Qualifications:

M.A (Economics)

Certified for Lectureship (Economics) of the University Grants Commission through clearance of the National Eligibility Test.

M.Phil in Applied Economics (Centre for Development Studies, Trivandrum). Dissertation title - “Exploring the Linkages between Urbanisation and Transportation: A study of Metropolitan Cities in India with special reference to Pune”.

Areas of interest:

Philosophy of economics, Philosophy of science, economic anthropology

Accomplishments:

Gained diverse experience through working on various projects -

1. “Entry barriers to Medical Education in Kerala”, a study which involved analyzing primary data collected from medical students in Kerala to evaluate the determinants of their access to medical education, their educational expenditure and academic performance. The study was done for Centre for Socio-Economic and Environmental Studies (CSES), Ernakulam. Analysis and reporting of the primary data collected.

2. “Socio-Economic Analysis and Policy Implications of the Roles of Agriculture in Developing Countries”, a study funded by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations at IGIDR, Mumbai. It attempted to evaluate the roles of agriculture in various domains, like environment, poverty, culture etc. My work involved a national assessment of the various environmental externalities originating from the different farming systems in India through an extensive literature review.

3. “Land-use change, watershed services and socio economic impact in the Western Ghats region”, a study funded by Ford Foundation and routed through UNESCO at Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Environment and Development (CISED), Bangalore. This was a multi-disciplinary and stake-holder-oriented research project on the impacts of forest use, afforestation, and other land-cover changes on watershed services of the forests of the Western Ghats of Karnataka. The primary objective was to quantify the watershed service impacts of some typical changes in land-use/land-cover in the forests of the Western Ghats in physical and socio-economic terms. I independently handled a component of the project which assessed the impacts of a change in domestic water availability to households. The tasks included a review of literature, drawing up the hypothesis, preparation of the questionnaire, data handling, analysis, report writing and final presentation.

4. “Emerging Dimensions of Institutions and Rural Infrastructure – A case study of Karnataka”, under the Ecological Economics Unit, Institute of Social and Economic Change, Bangalore. The study was a review of the impact of reforms in the four infrastructure sectors of road, telecommunications, irrigation and power in context to the changing policies and institutions in Karnataka.

5. “Review of watersheds in Maharashtra” as a part of the work under ‘Forum for Watershed Development Research and Dialogue’ with Society for Promoting Participative Ecosystem Management, Pune. The study delineated various agro-ecological zones in Maharashtra and was based on a review of existing literature as well as data collection from a few micro watersheds. We documented the kind of approaches and treatments undertaken under different kinds of programs, the problems with implementation, the kinds of impacts noted and the problems with post project performance.

Publications:

Yedla, Sudhakar and Peddi Sowjanya (2007), “Agriculture and Environment” in ‘Handbook of Agriculture in India’ ed. by Shovan Ray, Oxford University Press, New Delhi

Samuel Abraham, Joy K J, Paranjpe Suhas, Peddi Sowjanya, Adagale Raju, Deshpande Prafull and Kulkarni Seema (2007) “Watershed development in Maharashtra – Present scenario and issues for restructuring the programme”, Technical Report, January, Soppecom.

Non Academic Interests:

Sports, music