Present Position:
Assistant Professor (Economic Administration)
Himachal Pradesh Institute of Public Administration (HIPA)
Fairlawns Shimla, India 171012

Experience in Administrative Training Institute: Around one year.
Coordinated more than twenty five programmes/courses, for about 120 training days during this period. Other assignments: Lectures on different themes to trainees and evaluation of project assignments.

Interest areas in training: Issues of efficiency and innovation in administration; Increasing personal efficiency through ICT usage in our daily life; Public Grievance redressal system-e-samadhan; Environmental governance; Educational Governance; State of economic affairs in H.P. and center state-economic relations; Public Policy and Economic Governance/Administration; Fiscal system; Good governance; e-governance initiatives in Himachal.
Additional relevant qualification for the administrative training: One year, full time Post-Graduate Diploma in Personnel Management; Four-week Teaching Orientation Course.

Publications during current assignment:
Article in National Magazine:
-Rakesh Kumar Sharma, 2011. Medium is the message: A case for reforms in official communication system. GovernanceNow Feb 1-15, 2011.

Articles in Refereed Journals:
-Rakesh Kumar Sharma, 2011. E-Resource Availability and Importance for Higher Education and Research in India. Learning Community-An International Journal of Educational and Social Development. "In-Press".
-Rakesh Kumar Sharma, 2011. Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Agricultural Change in Himachal Pradesh. Journal of Interacademicia."In-Press".

Chapters in Edited Books:
-Policy Imperative for Agri-Environmental Governance. "In Press" Macmillan.

-Changing Dynamics of Higher Education in India: System Support and Mechanisms for Teachers’ Motivation. "under review".

Academic Teaching Experience:
Twelve years in the Department of Higher Education (College Cadre)                                           Lecturer in Economics (March,1999-May 2009); 
Assistant Professor (Sel. Gr.) since May 2009.

Research Experience:
More than eight years. More intense during the doctoral work under the supervision of Prof. P.L. Sankhayan of Norwegian University of Life Sciences (UMB) Aas, Norway.

Research Interests:
-Land use changes; mathematical bio-economic models for optimization and simulation; biomass estimation; forest degradation; watershed development; Agricultural Economics; Ecological economics and Natural Resource Management.

Foreign Affiliation:
-Worked in the Department of Ecology and Natural Resource Management, Norwegian University of Life Sciences (UMB), Aas, as  Foreign Student Researcher  in 2006 (for the necessary training in General Algebraic Modelling System (GAMS) and developing two research papers on Land Use Changes and Logistic Growth Model of Biomass).

Papers Presented in International Conferences:
-Paper entitled “Analysis of Profitability and Risk in New Cropping Pattern by Using a Dynamic Non-Linear Programming Model at Watershed Level in Himachal Himalaya” presented in the 27th Triennial Conference of the International Association of Agricultural Economists (IAAE, WI, USA) held in Beijing (China) from August 16-22, 2009.

-Paper entitled “Use of Dynamic Non-Linear Bio-Economic Model for Analyzing Changes in Land Use and Forest Degradation in a Himalayan Watershed” presented in the 18th International Conference of Forum for Interdisciplinary Mathematics (FIM) on Interdisciplinary Mathematical and Statistical Techniques (IMST 2009-FIM XVIII) from August 2 - 4, 2009 held at Jaypee University of Information Technology (JUIT), Waknaghat, Distt. Solan, Himachal Pradesh, India.

-Paper on Bio-economic modeling presented in the 10th biennial international conference of International Society for Ecological Economics (ISEE) in collaboration with United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), held at UNEP headquarters, Nairobi (Kenya) from 7-11 August, 2008; {with 100% travel grant from University Grants Commission (UGC) of India}.

-Paper on Land use changes in Himachal Pradesh presented in the International Seminar on Soil and Forest degradation in the Himalayan Region, organized by Norwegian University of Life Sciences (UMB) Aas, under the aegis of European Commission Project in April, 2006.

Paper Presented in National Conference:
-Paper on dynamics of land use presented in the Fifth Biennial Conference of the Indian Society for Ecological Economics (INSEE) held at Gujarat Vidyapith, Ahmedabad from 21-23 January 2009, organized in collaboration with Gujarat Institute of Development Research and Gujarat Vidyapeeth Ahmedabad.

International Workshop:
-Paper on "Bio-economic modelling for optimum land use under alternate policy regimes" was presented in an International workshop on "Integrated Ecosystem Modelling" organized by Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment (ATREE), Indian Society for Ecological Economics (INSEE) and Land Use Policies and Sustainable Development in Developing Countries (LUPIS-EU funded project) at Bangalore in 23-24 June, 2010

Research Publications:
International Journals:
-Rakesh Kumar Sharma, Prem Lall Sankhayan and Ranveer Singh, 2010. Land Use Changes and Forest Degradation in a Himalayan Watershed: Analysis and Policy Alternatives. Journal of Natural Resources Policy Research 2 (3): 263-280, (Routledge-Taylor & Francis Group). The online version is available at informaworld.com

-Rakesh Kumar Sharma, Prem Lall Sankhayan, Ranveer Singh. 2010. Analysis of Profitability and Risk in New Agriculture Using Dynamic Non-Linear Programming Model.  Journal of Agricultural Science 2 (1): 59-71. The online version is available at Canadian Center of Science and Education

 -Rakesh Kumar Sharma, Prem Lall Sankhayan, Ole Hofstad. 2008. Forest biomass density, utilization and production dynamics in a western Himalayan watershed. Journal of Forestry Research 19 (3): 171-180, (Springer-Verlag). The online version is available at springerlink.com

-Rakesh Kumar Sharma, Prem Lall Sankhayan, Ole Hofstad, Ranveer Singh. 2007. Land use changes in the Western Himalayan region: a study at watershed level in the state of Himachal Pradesh, India. International Journal of Ecology and Environmental Sciences 33 (2-3): 197-206.The online version is available at nieindia.org

National Journal:
-Rakesh Kumar Sharma, 2010. Exploration of a mid Himalayan micro watershed for tree species, attributes and diameter class distribution. Journal of Interacademicia 14 (3): 306-315.

Edited Volume:
-Rakesh Kumar Sharma, Ranveer Singh, Prem Lall Sankhayan. 2007. Bio economic modelling of land use changes at watershed level in Himachal Pradesh. Occasional Papers. Volume 1. IIHS Shimla, pp 115-151.

Papers in Conference Proceedings:
-Rakesh Kumar Sharma, Prem Lall Sankhayan,Ranveer Singh. 2009. Analysis of Profitability and Risk in New Cropping Pattern by Using a Dynamic Non-Linear Programming Model at Watershed Level in Himachal Himalaya. (Published in AgEcon Search as conference paper of International Association of Agricultural Economists (IAAE)-Beijing 2009).

-Rakesh Kumar Sharma, Prem Lall Sankhayan, Ranveer Singh. 2008. Analysis of Land Use Changes and Forest Degradation in a Micro Watershed of Himachal Himalaya: An Application of Bio-Economic Modelling. (Research paper Presented in 10th Biennial International Conference of ISEE at UNEP HQ Nairobi 7-11 August 2008). Available online at: ecoeco.org

-Rakesh Kumar Sharma, Prem Lall Sankhayan,Ranveer Singh. 2009. Use of Dynamic Non-Linear Bio-Economic Model for Analyzing Changes in Land Use and Forest Degradation in a Himalayan Watershed {Research paper presented in the 18th International Conference of Forum for Interdisciplinary  Mathematics (FIM) on Interdisciplinary Mathematical and Statistical Techniques (IMST 2009-FIM XVIII) from August 2 - 4, 2009 at (JUIT), Waknaghat}. Abstract available at:IMSTFIM2009

-Rakesh Kumar Sharma, Prem Lall Sankhayan,Ranveer Singh. 2008. Dynamics of Land Use Changes and Forest Degradation in a Himalayan Watershed – A System Analysis with Bio-Economic Modelling. (Research paper Presented in the Fifth Biennial Conference of INSEE held at Gujarat Vidyapith, Ahmedabad from 21-23 January 2009) Available online at: ecoinsee.org

Past Affiliation: RKMV Shimla; GC Sanjauli; PGGC Solan; GC Saraswatinagar.

Member of scholarly societies/associations:
Indian Society for Ecological Economics (INSEE). (Life Member)
Indian Society of Agricultural Economics (ISAE). (Life Member)
International Society for Ecological Economics (ISEE). (Life Member-Non Voting)
International Association of Agricultural Economists (IAAE). (Member 2008-10)

E-Mail: rakeshinshimla[AT]yahoo.co.in; rakeshinshimla[AT]gmail.com

Official e-mail: ati2.hipa[AT]hp.gov.in

Web: http://sites.google.com/site/rakeshinshimla

Last updated 18 April, 2011.