IASH-SSPS Fellow
September 2016 till December 2016
Home Institution: Centre for Political Studies, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi
University homepage: http://www.jnu.ac.in/Faculty/papiasg?cv.pdf
Bio: I joined JNU in 2015 after teaching in Kirori Mal College, University of Delhi. My Ph. D. from Jawaharlal Nehru University on Linguistic Minorities and Group Rights. My research papers have been published in Economic and Political Weekly, Geoforum, International Journal on Diversity of Organisations, Communities and Nations, Indian Journal of Political Science. I edited a special issue titled Cultures meet the law co-edited along with Prof. Probal Dasgupta published in French in Droit et Cultures. My first monograph titled Language(s) in India: Identity, Diversity and Institutions is under contract with Cambridge University Press. I am passionate about teaching and my work was awarded the Distinguished Teacher Award from University of Delhi by the former President of India in 2009. My research interests include, but are not, limited to, multicultural studies, minority rights, language and diversity, federal governance. Apart from research and teaching I love classical music and rock, an uncommon combination.
Project: In IASH, I will be working on my research paper titled Violence and Ethnic Conflict in Northeast India: Need for Effective Multilevel Federal Governance-A study of Bodoland seeks to critically analyze one of the asymmetric power-sharing under federal arrangements in the Indian constitution guaranteeing special rights for ethnic groups i.e. the Bodoland Territorial Council in northeast India. The Council’s composition has been contested as representing only one community leading to violent inter-ethnic conflicts. I argue that the Union government needs to take cognizance of the actual situation of the Assam valley and seek resolution through reconciliation and mediation based on the principle of justice and sustainable governance. The central government must follow a policy of accommodation towards the ethnic minorities rather than appeasing its coalition partners and violent ethnic associations.