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Ph.D., Centre for Studies in Social Sciences Calcutta, Jadavpur University

Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.), Jadavpur University

Master of Arts (M.A.), Jadavpur University

Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), University of Calcutta

Prof. (Dr.) Praskanva Sinharay

Assistant Professor and Assistant Dean (Academics), B.A. Legal Studies Programme

Email praskanva.sinharay@jgu.edu.in
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ORCID ID 000-0001-8303-8554
Key Expertise Governance and Politics, Indian Constitution, Social Hierarchies, Citizenship, Elections.

Ph.D., Centre for Studies in Social Sciences Calcutta, Jadavpur University

Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.), Jadavpur University

Master of Arts (M.A.), Jadavpur University

Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), University of Calcutta

Biography

Dr. Praskanva Sinharay is a political scientist and Assistant Professor at the Jindal Global Law School (JGLS), O. P. Jindal Global University.  He holds a PhD from Centre for Studies in Social Sciences Calcutta, Jadavpur University. He was awarded the DAAD fellowship at the Centre for Modern Indian Studies, Georg-August- Universität, Göttingen, Germany, 2015. His research interests include Governance and Politics in India, Social Hierarchies, Partition Studies, and Elections.

Praskanva’s work focusses on the politics of caste in West Bengal and how it is changing through the emerging assertions of different communities. His research on the Matuas, an anti-caste religious community, initiated a fresh debate on the role of caste in Bengal politics. 

Prior to JGLS, he was an Assistant Professor of Political Science at GITAM (Bengaluru), and he has also taught as a guest faculty at Presidency University, West Bengal State University, and Vivekananda College (University of Calcutta). He was also a researcher at the Centre for Policy Research and India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management (Election Commission of India). 

Political Theory (Fall 2025)

Introduction to Constitution (Fall 2025)

Constitutional Debates (Spring 2026)

Indian Legal System (Spring 2026)

DAAD Fellowship, Centre for Modern Indian Studies, Georg-August-Universität, Göttingen, Germany, 2015

Peer Reviewer, Contemporary Voice of Dalit, 2026

Peer Reviewer, Contemporary South Asia, 2026

Peer Reviewer, Society and Culture in South Asia, 2026

Peer Reviewer, Peter Lang, 2024

Peer Reviewer, Economic and Political Weekly, 2024

Peer Reviewer, Politics, Religion & Ideology, 2023

Peer Reviewer, South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, 2022

Peer Reviewer, Contributions to Indian Sociology, 2019 

Consultant, India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management, Election Commission of India, 2023-24

Educational Consultant, Oxford University Press, 2020
 

"Nepathya theke sammukkhe", Anandabazar Patrika, 13 March 2026

"The BJP’s first government in Bengal signals more than a change of regime", The Indian Express, 11 May 2026

"How TMC became the latest party to fall to BJP’s ‘divide, defect, dominate’ playbook", The Indian Express, 9 June 2026

“Matua dharma and the final avatar: Understanding anti-caste thought in Sree Sree HariLilamrita,” in Prathama Banerjee (ed.), Textual Lives of Caste Across the Ages: Hierarchy, Humanity and Equality in Indian History, New Delhi: Bloomsbury, pp. 163-178.

“An everyday casteism,” The Indian Express, 20 March 2025.

“South Asia in a Changing World: What Citizens in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh think 75 years post-Partition”, Centre for Policy Research and C-Voter.

“How Brazil exposed the G20 crisis,” The Indian Express, 30 Nov. 2024.

“Why all parties in West Bengal need Matuas on their side,” The Indian Express, 24 April 2024.

“Who wanted this ‘landmark pact’?”, Deccan Herald, 29 March 2024.

“Thakurnagar as a Political Location: Place Making Practices of Matua Refugees in West Bengal”, in ‘Politics, Space, Memory: Identity Making in the Wake of Partition’ ed. Samata Biswas, Special Issue, Refugee Watch, 61 & 62, June & December 2023, pp. 55-73.

“Demands and Dispossessions: A Report on Blue Economy”, Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung South Asia and Centre for Financial Accountability.

G20: Can an elite club push people’s issues?, You, Me and the Economy.

“Matua sampradaya o bharoter nagorikattwo ain bodoler lorai”, Prasangik Oprasangik, Bulletin 11, December 2023.

“A Statement sans Solutions: India’s G20 Presidency and Its Outcome” (co-authored), Dossier: G20 in India, Heinrich Böll Stiftung, 12 Nov, 2023.

“Why the G20 declaration is far from the triumph it’s being hailed to be”, Scroll.in, 19 September, 2023.

“New Global Financial Pact: A Summit Without Substance,” The Wire, 5 July 2023.

“Naamkaron-er Rajniti,” Arekrakam, 11th Year, Issue 2, 16-31 Jan. 2023.

“Harichand-Guruchand Thakur: The Emerging Icons of Dalit Politics in West Bengal,” Religion, Vol. 52, Issue 4, pp. 595-615.

Political Deification in South Asia, The Nordic Asia Podcast.

“To Be a Hindu Citizen: Politics of Dalit Migrants in Contemporary West Bengal,” in Suryakant Waghmore and Hugo Gorringe (eds.), Crisis in Civility: Democracy, Equality and Majoritarian Challenge in India, New Delhi: Routledge, pp. 73-92.

“Matua-der Vote Rajniti,” Arekrakam, 9th Year, Issue 11, 1-15 June 2021.

“A State of Fear, Confusion and Hope: CAA and Bengali Dalit Refugees in India,” PoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology Review, 7 September 2020.

“Bangla-r Dalit Sahitya Andolan,” Arekrakam, 8th Year, Issue 15, 16-31 Oct. 2020.

“To Be a Hindu Citizen: Politics of Dalit Migrants in Contemporary West Bengal,” South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, Vol. 42, Issue 2, 2019, pp. 359-374.

“The Caste Question and Decline of the Left in West Bengal,” in Partha Pratim Basu and Rakhahari Chatterji (eds.), West Bengal under the Left 1977-2011, New Delhi: Routledge, pp. 203-222.

“Chandalini-r Bibriti: Interrogating Caste and Gender in contemporary Bengali Literature,” in Supurna Banerjee and Nandini Ghosh (eds.) Caste and Gender in Contemporary India: Power, Privilege and Politics, New Delhi: Routledge, pp. 179-195.

“Unheard Stories of Partitioned Lives,” Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. LII, No. 41, pp. 38-40.

“How the World Votes? A Compendium of Voting Methods in Democracies,” India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management, Election Commission of India.

“Dalit Question in the Upcoming West Bengal Elections,” Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. LI, No. 9, pp. 17-20.

“Building up the Harichand-Guruchand Movement: The Politics of Matua Mahasangha,” in Uday Chandra, Geir Heierstad and Kenneth Bo Nielsen (eds.) The Politics of Caste in West Bengal, New Delhi: Routledge, pp. 147-168.

“On a Bengali Dalit Autobiography,” Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. LI, No. 18, pp. 27-29.

“Jai Bhim slogan-e Yechury kon Ambedkar ke kurnish janachhen?,” Ei Samay, 14 Aug 2016.

“The Dalit Literary Movement in West Bengal,” Bangla Journal, 13th Year Issue 21, pp. 188-198.

“West Bengal’s Election Story: The Caste Question,” Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. XLIX, No. 17, pp. 10-12.

“Saffron is the New Red in West Bengal,” The Hindu, 18 July, 2014.

“Caste, Migration and Identity,” Seminar 645, May 2013. Link.

“Unnayon-Santrash-Protirodh: Nandigram O Paschimbanger Bortoman Krishak Rajniti,” Alochonachakra, Vol. 34, January 2013.

“A New Politics of Caste,” Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. XLVII, No. 34, pp. 26-27.
Email praskanva.sinharay@jgu.edu.in
ORCID ID 000-0001-8303-8554
Key Expertise Governance and Politics, Indian Constitution, Social Hierarchies, Citizenship, Elections.
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