Praveen Priyadarshi
Praveen Priyadarshi is an Assistant Professor of Politics at IIIT, Delhi.
He is interested in urban politics, democracy and governance.
He brings the categories of space, institutions and policies to bear upon the conceptualisation of everyday politics in the cities of the global South.
A PhD in Development Studies from the London School of Economics, he has been an associate at the Crisis States Research Centre, LSE and the Developing Countries Research Centre (DCRC), University of Delhi.
He was also the Tata PhD Fellow at the Asia Research Centre (ARC), LSE.
PUBLISHED BOOKS
This book presents a systematic analysis of the differential implementation of the urban reforms in two Indian cities, Ahmedabad and Kanpur. It analyses the enactment of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), launched in 2005 by the Indian government, which aimed to spatially reorient cities into market-friendly places across 65 cities but finished with only modest success.
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The volume discusses the specificities of urban governance systems, colonial municipal histories and nationalist struggle in relation to urban planning and policy reforms to showcase how policies insensitive to these are likely to fail. It identifies historically constituted municipal capacity – located in the municipal organisation at the city level – as the key determinant of divergent trajectories of the spatial changes. The analysis demonstrates that in Ahmedabad the politics of the city was historically oriented towards peoples’ relationship with their spaces, enabling a coherent municipal organisation. In the case of Kanpur, however, the local politics evolved in a way that the urban question remained unresolved, which resulted in a fragmented municipal organisation. This variation in the architectures of municipal organisations in the two cities resulted in different levels of municipal capacities at the time of the inauguration of the JNNURM.
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A richly detailed case study on urban governance issues and development in Indian cities, this book will be an essential read for scholars and researchers of urban studies, urban politics, development studies, social anthropology, social history, political science, development studies, public policy and governance, urban sociology and South Asian studies.
Contemporary India
Economy, Society, Politics
2009, Pearson Longman, New Delhi
Edited by Neera Chandhoke and Praveen Priyadarshi, Contemporary India addresses issues facing the nation-state and civil society from diverse perspectives: those of political science, sociology, economics and history.
The book is thematically divided into three parts Economy, Society, and Politics and includes discussions on topics as wide-ranging as poverty, regional disparities, policies, social change and social movements, the elements of democracy, dynamics of the party system, secularism, federalism, decentralization, and so on.
The common thread of democracy, which strings together different aspects of contemporary India, serves as the framework of understanding here and underlies discussions in all the chapters.
The book includes 23 original, well-researched and up-to-date chapters by authors who teach different courses in the social sciences.
Without compromising on the complexity of their arguments, the authors have used a lucid, conversational style that will attract even readers who have no previous knowledge of the topics.
The contributors have also provided a glossary, questions and further readings lists with students examination needs in mind.
RESEARCH PAPERS
[Co-authored with Ritanjan Das and Kumar Nilotpal]
Contemporary South Asia
Vol. 29, No. 4, 2021
This article examines two simultaneous dynamics in contemporary India: the development of new urban spaces, and an intensification of Hindu nationalism (Hindutva). Examining the case of Noida (a township adjacent to Delhi), this article suggests that the entrepreneurial mode of urban development [Harvey 2006. Spaces of Global Capitalism. New York: Verso] has restructured local spaces, which in turn may give rise to rival attempts at group making, seeking to recreate exclusive identities out of choice and resentment to mobilise political action. Such rival attempts may enable Hindutva to entrench itself in local milieus through multiple modes, including the soft mode of ‘neo-Hindutva’. Overall, the article outlines the dynamic association between new urban processes and exclusivist/nativist forms of politics in contemporary India.
[Co-authored with Neera Chandhoke et al]
Economic and Political Weekly
Vol. 42, No. 43, (Oct. 27 - Nov. 2, 2007), pp. 10-14
​Elections draw near in Gujarat but the survivors of the 2002 pogrom continue to live a miserable life, belying the claims of a "Vibrant Gujarat" by chief minister Narendra Modi who has embarked upon a re-election campaign emphasising the future over the shameful past. The plight of the riot victims raises questions about the state of democracy in Gujarat.
Punjab University, Chandigarh
Social Science Research Journal
Vol. 14, No. 01, 2006
[Co-authored with Neera Chandhoke]
Economic and Political Weekly,
Vol. 41, No. 9 March 4, 2006
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The Akali Dal and the Congress followed different agendas to recapture legitimacy in Punjab after the violence of the 1980s. The aftermath of militancy and the generalised discontent with the Akali Dal and the Congress provided both the parties with an opportunity to reinvent their agendas. But both continued with their usual politics, putting critical economic issues on the back burner. Return to peace, elimination of corruption and need for a religious Punjab governed by religious parties were their usual themes. In all, the impending agrarian crisis was put aside, secondary to assuming office. This only says that the nature of politics in a post-conflict society like Punjab remains indeterminate, confined to the making and unmaking of governments.
Indian Journal of Political Science,
Vol. 63, No. 2&3, June - September 2002
Global civil society is one of the most celebrated of concepts today. It continues to mean different things to different people. We need to look into the evolution of the concept in two different spheres. On the one hand, we have to take into account the reality it seeks to represent, namely, the regime of non-state, non-market global actors, who are trying to create a global democratic space through various political practices. On the other hand, we need to investigate the theoretical lineage of global civil society and trace its commonalities and differences with the original concept of civil society.. It is only then that we will be able to comprehend the concept of global civil society in its fullness.
Praveen Priyadarshi
Assistant Professor of Politics
Department of Social Sciences and Humanities,
IIIT Delhi
Phone:
011-26907359
Email:
Address:
A203, Research and Development Building,
Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) Delhi-110020