and Social Exclusion, Journal of Social and Economic Development, Springer Nature (2024). Her book (with Abha Chauhan) includes Gender, Law and Social Transformation in India, Springer Nature, Singapore (2022). She has served Sociological Associations at the Regional, National, and International levels in different capacities. She is the Asia Regional Representative of RC-32 Women, Gender and Society of International Sociological Society (2023-27), Spain. She is a Member of the Managing Committee of the Indian Sociological Society (2020-2025) and former Convenor of RC-04 Migration & Diaspora Studies (2016-19) of the Indian Sociological Society. She is the founder and Secretary of the Sociological Association of North Eastern India (2022 onwards). Tattwamasi Paltasingh is at present working as Professor, P.G Department of Sociology, Sambalpur University, Odisha. Prior to her present position she has served as a faculty at Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) Mumbai and at Sardar Patel Institute of Economic and Social Research (SPIESR), Ahmedabad. She has obtained her Doctorate Degree from TISS Mumbai with a UGC Research Fellowship for her Doctoral Dissertation in the broad area of Sociology of Development. She has directed several research projects related to Elementary, Secondary and Higher Education, Tribal Study, Development Studies, Entrepreneurship, Gender Studies, Evaluation and Policy Studies. Prof. Paltasingh has extensive academic experience and substantial contribution to research, teaching and extension activities. She has published two Edited Volumes titled ‘Caring for the Elderly: Social Gerontology in the Indian Context’ (2015) by SAGE & Emerging Issues in Gerontology: Relevance and Possibilities by Bookwell (2014). She has published about 40 academic papers in reputed National and International journals and as book chapters.
