Yogesh Atal is currently Professor Emeritus at the MP Institute of Social Science Research, Ujjain, and member of the Governing Board of the National Institute of Health and Family Planning, New Delhi. In a career spanning over 50 years, Professor Atal has been a member of the faculty at the University of Saugar; Panjab University; Agra University; and the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. In 1971, he was appointed as the first Research Director at the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), during which he was also elected as the first Secretary-General of the Association of Asian Social Science Research Councils (AASSREC). In 1974, he headed the Regional Social Science Office for Asia and the Pacific established by UNESCO, and in 1993 he was asked to coordinate UNESCO's work related to the World Summit for Social Development. After 23 years of service, in October 1997, Professor Atal retired from UNESCO. Professor Atal was honoured by the American Biographical Institute as Man of the Year 1990 for his contributions to the growth of social sciences in Asia. In 1993, the Maharana Mewar Foundation awarded him the Maharana Mewar Award, and the Albert Einstein International Academy Foundation gave him a Cross of Merit. The Korean Government and the AASSREC presented him with Plaques of Gratitude in 1994 and 1997 for his services to Asian Social Science. Professor Atal is the editor of Poverty and Participation in Civil Society, Perspectives on Educating the Poor, and Poverty in Transition and Transition in Poverty. He analysed the 1999 Indian elections in MaNDAte for Political Transition: Re-emergence of Vajpayee. Two collections of his essays have been published under the titles: The Poverty Question: Search for Solutions and Indian Sociology: From Where to Where?