Merlin Premala. J did her Post Doctoral Fellowship, and holds a PhD from the Department of Demography, University of Kerala. She was a Research Officer for National Family Health Survey-3 in the International Institute of Population Sciences, Mumbai. She worked as an Editor for the Reproductive and Child Health Survey in the Population Research Centre, Kerala. She was the Research Associate for the Kerala Ageing Survey and Kerala Migration Survey in the Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram.