Mihir Shah

Mihir Shah
Born 25 November 1956
Gujarat
Residence New Delhi, India
Nationality Indian

Mihir Shah (Gujarati: મિહિર શાહ, Hindi: मिहिर शाह) is an Indian economist, policy maker and social worker.[1] He is currently the member of the Planning Commission of India and is the youngest ever member and the first ever from the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.[2] He is also the secretary and the co-founder of Samaj Pragati Sahayog (SPS), a large and successful grassroots non-government organisation that fosters water and food security in the dry lands of India having establishment at Bagli block in Dewas district of Madhya Pradesh. Currently as the member of the Planning Commission, in-charge of Rural Development and Water Resources portfolios, and the states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra.

Education

Mihir Shah graduated with a B.A. degree in Economics (first class) in 1976 from St. Stephens' college, where he was also awarded the K.C.Nag Economics Prize. In 1978, he received an M.A. degree in Economics from Delhi School of Economics with a Merit Scholarship. He also received an M.Phil. degree and a PhD degree (for a much acclaimed dissertation) in Applied Economics from Centre for Development Studies (affiliated to Jawaharlal Nehru University), Trivandrum in 1979 and 1984 respectively.

Career

After completing his PhD, Shah taught for a few years at the Centre for Development Studies. He then resigned to travel extensively in rural and tribal India in an effort to understand grass root problems and formulate an alternative model of social and economic development. In the meantime, he worked a variety of issues related to agrarian change, rural development, tribal welfare and water management which included work with NABARD as well as issues in the Narmada Valley Project.

After several years of grassroots experience, he co-founded Samaj Pragati Sahyog (SPS), a very successful non-government organisation based in town of Bagli in the district of Dewas in Madhya Pradesh. SPS addresses issues in tribal dry lands of India, ranging from unemployment, poverty, food and nutrition insecurity, governance, social gender bias among others and more generally helps the poor to articulate their needs. It partners with the Indian government, state governments, local panchayats, donors and various local organisations to enhance the delivery of public services in smaller towns and villages. SPS works across million acres of land across 72 districts in 12 states of India, including Madhya Pradesh, Chhatisgarh, Orissa and Bihar and has immensely improved the living conditions of people in these areas.[3] Mihir Shah, along with their colleagues penned their experiences in a book titled "India's Drylands: Tribal Societies and Development through Environmental Regeneration",which was published by the Oxford University Press in 1998.[4] It primarily deals with the macro-economic significance of watershed programmes for food security and employment guarantee in India.

He has also played a significant role shaping policies and in the development of tribal areas in Madhya Pradesh. He was the honorary director of the "Tribal Watershed Development Project", carried out for the Tribal Welfare Department, Government of Madhya Pradesh between 1992 and 1996. He was a Consultant in the Directorate of Institutional Finance, Government of Madhya Pradesh, for the preparation of Madhya Pradesh Tribal Development Project, Bilaspur Division, funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development, Rome in 1997. He coauthored one of three chapters in Human Development report of the state in 1998. He was the honorary Project Leader of the "Sir Dorabji Tata Trust Revolving Fund", for carrying out a range of human development and income-generating activities in the 90 village tribal enclave, Bagli tehsil, Dewas between 1997 and 2003.

More recently Shah has been involved with various committees and bodies at the national level. He was the Advisor for the Film on "CAPART Watershed Development Guidelines", produced jointly by Samaj Pragati Sahayog and Riverbank Studios for CAPART, New Delhi (1999). He was the principal investigator of "Towards Sustainable Livelihood Security in Tribal Drylands Through Watershed Development and Empowerment", Department of Science and Technology, Government of India (1999-01). He also served as a member in the consultative Team of "Strengthening CAPART's Watershed Development Division", a Work and Information Systems Study on the Watershed Development Division of CAPART, aimed at setting up transparent and responsive systems for administration of the division (2000–02).

From 2002 to 2009, Shah was the Adviser to the Commissioner appointed by the Supreme Court of India in the Right to Food case. He was the honorary Adviser to the Technical Committee on Watershed Programmes in India (Parthasarathy Committee) set up by the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India (2005–06) during which he was primarily responsible for drafting this landmark report.

In 2007, he co-founded the National Consortium of Civil Society Organizations that provides resources and support for the implementation of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). In 2006, he was appointed as a member of the Working Group on Effective Rural Technology Delivery for XIth Five Year Plan. He was also part of the Hameed Committee set up by Prime Minister of India (Manmohan Singh) in 2005 to inquire into capart's functioning and suggest measures to improve it. He also served as a member in several committees and governing bodies in the state government of Madhya Pradesh during these years.

Awards

1. 2004—Social Entrepreneurship Award of American India Foundation, New York
2. 2004—Doreen Mashler Award of International Crop Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) for Outstanding Contribution to Integrated Watershed Management for Sustainable Development
3. 2000 – Ashok Gondhia Manav Sewa Puraskar of Young Men's Gandhian Association, Gujarat, presented by Shri Sadiq Ali, Chairperson, Gandhi Smarak Nidhi, New Delhi
4. 1996—Diwaliben Mohanlal Mehta Award for Outstanding Social Service presented by former President of India, Shri R.Venkataraman (Chairperson of Jury – Former Chief Justice of India, Shri P.N.Bhagwati).

Articles and publications

Mihir Shah has published articles in a variety of fields, including agrarian reform, public policy and philosophy. The following is a non-exhaustive list of articles written or co-written by Shah:

Articles

Books/chapters in books

References

  1. ↑ "Mihir Shah appointed member of Planning Commission". The Hindu (Chennai, India). 7 June 2009.
  2. ↑ "Mihir Shah appointed member of Planning Commission". The Hindu (Chennai, India). 7 June 2009. Retrieved 12 November 2010.
  3. ↑ http://planningcommission.gov.in/aboutus/history/mirishah.htm
  4. ↑ Mihir Shah, D. Banerji, P.S. Vijayshankar and Pramathesh Ambasta, India’s Drylands: Tribal Societies and Development Through Environmental Regeneration, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1998.
  5. ↑ Shah, Mihir (19 June 2010). "The Power of Uncertainty: Reflections on the Nature of Transformational Initiatives". Economic and Political Weekly 45 (25). Retrieved 31 March 2015.
  6. ↑ Shah, Mihir (15 November 2008). "Structures of Power in Indian Society: A response". Economic and Political Weekly 43 (46). Retrieved 31 March 2015.
  7. ↑ Shah, Mihir (7 June 2008). "Radicalism of NREGA". Economic and Political Weekly 43 (23). Retrieved 31 March 2015.
  8. ↑ Shah, Mihir (22 March 2008). "Rainfed Authority and Watershed Reforms". Economic and Political Weekly 43 (12–13). Retrieved 31 March 2015.
  9. ↑ Shah, Mihir; Ambasta, Pramathesh; Shankar, Vijay (23 February 2008). "Two Years of NREGA: The Road Ahead". Economic and Political Weekly 43 (8). Retrieved 31 March 2015.
  10. ↑ Shah, Mihir (10 November 2007). "Employment Guarantee, Civil Society and Indian Democracy". Economic and Political Weekly 42 (45–46). Retrieved 31 March 2015.
  11. ↑ Shah, Mihir; Shankar, Vijay; Rao, Rangu (14 April 2007). "Rural Credit in 20th Century India: Overview of History and Perspectives". Economic and Political Weekly 42 (15). Retrieved 31 March 2015.
  12. ↑ Shah, Mihir (9 December 2006). "Reforms for Watersheds". Economic and Political Weekly 41 (49). Retrieved 31 March 2015.
  13. ↑ Shah, Mihir (8 July 2006). "Towards Reforms". Economic and Political Weekly 41 (27–28). Retrieved 31 March 2015.
  14. ↑ Shah, Mihir; Shankar, Vijay; Rao, Rangu; Banerji, Nivedita. "Government ‘Schedule of Rates’: Working against Rural Labour". Economic and Political Weekly. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
  15. ↑ Shah, Mihir (26 November 2005). "Ecology, Exclusion and Reform in Madhya Pradesh". Economic and Political Weekly 40 (48). Retrieved 31 March 2015.
  16. ↑ Shah, Mihir; Jain, Jyotsna (26 November 2005). "Antyodaya Anna Yojana and Mid-day Meals in Madhya Pradesh". Economic and Political Weekly 40 (48). Retrieved 31 March 2015.
  17. ↑ Shah, Mihir (12 February 2005). "Saving the Employment Guarantee Act". Economic and Political Weekly 40 (7). Retrieved 31 March 2015.
  18. ↑ Shah, Mihir (19 November 2005). "First You Push Them In, Then You Throw Them Out". Economic and Political Weekly 40 (47). Retrieved 31 March 2015.
  19. ↑ Shah, Mihir (11 December 2004). "NREGA: A Historic Opportunity". Economic and Political Weekly 39 (50). Retrieved 31 March 2015.
  20. ↑ Shah, Mihir; Shankar, Vijay (14 June 1997). "Water Crisis in Dewas: Is Rainfall the Culprit?". Economic and Political Weekly 32 (24): 1416–1425. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
  21. ↑ Shah, Mihir (27 July 1985). "The Kaniatchi Form of Labour". Economic and Political Weekly 20 (30): PE65–PE78. Retrieved 31 March 2015.

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