Besides being an Assistant Professor, Dr Deepa strongly advocates financial literacy, gender equality and women empowerment. She feels only if the women are empowered, so will be the future generation and the nation as a whole.

Dr Deepa Soni is an Assistant Professor at Mohanlal Sukhadia University, Department of Economics. She has been imparting her knowledge in Macroeconomics, Monetary economics, Indian Economy, Econometrics, Financial Economics and Quantitative techniques to students since 2012. Deepa has her own way to introduce her students to the world of economics, its relevance and future scope so that they get a basic idea and the motivation to study and understand it.

Born and brought up in Jodhpur, Deepa had done her schooling from an English medium school and completed her 12th in Commerce. Thereafter, she did her undergraduate at Jai Narain Vyas University after which she got married and could not pursue anything for two years. After the time-lapse, Deepa did her MA in Economics and also completed her PhD in 2009. She also worked as a UGC Project Fellow for some time. Deepa shares that her husband motivated her to prepare for competitive exams like IAS that helped her to revive her basic concepts and continue learning.

For aspiring economists, she says that one should have a sound mathematical background to understand the practical aspects of economics. She shares that this field has a good future scope which includes Indian Economic Service, Indian Statistical Service, Banking sector like opportunities with RBI, positions like Enumerators, Data Analyst, Research Analyst and employment in the ministries and research institutions. With her experience of a decade, Deepa shares that Economics is one such subject that is taught across all streams- Science, Arts and Commerce.

Discussing COVID, Deepa shares that resorting to an online mode of learning was difficult for students in rural areas with no internet connectivity and it also impacted regularity for all her students.

She shares that as humans we all are prone to mistakes and feels that had she devoted more time back then, she would have been more specialized in what she has gained today. Deepa believes that one should work with honesty and have faith in oneself and the supreme power. In her leisure time, she likes to indulge in meditation and playing chess.

One societal issue that Deepa feels about is women empowerment. She shares that in some families women are encouraged more for doing the household chores than living their professional life. She says in today’s time with changing lifestyle and standard of living, both husband and wife need to be working for a better future.