Gopalakrishnan, Shankar

Mr. Shankar Gopalakrishnan is presently the National Secretary of Campaign for Survival and Dignity, a federation of tribal and forest dwellers’ organisations from eleven States working on issues of forest rights – particularly the Forest Rights Act. His responsibilities include actively working with parliamentarians, government officials, media persons and other civil society groups on the forest rights issue, co-ordinating national mass mobilisations on the forest rights issue, co-ordinating legal team to prepare for court defence of the Forest Rights Act, writing and participating in media debates, and preparing and producing documentation on forest rights issues.

He completed his BA (Double Major in Mathematics and Community, Regional, Environmental Studies)from Bard College - New York (2000), and M.Sc. in Development Studies, focused on political economy and regional focus on South Asia from School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London (2004).

His representative publications are "SEZs and Neoliberalism", Man and Development. January 2008; "SEZs: Signs of an Impending Disaster", Seminar. February 2008; "Fascism, Free Markets and the Restructuring of Indian Capitalism: Exploring the Relationship Between Neoliberalism and Hindutva", Radical Notes Paper Series. Aakar Publications, forthcoming; "Understanding the Forest Rights Act", Yojana. Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, forthcoming.