Indian Sociology B. K. Nagla

B. K. Nagla is a former Professor of Sociology at M.D. University, Rohtak, Haryana. He obtained his master’s degree from Udaipur University and his M.Phil. and Ph.D. from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Before joining M.D. University in 1978, he taught at M.S. University, Baroda, and at the Institute of Criminology and Forensic Science, New Delhi.

After his retirement in 2006, he worked as a consultant at Kota Open University and as Professor of the Babu Jagjivan Ram Chair at Banaras Hindu University. Professor Nagla has published twelve books in areas such as political sociology, Indian sociological thought, and social stratification. His major works include Factionalism, Politics and Social Structure, Political Sociology, Development and Transformation, Social Stratification and Social Mobility, and Indian Sociological Thought.

He has authored around seventy research papers in national and international journals. He received the ISC Fellow Award from the Council of the Indian Society of Criminology, affiliated with the International Society of Criminology, Paris, for his contribution to the development of the discipline. In 2017, Sulabh International Social Organization awarded him the Sulabh Swachhata Samman with a Gold Medal for his book Sociology of Sanitation. He has also received Lifetime Achievement Awards from both the Rajasthan Sociological Society and the Indian Sociological Society. Additionally, he served as editor of the Indian Sociological Society’s Hindi journal, Bhartiya Samajshastra Sameeksha, published by Sage.

Kameshwar Choudhary is a former Professor of Sociology at Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar (Central) University, Lucknow, India. Previously, he served as Professor of Sociology at Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi; Associate Professor at the Institute of Rural Management, Anand (Gujarat); and Lecturer in Sociology at the Institute of Social Sciences, Agra.

He was a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Social Systems, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and an Associate at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla. He completed his M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. at Jawaharlal Nehru University. As a coordinator or team member, he has worked on numerous research projects sponsored by institutions such as the National Dairy Development Board, Gujarat Ecology Commission, Ministry of Rural Development (Government of India), the Forest Department of Gujarat, and UNDP India.

His books have been published by reputed national and international publishers, including Globalisation, Governance Reforms and Development in India (edited volume, Sage Publications) and Intellectuals and Society: A Study of Teachers in India (Popular Prakashan). He has also published extensively in academic journals, edited volumes, and newspapers such as The Times of India and The Hindustan Times.

Professor Choudhary has served as Head of the Department of Sociology and as Dean of the Ambedkar School of Social Sciences at Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar (Central) University, Lucknow. He was a member of the Twelfth Plan Working Group on the Empowerment of OBCs, DNTs, and EBCs constituted by the Planning Commission of the Government of India. In 2017, he was honored with the Professor L. P. Vidyarthi Memorial Award by the Indian Social Science Association.