Indrajit Roy Research

Projects

My monograph The Politics of the Poor: Negotiating Democracy in Contemporary India is forthcoming with Cambridge University Press. In the book, I investigate poor people’s negotiations- the complex of requests, appeals, claims, threats and other assorted provisional transactions- with politicians, bureaucrats and dominant classes.

As ESRC Future Research Leader Fellow, I developed my second book manuscript Fragmented Transitions, Negotiated Modernities: Mobility, Growth and Democracy in the Global South. This manuscript is based on my research on the political ideas and identities conveyed by circular labour migrants and the implications of these ideas on economic growth, political democracy and anticipated transitions to modernity. The empirical focus on labour migration provides a window to explore analytical issues pertaining to: agrarian change and urban transformations; citizenship and other forms of membership in the political community; public policy based on the assumption of sedentary populations; and cosmopolitanism and modernity

(to read more about this project, please visit my project website: Lives on the move).

Citizenship futures: The politics of hope in London, Paris and Mumbai, EU-India Platform for Social Sciences and Humanities (2019-21)

The project seeks to analytically and empirically investigate the 'politics of hope' among socially excluded people. It will achieve this by ethnographically documenting the political subjectivities of socially excluded people in London, Paris and Mumbai and thereby uncovering the ensemble of interpretations, emotions and practices that constitute 'the politics of hope'. The central aim of this research project is to develop theoretically and empirically the concept of 'citizenship futures'. The comparative approach proposed under the rubric of the project will make three further contributions to knowledge-production. One, by bringing the UK, France and India within a common frame of investigation and analysis, the project will blur the boundaries between such categories as ‘developed’ and ‘developing’ countries, ‘Global North’ and ‘Global South’, and other such binaries that hinder an appreciation of the shared problems faced by people across these scholarly silos. Second, by recruiting an India-based researcher to conduct ethnographic research on poverty in the UK, the project will contribute to emerging methodological discussions on ‘reversing the gaze’. Third, by adopting a collaborative approach to ethnography, the project will encourage the collaboration of researchers across national contexts and their interlocutors in the production of ethnographic texts.

The project will be implemented through a collaboration between the University of York, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay.

Knowledge Exchange grant on ‘Portable Rights’, ESRC IAA grant, University of York (2018)

The central focus of the present bid is to consolidate the ongoing collaboration between Dr Indrajit Roy and key stakeholders in civil society, government and the media in India, towards developing a Policy Brief on universalising social protection in India. Special focus will be devoted to the portability of social rights in the country.

India’s social protection regime, operating within its federal polity, restricts the portability of social entitlements. As Indians become more mobile, the universalisation and portability of social entitlements is an urgent policy issue for the lives and livelihoods of millions of impoverished labourers.

Citizenship futures: Horizons of hope in emerging market democracies. York Departmental Research Committee (2018)

The project aims to initiate collaborations with academic and non-academic and other stakeholders in three emerging market democracies: Brazil, India and South Africa. The aim is to ensure the co-production of research, in particular with non-academic users, from the outset. The starkness of economic and social disparities within the emerging markets, coupled with the presence of a regime that, at least formally, allows people to participate in the political process, justifies the focus of the present project on these three countries. The network will support a range of applications on informality, governance, citizenship and human rights.

Global development futures: The politics of Chinese investments in Europe (2019)

The purpose of this project is to consolidate a network of scholars from across the UK and beyond to reflect on the implications of Chinese investments in Europe for the global order. Do Chinese investments in Europe threaten the Liberal International Economic Order? Does the extension of the OBOR into Europe potentially undermine the ideals of liberal democracy on the continent? More broadly, what do China’s investments at the gateway to Europe portend for global development futures? Two workshops will be organised to reflect on these themes and to potentially assemble an edited volume. Read more...

Portable citizenship: Impact development grant on ‘Portable Citizenship’, ESRC IAA grant, University of York (2018-19)

The central focus of the present bid is to advance the ongoing collaboration between Dr Indrajit Roy and key stakeholders in civil society, government and researchers in India, towards ensuring uptake of a Policy Brief on universalising social protection in India. Special focus will be devoted to extending this collaboration with the media to emphasise the portability of social rights in the country. India’s social protection regime, operating within its federal polity, restricts the portability of social entitlements. As Indians become more mobile, the universalisation and portability of social entitlements is an urgent policy issue for the lives and livelihoods of millions of impoverished labourers.

Business Boost funding on ‘Inter-continental highways and business practices in the Rising Powers’, ESRC IAA grant, University of York (2018-19)

The purpose of this funding is to initiate collaborations between academics, activists, governments and business with an empirical focus on the construction of highways in the Rising Powers, specifically Brazil and India. This exploratory project will begin to investigate the political dynamics underpinning the planning and execution of inter-continental highways in Asia and Latin America. By organising workshops that bring together academics, activists, policy-makers in government and businesses, the project will lay the ground for detailed analytical investigations into the social and political implications of such inter-continental projects. The workshops will particularly focus on three themes: 1). State-business relations; 2). Business-labour relations; and 3). State-society relations.

Political Remittances among Labor Migrants in India (2014-17)

This research is supported by Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). In this research, I study the political ideas circulated by seasonal labor migrants as they migrate from their origins to destinations and back. The empirical focus on labour migration provides me with a window to explore analytical issues pertaining to agrarian change and urban transformations, citizenship and other forms of membership in the political community, public policy based on the assumption of sedentary populations, and cosmopolitanism and modernity.

Effective States and Inclusive Development (2013-15)

I am also a team member in 'Effective States and Inclusive Development' project at Department for International Development, Institute of Development Policy and Management. This project is led by Professor Kunal Sen. The research focuses on the ‘political settlements’ in select Indian States that facilitate or obstruct the implementation of anti-poverty programs.

Democratic Cultures of South Asia (2013-15)

This research is part of the larger project supported by European Research Council Project with Dr. Lucia Micheleutti (University College London) as Principal Investigator. Research compares elected politicians with ‘criminal records’ in two Indian States, Bihar and Gujarat. Research based on political ethnography of violence in the two States.

Poverty Reduction Programmes in India (2010-12)

I worked as a Fellow of the Local Government in South Asia Program, Swiss Development Cooperation, from August 1, 2010 – January 2012. Research focused on how local politicians identified beneficiaries of poverty reduction programs in rural eastern India, and the role of the beneficiaries in influencing these processes.

Policy Research on Community-Driven Development (2009)

I briefly worked with the World Bank (July to October 2009), as member of the team working to develop a Policy Research Report on ‘Community-driven Development and Local Governance’. The team was led by economists Vijayendra Rao and Ghazala Mansuri, who were revisiting their earlier work on this subject. My main responsibility was to undertake desk research on the historical developments in community-driven development and local governance, a mapping of the different trajectories that these approaches have taken in the different parts of the globe, and specific experiences of different countries. As part of this assignment, I was tasked with compiling the experiences of local governance in Bolivia, Mexico, Indonesia, Brazil, South Africa, Uganda, the Philippines and China.

Changing Face of Labor Migration in Bihar (2013-14, 2014-17)

This research is supported by International Growth Center (IGC) and contracted by London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Research focuses on changes in livelihood patterns, technical skills and remittances among labor migrants originating in Bihar and working in rural and urban areas of India. The project’s theoretical framework is informed by debates on the theme of ‘transition’. The question of ‘transition’ from rural to urban, agriculture to industry, traditional to modernity and feudal to capitalist have concerned economists, sociologists, political scientists and historians of different intellectual persuasions.

Ground Reality Check for MPI (2010)

I also participated in the Ground Reality Check (April to June 2010) exercise conducted by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and OPHI to validate the multi-dimensional poverty indices that is proposed to be presented in the Human Development Reports starting November 2010. The purpose of the GRC was to compare the extent to which households that were ‘poor’ according to the official measure used by governments or NGOs could also be considered to be ‘multi-dimensionally’ poor. Further, the GRC compiled profiles of those who could be considered ‘multi-dimensionally’ poor so as to be able to document the diverse meanings and conceptions of what it meant to be poor.

Creating Indices for Devolution: Literature Review (2009)

I conducted a review of literature for UNDP Solution Exchange Working Group on 'Creating Indices for Devolution' April 2009. This was part of knowledge exchange programme between policy makers, practicners, academics and people from different walks of life.