Dr Pranjal Deekshit | Tata Institute of Social Sciences

Dr Pranjal Deekshit

Assistant Professor
Mumbai Campus,
Chairperson, Centre for Water Policy and Governance, School of Habitat Studies

Qualification

B.A. in English Literature (University of Pune),

M.A. in Economics (University of Pune)

PhD (TISS)

Contact

pranjal.deekshit[at]tiss[dot]ac[dot]in

Room 101, Academic Building 2

Jai Malti and A.D. Navroji Campus

Tata Institute of Social Sciences

Deonar Farm Road, Deonar

Mumbai - 400088

Email: pranjal[dot]deekshit[at]tiss[dot]edu

Phone: [Landline] +91 22 25525867

[Cell] + 91 8879660868

Pranjal Deekshit is an Assistant Professor at the Centre for Water Policy, Regulation, and Governance, Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai. His research interests include urban and rural drinking water reforms, private sector participation in state services, with a focus on Public-Private Partnerships in water.

Dr. Deekshit has led and substantially contributed to designing the curriculum for the Master’s Program in Water Policy and Governance in TISS. Currently, he coordinates the Masters Program in Water Policy and Governance in the School of Habitat Studies.

Dr. Deekshit holds approximately 10 years of experience in policy research and advocacy prior to joining TISS. He was part of the "Resources and Livelihoods group of Prayas" - a non-governmental organization based in Pune, India. He has exclusively worked on issues of delivery and management of water and sanitation services and livelihood issues in tribal communities in India.

Dr. Deekshit was also a member of the delegation under the, ‘International Visitor’s Leadership Program’ coordinated by United States’ Department of State – Educational and Cultural Affairs Division, on the theme of ‘Trans-boundary Water Resource Management’ in September 2011

Water Policy and Governance, Right to water and water justice, urban water and IWRM, Public-Private Partnership and Politics of Water

Journal Articles (Refereed/Peer Reviewed)

Bayliss K., and Deekshit P. (2024) Water For All’: The unlikely confluence of divergent interests (in resisting neoliberalism and promoting human rights) in Mumbai’s slums, Geoforum Volume 153, July 2024, 104024, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2024.104024

Mader P, Bayliss K, Deekshit P, Pryke M (2023) Contested geographies of water financialisation in the ‘global South’, Geoforum, Volume 145, October 2023, 103784. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2023.103784

Anand, P.; Wiggins, B., Kamath, L.; & Deekshit P. (2022). Enduring Harm: Unlikely Comparisons, Slow Violence and the Administration of Urban Injustice. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2427.13090

Deekshit, P., & Sumbre, S. (2022). After the right to water: rethinking the state and justice in Mumbai. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 46(4), 711-720. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1468-2427.13095

Deekshit P., Wagle S. (2019) Public-Private Partnerships and Social Policy Objectives in India: The Case of the Urban Water Sector, Indian Journal of Social Work, 80 (2), 149-17

Ozerol, G., Vinke-de-Kruijf, J., Brisbois, M., Casiano Flores, C., Deekshit, P., Girard, C., ... & Schröder, N. J. (2018). Comparative studies on water governance: A systematic review. Ecology and Society, 23(4), 43https://www.jstor.org/stable/26796888

Kamath, L., & Deekshit, P. (2014). Planning as practice: Governing Conjunctures and informal urbanization in Solapur. Economic and Political Weekly, 49, 72-81https://www.jstor.org/stable/24479641

Book Chapters

Upcoming: Deekshit, P. (2024). “NABARD and the Pro-Public Financing of Water in India”, in T. Marois, D McDonald and S Spronk (eds), Public Banks and Public Water in the Global South, Routledge, New York.

Wagle, S., Deekshit, P., & Pol, T. (2011). Review of reforms in urban water sector. INDIA INFRASTRUCTURE REPORT, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/284672992_Review_of_Reforms_in_Urban_Water_Sector_Institutional_and_Financial_Aspects

Project Reports

Deekshit, P. (2015). Impact of Infrastructure and Governance Transformations on Small, Medium and Big Cities in India.url: http://103.36.84.58/attachments/article/19/Aurangabad%20Case%20Study%20-%20Final.pdf

Wagle S., Deekshit P., Policy and Governance Perspective and Analytical Framework for Management of Urban Sewage, submitted to Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India by All-IIT consortium working on alternatives to Ganga Action Plan,https://nmcg.nic.in/writereaddata/fileupload/10_009PLG.pdf

Tare V., Deekshit P., Narayanan N., Wagle S., Bose P., SWOT Analysis of Ganga Action Plan, e-published on Gangapedia, submitted to Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India by All-IIT consortium working on alternatives to Ganga Action Plan,https://nmcg.nic.in/writereaddata/fileupload/50_006GEN.pdf

Wagle S., Deekshit P., Prevention of River Pollution by Urban Sewage: Recommendations from Policy and Governance Perspective based on a model case study, e-published on Gangapedia, submitted to Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India by ALL-IIT consortium working on alternatives to Ganga Action Plan,https://nmcg.nic.in/writereaddata/fileupload/28_010PLG.pdf

Current Projects [As PL/PI/Co-PI]

Jal Jeevan Mission Professor Chair, supported by Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Ministry of Jalshakti, GOI

Exploring policy pathways for aligning livelihoods restoration of riverine communities with conserving Ganga, supported by National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), Government of India, Minitry of Jalshakti

"Fast Forward to SDG6: Acceptable and Affordable Water Supply to Secondary Indian Cities" supported Department of Science and Technology, Government of India.

Consultancy Work [Ongoing]

Public Banks – Public Water-Case Study of NABARD supported drinking water program in Telangana state of India, supported by Municipal Services Project, Queen’s University (Canada) and United Nations Conference in Trade and Development (UNCTAD)

Assessment of Impact of proposed River Over Bridge from Kharghar to Pendhar villages on fisheries and fishermen suported by City and Industrial Development Corporation, Government of Maharashtra.

Previous Projects

Dr. Deekshit is also part of a collaboration between the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, Gujrat Institute of Development and Research, Ahmedabad and Center for Water Policy, Regulation and Governance, TISS for developing research on water distribution and access practices in the downstream of a major dam in India. This research focuses on understanding the uses of the newly released water in command areas of the dam, meanings attached to the water, and the politics of water infrastructure.

Dr. Deekshit is currently involved in a project titled "rising waters" in collaboration with the Department of Environmental Humanities, University of Pennsylvania. This is a multidisciplinary research project situated in the former wetlands of Philadelphia and Mumbai- two cities that have since been formed, extended and differentiated by historic relations with water.

Partner, Equalities and Public-Private Partnerships (EQUIPPPs) – A multi-country, multi-university networking and research project on PPPs across the water, health, education, and housing sectors, involving University College, London; Rhodes University (SA); Birkbeck College, London; and School of Oriental and African Studies, London (2017-18), Jawaharlal Nehru University, and Tata Institute of Social Sciences.

Member of the team collaborated with the ‘Water and Development Group’ at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), the University of London for development of academic and research programs (2013), under a project supported by British Council to School of Habitat Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences.

Courses in Masters of Water Policy and Governance

Development and Water: Issues and Critical Perspectives
Delivery and Management of Water and Sanitation Services
Water Conflicts and Negotiation

Courses in Masters of Urban Policy and Governance

Urban Water
Concentration course on "Urbanization and Water"

Courses taught (Previously)

Research Design
Introduction to Public Policy: Theory and Practice
Contemporary Discourses in Water