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Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), D. G. Ruparel College, University of Mumbai

Master of Arts (M.A.), Centre for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University

Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.), Centre for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University

Doctor of Philosophy (D.Phil.), Department of Sociology, University of Oxford

Ph.D, Sociology

Prof. (Dr.) Sumeet Ramdas Mhaskar

Professor

Email smhaskar@jgu.edu.in
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ORCID ID 0000-0002-1628-3813
Key Expertise labour, deindustrialisation, joblessess, migration, labour makets, discrimination, urban spatial restructuring, social movements, and political movements.

Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), D. G. Ruparel College, University of Mumbai

Master of Arts (M.A.), Centre for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University

Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.), Centre for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University

Doctor of Philosophy (D.Phil.), Department of Sociology, University of Oxford

Ph.D, Sociology

Biography

Dr. Sumeet Mhaskar is a Professor of Sociology at the Jindal School of Government and Public Policy, O. P. Jindal Global University. He earned his doctorate in Sociology from the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom and holds MA and MPhil degrees in Political Science from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He is the recipient of the prestigious research fellowship awarded by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. His distinguished career includes fellowships at renowned institutions such as Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, Stanford University, Göttingen University and Kassel University.

Prof. Mhaskar’s research comprehensively explores the multifaceted vulnerabilities workers face at the lower end of India’s burgeoning economy. He has investigated the large-scale closure of textile mills in Mumbai and its implications for the social, political, economic, and spatial spheres. His scholarly contributions have been featured in peer-reviewed journals, edited books, magazines, policy reports, and working papers. Additionally, he shares his insights through opinion pieces, newspapers and online portals such as The Times of India, Hindustan Times, Indian Express, The Hindu, The Wire, Scroll.in, Outlook, and Sakal Times.

labour, deindustrialisation, joblessess, migration, labour makets, discrimination, urban spatial restructuring, social movements, and political movements.

Politics of Development

Qualitative Research Methods

Survey Research Design and Analysis

Caste and Class

Democracy (Rights and Social Contracts)

State, Politics and Policy Making

Coolies and Capitalism

Law Economy and Society: Understanding Labour Regulation in India

Migration, Economic Citizenship and the European Union

Labour Policy

Planning to Good Governance: Understanding the Indian State

Survey Research Design and Analysis

The Political and Economic Sociology of Labour Regulation in India 

Research Publication Award, O. P. Jindal Global University, 2021

Research Grant, St. Antony’s College, University of Oxford, 2008

Carr & Stall Grant, St. Antony’s College, University of Oxford, 2011

Rashtrapati Scout, President of India Award in Scouting, 1997

Rajya Puraskar - Maharashtra State Governor’s Award in Scouting, 1996

2020, COVID-19 Pandemic and its Influences on the Political and Social Aspects, and the Psychological Perceptions.

2019-2023, (Co) Principal Investigators: Dr. Karin Klenke, Centre for Modern Indian Studies (CeMIS), University of Göttingen, Germany & Prof. Dr. Sumeet Mhaskar, O. P. Jindal Global University, India. The “DE/IN CeMIS” project (2019–2023) enabled exchanges between Centre for Modern Indian Studies (CeMIS), University of Göttingen, (Germany) and 14 partner institutions in India.

Resident Fellow, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, Germany, 2012-2013

Resident Fellow, Center for South Asia, Stanford University, USA, 2013

Postdoctoral Fellow, Max Weber Foundation & Centre for Modern Indian Studies, University of Göttingen, 2013-2014

Humboldt Research Fellow, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. Hosted by Centre for Modern Indian Studies, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, 2014-2016

Visiting Lecturer, Universität Kassel, (Germany), 2016-2017

Visiting Professor DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst), Centre for Modern Indian Studies, University of Göttingen, 2022

Visiting Professor, Institute of Political Economy, Carleton University, 2025

Routledge Press

Cambridge University Press

South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies

Governing Board Member, Association of Indian Labour Historians, New Delhi

Member, European Association of South Asian Studies

Project Collaborator, International Trade Union History and Memory Network, Simon Frazer University

Member: Board of Directors, Diganta Swaraj Foundation, Maharashtra.

Member, Lions Club of Mokhada, India

2020, COVID-19 Pandemic and its Influences on the Political and Social Aspects, and the Psychological Perceptions.

2.2019-2023, (Co) Principal Investigators: Dr. Karin Klenke, Centre for Modern Indian Studies (CeMIS), University of Göttingen, Germany & Prof. Dr. Sumeet Mhaskar, O. P. Jindal Global University, India. The “DE/IN CeMIS” project (2019–2023) enabled exchanges between Centre for Modern Indian Studies (CeMIS), University of Göttingen, (Germany) and 14 partner institutions in India.

Governing Board Member, Association of Indian Labour Historians, New Delhi

Member, European Association of South Asian Studies

Project Collaborator, International Trade Union History and Memory Network, Simon Frazer University

Member: Board of Directors, Diganta Swaraj Foundation, Maharashtra.

Member, Lions Club of Mokhada, India

José J. Pizarro, Mhaskar, Sumeet and 33 authors (2024). Sociopolitical consequences of COVID-19 in the Americas, Europe, and Asia: A multilevel, multicountry investigation of risk perceptions and support for antidemocratic practices. Political Psychology, 45(2), 407-433. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12930

Mhaskar, Sumeet. (2024). Varchaswasathi Nirwanichi Ladhai: Maratha Aarakshan [in Marathi]. (Translated by Nitin Salunke). Sanay Prakashan: Pune, pp: 1-64

Mhaskar, Sumeet (2024). Sukhdeo Thorat, S. Madheswaran and B. P. Vani. Scheduled Castes in the Indian Labour Market", International Quarterly for Asian Studies, 55(3).

Mhaskar, S. (2024). Shinde vs Uddhav: Wait for the Next Episode, The Times of India, 25 November.

Mhaskar, S. (2024). How Neo-Buddhists and Muslims Vote, The Times of India, 21 November.

Mhaskar, S. (2024). Aarakshanae Daridryacha Prashna Sutel? (in Marathi) Sakal Vataran Diwali Issue 2024.

Mhaskar, S. (2024). SC sub-classification: Criminalising Dalit beneficiaries is not the way forward, The News Minute, 12 August.

Mhaskar, S. (2024). Back to Balasaheb, The Times of India, 17th April.

Mhaskar, S. (2024). Shramikanchi Mumbai Haravali (in Marathi) Sakal, 20 January.

Mhaskar, Sumeet (2024). N. Sukumar. Caste Discrimination and Exclusion in Indian Universities: A Critical Reflection (Routledge Press, 2022) Social Change, 54(1), pp. 135-138.

Tschurenev, Jana and Mhaskar, Sumeet (2023). “Wake up for education”: colonialism, social transformation, and the beginnings of the anti-caste movement in India. Paedagogica Historica International Journal of the History of Education, Volume 59 (4) 630-648.

Mhaskar, Sumeet. (2023). Indian Muslims and the Ghettoised Economy: The Role of Negative Emotions on Occupational Choices in the Urban Labour Markets. In Tanweer Fazal, Divya Vaid, Surinder S. Jodhka edited Marginalities and Mobilities among India’s Muslims: Elusive Citizenship. Abingdon and New Delhi: Taylor & Francis Group, pp. 199–219

Mhaskar, S. (2023). Decoding the Maratha Claim for Reservations. Hindustan Times, 13 December.

Mhaskar, S. (2023). Marathyanchya Asantoshache Karan Kai? (in Marathi) Sakal, 2 December.

Mhaskar, S. (2023). Why are the Marathas Molibising Now? The Hindu, 29 November.

Mhaskar, S. (2023). How BR Ambedkar has become a global icon in the fight against injustice. Scroll.in, 14 April 2023

Mhaskar, S (2023) Bharat Jodo Yatra in Srinagar: The walk ends, a journey begins. Indian Express, 30th January 2023.

Mhaskar, Sumeet (2023). Caste Chronicles: Decoding Discrimination Published 21st December 2023. South Asia Research Institute for Minorities (SARIM). https://sarimwatch.org/17736/

Mhaskar, Sumeet and Rahul Sapkal (2022) Backward or Forward? Examining the Contemporary Status of Marathas. Economic and Political Weekly (Special Article) 57(16): 51-59.

Mhaskar, S (2022) How a Strike 40 Years Ago Dismantled Workers’ Claim Over Mumbai, Hastened its Gentrification. The Wire, 18th January 2022

Mhaskar, Sumeet (2022). (with Jesus Chairez and Prabodhan Pol) Ambedkar, Labour Leader Published July 13, 2022. The Nagrik Podcast. https://open.spotify.com/episode/1b23LZYlz509MEAtMdT9X3

Mhaskar, Sumeet (2021). Crisis of Dominance: Understanding the Rural-Urban Roots of Maratha Caste Mobilisation for Reservation. Urbanisation (Indian Institute for Human Settlement) 6(1): 64-81

Mhaskar, Sumeet (2021). Sai Balakrishnan. Shareholder Cities: The Land Transformation Along Urban Corridors in India (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2020) Pacific Affairs Volume 94 – No. 4.

Mhaskar, Sumeet (2021). Sheetal Chhabria Making the Modern Slum. The Power of Capital in Colonial Bombay (University of Washington Press, 2019) H-Soz-Kult¸History Department, Humboldt University of Berlin.

Mhaskar, Sumeet (2021) Ajantha Subramanian. The Caste of Merit: Engineering Education in India (Harvard University Press, 2019). South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, 1-2

Sumeet Mhaskar and Prabodhan Pol (2021) Satyendra More. The Memoirs of a Dalit Communist: The Many Worlds of R.B. More, South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal [Online], Book Reviews, Online since 25 March 2021, connection on 01 June 2021. URL: https://journals.openedition.org/samaj/7111

Mhaskar, Sumeet (2021). Dalit Rights Matter: The Fight for Equality and the Long Road Ahead. Published February 26. Declarations: The Human Rights Podcast, Centre of Governance & Human Rights (CGHR), University of Cambridge. https://open.spotify.com/episode/3sc4SqtG0eSJJTBGTo0ZKl

José J. Pizarro, Mhaskar, Sumeet and 33 authors (2020). Tell me what you are like and I will tell you what you believe in: Social representations of COVID-19 in the Americas, Europe and Asia. Papers on Social Representations (London School of Economics and Political Sciences), Volume X, Issue X, pages X.1-X.38. ISSN 1021-5573

Mhaskar, Sumeet (2020). University Politics in India. डॉ। सुमीत म्हस्कर के साथ विश्वविद्यालय की राजनीति. In conversation with Vandit Jain of Lights Camera Azadi. Season 1: Episode 27. Published 27 September 2020. (In Hindi) https://lightscameraazadi.in/podcast/27-university-politics-with-dr-sumeet-mhaskar/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEOEimXkDsM

Mhaskar, Sumeet (2020). Caste Dismissed: Dalit Schooling in Colonial India. In conversation with Esha Krishnaswamy of Historic.ly. Published 26 July 2020. https://historicly.substack.com/p/caste-dismissed-dalit-schooling-in

Mhaskar, S (2020) Ambedkar’s fight wasn’t just against caste. Scholars have overlooked his labour activism, The Print, 14 April 2020.

Mhaskar, Sumeet (2020) Will the ‘new outsider’ revive nativist politics in Mumbai? The Federal, 16 February 2020.

Mhaskar, Sumeet. (2019). Preface In H. Van Wersch, The 1982-83 Bombay Textile Strike and the Unmaking of a Labourers City. New Delhi: Speaking Tiger, pp. xv – xxxvi.

Mhaskar, Sumeet. (2019). The State of Stigmatised Employment in India: Historical Injustices of Labouring. In D. Dutta (Ed.), Mind The Gap: The State of Employment in India, Oxfam India Inequality Report 2019. New Delhi: Oxfam India, pp. 180 – 199.

Mhaskar Sumeet and Prabodhan Pol (2019) Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (India 1891-1956). In Barbara Potthast, Katharina Schembs (eds.) Student Protests in the Global South: Annotated sources (1918-2018). Cologne: Global South Studies Center (GSSC), University of Cologne.

Mhaskar Sumeet and Prabodhan Pol (2019) Anti-Reservation Student Protests, University of Delhi (India 1990). In Barbara Potthast, Katharina Schembs (eds.) Student Protests in the Global South: Annotated sources (1918-2018). Cologne: Global South Studies Center (GSSC), University of Cologne.

Mhaskar Sumeet and Prabodhan Pol (2019) Rohith Vemula Suicide Note (India 2016). In Barbara Potthast, Katharina Schembs (eds.) Student Protests in the Global South: Annotated sources (1918-2018). Cologne: Global South Studies Center (GSSC), University of Cologne.

Mhaskar, Sumeet (2019) In Maharashtra, it is time to talk about marginalised workers, Hindustan Times, 9 October.

Mhaskar, Sumeet. (2018). "Ghettoisation of Economic Choices in a Global City: A Case Study of Mumbai." Economic and Political Weekly (Special Article) 53(29): 29-37.

Mhaskar, Sumeet (2018) Kamala Mills & Bawana Fires: When Socio-Economic Status Of Victims Dictates Scale Of Outrage And Action, Outlook Magazine, Web Edition, 21 January

Mhaskar, Sumeet (2018) Violence Against Dalits in Maharashtra Is Not New, but Dalit Reaction to It Is Changing, The Wire, 15 January.

Mhaskar, Sumeet, and Jana Tschurenev. (2017). “Bildung Und Politische Mobilisierung Im Kolonialen Indien. Die Anti-Kasten-Bewegung in Maharashtra, 1848-1882." Zeitschrift Für Pädagogik 63: 561-81.

Mhaskar, Sumeet (2016) The Roots of the Maratha Unrest Lie in Mumbai’s Changing Political Economy. The Wire, 5 December.

Mhaskar, Sumeet, Gajendran Ayyathurai, Dickens Leonard and Chittibabu Padavala (2016) Göttingen Stands Up For Annihilation Of Caste. Routesblog

Mhaskar, Sumeet (2016) The Slow Genocide of Dalit Minds. The Wire, 21 January 2016.

Mhaskar, Sumeet (2015) Dalit Rajakaran ani Samakalin Pravahatun Avaidh Honyachi Bhiti. Anivikshan Traimasik: 6(2), October-December, pp.92-94 (in Marathi).

Mhaskar, Sumeet. (2014). Locating Caste in a Globalising Indian City: A Study of Dalit Ex-millworkers’ Occupational Choices in Post-Industrial Mumbai. In Mobility or Marginalization? Dalits in Neo-Liberal India ed. Clarinda Still. New Delhi and Abingdon: Routledge Press, pp.107-132.

Mhaskar, Sumeet. (2014). Claiming Entitlements in 'Neo-Liberal' India: Mumbai's Ex-millworkers' Political Mobilisation on the Rehabilitation Question. QEH Working Paper Series, QEHWPS200: University of Oxford, pp.1-24.

Mhaskar, Sumeet (2014) No Right Turn, Outlook Magazine, Web Edition, 16 October 2014.

Mhaskar, Sumeet. (2013). Indian Muslims in a Global City: Socio-Political Effects on Economic Preferences in Contemporary Mumbai. MMG Working Paper 13-04: Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, Göttingen, ISSN 2192-2357, pp.1-31

Mhaskar, Sumeet. (2013). Encountering ‘Inclusion’ and Exclusion in Post-industrial Mumbai: A study of Muslim Ex-millworkers’ Occupational Choices. In Navigating Exclusion, Inclusion Engineering: Entangled Social Processes in India, ed. Uwe Skoda, Kenneth Bo Nielsen and Marianne Qvortrup Fibige. London: Anthem Press, pp.149-166. ISBN 9780857283221

Mhaskar, Sumeet. (In Press). Caste, Occupations and (Im)mobility in Modern Indian Industry, 1870-2006. In Ramnarayan Rawat, K. Satyanarayana and Sanal Mohan edited Journeys of Dignity: Religion, Freedom, and Caste. Ranikhet: Permanent Black (USA edition City University New York
Email smhaskar@jgu.edu.in
ORCID ID 0000-0002-1628-3813
Key Expertise labour, deindustrialisation, joblessess, migration, labour makets, discrimination, urban spatial restructuring, social movements, and political movements.
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