School of Social and Political Science

Awanish Kumar

Honorary Fellow

A person wearing black shirt sitting around books
awanish.kumar@ed.ac.uk
Orcid Profile
https://twitter.com/@awanishkumar86/
Chrystal Macmillan Building
15a, George Square
Edinburgh
EH8 9LD

Research interests

Health & Well-being Identities & Inequalities International development South Asian studies Work & Economy

My primary interest is in the following areas: agrarian studies, caste, social policy, and social movements.

Specific areas of current research are as follows: caste and class in India, agricultural economics, political economy, land question in India and other developing countries, public health, migration, rural/agrarian social movements.

Background

I am an Honorary Fellow at the School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh since April 2023, and Assistant Professor at the School of Development, Azim Premji University, Bangalore, India since July 2023. Prior to this, I was a British Academy Newton International Fellow here from March 2021 to March 2023. I hold a PhD in Development Studies from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India. 

My training is in the area of political economy of development, with research focus on agrarian studies, caste, social policy, and social movements. The geographical focus of my work is India. I specialise in village studies as a methodology and have conducted intensive fieldwork in the rural areas of Maharashtra, Bihar, Punjab and Jharkhand.

Currently, I am working towards my first monograph to be published as part of the British Academy Monograph Series by the Oxford University Press.

University Education

  • PhD Development Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India, 2012–19.
  • MPhil, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India, 2010–12.
  • MA Development Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India, 2007–09.
  • BA (Hons) in Economics, Kirori Mal College, University of Delhi, 2004–07.
  • Certificate of Specialization in Sustainable Development, International Graduate School North-South (graduate school of Universities of Basel, Bern, Lausanne, and Zurich) 2019.

Employment

  • Consulting Editor (Book Reviews), Economic and Political Weekly, Mumbai. November 2018 to present.
  • Visiting member of the Faculty, School of Development, Azim Premji University, Bengaluru. March 2021 to present.
  • Assistant Professor, School of Development, Azim Premji University, Bengaluru. July 2020 to March 2021.
  • Assistant Professor, Department of Public Policy at St Xavier’s College (Autonomous), Mumbai. June 2015 to June 2020.

Works within

Publications by user content

Publication Research Explorer link
Kumar A. Agricultural insurance in India: History, issues and recent performance. In Ramakumar R, editor, Distress in the Fields: Indian Agriculture After Economic Liberalisation. Tulika Books, New Delhi. 2022. p. 390-410
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Kumar A. A conspectus on land and caste in India. Agrarian South Network Research Bulletin. 2022 Sept 16;15:9-13.
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Kumar A. Why caste, gender inequality worsen India’s public health crisis. 2022. 1 p.
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Kumar A. Now or never in Bihar? Economic and Political Weekly. 2022 Aug 20;57(34):8.
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Kumar A. Land and caste relations in North Bihar: Observations from two villages. Review of Agrarian Studies. 2022 Jun 30;12(1).
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Sekhar Dhar N, Pandey M, Kumar A. Identifying socio-economic classes in two villages of Bihar. Review of Agrarian Studies. 2022 Jun 1;12(1).
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Kumar A. The artist's manifesto. The Hindu. 2022 Feb 4.
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Kumar A. Reservations: A project of nation-building. Economic and Political Weekly. 2021 Nov 6;12(45-46):10-12.
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Kumar A. Reimagining public policy studies in India. Economic and Political Weekly. 2020 Sept 19;55(38):30-32.
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Kumar A. Caste and public health. 2020.
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Kumar A. Reading Ambedkar in the time of Covid-19. Economic and Political Weekly. 2020 Apr 18;55(16):34-37.
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Surendran A, Kumar A. Have RCTs brought back the “empirical” into economics? World Development. 2020 Mar;127:1-2. 104828. Epub 2019 Dec 14. doi: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2019.104828
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Kumar A. B R Ambedkar on caste and land relations in India. Review of Agrarian Studies. 2020 Jan 1;10(1):37-56.
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Kumar A. Autobiography of an iconoclast. Economic and Political Weekly. 2019 May 18;54(20):25-28.
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Kumar A. The crisis of the small farm economy in India. Review of Agrarian Studies. 2018 Jan 1;8(1):125-132.
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Kumar A. India's unique enigma of high growth and stunted children. 2017.
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Kumar A. Village India: Change and continuity. Review of Agrarian Studies. 2017 Jul 1;7(2):130-139.
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Kumar A. Agrarian questions: Old and new. Review of Agrarian Studies. 2017 Jan 1;7(1):149-161.
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Kumar A. The great masquerade. 2016.
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Kumar A. Where is caste in development? Bihar Assembly Elections 2015. Economic and Political Weekly. 2015 Nov 7;50(45).
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Shy Chau H, Kumar A, Lieberherr S. Non-family labour in the Swiss agriculture: A status report and future prospects. Journal of Socio-Economics in Agriculture. 2015;8(1):1-10.
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Kumar A. Nitish Kumar's honourable exit: A brief history of caste politics. Economic and Political Weekly. 2013 Jul 13;48(28):15-17.
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Kumar A. A class analysis of the 'Bihari menace'. Economic and Political Weekly. 2009 Jul 11;44(28):124-127.
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Awanish- Kumar's Research Explorer profile