Archive · 20 Aug 2026
Azim Premji University Announces Lecture on India’s Middle Classes
Azim Premji University is organizing a public talk about India’s middle classes.
The talk is called “A Tale of Two Middle Classes.”
Sonalde Desai, a sociologist and demographer, will give the talk.
It will take place in Bengaluru on August 24, 2026.
The event will happen from 6:30 p.m.
to 8:00 p.m.
Desai will discuss how India’s economic changes have affected people’s lives.
She will compare the upper and lower middle classes.
She will use information collected from thousands of Indian households over many years.
The event is open to everyone.
Azim Premji University will host a public lecture titled “A Tale of Two Middle Classes” on August 24, 2026.
Sociologist and demographer Sonalde Desai will deliver the lecture at the Bangalore International Centre in Bengaluru.
The event will run from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. and is open to all.
The lecture will examine India’s upper and lower middle classes using evidence from the India Human Development Survey.
The survey tracked more than 40,000 households between 2004 and 2024, while Desai leads a panel study of more than 47,000 households.
- Who
- Azim Premji University is presenting the lecture, and Sonalde Desai is the speaker.
- What
- A public lecture titled “A Tale of Two Middle Classes” about the changing size, composition, origins, lives and aspirations of India’s middle classes.
- When
- August 24, 2026, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
- Where
- The Bangalore International Centre in Bengaluru.
- Why
- To examine how India’s economic transformation has reshaped everyday life and the country’s upper and lower middle classes.
- Event
- “A Tale of Two Middle Classes” public lecture
- Presenter
- Azim Premji University
- Speaker
- Sonalde Desai, sociologist and demographer
- Date and time
- August 24, 2026; 6:30 p.m.–8:00 p.m.
- Venue
- Bangalore International Centre, Bengaluru
- Evidence base
- India Human Development Survey data covering more than 40,000 households from 2004 to 2024
- Audience
- The lecture is open to all