This landmark volume offers the first comprehensive demographic examination of family transformation in contemporary India, situating the country's evolving landscape within the Second Demographic Transition (SDT) framework. It reveals a family system in flux, caught between deep-rooted collectivist traditions and rising individual aspirations. Grounded in extensive primary research, including unique, large-scale surveys across India, the book offers a thoughtful, data-driven analysis of how shifting family dynamics and evolving models of family-building are impacting vulnerable populations. These include women managing the "second shift," children shaped by diverse family structures, the elderly facing the erosion of care networks, and families bearing the responsibility of caring for disabled members. It navigates critical topics from transformations in nuptial bonding and cohabitation patterns among the urban educated to shifting childbearing practices and evolving marriage markets. What distinguishes this treatise is its capture of the fundamental dialectic: the tension between the "golden cage" of traditional marriage and the shadows of the SDT, rising age at marriage, marital dissolution, and individual self-actualisation, unfolding within persistent familial obligation and their impact on women's status and economic empowerment. Weaving macro-level data with rich micro-level evidence, the volume illuminates both winners and losers of this transition, offering indispensable insights for scholars, policymakers, and practitioners worldwide.

Dr. Srinivas Goli is Associate Professor of Demography at the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai, one of India's premier institutions for population research. His intellectual journey spans three continents: before joining IIPS, he was a New Generation Network Scholar at the Australia India Institute and the UWA Public Policy Institute at the University of Western Australia, and served as Assistant Professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. His global engagements include visiting faculty positions at the University of Göttingen, Germany, and prestigious research fellowships from iPOPs Laboratory of Excellence at France's National Institute for Demographic Studies (Ined) for visiting the Université Paris Cité (CEPED), and the University of Strasbourg (SAGE). With over twelve years of teaching and mentoring experience, Dr. Goli has guided five M.Phil. and thirteen PhD scholars to completion. He currently serves as co-Principal Investigator of the Longitudinal Ageing Study in India (LASI) Wave-II, one of the world's largest ageing surveys. His research portfolio includes projects funded by DBT, UNFPA, UNICEF, UN Women, ActionAid, and Save the Children, reflecting his commitment to translating rigorous demographic research into actionable insights for vulnerable populations. His research interrogates the intersections of population dynamics and development, family demography, and gender and nutritional inequalities.

Dr. T.V. Sekher is a Senior Professor and former head of the Department of Family and Generations, and the Centre for Ageing Studies at the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai. Trained in Demography and Sociology, his work bridges these disciplines to illuminate India's most pressing social challenges, from gender dynamics to population ageing. His distinguished career includes visiting fellowships at University College London's Wellcome Trust Centre, Maison des Sciences de l'Homme in Paris, Oxford Brookes University, UK and Lund University in Sweden. In 2016-17, he was Fulbright-Nehru Senior Fellow at Cornell University. As Principal Investigator of two landmark ageing studies, the WHO-sponsored Study on Global Ageing and Adult Health (SAGE-India) and the Longitudinal Ageing Study in India (LASI), he has shaped the global understanding of ageing in India. He has authored or edited over ten books and published more than 100 research articles. His latest book, India Population Report (co-edited with K.S. James), was published by Cambridge University Press in 2023. Prof. Sekher was the President of the Indian Association for Social Sciences and Health (IASSH), and served as consultant to the Planning Commission, UNFPA, UNICEF, and NITI Aayog, and sits on numerous government and development organization committees deliberating population and ageing policies and programs.