Dr. Kancha Ilaiah an Indian political theorist, writer, and activist for Dalit rights. He is the Director of Centre for Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy (CSSEIP) at Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad. His contributions includes as the member of the National Research Committee constituted by the Ministry of Social Justice, member of the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), member of the Planning Commission Sub Committee to formulate an agenda for land reforms for the XI Five Year Plan, member of the UGC Constitutional Committee to oversee the implementation of OBC reservations in all Central and State universities in India, former member of Executive Council of Periyar Maniammai University (Tamil Nadu) and former member of the National Book Trust, Ministry of Human Resources Development, Government of India, New Delhi.
Dr. Suraj Yengde is an award-winning scholar and activist from India. He is an inaugural post-doctoral fellow at the Initiative for Institutional Anti-racism and Accountability, Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. Dr. Suraj is India’s first Dalit Ph.D. holder from an African university (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg) in the nation’s history.