Rate My Professor Avinash Kumar

Avinash Kumar is Assistant Professor at the Centre for Informal Sector & Labour Studies in the School of Social Sciences at Jawaharlal Nehru University. He holds a Ph.D. from Jamia Millia Islamia. Prior to his current appointment, he taught at Shahid Bhagat Singh College and Ram Lal Anand College (Evening), University of Delhi. He has also contributed to research projects including the Religions and Development Research Programme at the University of Birmingham, UK; the National Commission for Minorities, Government of India; and the Indian Institute of Dalit Studies, New Delhi.

His research focuses on land, labour and caste; the politics of marginalization and informality; discrimination and exclusion; movements of the marginalized; and the labour market in the Indian political economy. Key publications include the book Criminalisation of Politics: Caste, Land and the State (Rawat, 2015) and co-edited volumes such as Revisiting 1956: B R Ambedkar and States Reorganisation (Orient Blackswan, 2014) and The Indian Parliament: A Critical Appraisal (Orient Blackswan, 2014). Journal articles include “The Battle for Land: Unaddressed Issues” (Economic and Political Weekly, 2011), “Fallacy of the State in Bihar” (Economic and Political Weekly, 2012), and “Mass Media and Muslims in India: Representation or Subversion” (Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, 2011). He has collaborated internationally on projects such as the Political Economy of Cross-Class Alliances in India with the University of Denver, USA.