Aseem Prakash is a Professor of Public Policy. He was the founding Chairperson, School of Governance and Public Policy, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad. Aseem has nearly 20 years of experience in research and teaching which also includes a stint at the University of Oxford as a Fell Fund Fellow. Aseem has been instrumental in laying the intellectual foundation of the School of Public Policy and Governance including designing the course curriculum of the M.A. in Public Policy and Governance Programme (PPG) at TISS. Prior to joining TISS, Aseem was part of the two member team which established the first Public Policy school in India- Jindal School of Government and Public Policy. Aseem was also invited by the UNDP and Department of Planning, Government of Maldives to prepare a rubric for the first ever Maldives Institute of Policy Studies in Male, Maldives. Aseem has completed over a dozen big research projects for various international and national donors. His research interests include the interface between the state and markets; regulation and institutions; sociology of markets, social discrimination, human development. Currently, Aseem’s research efforts are focused on two research projects: “Regulation of Small Town Capitalism” and “Cities, Social History and Muslim Entrepreneurs”. Aseem also serves in an advisory capacity in numerous public policy and social science departments. He is regularly invited as a resource person in various training programmes conducted for Indian civil servants. His most recent books are titled Dalit Capital: State, Markets, and Civil Society in Urban India; published by Routledge (2015) and The Indian Middle Class (co-authored with Surinder Jodhka), published by Oxford University Press (2016).