Tata Institute of Social Sciences

Dr. Sohini Sengupta

Assistant Professor (Selection Grade)
Mumbai Campus
Chairperson, Centre for Community Organisation and Development Practice ,

Chairperson, Centre for Disability Studies and Action ,
School of Social Work - Mumbai Campus

Qualification

B.Sc. (Hons.) (Delhi University),
M.A. in Social Work (Tata Institute of Social Sciences),
Ph.D. Social Anthropology (SOAS, University of London)

Contact

sohini.sengupta[at]tiss[dot]ac[dot]in

Sohini Sengupta has a PhD in Anthropology from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) University of London, Master of Arts in Social Work from TISS, Mumbai and Bachelor of Science with Honours in Chemistry from Miranda House, University of Delhi.

She also has experience in working with grassroots organization, NGOs, drought response programmes and public policy making.

Drought, Communities and Climate Change

Anthropology of land, Colonial history

Gender development and culture

Digital Anthropology and New Media

Poverty, welfare and Social Policy

Journal Articles

2026. Repair, Revise and Reuse: The Need for Circularity and Resilience in Bundelkhand's Drinking Water Provisioning. Economic and Political Weekly (Engage), Vol. 61, Issue No. 13, 28 Mar, 2026. (With Ajeet Kumar Pankaj).Read here

2026. Power, Prejudice and Opportunism: Tracing Vigilante Crimes and Social Harm in India, The British Journal of Criminology, 2026;, azaf116, https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azaf116 (With Manish K Jha).Read here

2025. Early and Often. Heatwaves in Focus. Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.60, Issue. 17, pp. 8-9. Read Here.

2024. Knockout Power: Heatwaves this Summer. EPW-Engage, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 59, issue 26-27, June 2024 (Sohini Sengupta & Manish K Jha). Read Here.

2023. 'A Moment of Choice'. Otherwise, Issue:9, 'Fragments', June 2023-September 2023, ISSN: 2752-3659 .Read Here.

2023. How droughts can leave people with nowhere to go. 360 info. Special Report on Shock Mobility. June 19, 2023, https://doi.org/10.54377/375a-a279 Read here.

2022. Indian Droughts, Drought Policy and Climate Change. Policies and Practices No.142. Decemer 2022, published by Mahanirban Calcutta Research Group. ISSN: 2348 0297. Read here.

2022. Glorious pasts of forest dwellers: Memories of land in the ex-zamindari of Borasambar, Central Provinces, 1861–1905. Modern Asian Studies, 56(5), 1595-1641. doi:10.1017/S0026749X21000780

2022. Weather Woes: Climate Communication and Social Protection in the Indian Heatwave. EPW-Engage. Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.57, Issue No.23, June 4, Read Here. (Sohini Sengupta & Manish. K.Jha).

2021. Risks and resilience: Covid-19 response and disaster management policies in India, India Review, 20(2): 121-141, (Sohini Sengupta & Manish. K. Jha).Read here

2020. Enframing and Digression: Pandemic, Drought and Migrant Accounts from Western India, Policies and Practices 112, Maharnirban Calcutta Research Group, December. Read here

2020. Social Policy and State-Community Relationships: Storm over Forest Rights in India, The British Journal of Social Work, Volume 50, Issue 8: 2423-2440. (Sohini Sengupta & Manish. K.Jha).Read here

2020. Social Policy, COVID-19 and Impoverished Migrants: Challenges and Prospects in Locked Down India, in the International Journal of Community and Social Development, Vol.2, Issue 2: 152-172. (Sohini Sengupta & Manish. K. Jha) Read here

2020. How to Stir Confusion Amidst a Pandemic: COVID-19 and Misinformation on WhatsApp. EPW-Engage, Economic and Political Weekly, Read here

2019. How WhatsApp 'Truths' Thrive on Middle-Class Anxieties. EPW-engage, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.54, Issue 37.Read here

2019. Hidden Hunger, Burdened Women: Challenges for Food and Nutrition Security Interventions, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. LIV, No.19, pp.49-55 Read here

2015. ‘Wronged by Development?’ The Impasse in Development - Human Rights Debate. Journal of The National Human Rights Commission, India, NHRC, Vol.14 :311-331

2006. Book Review. David, Hall-Mathews. Peasants, Famine and the State in Colonial Western India. Journal of Agrarian Change, 6, 598-612

2001. World Commission on Dams: Democratic Means for Sustainable Ends. Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.36, 21, pp. 1881-1891. (Sohini Sengupta & S.Parasuraman)

2000.Political Economy of Irrigation: Tanks in Orissa, 1850-1996, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.35, No. 52/53, pp.4695 - 4700

Book Chapters

2025. Speak for Us: Democracy, Digital Media and the Politics of Voice, in A,Roy and S,Pande,S (eds). Unpacking participatory Democracy. From Theory to Practice. Orient Blackswan.

2024. Learning Social Accountability Through Social Work Field Education. In: Keet, A.C.S., Noble, C. (eds) Social Work Education. SpringerBriefs in Advancing Social Work and Social Work Education(). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-76875-0_1 (co-author)

2023. Enframing and Digression: Pandemic, Drought and Migrant Accounts from Western India. in Srinivasan, P. (ed). Living with the Weather: Climate Change, Ecology and Displacement in South Asia. Yoda Press: New Delhi. ISBN 978-93-82579-90-8.

2023.Women and Development in South Asia, in South Asia 2024. Europa Publications. Routledge and CRC Book Series. https://www.routledge.com/South-Asia-2024/Publications/p/book/9781032492803.

2022. Women and Development in South Asia, in South Asia 2023. Europa Publications. Routledge and CRC Book Series. https://www.routledge.com/South-Asia-2023/Publications/p/book/9781032273808.

2021. 'Cyborgs or Houseelves: WhatApp Mothering in a Greater Mumbai Suburb', in M.K Jha and Pushpendra (eds). Beyond Consumption, India's New Middle Class in Neoliberal Times. Routledge. Read a pre-print version here.

2021. ‘Freedom talk of Ploughmen’: Bondage and Seasonal Migration in East-Central India, Sadan, , & Pushpendra, (Eds.). (2021). Home, Belonging and Memory in Migration: Leaving and Living (1st ed.). Routledge India. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003199120. Link to e-Book

2016. Seeking Refuge in India. Comment on the French Case Study from an Indian perspective. In B.Schwarzer, U.Kammerer-Rutten, Schleyer-Lindemann and Y.Wang (eds.) Transnational Social Work and Social Welfare. Challenges for the Social work Profession. Routledge. Link to e-book

Reaping Scarcity: One hundred years of Drought in Orissa in Parasuraman. S and Unikrishnan P.V.(ed). The India Disasters Report. Oxford University Press and European Commission. (2000).

Book Reviews

2026. Digital Technologies and Gendered Realities. The International Journal of Community and Social Development, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/25166026251410007 Read here.

2024.Mrinal Pande (Ed.), The Journey of Hindi Language Journalism in India: From ‘Raj, to Swaraj and Beyond’. The International Journal of Community and Social Development, 6(3), 341-342. https://doi.org/10.1177/25166026241231370 Read here.

2023. Book Review. Surinder Jodhka (ed). Agrarian Change in India (Readings on the Economy, Society and Polity). The International Journal of Community and Social Development.Read here https://doi.org/10.1177/25166026231167311

2022. Book Review. Aniket Aga, Genetically Modified Democracy: Transgenic Crops in Contemporary India. The International Journal of Community and Social Development. 2022;4(2):241-242. Read Here.

Other Writings

2019. 'What About Us? A Study on the Situation of Young Married Girls.' Collaborative Research with Vikalp Sansthan. Supported by American Jewish World Service. Read here (Sohini Sengupta & Shewli Kr.)Link to e-book

2019. An Income Redistribution Plan will not End Poverty. Hindustan Times, February 12, 2019, Retrieved from https://www.hindustantimes.com/analysis/an-income-redistribution-plan-will-not-end-poverty/story.html. (Sohini Sengupta & Manish. K. Jha) Read here.

Research study on Water Stress, Traditional Practices and Current Solutions to Safe and Accessible Drinking Water in Drought Prone Regions. Supported by ICSSR Minor Research Grant (2024). (Ongoing).

Research study on Gender, Culture and Care work during the pandemic, Online and Offline. Supported by TISS Research Council.(2021).

Research study on migration and forced migration induced by drought and climate change in Maharashtra. Part of researc project, Migration and Forced Migration Flows: Its European -Asian Dimension Mahanirban Calcutta Research Group, sponsored by IWM, Vienna. (2020).

Certificate course in Social accountability and Social Audit: For Social Audit Resource persons from 28 states for social audit of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India. (2016-19).

Research study on Early Marriage Practice and Intervention in Rural Rajasthan in collaboration with Vikalp Sansthan-Udaipur. Sponsored by AJWS: American Jewish world Service (2019).

Study exploring the organizational culture and gender equity in selected Central Government Ministries. The National Commission for Women (NCW). (2018)

E-Content - Social Work Education - Social Policy. University Grants Commission and Ministry of Human Resources Development, Government of India. (2017)

Gender Based Violence, Tribal women and Community Perceptions and Anxieties, in eastern India, sponsored by TISS-LSE VAW Research Study (2016).

Assessing the nutritional status of Tribal and Dalit Households in Koraput district of Odisha, sponsored by VSO, India and SOVA Koraput (2015).

Non-Contributory Welfare Pensions in India. Sponsored by Tata Institute of Social Sciences (2014)

Livelihoods in Uttarakhand following Flood Disaster. Research Funded by Tata Relief Committee (TRC). (2013)

Gender, work and time allocation: Report based on time-use survey conducted in three districts of Vidarbha, Eastern Maharashtra. Research funded by Tata Cornell Agriculture and Nutrition Project

Under-Graduate (BA) and Post-graduate (MA) courses (Designed and/taught) -

SW9. Social Policy, Planning and Programmes.
SW7. Critical Perspectives on Society: Introduction to Social Theory,
CODP3. Sustainable Development and Gender
WS17. Gender and Public Policy
WS09. Women's Issues in Tribal and Indigenous Communities
SW 203. Introduction to Social Theory (Undergraduate)
SW301. Introduction to Social Policy (Undergraduate)
WCP2. Engendering Rural Realities (Ethnography).

Online Courses (Designed)

Teaching modules on Poverty and Disaster Risk Reduction in the online certificate course in Disaster Management jointly offered by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC) and TISS.
Teaching Modules on Social Policy, under UGC, ePG pathshala.
100 day Certificate Course in Social Audit and Accountability.