B. K. Pattanaik is a Professor, currently Director, at the School of Extension and Development Studies in the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), New Delhi. He is the editor of the Political Economy Journal of India. He is also on the editorial board of the Journal of Economics and Development Studies, American Research Institute for Policy Development, New York; Asian Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities, Oyama, Japan; and the European Journal of Education Studies, Bucharest, Romania. Professor Pattanaik holds a master’s degree in economics, MA in human resource management and PhD in economics. He has more than 30 years of research and teaching experience to his credit in various national-level organizations, for example, the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), New Delhi; National Institute of Health & Family Welfare (NIHFW), New Delhi and Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development (CRRID), an ICSSR Centre, Chandigarh. He was team members of various research projects and has worked with and completed 26 projects sponsored by various international agencies such as the World Bank, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Ford Foundation, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the European Commission, the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA; now United Nations Population Fund), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, as well as projects sponsored by various government departments such as the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Rural Development, Health and Family Welfare, Drinking Water and Sanitation, Agriculture and Farmer’s Welfare and Planning Commission of the Government of India. He has also completed projects and studies sponsored by various departments of the state governments of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh in different areas of development, such as drinking water and sanitation, border areas, migrant labour, contract farming, studies on Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, health and family welfare, Panchayati Raj, education, various rural development programmes, urban local bodies, women and child welfare, preparation of decentralized district development plans.
So far, Professor Pattanaik has authored five books, co-authored six books and one edited book. He has more than 160 publications (research papers, articles, editorial columns and book reviews) in various national and international journals. He has also been guiding PhD students in different areas of development studies, urban studies and seven candidates have already been awarded PhD degrees. He has been instrumental in designing the MA programme in development studies, M A urban studies and the PG diploma programme in urban planning and development. He has visited countries such as the USA, China, Spain and Finland, and attended international seminars, conferences and study tours. He was sub-committee member of the Ninth Five Year Plan, government of India in reproductive health. Professor Pattanaik has been awarded the Distinguished Leadership Award in 1999 by the American Biographical Institute, USA, and the International Man of the Millennium by the International Biographical Centre, Cambridge, London. He has received Shelter Award 2019 from Shelter Council of India and Bharat Jyoti Puraskar 2017 by the Best Citizen Publishing House, New Delhi. He has been awarded International Scientist Awards 2020/ Life Time Achievement Award by V D Good Technology Factory. He is also a member of the American Biographical Institute’s Research Board of Advisors and of the American Association of International Researchers (AAIR), USA. He has conducted an international conference on Diaspora and Development at IGNOU in which more than 100 participants from 25 different countries participated.