Faculty Profile

• PhD in Human Ecology, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar University Delhi (2017) Thesis: “State, Adivasis and Upland Livelihoods: A Study of Forest Villages in Central India”
• MPhil in Social Work, University of Delhi (2011) Thesis: “A Study of Forest Conflicts in Harda and Betul Districts of Madhya Pradesh”
• Master of Arts in Social Work, University of Delhi (2008)
• Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Economics, University of Delhi (2006)

• Assistant Professor (Visiting Faculty), School of Human Ecology, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar University Delhi (September 2017 to September 2018)
• Assistant Professor (On Contract), Department of Social Work, Jamia Millia Islamia (August to September 2017)
• Assistant Professor (Guest and Ad Hoc), Department of Social Work, University of Delhi (July 2011 to April 2013)

Political Ecology and Economy of Land; Forest Histories and Governance; Adivasi Studies; Conservation Social Science; Qualitative and Historical Research Methods; Social Impacts of Land Acquisition (in-charge, State Social Impact Assessment Unit, School of Human Ecology, AUD)

Courses offered

• Introduction to Human Ecology (BA)
• Environmental History of South Asia (MA and PhD)
• Environmental Law, Policy and Governance (MA and PhD)
• Gender and Environment (MA)
• Social Impact Assessment (SIA): Theory and Practice (MA)

Membership of academic networks and journals

• Member, Political Ecology Network POLLEN
• Member, Indian National Society for Ecological Economics (INSEE)
• Member, Regional Network for Developing Environmental Law Champions in Asia-Pacific
• Associate Editor, Frontiers in Human Dynamics(Environment, Politics and Society Section)

Awards

• Junior Research Fellowship in the Humanities and Social Sciences, University Grant Commission (2012—2016)
• Good Researcher Award, AUD Research Publication Incentive Scheme (2023)

Consultancy and Projects

• SIA Study for Land Acquisition for Public Works Department in South-East Delhi (Project Budget: USD 2524) (2023)
• SIA Study for Land Acquisition for Delhi Development Authority in South-West Delhi (Project Budget: USD 1683) (2023)
• SIA Study for Land Acquisition for Delhi Jal Board in North Delhi (Project Budget: USD 2344) (2023)
• Land Governance and Large Dams in central India: A case study of the Morand and Ganjal Complex Projects in Madhya Pradesh (Major Research Project Grant, Budget: USD 1150) (2022—2023)
• SIA Study for Land Acquisition for Delhi Metro Rail Corporation in Central Delhi (Project Budget: USD 4,470) (2022)
• SIA Study for Land Acquisition for Road Construction by Public Works Department, West Delhi (Project Budget: USD 4,850) (2020)
• SIA Study for Land Acquisition in Barapullah Phase III Elevated Road Construction by Public Works Department, South East Delhi (Project Budget: USD 20,740) (2018)

Journal Articles

• Kabra, A, B. Das and C. Bathla. (2023). Indigenous tree tenure in the times of charismatic carnivore conservation: Territoriality and property in the forests of central India, Political Geography | URL
• Das, B. (2022). Incarcerated imaginaries? Discourses of indigeneity and adivasi transformations in the Satpura Hills, Central Indian Tribal Belt, Summerhill: IIAS Review, Vol. 23, No. 1, pp. 47—57 | URL
• Kabra, A and B. Das. (2022). Aye for the tiger: hegemony, authority and volition in India’s regime of dispossession for conservation, Oxford Development Studies, pp. 1—18| URL
• Kabra, A. and B. Das. (2022). Using regulation to drive improvement in SIA, Impact Assessment Outlook Journal, Volume 13, pp. 18-19| URL
• Das, B. and M. Bora. (2009). The Lalgarh Movement. Economic and Political Weekly, XLIV, Nos. 26 & 27, pp. 15—17 | URL

Book Reviews

• Das, B. (2023). Political Economy of Farming in India: Chronicling 50 Years of Scholarship and Transformation, Ecology, Economy and Society–the INSEE Journal, 6(2), 281–284 | URL
• Das, B. (2021). Review of Tribals and Dalits in Orissa, by Biswamoy Pati. Seminar Magazine, Issue No. 740, 102-103| URL
• Das, B. (2020). The Other Voices from Odisha, Telegraph| URL
• Das, B. (2018). Adivasi identity and livelihoods in contemporary India, Economic and Political Weekly, 53(30), pp. 31—34| URL
• Das, B. (2016). Reversing the Gaze, Summerhill: IIAS Review and Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences, Vol. XXII, No. 2, pp. 55—56 | URL
• Das, B. (2012). Resisting Development, Theorising Resistance. Economic and Political Weekly, XLVII, No. 33, pp. 33-37| URL

Book Chapters

• Kabra, A. and B. Das. (2019). Global or local safeguards? Social impact assessment insights from an urban Indian land acquisition, in Susanna Price, Jane Singer (Eds). Country Frameworks for Development, Displacement and Resettlement. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 195—218 | URL

Technical Reports

• Das, B., A. Kabra and M.K. Chauhan (2023). Social Impact Assessment & Social Impact Management Plan for Land Acquisition in Revenue Estate Bharthal, South West Delhi. New Delhi: Dr. B.R. Ambedkar University Delhi | DOI
• Das, B., A. Kabra and M.K. Chauhan (2023). Social Impact Assessment for Land Acquisition in Revenue Estate Nangli Razapur, South East Delhi. New Delhi: Dr. B.R. Ambedkar University Delhi| DOI
• Saxena, S., R. Agnihotri, B. Das and S. Saxena. (2010). Girls’ Education in Madhya Pradesh: A Sociological Perspective. Bhopal: UNICEF and Government of Madhya Pradesh

• Frontier Landscapes and Adivasi (indigenous) Labour: An Environmental History of Colonial Rule in Forest Villages of Central India, 1870—1950. European Society for Environmental History, Bristol, UK, 2022.
• “Ours is a village owned by government”: regulation, bureaucracy and community in the forest villages of central India. Royal Anthropological Institute, United Kingdom, RAI 2021 Virtual Conference on Anthropology and Conservation, 2021.
• Train-the-Trainers Program for ADB’s Regional Capacity Development Technical Assistance-Strengthening the Capacity for Environmental and Climate Change Law in Asia and the Pacific (Participant), Virtual Workshop, 2020.
• The political ecology of Adivasi smallholder aspirations and agrarian change in upland central India. Political Ecology Network (Pollen) Virtual Biennial Conference, 2020.
• Australasian Workshop on Teaching Environmental History and Humanities (Participant). Australian and New Zealand Environmental History Network, Sydney, Australia, 2019.
• Examining Land Tenure and Resource Assemblages in Upland Central India. Association for Asian Studies AAS-in-Asia Conference, Delhi, 2018.
• Research-to-policy communication for agricultural development. Agriculture for Food Security (AgriFoSe 2030) Programme, Bangkok, Thailand, 2018.
• Adivasi Identity and Livelihoods in Contemporary India. Centre for North East Studies and Policy Research, Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi, 2018.
• Forest Tenure Reform: Ethnographic Insights from Upland Central India. Development Studies Association Conference, University of Bradford, United Kingdom, 2017.
• Marginal Lives: Adivasis and Forest Villages in Upland Central India. Penn State Asian Studies Summer Institute, Penn State University, USA, 2017.