Department of Political Science

Prof. Bijayalaxmi Nanda joined Miranda House in 1993 and is a Professor in the Department of Political Science. She is currently the Principal of the college.

She received her PhD from the Centre for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Her research interests include gender, political theory and human rights. Her publications include Discourse on Rights in India: Debates and Dilemmas (Co-editor), (Routledge, London, 2018), Sex-Selective Abortion and the State: Policies, Laws and Institutions in India (HarAnand, 2018), Understanding Social Inequality: Concerns of Human Rights, Gender and Environment (Co-editor) (Macmillan, 2010) and Human Rights, Gender and Environment (Allied, 2006). She has numerous articles in reputed journals to her credit. She is currently working on the issues around declining child sex ratio, sex selection, gender, policy and governance. She is the general editor of Shakti Books, a series on writings on gender issues by Har Anand Publications.

She is a recipient of the ICSSR Doctoral fellowship and the Delhi University Vice Chancellor's Teacher's Excellence Award in 2017.

She is actively associated with a number of government and non-government organisations as an advisor on gender, policy and advocacy programmes for the youth. She supports the One Billion Rising, the global campaign on violence against women and the Centre for Advocacy and Research (CFAR) on their various programmes. She is a member of the Academic Stand Against Poverty (ASAP), a global body of academics developing ways to collaborate on issues of poverty and a member of the civil society network, Girls Count.

She has assisted various state governments in drafting policies related to women and girl children. As a policy analyst, she has extensively analysed the public policies relating to family planning, human trafficking, Conditional Cash Transfers for the girl-child, housing for women, etc. In addition, she has provided technical assistance on gender issues to UNFPA, UNDP, UNIFEM and WHO, apart from a score of Non-Government Organizations in India. She is the Project Director of the ICSSR project under the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) titled "Declining Child Sex Ratio and Violence Against Women: Examining Girl-Child Discrimination in India".

She is a member of the Advisory Committee on the PC-PNDT Act of the Government of NCT of Delhi. She has been a research advisor to the National Commission for Women (NCW) and a member of the core committee on the issue of sex-selective abortion, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India. She is the former presiding officer of Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) of Miranda House for the prevention of sexual harassment. She is also the external member of IIC of two organisations - Johnson and Mathey and Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI).

She has extensively travelled in India and abroad in connection with her academic, research and activist pursuits, including to the USA, the UK, France, Belgium, Sweden, Brazil, Bangladesh and Nepal. She has participated as an invitee in the Academic Forum at the India, Brazil & South Africa (IBSA) Summit at Brasilia, Brazil in 2010 and in the NGO Panel of the 60th  session of the Commission on Status of Women (CSW60) at the United Nations Headquarters in New York in 2016.

Kusuma Krishna Subha is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science, Miranda House, University of Delhi. Having graduated from Miranda House, she went on to complete her M.A, M.Phil and Ph.D from the Centre for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. Her doctoral work was about understanding the question of cultural identities in Telangana. Her research interests include Western and Indian Political Philosophy, and Indian Politics.

She has been co-investigator in a Delhi University-Innovation project on The foreign policy perceptions of National Interest among the youth in India. She was also awarded Junior Research Fellowship by University Grants Commission (UGC).

Dr. (Mrs) Namrata Singh is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science. After doing her graduation and post-graduation from Patna University, she obtained her Ph.D from Department of Civics and Politics, University of Mumbai as UGC- Research Scholar. Her field of specialization is Public Administration and Public Policy. She has worked on different aspects of Governance. She has presented a paper on Governance in the USA ,Oxford,UK and in National Seminars. She has been actively involved in design and development of course curriculum in the IGNOU and Delhi University. At the undergraduate level, she has handled courses on Colonialism and Nationalism in India and Indian Government and Politics besides her areas of specialization. Currently she is engaged in creating a confluence of different civil society engagements done by students and develop a critical connections with these activities, institutions and public-policy makers. As a co-coordinator of Policy Centre and Gender Lab and engaging as Co coordinator of Unnat Bharat Abhiyan , Miranda House she is trying her level best to skill students for doing policy research and also also to bridge the gap between theory and practice, thus striving towards a true sense of “Unnat Bharat” for all.

Dr. Hena Singh is Professor in the Department of Political Science, Miranda House. She obtained her Ph. D from the prestigious University of Birmingham, United Kingdom on the topic 'The Quest for Gender Equality & Gender Justice in India: Interrogating the Role of the State-from Independence to the Era of Neoliberal Reform'. She has done her BA (Hons) in Political Science from Miranda House and MA and M. Phil in Political Science from University of Delhi. She specialises in Western/Indian Political Theory/Thought and Indian Government and Politics. She is actively associated with gender and consumer related issues. Dr. Singh has worked as a research associate in the writing of the 'History of the University Grants Commission'. She has co-written a chapter in an edited volume on 'Citizenship in a Globalising World' published by Pearson. Dr. Singh is the Co-Founder and Convenor of Policy Centre and Gender Lab at Miranda House, University of Delhi. She has been an active member of gender and feminist theory academic group at the University of Birmingham, UK and the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

Dr. Pushpa Singh is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science, Miranda House, University of Delhi. She has done graduation, post-graduation, M.Phil and PhD from University of Delhi, doctoral research being in the area of Gender and Agroecology. Her interest areas are Development Studies, Gender Studies, Political Theory and Comparative Politics. She has co-edited a book Comparative Government and Politics (2019) published from Sage, India, and has articles in several peer-reviewed Scopus and UGC-CARE journals such as Asian Journal of Social Science, Studies in Indian Politics, Indian Journal of Public Administration, Journal of Rural Development, Social Action, Contributions to Indian Sociology and Journal of Polity and Society. Pushpa Singh has contributed to many reference volumes published from Springer Nature, Thomson Reuters (London), World Scientific (Singapore), Academic Press, Elsevier (USA), Orient Blackswan (India), Pearson (India), Routledge and Palgrave. Besides, she has several online publications as a part of e-content generation by ILLL, DU and has been engaged with international and national projects in her research area sponsored by IDS Sussex, ICSSR and DU. She has been actively involved with the curriculum development of the University of Delhi and IGNOU and has audited the King's College of London Summer School (2013). She has presented in several international and national conferences and workshops and has organised many of them. Promoting consumer education, she has been engaged with TULA, Miranda House Consumer Club since 2008, and contributes to publish Santulan, a journal on Consumer Education. Pushpa Singh has received several prizes and scholarships for academic excellence in her graduation and post-graduation from DR College and the University of Delhi.

Dr. Skylab Sahu is currently working as Assistant Professor. She has completed Ph.D from Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC), Bangalore. Her specialization and areas of interest covers gender studies, Indian Politics, and political theory. She has published her research articles in edited books and several national and international refereed journals such as Studies in Indian Politics, Sociological Bulletin, Indian Journal of Social and Economic Development, Journal of Health Management, Indian Journal of Political Science, Indian Journal of Social Work, etc. She has authored two books: 1) Gender, Sexuality, and HIV/AIDS: Exploring Politics of Women's Health in India, published in 2015 by Sage and 2) Gender, Violence and Governmentality: Legal and Policy Initiatives published in 2020 by Routledge.

Dr. Rajni Kumari, Ph.D (University of Delhi), M.Phil (University of Delhi), M.A (University of Delhi). Her areas of specialization are: Elementary Education Polices, Basic Education and Gandhian Studies. She has been recipient of Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) awarded by University Grants Commission (UGC) for her doctoral dissertation. She is currently working on Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS).   

Sonali Chitalkar –Bio Note

Sonali Chitalkar is Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science , Miranda House  University of Delhi. Her area of Specialization is International Relations with a focus on Conflict Resolution. She has been working on the State of Jammu and Kashmir in the last few years as a part of peace facilitation and conflict resolution. Her doctoral thesis is on Education Policy in Jammu and Kashmir . She has been co-investigator a major research Project sponsored by ICSSR which focuses on the State of Jammu and Kashmir.

She is also working on Indic Perspectives on Gender as a part of her interest in decolonization and development of Indic Political Theory.

Rashmi Gopi joined the department of Political Science, Miranda House, the University of Delhi as an Assistant Professor in 2015. She has done her graduation, post-graduation, M. Phil and Ph. D in Political Science from the University of Delhi. She has done specialization in Gender Studies. Her other research areas of interest are Political Theory and Theories in International Relations.  She has published articles in international and national journals on varied subjects like Masculinity and Nation, Ayurveda Tourism, Ragging, Masculinity and India’s Foreign Policy, Pedagogical questions in Political Science and Citizenship and Globalisation. She has authored ‘Constructions of Masculinity in Three Political Spheres’ in 2017.

SHRUTI SHARMA SETHI

Shruti Sharma Sethi graduated from Miranda House and has done her M.A. from Hindu College, University of Delhi. She did her M.Phil from the Department of Political Science, University of Delhi. She has been teaching Political Science for more than 15 years at Miranda House, University of Delhi. She has been engaged in teaching and research in the areas of Indian Politics, political theory, rights discourse and gender. Her publications include a book on Delivering Girls Education in India - Role of Panchayats (2010) and another book on Secularism in India – A Normative and Judicial Discourse (2015). She has research papers in journals and magazines. She has several paper presentations, including a paper at the University of Warwick, London. She has done different short term courses including a short term course at Lok Sabha (Indian Parliament).

Dr. Surabhi has been working in Miranda House, the University of Delhi as an Assistant Professor since  July 2018. She completed her Graduation and master's in Political Science from the University of Delhi, She has done her M.phil and Ph.D. from Jawaharlal Nehru University. She has been a recipient of the ICSSR Doctoral Fellowship. Her area of specialization includes International Studies, Comparative Politics. Her other research area of interest includes Indian political Thought and Philosophy, Political Theory, Human Rights, and Gender Studies. She has published articles in peer-reviewed journals. She has been teaching students pursuing Honours, Programme, and Elementary Education.

Dushyant teaches undergraduate courses in political theory, political philosophy, and governance. His interest lies in classical Greek political philosophy, western intellectual traditions of the Enlightenment and Indian intellectual traditions of Ambedkar and Gandhi. He takes speacial interest in hermenuetics, research methods, and decolonisation studies. He has been awarded an M.Phil. for his research on the contrasting ideas of Frantz Fanon and B.R. Ambedkar, and is further pursuing a doctorate. Dushyant has been associated with the Centre for Political Studies (CPS) and Centre for the Study of Law & Governance (CSLG) at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

Assistant Professor

Ms. Meena Kumari is presently working as Assistant Professor in Department of Political Science Miranda House University of Delhi since March 2022. She has done her MPhil on ‘Poverty Alleviation Programme in Post Independent India: A Study of Gandhian Approach’ from Department of Political Science University of Delhi. She did her Masters in Political Science from same Department. Still, she is associated with Department of Political Science University of Delhi and working on ‘Gandhian Approach to Environmental Issues in India’. She has been selected for UGC- JRF (2019) and upgraded to SRF (2021). Her area of interest is Politics in India, Indian Political Thought, Gandhian Studies and Environmental Issues. She is teaching Governance, United Nations, Indian Government, Globalization, Indian Political Though and other related papers. She has presented several papers in national and international conferences and seminars. Earlier she was associated with NCWEB as a guest faculty for more than two years.

Abhishank Mishra is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Political Science at Miranda House. A Ph.D. from Jawaharlal Nehru University his primary area of research focuses on problematizing the Balance of Power theory within the ambit of the Asia-Pacific  region in a bid to generate theoretically generalizable ontologies that best encapsulate the modalities of actions of the countries of this region. He teaches a host of courses at Miranda House ranging from Political Theory and Philosophy, Political Processes, Constitutional Development , Colonialism and Nationalism, Globalization and International Institutions, Contemporary Political Economy and Peace and Conflict Resolution. He has presented and chaired numerous panels on theorization in International relations and India’s place in International security in the UK, US, Hong Kong, Canada, Serbia, and Singapore. He has written articles on issues such as the Changing Dynamics of Global Climate Change Diplomacy and North Korea as a Rogue Nuclear nation. Further, he is interested in Disruptive technologies and Autonomous Weapons, grand strategy, and Political Philosophy.

Dr. Soumini Ghosh, graduated in Political Science, from Miranda House, University of Delhi, securing the first position in North Campus as well as university rank. Having a first division throughout, she has an MA, M.Phil and PhD from the Centre for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Her PhD is entitled Regulation and Higher Education, a Case Study of Private Universities in the National Capital Region. She is NET qualified, has several publications in the field, and has a research experience of about four years at the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration, New Delhi. She teaches papers on Political Thought, Political Theory, Women and Politics, Comparative Political Analysis and the Value Addition Course on Constitutional Values and Fundamental Duties.

Dr. Ceejun C, is working as Assistant Professor (Guest Faculty) in the Department of Political Science since 2019. She pursued her PhD from Department of Political Science, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, MA in Public Administration from Department of Political Science, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, Graduation in BA (Hons) Political Science from Deshbandhu College, University of Delhi, PG Diploma in Human Rights from Indian Institute of Human Rights, New Delhi. Certificate Course in International Women’s Health and Human Rights from Stanford University, Course in Public Policy Challenges of the 21st Century from University of Virginia, Certificate Course in Global Diplomacy: The United Nations in the World from SOAS University of London, Certificate Course in University Teaching from The University of Hong Kong, Certificate Course in An Introduction to American Law from University of Pennsylvania. Her area of specialisation includes, Right to Information, Public Grievances, Public Administration, Public Policy and Human rights. She is very passionate and love to work at the grassroot level people and deal with their grievances by filing RTI. She has worked on research projects and published many articles in National and International journal. She has also involved in Course Writing in School of Open Learning, New Delhi.

Priya Kanojia, graduated in Political Science, from Lady Shri Ram College for Women, University of Delhi. She has done her M.A. from Centre For Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She did her MPhil from Department of Political Science, University of Delhi. She is currently pursuing PhD from Department of Political Science, University of Delhi. Her PhD work focuses on Reproductive Healthcare in Delhi.  Her area of research interests include Women and law, Women and health, public policy, political theory and gender rights. She has several publications in the field, and has presented research paper in both national and international conferences. She has also worked as a researcher in Centre For Social Research, New Delhi. She teaches papers on Public Policy, Public Administration, International Relations, Feminism & Feminist Political Theory, Comparative Government and Poltics, Indian Constitution.