Professor Sandeep Shastri, National Network Coordinator of Lokniti has assumed a new responsibility: Sandeep bhai is now Vice Chancellor, Jagaran Lakecity University, Bhopal. As Pro-Vice Chancellor of JAIN (deemed to be a University) at Bengaluru, he not only proved his administrative acumen but also nurtured a strong social science programme besides evolving a substantive research degree programme there. Lokniti is proud that he will now be heading an institution where the space for his skills and academic interests will be broader. Professor Shastri was instrumental in having JAIN host for more than a decade Lokniti's Summer School imparting core skills of quantitative analysis for analysing Indian politics.

We wish him all the best in the new responsibility he has assumed and also hope that Lokniti will have a fruitful collaboration with the Jagaran Lakecity University. We also look forward to Sandeep bhai's continued guidance to the Lokniti network and his mentoring of new talent.

Sanjay Kumar and Suhas Palshikar

Co-Directors, Lokniti Programme