HSS/IISER Bhopal


Dr. Ajeet Kumar Pankaj


Assistant Professor
Social Work & Sociology

ajeet@iiserb.ac.in
91 755 269 2717
  • Academic
  • Research
  • Publications
  • Other Writings
  • Teaching
  • Book Chapters
  • Books
  • Book Reviews
  • Invited Talks

    Academic Details

  • Assistant Professor (Social Work and Sociology), Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IISER Bhopal, July 2024-Present.
  • Assistant Professor (Social Work), Department of Social Work, Indira Gandhi National Tribal University, Regional Campus Manipur, Manipur, September 2017-July 2024

    • Grants and Awards

  • 2023: K2A Mobility subsidy Grant funded by Swissnex in India, Consulate General of Switzerland, Government of Switzerland to be Visiting Faculty at the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, February-March 2024
  • 2017: DAAD Contact-Grant Fellowship for Visiting Research Scholar at the Department of Migration, Gender, and Politics, University of Oldenburg, Germany, March-July 2017
  • University Grants Commission - Junior and Senior Research Fellowships (UGC-JRF/SRF) in Social Work (2013-2017)





Areas of Expertise/Competence

  • Migration-Exclusion and Inclusion
  • Social Policy
  • Community Development
  • Gig Work and Workers
  • Future of Work
  • Sociology of Literature
  • Subaltern Autobiographies
  • Welfare and Social Justice
  • Dalit Studies
  • State and Politics of Subaltern
  • City, Urban Studies, and Middle Class









  • IISER Bhopal (July 2024-Present)
  • Migration, State, and Society
  • Department of Social Work, Indira Gandhi National Tribal University, Regional Campus Manipur (2017-2024)
  • Social Group Work
  • Social Work Research
  • Tribes in India
  • Social Welfare Administration
  • Tribal Development
  • Rural and Urban Community Development
  • Social Work with Tribes
  • Tribal Community Development




    • # Authors Title Journals Year
    1 Ajeet Kumar Pankaj,Manish K. Jha,Saima Farhad,Ibrahim Wani ‘Document’ and North-Indian Labour Migrants: Governing Labour Mobility in Manipur Journal of Asian and African Studies (Sage) 2024
    2 Ajeet Kumar Pankaj,Manish K. Jha Gig Workers in Precarious Life: The Trajectory of Exploitation, Insecurity, and Resistance The American Journal of Economics and Sociology (Wiley) 2024
    3 Md. Niyaz Ahmad ,Ajeet Kumar Pankaj,Iftekhar Alam Dr. Ambedkar’s Idea of Human Rights and its Scope of Teaching in Social Work Education: From Text to Context Social Work Education (Taylor and Francis) 2024
    4 Ajeet Kumar Pankaj Dalit Autobiographies in Pursuit of Inclusion: Role of Subaltern Literature in the Pedagogy of Social Work' Indian Journal of Social Work 2024
    5 Manish K. Jha,Ajeet Kumar Pankaj,Iftekhar Alam Pravasiyon ke liye 'Palayan' Ek Vikalap: Palayan ki Prakriya mein Virodhabhash aur Prakeshappath Samajik Vimarsh (Sage) 2023
    6 Ajeet Kumar Pankaj,Iftekhar Kumar Alam,Aazad Sohail Informal Social Group and Lok Sangharsh Samiti (LSS): Informal Collaboration of Dalits for Resistance and ‘Land Rights’ Social Work with Groups (Taylor & Francis) 2023
    7 Manish K. Jha,Ajeet Kumar Pankaj The Making of New Dalit Middle Class: Struggle, Aspirations, and Changing Lifestyle in Navi Mumbai Journal of Asian and African Studies (Sage) 2023
    8 Abhimanyu Kumar Datta,Ajeet Kumar Pankaj Scope Of Multilingual Education, Teaching, And Training: Perspective Of Post-Graduate Social Work Students In India Nordic Social Work Research (Taylor & Francis) 2023
    9 Ajeet Kumar Pankaj,Lalitha Kumar B Dalit Women in Cinema: A Narrative of Gender and Caste The American Journal of Economics and Sociology (Wiley) 2022
    10 Shiv Kumar Yadav,Ajeet Kumar Pankaj Everyday Ethical Challenges for Indian Community Development Practitioners in COVID-19 Pandemic Community Development Journal (Oxford University Press) 2022
    11 Manish K. Jha,Ajeet Kumar Pankaj Neoliberal Governmentality and Informal Workers: Policy and Community Work in India International Journal of Community and Social Development (Sage) 2021
    12 Ajeet Kumar Pankaj ‘Caste’ amid Aspiration and Opportunity: Everyday Aspiration and Struggle of Dalits to Gain Access of Education The American Journal of Economics and Sociology (Wiley) 2021
    13 Ajeet Kumar Pankaj The Panchshil Buddha Vihar Group: Dalit Migrant Life and Group Solidarity in Pandemic Social Work with Groups (Taylor & Francis) 2020
    14 Ajeet Kumar Pankaj Politics of Symbols and Changing Religious Practices: Counter-Hegemonic Assertion of Dalit Migrants in Mumbai Journal of Migration Affairs 2019
    15 Ajeet Kumar Pankaj Caste and Discrimination in Welfare: Exclusion of Dalits in Uttar Pradesh. Contemporary Voice of Dalit (Sage) 2019
    16 Ajeet Kumar Pankaj Land, Labour and Market: Exclusion of Dalits in Uttar Pradesh Contemporary Voice of Dalit (Sage) 2016
    17 Ajeet Kumar Pankaj Food Insecurity: Persistence of Hunger among Dalits in eastern Uttar Pradesh Journal of Social and Economic Studies 2015
    Authors Editors Title Publisher Year
    S.K. Rinchanpam
    Ajeet Kumar Pankaj
    		 Abhimanyu Datta
    Bipin Jojo
    		 Labour Migrant's Children and COVID-19: Children on the 'Move' Routledge 2024
    Ajeet Kumar Pankaj
    Abhimanyu Datta
    		 I.S. Rajan
    		 International Refugee Law and the Indian State: Contested Law and Refugee Life between 'Two States' Routledge 2022
    Manish K. Jha
    Ajeet Kumar Pankaj
    		 Ritajyoti Bandyopadhyay
    Paula Banerjee
    Ranabir Samaddar
    		 Insecurity and Fear Travel as Labour Travels in The Time of Pandemic Routledge 2020
    Authors Editors Title Publisher Year
    Ajeet Kumar Pankaj
    		 ---- -- ---
    		 Dalit Migrants: Assertion, Emancipation, and Social Change Springer 2023