About the Lecture: How has the transformation of the Indian economy over the 21^st century affected the lives of ordinary Indians? This talk will address this question by describing the evolution of India’s middle classes using data from the India Human Development Survey. The India Human Development Survey repeatedly interviewed more than 40,000 households between 2004 and 2024. The talk will be rooted in their lived experiences to examine the size and origins of both the upper and lower middle classes and to explore their lifestyles and aspirations as they confront a changing, at times uncertain economy.

About the Speaker: Sonalde Desai is a Professor and the Centre Director at NCAER-National Data Innovation Centre and Distinguished University Professor Emerita at the University of Maryland.  She leads the India Human Development Survey (IHDS), a nationally representative panel survey of over 47,000 households conducted between 2004 and 2024. Sonal has published extensively in Indian and international journals and served on the editorial boards of several major journals. She is a frequent contributor to Indian English-language newspapers.  She has a BA from the University of Mumbai and a PhD in Sociology from Stanford University, with postdoctoral training at the University of Chicago and RAND Corporation. She was elected president of the Population Association of America for 2022 and named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.