Santosh Mehrotra

Mehrotra was the son of an officer of the Indian Administrative Service. He had most of his early education in schools in Lucknow, including the historic La Martiniere College. He finished his schooling in Allahabad, the university town. His mother, herself a poet in Hindi, from Allahabad, had grown up surrounded by stories of the nationalist movement against the British, and both parents imbued him with a deep sense of nationalism. She was the daughter of a distinguished lawyer, who was Mayor of Allahabad. Her father, KP Kakkar had defeated Motilal Nehru, the father of India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, in the city elections to the Mayor-ship in 1922.

After Mehrotra graduated from Allahabad University, his father expected him to join the Indian Administrative Service. However, he wanted to become an academic and won two fellowships to study abroad, first to obtain a master's degree in Economics at The New School for Social Research, New York city. Here he was taught by well-known economists, like Edward J. Nell, Robert Heilbroner, Ross Thomson, and Gita Sen. Mehrotra then moved to Cambridge University to do a PhD in Economics.

Finishing the PhD in 1985 he returned to India to a life in academia. In 1988 he became associate professor, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

In 1991, Mehrotra was called away to the United Nations system in New York. From 1991 to 2006, he spent 15 years with two UN agencies – UNICEF{{Cite web |url=http://www.unicef.org/eapro/Santosh_Bio.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=13 March 2015 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304063410/http://www.unicef.org/eapro/Santosh_Bio.pdf }} and UNDP. In the latter, he was the chief economist of the global Human Development Report (2002–05), New York. Before that he led the research programme on developing countries at UNICEF's global research institute, the Innocenti Research Center, Florence, Italy (1999–2002).

After an international career, he left the UN to return to India in September 2006 to head the Rural Development Division of Planning Commission (India), where he was also the Economic Adviser for the Social Sectors. He then headed Development Policy Division, Planning Commission (till August 2009).{{cite web|url=http://www.crop.org/storypg.aspx?id=328&MenuNode=633964837658369422&zone=17|title=Santosh Mehrotra|work=crop.org}}

He was Director-General, National Institute of Labour Economics Research (earlier called Institute of Applied Manpower Research{{cite web|url=http://www.iamrindia.gov.in/|title=IAMR|work=iamrindia.gov.in}}), Planning Commission (in the rank of Secretary, Government of India)[https://web.archive.org/web/20120508053411/http://planningcommission.gov.in/rti/doc_rti/off_order.pdf Planning Commission document] until August 2014.

He also held a three-year appointment as Parkin Visiting Professor at the Centre for International Development in the Faculty of Social Sciences, at the University of Bath,{{cite web|url=http://www.bath.ac.uk/news/2011/11/29/david-parkin-visiting-prof/|title=David Parkin Visiting Professorship 2012/13|work=bath.ac.uk}} UK (2010–13).

Mehrotra was till mid 2020 Professor of Economics, Centre for Informal Sector and Labour Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University,{{Cite web |url=http://www.jnu.ac.in/FacultyStaff/ShowProfile.asp?SendUserName=skmehrotra |title=Show Profile |access-date=18 February 2015 |archive-date=26 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150426053026/http://www.jnu.ac.in/FacultyStaff/ShowProfile.asp?SendUserName=skmehrotra }}

Santosh Mehrotra is currently visiting professor, at the Centre for Development studies, University of Bath, UK.

He was a lead author of several chapters in India's 11th Five Year Plan (Five-Year Plans of India) (2007–2012). For the 11th Plan, he led the team that authored several chapters related to watershed development; land reforms; and food security and nutrition. Later, for the 12th Five Year Plan (2012–17) he led the team that wrote the chapters on Employment and on Skill Development.[https://web.archive.org/web/20120502035448/http://planningcommission.gov.in/aboutus/committee/wrkgrp12/wg_emp_planing.pdf Planning Commission document] He was also the Team Leader of the second-ever national Human Development Report of India.{{cite web|url=http://www.iamrindia.gov.in/HDR.htm|title=Untitled Page|work=iamrindia.gov.in}}

In early 2011 he led the drafting of a National Vocational Education Qualification Framework for India, which is the basis of skill development now being implemented by the Government of India generally, and especially the Ministry of Human Resource Development.{{cite web|url=http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=70242|title=Print Release|work=pib.nic.in}} The NVEQF (now called the National Skills Qualification Framework){{cite web|url=http://news.lotsbuzz.com/haryana-state-government-directorate-of-school-education-along-with-wadhwani-foundation-unveils-pilot-for-the-national-vocational-educational-qualification-framework-nveqf-programme/|title=Haryana State Government Directorate of School Education along with Wadhwani Foundation unveils pilot for the National Vocational Educational Qualification Framework (NVEQF) programme|work=lotsbuzz.com}}[http://mhrd.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/EXECUTIVE%20ORDER_new.pdf Executive order] Ministry of Human Resource Development is the basis of vocational education being introduced in class 9 in India, enabling 15-year-old children in schools in India to access vocational education. This was a change for India's school children, as millions of them drop out after completing 8 years of compulsory schooling. Currently he is a member of the National Steering Committee of National Skills Qualification Framework, MHRD

As Member-Secretary of the Expert Group on 'Development Challenges in Extremist-Affected Areas', he steered a landmark report to the Planning Commission, which became the basis of several policy initiatives by the Planning Commission for rural areas that are Maoist-affected districts.[https://web.archive.org/web/20080908095833/http://planningcommission.gov.in/reports/publications/rep_dce.pdf Planning Commission document]

He was a member of the NC Saxena Committee on 'Criteria to Identify the Poor', and a member of its Drafting Committee.{{Cite web|url=http://www.prsindia.org/uploads/media/Food%20Security/Report%20of%20the%20Expert%20Group%20%28NC%20Saxena%29%20on%20the%20methodology%20for%20the%20BPL%20Census%202009.pdf|title=PRSIndia|access-date=10 June 2023}} He co-authored the research paper that became the basis of the methodology now adopted by the government of India in the Socio-Economic Census over 2011–2013 to identify the poor conducted.

He was also a member of the Expert Group of government of India to revamp the self-help groups based programme, SGSY (Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana), and convert it into the National Rural Livelihood Mission. NRLM has been taken to scale all over India, as a much improved programme to promote women's self-help groups.

He was a member of the inter-ministerial Expert Group that designed the first major Conditional Cash Transfer for the Govt of India (Ministry of Women and Child Development), giving cash transfers to pregnant and lactating mothers, 2009.

He was the only Indian economist on the international review panel of the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation 2009–10.{{Cite web |url=http://www.3ieimpact.org/media/filer_public/2013/10/22/updated_agenda_1.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=19 February 2015 |archive-date=26 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151026025624/http://www.3ieimpact.org/media/filer_public/2013/10/22/updated_agenda_1.pdf }} He was a member of the World Bank's High Level Advisory Panel, Washington, DC, in 2011 to advise IDA/World Bank on criteria for selecting projects for conducting Impact Evaluations. For the World Bank he was invited by its Independent Evaluation Group prepare a paper on the state of evaluation in India.[https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/19000/884180NWP0Box300ecd0wp280india0me00.pdf?sequence=1 Evaluation Capacity Development] World Bank

Mehrotra writes regularly for a number of English{{cite web|url=http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/a-fuels-errand/|title=A fuel's errand|date=4 February 2015|work=The Indian Express}} and Hindi language newspapers on these issues.{{Cite news|url=http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/jobless-growth-no-more/article5919426.ece|title = 'Jobless growth' no more|newspaper = The Hindu|date = 17 April 2014|last1 = Mehrotra|first1 = Santosh}} He also appears regularly on Indian and international TV channels{{cite web|url=http://www.iamrindia.gov.in/_media.htm|title=Dr. Santosh Mehrotra, Director General IAMR in MEDIA|work=iamrindia.gov.in}} as a poverty specialist and human development economist.{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zH29koxMyw|title=Santosh Mehrotra Policies to Achieve Inclusive Growth in India: Seizing the Demographic Dividend|date=19 December 2013|via=YouTube}}

When in 2013 the data suggested that despite the fastest economic growth in the history of independent India, the growth was 'jobless', with manufacturing employment actually falling in absolute terms, he had no hesitation in so averring, despite heading a Planning Commission-funded research institute. Mehrotra was repeatedly interviewed by TV channels, and demonstrated that there had been jobless growth.{{Cite web|url=http://www.iamrindia.gov.in/occ_paper/Joblessness.pdf|title = Error- National Institute of Labour Economics Research and Development (Formerly Institute of Applied Manpower Research), an Autonomous Institute under NITI Aayog, Government of India}}

{{cite web|url=http://smartinvestor.business-standard.com/market/Features-165922-Featuresdet-Jobless_growth_is_now_official.htm|title=Jobless growth is now official – The Smart Investor|work=Business Standard}}

Mehrotra has also shown through his research that the government commitment to skilling 500 million people between 2012 and 2022 is based on an incorrect estimate, and the government's instruction to its ministries to plan skill development capacity accordingly risks wasting resources. He showed that the numbers to be skilled over 10 years was only about 200 million, a daunting enough task.{{cite web|url=http://www.epw.in/special-articles/estimating-indias-skill-gap-realistic-basis-2022.html|title=Estimating India's Skill Gap on a Realistic Basis for 2022|work=epw.in}}

• Member, International Scientific Committee, Council on Research on Poverty (CROP), International Social Science Research Council, Paris, 2004–10.{{cite web|url=http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Comparative_Research_Programme_on_Poverty|title=Comparative Research Programme on Poverty|work=sourcewatch.org}}
• Fellow, Council for Research on Poverty (CROP), Norway, 2011 to present.
• Parkin Visiting Professor, Centre for Development Studies, University of Bath 2010–13
• Visiting Fellow, Centre for Development Studies, University of Bath.
• Rockefeller Foundation,{{cite web|url=http://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/|title=The Rockefeller Foundation|work=rockefellerfoundation.org}} Bellagio Centre, Italy: Author Fellowship, June 2013{{cite web|url=http://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/bellagio-center/conferences-and-residencies/20937|title=Santosh K. Mehrotra|work=rockefellerfoundation.org}}
• Visiting Research Professor, University of Bergen, Norway (2014–15)
• Professorial fellow, Nehru Memorial Museum and library, New Delhi;
• Research fellow, IZA institute of labour economics, Bonn, Germany;

He has been on a large number of advisory boards in India since 2006:

• Member, National Steering Committee for the National Skils Qualification Framework, Ministry of HRD, Government of India{{Cite web|url=http://www.iamrindia.gov.in/proposed.pdf|title = Error- National Institute of Labour Economics Research and Development (Formerly Institute of Applied Manpower Research), an Autonomous Institute under NITI Aayog, Government of India}}
• Member of six working groups or steering committees for 12th Five Year Plan, Planning Commission: two in education (one for elem edu, one for higher edu); one in rural development; two in labour and employment; one in industry, 2011–12
• Member, National Governing Council, National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme, Ministry of Rural Development, 2006–2008
• Member, ExpertGroup of Feminist Economists (created to make recommendations on the 11th and 12th Five Year Plan)

• Member, International Advisory Board, Chronic Poverty Research Centre, UK, since 2008
• Member, Editorial Board, Compare, a journal of International Comparative Education (UK),2005–11
• Member, Editorial advisory board of Journal of Global Social Policy (Sage), Sheffield University and Globalism and Social Policy Programme, Helsinki, 2002–11
• Member, International Advisory Board, Younglives{{cite web|url=http://www.younglives.org.uk/who-we-are/international-advisory-board|title=International Advisory Board – Young Lives|work=younglives.org.uk|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120705034934/http://www.younglives.org.uk/who-we-are/international-advisory-board|archive-date=5 July 2012}} Research Project, Queen Elizabeth House, Oxford University, UK (in India, Vietnam, Ethiopia, Peru), 2001–2012
• International Expert Advisory panel of UNDP's global Human Development Report, New York (Consumption for Human Development 1997; Human Development to Eradicate Poverty 1998)[https://web.archive.org/web/20150415073824/http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/reports/264/hdr_2003_en_complete.pdf Human Development Report]
• Member, International Advisory Board, Research programme on macro-economic policy analysis for growth and employment (PEP), IDRC (International Development Research Centre), Canada{{cite web|url=http://portal.pep-net.org/users/view/id/10016|title=Edit user – Intranet PEP Research Network|work=pep-net.org}}
• Chair, global Expert Group on Technical and Vocational Education and Training, UNESCO, Paris, 2014–15

He has written or edited eleven books, which are taught in universities around the world:

• Social and Economic Policies to Reduce Poverty in Latin America: Is there something that can be learned from the experience in Asia, (National University of Maxico, 2021)
• Reviving Jobs: an Agenda for Growth,[https://global.penguinrandomhouse.com/ penguinrandomhouse], 2020
• Planning in the 20th Century and Beyond: India's Planning Commission and NITI Aayog, Cambridge University Press.

• Seizing the Demographic Dividend. Policies to Achieve Inclusive Growth in India (Cambridge University Press 2015);
• Countering Naxalism with Development: The Challenge of State Security with Social Justice (Sage 2014).{{cite web|url=http://www.sagepub.in/books/Book242980?subject=B00&imprint=%22SAGE%20India%22&sortBy=defaultPubDate%20desc&fs=1|title=SAGE: Countering Naxalism with Development: Challenges of Social Justice and State Security: Santosh Mehrotra: 9788132113935|work=SAGE|date=20 September 2021}}
• Land Policies for Growth with Equity:Transforming the Agrarian Structure in Uttar Pradesh (Sage 2014);{{cite web|url=http://library.alibris.com/Land-Policies-for-Equity-and-Growth-Transforming-the-Agrarian-Structure-in-Uttar-Pradesh/book/27258670|title=Land Policies for Equity and Growth: Transforming the Agrarian Structure in Uttar Pradesh|author=Santosh Mehrotra, Ajit Kumar Singh|work=alibris.com}}
• India's Skills Challenge: Reforming Vocational Education and Training to Harness the Demographic Dividend, ed. (Oxford University Press 2014){{cite book|url=http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780199452774.do|title=India's Skills Challenge|work=oup.com|date=30 December 2014|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-945277-4}}{{cite web|url=http://www.oup.co.in/product/academic-general/economics/development-economics/155/indias-skills-challenge-reforming-vocational-education-training-harness-demographic-dividend/9780199452774|title=India's Skills Challenge: Reforming Vocational Education and Training to Harness the Demographic Div – Economics – Development-Economics|work=oup.co.in}}
• Eliminating Human Poverty: Macro-economic and Social Policies for Equitable Growth (Zed, London, 2007).{{Cite web |url=http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/E/bo20848966.html |title=Eliminating Human Poverty: Macroeconomic and Social Policies for Equitable Growth, Mehrotra, Delamonica |access-date=19 February 2015 |archive-date=8 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150608023058/http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/E/bo20848966.html }}
• Asian Informal Workers. Global Risks, Local Protection (Routledge, London, 2007),{{cite web|url=http://www.cambridgeindia.org/showbookdetails1.asp?ISBN=9780415382755&category_id=56X|title=Cambridge University Press India|work=cambridgeindia.org}}
• The Economics of Elementary Education in India, SAGE Publications, 2006;{{cite web|url=http://www.sagepub.in/books/Book228903|title=SAGE: The Economics of Elementary Education in India: The Challenge of Public Finance, Private Provision and Household Costs: Santosh Mehrotra: 9780761934196|work=SAGE|date=19 September 2021}}
• Universalizing Elementary Education in India. Unchanging the Tiger Economy (Oxford, 2005);
• Le Developpement a Visage Humain, Economica, Paris, 2001;{{cite web|url=http://library.alibris.com/Le-Developpement-a-Visage-Humain-La-Voie-Qui-Mene-Au-Developpement-Social-Et-La-Croissance-economique/book/-271784234?qsort=c&matches=3|title=Le Developpement a Visage Humain: La Voie Qui Mene Au Developpement Social Et La Croissance economique|author=Et, Mehrotra S.|work=alibris.com}}
• Development with a Human Face.{{cite web|url=http://www.unicef.org/publications/index_4383.html|title=Development with a Human Face: Experiences in Social Achievement and Economic Growth – UNICEF Publications – UNICEF|date=28 April 2003|work=UNICEF}} Experiences in Social Achievement and Economic Growth (Clarendon Press, 1997 and Oxford, 2000);{{cite book|url=http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780198296577.do|title=Development with a Human Face|work=oup.com|date=20 July 2000|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-829657-7}}
• India and the Soviet Union: Trade and Technology Transfer, Cambridge University Press, 1990){{cite book|url=http://ebooks.cambridge.org/ebook.jsf?bid=CBO9780511559884|title=India and the Soviet Union|publisher=cambridge.org|year=1991|doi=10.1017/CBO9780511559884|last1=Mehrotra|first1=Santosh K.|isbn=978-0-521-36202-3}}

• "Explaining Employment Trends in India, 1993/4 to 2011/12, Economic and Political Weekly, vol 49, no. 32.{{cite web|url=http://www.epw.in/special-articles/explaining-employment-trends-indian-economy-1993-94-2011-12.html|title=Explaining Employment Trends in the Indian Economy: 1993–94 to 2011–12|work=epw.in}}
• "International Experience with National Training Funds: Lessons for India", Economic and Political Weekly, vol 49, no 26-7.{{cite web|url=http://www.epw.in/special-articles/international-experience-national-training-funds.html|title=International Experience with National Training Funds|work=epw.in}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Mehrotra |first1=Santosh |last2=Gandhi |first2=Ankita |last3=Sahoo |first3=Bimal K |title=Estimating India's Skill Gap: on a Realistic Basis for 2022 |journal=Economic and Political Weekly |date=2013 |volume=48 |issue=13 |pages=102–111 |jstor=23391471 }}
• {{cite web |first1=Santosh |last1=Mehrotra |first2=Ankita |last2=Gandhi |first3=Partha |last3=Saha |first4=Bimal Kishore |last4=Sahoo |title=Joblessness and Informalization: Challenges to Inclusive Growth in India |website=Institute of Applied Manpower Research |date=December 2012 |url=http://iamrindia.gov.in/writereaddata/UploadFile/Joblessness.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171013142504/http://iamrindia.gov.in/writereaddata/UploadFile/Joblessness.pdf |archive-date=2017-10-13}}
• "A Proposed National Qualifications Framework for Vocational Education for India", IAMR Occasional Paper no 4, 2012.
• {{cite journal |last1=Mehrotra |first1=Santosh |title=India and the global economic crisis |journal=Journal of Asian Public Policy |date=22 October 2010 |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=122–134 |doi=10.1080/17516234.2010.504326 |s2cid=153663875 }}
• {{cite journal |last1=Mehrotra |first1=Santosh |title=Monitoring, evaluation and performance management in South Asia: The challenge of building capacity |journal=Evaluation |date=2013-01-01 |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=74–84 |doi=10.1177/1356389012471257 |s2cid=143775418 }}
• {{cite journal |last1=Mehrotra |first1=Santosh |title=The cost and financing of the right to education in India: Can we fill the financing gap? |journal=International Journal of Educational Development |date=January 2012 |volume=32 |issue=1 |pages=65–71 |doi=10.1016/j.ijedudev.2011.02.001 }}
• {{cite journal |last1=Mehrotra |first1=Santosh |last2=Kapoor |first2=Sushma |title=Capability deprivation of women: are women holding up half the sky in Asia? |journal=Journal of Asian Public Policy |date=28 October 2009 |volume=2 |issue=3 |pages=243–265 |doi=10.1080/17516230903204729 |s2cid=153645420 }}
• "The 'reformed' Planning Commission: The Way Forward, Economic and Political Weekly, 2014, vol 49, no 37.{{cite web|url=http://www.epw.in/after-planning-commission/reformed-%E2%80%98planning-commission%E2%80%99.html|title=The Reformed 'Planning Commission'|work=epw.in}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Mehrotra |first1=Santosh |title=Reforming elementary education in India: A menu of options |journal=International Journal of Educational Development |date=May 2006 |volume=26 |issue=3 |pages=261–277 |doi=10.1016/j.ijedudev.2005.08.001 }}
• Social Protection in the Informal Economy: Home-based Women Workers and Outsourced Manufacturing in South Asian, World Development (Boston United States), Oct 2005, vol 33, no 10, 1735–1757, {{ISSN|0305-750X}}[http://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/pdf/iwp97.pdf Innocenti Working Paper] unicef-irc.org
• {{cite journal |last1=Mehrotra |first1=Santosh |title=Education for All: Policy Lessons from High-Achieving Countries |journal=International Review of Education |date=1998-09-01 |volume=44 |issue=5 |pages=461–484 |doi=10.1023/A:1003433029696 |jstor=3444849 |bibcode=1998IREdu..44..461M |s2cid=142665983 }}
• Finance for Development, Journal of Global Social Policy (based UK), April 2002, {{ISSN|1468-0181}}.
• {{cite journal |last1=Mehrotra |first1=Santosh |title=Improving cost-effectiveness and mobilizing resources for primary education in Sub-Saharan Africa |journal=Prospects |date=1998-09-01 |volume=28 |issue=3 |pages=469–489 |doi=10.1007/BF02736819 |s2cid=144201854 }}

Many other research articles can be found on [https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Santosh_Mehrotra/ this web page.]

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Category:Living people

Category:1955 births

Category:20th-century Indian economists

Category:Academics of the University of Bath

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Category:Alumni of the University of Cambridge

Category:La Martinière College, Lucknow alumni

Category:The New School alumni

Category:Scientists from Lucknow

Category:UNICEF people

Category:University of Allahabad alumni