Ashwani Kumar is Associate Professor at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. He is also the author of lsquo;Community Warriors: State, Peasants and Caste Armies in Biharrsquo; (Anthem Press 2008). Dirk Messner is Director of the German Development Institute (DIE) in Bonn and Professor of Political Science at the University Duisburg-Essen. He is also a member of the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU).