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Amit Thorat

Amit Thorat

Amit Thorat
Amit Thorat
Assistant Professor
Centre/School/Special Centre
Centre for the Study of Regional Development,
School of Social Sciences
Room No
105
Off. Phone
011-26704570
Residence
011-45152541/09811553346
Email
athorat@mail.jnu.ac.in, amitthorat@gmail.com
Personal Webpage
https://jnu.ac.in/Faculty/athorat/cv.pdf
Qualifications
  • Doctorate from the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University (Oct 2006-Dec 2009)
    Thesis Title “An Analysis of Regional Patterns of Poverty across Social Groups in India”. (Degree Awarded, Jan 2010)
  • MPhil: Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University (2001-2003):  
    Dissertation Topic - ‘Rural Poor: Who are they and why? A case study of Madhya Pradesh’
  • Masters: Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University (1999-2001)
  • Bachelors: Economics (Hons), Delhi University, (1995-1998)
Areas of Interest/Specialization
Poverty, Inequality, Social exclusion and discrimination
Experience
  • Assistant Professor, Centre for the Study of Regional Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India, September 2015 till date.
  • Associate Fellow, National Council of Applied Economic Research, Delhi, June 2010- August, 2015
  • Research Associate, National Centre for Agriculture Economics and Policy Research, Delhi -1st Jan 2009 to 30 June 2010 [15 months].
  • Research Associate -International Food Policy Research Institute, South Asia Office Delhi - 1st March 2005 to 30th Sept 2006 [16 months].
  • Economic Consultant - Economic Research Foundation, Delhi   From 1st Oct 2003 - Feb 2005 [14 months].
  • Research work for Ph.D. - JNU, October 2006 - December 2009
International Collaboration/Consultancy
  1. Occupational Pattern and Disparities by Social Groups in India - ILO
    Worked on an ILO report on Occupational patterns and disparities in India, generating results on the distribution of populations belonging to various social groups across ninety nine occupational categories based on the National Sample Survey Organizations (NSSO) National Occupational Classification (NOC), 2011
  2. Regional Pattern of Health indicators across social groups – UNICEF & IIDS
     Health indicators related to mother and child across social groups analysed at the state level and using NFHS-2 and NFHS-3 data for the purpose of Study of the Dynamics and Processes of Exclusion and Discrimination in Maternal and Child Health Services among Dalits and Minorities.
  3. Poorest Area Civil Society: Identification of Poorest and backward Districts – DFID/PACS-II
    Identified, ranked and selected districts in seven PACS states for intervention by DFID. Districts were chosen on the basis of the size of ST, SC and Muslims population and development indicators. This analysis was used for the country level planning of PACS II intervention program.
  4. Tracking Change in Rural Poverty in Household and Village Economies in South Asia– NCAP-ICRISAT, Hyderabad and IRRI, Manila, Philippines (Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation). Accomplished the task of identification and selection of survey districts in Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha.
  5. Transition to Adulthood in India - Indian Human Development Survey. National Council of Applied Economic Research, Delhi, 2012 (Currently Involved)
  6. Malnutrition In India - National Council of Applied Economic Research, Delhi, 2012and IDS Sussex, U.K. (Currently Involved)
  7. Discrimination in Higher Education in India – Jawaharlal Nehru Univ., University College London – partners –SOAS and Univ. of Edinburgh.
  8. Social Attitudes Research in India – A telephonic survey of respondent’s social attitudes and perceptions in U.P, Bihar, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Delhi and Mumbai; Jawaharlal Nehru Univ. and Research in Compassionate Economics (R.I.C.E).
  9. Wealth Inequality in India- Indian Institute of Dalit Studies and IDRC, Canada.
  10.  "Untouchability and Slavery: Case of Reparation for India’s Untouchables" – Report for Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung.
Best Peer Reviewed Publications
  • Hathi, Payal, Diane Coffey, Amit Thorat, and Nazar Khalid. "When women eat last: discrimination at home and women’s mental health." PloS one 16, no. 3 (2021): e0247065.
  • Coffey, Diane, Payal Hathi, Nazar Khalid, and Amit Thorat. "Measurement of population mental health: Evidence from a mobile phone survey in India." Health policy and planning 36, no. 5 (2021): 606-619.
  • Thorat, A., & Aquil, M. (2021). Historic legacy of untouchability and caste enslavement: A case of reparative justice. Journal of Social Inclusion Studies, 7(2), 107-116.
  • Hathi, Payal, Diane Coffey, and Amit Thorat. "Interviewer Gender Effects on Social Attitudes and Survey Outcomes in a Mobile-Phone Survey in India." In PAA 2022 Annual Meeting. PAA, 2022.
  • Thorat, A. (2023). The Persisting Developmental Gap. Dalits in the New Millennium, 316.
  • Thorat, A. The Case for Dalit Reparations. Oxford Review of Economic Policy (Forthcoming).
Recent Peer Reviewed Journals/Books

Book:
Undernutrition and Public Policy in India: Investing in the Future, (2015) Desai, S.; Haddad, L.; Chopra, D.; Thorat, A.

Book chapters:

  1. Desai, S. and Thorat, A., 2016. Social inequalities in education. In India Infrastructure Report 2012 (pp. 82-89). Routledge India.
  2. Thorat, Amit. "Persisting Gap: A Case for Restitution and Reparations - Amit Thorat, in Dalits in the New Millennium." (Edited), Sudha Pai, Shyam Babu, & Rahul Verma, Cambridge University Press. (Forthcoming)
  3. Thorat, A. (2023). Caste Quotas in India. In Handbook on Economics of Discrimination and Affirmative Action (pp. 1-17). Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore.

A warm welcome to the modified and updated website of the Centre for East Asian Studies. The East Asian region has been at the forefront of several path-breaking changes since 1970s beginning with the redefining the development architecture with its State-led development model besides emerging as a major region in the global politics and a key hub of the sophisticated technologies. The Centre is one of the thirteen Centres of the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi that provides a holistic understanding of the region.

Initially, established as a Centre for Chinese and Japanese Studies, it subsequently grew to include Korean Studies as well. At present there are eight faculty members in the Centre. Several distinguished faculty who have now retired include the late Prof. Gargi Dutt, Prof. P.A.N. Murthy, Prof. G.P. Deshpande, Dr. Nranarayan Das, Prof. R.R. Krishnan and Prof. K.V. Kesavan. Besides, Dr. Madhu Bhalla served at the Centre in Chinese Studies Programme during 1994-2006. In addition, Ms. Kamlesh Jain and Dr. M. M. Kunju served the Centre as the Documentation Officers in Chinese and Japanese Studies respectively.

The academic curriculum covers both modern and contemporary facets of East Asia as each scholar specializes in an area of his/her interest in the region. The integrated course involves two semesters of classes at the M. Phil programme and a dissertation for the M. Phil and a thesis for Ph. D programme respectively. The central objective is to impart an interdisciplinary knowledge and understanding of history, foreign policy, government and politics, society and culture and political economy of the respective areas. Students can explore new and emerging themes such as East Asian regionalism, the evolving East Asian Community, the rise of China, resurgence of Japan and the prospects for reunification of the Korean peninsula. Additionally, the Centre lays great emphasis on the building of language skills. The background of scholars includes mostly from the social science disciplines; History, Political Science, Economics, Sociology, International Relations and language.

Several students of the centre have been recipients of prestigious research fellowships awarded by Japan Foundation, Mombusho (Ministry of Education, Government of Japan), Saburo Okita Memorial Fellowship, Nippon Foundation, Korea Foundation, Nehru Memorial Fellowship, and Fellowship from the Chinese and Taiwanese Governments. Besides, students from Japan receive fellowship from the Indian Council of Cultural Relations.