"r. Bijaya Kumar Nayak is a development practitioner, researcher, and author
with more than fifteen years of professional experience in rural development,
tribal livelihoods, agroecology, food and nutrition security, climate resilience,
and sustainable agriculture. He holds a doctorate in Development Studies from
Nabakrushna Choudhury Centre for Development Studies (NCDS), Bhubaneswar,
with a specialisation in millet-based agroecological systems and tribal
livelihoods in Odisha. Dr. Nayak has worked with leading national and
international development organisations, contributing to programmes on
livelihoods, natural resource management, nutrition, community institutions,
climate adaptation, and tribal development across Odisha and several other states of India. He played an
important role in the implementation and scaling up of millet-based development initiatives under the
various millet missions, as well as regional and international projects on small millets.Dr. Chita Ranjan Dash is a distinguished development economist, researcher,
and policy analyst with over three decades of experience in rural development,
tribal livelihoods, natural resource management, forestry, agrarian studies, and
inclusive development. He served as Senior Research Officer at the
Nabakrushna Choudhury Centre for Development Studies (NCDS),
Bhubaneswar, a premier research institution dedicated to development policy
and socio-economic transformation in India.

"