Name: Debdulal Saha
Designation: Assistant Professor (Economics)
Email: debdulals@iisermohali.ac.in, debdulals@gmail.com
Telephone: +91-172-2240267
Telefax: +91-172-2240266
Mailing Address: 4F11, Academic Block-1, IISER Mohali, Knowledge City, Sector-81, Punjab-140306, India
Websites
Education
Ph.D. (Social Sciences), Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai
M.A. (Economics), University of North Bengal
B.A. (Hons.) in Economics, University of North Bengal
Employment
Assistant Professor, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Guwahati Campus (June 2013- December 2020)
Post Doctoral Fellow, University of Kassel, Germany (June-November 2012)
Areas of Research
Applied Labour Economics, Development Economics, Informal Economy, Organisational Economics, New Institutional Economics, Public Economics and Policy Studies.
Teaching
Principles of Economics (HSS646)
Development Economics: Theory, Policy and Practice (HSS648)
Public Policy (HSS650)
Publications (Books and Journal Articles)
Books & Special Issue
Saha, Debdulal. (2017). Informal markets, livelihood and politics: Street vendors in urban India. London & New York: Routledge.
Bhowmik, Sharit & Debdulal Saha. (2013). Financial inclusion of the marginalised: Street vendors in the urban economy. New York & New Delhi: Springer.
Xaxa, Virginius, Debdulal Saha & Rajdeep Singha (Eds). (2019). Employment and labour market in northeast India: Interrogating structural changes. London & New Delhi: Routledge.
Xaxa, Virginius, Debdulal Saha & Rajdeep Singha (Eds). (2017). Work, institutions and sustainable livelihood: Issues and challenges of transformation. Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan.
Scherrer, Christoph & Debdulal Saha. (Eds.). (2013). The food crisis: Implications for labour. Mering: Rainer Hampp Verlag.
Saha, Debdulal & Roychowdhury, Anamitra. (2021). (Guest Editors). COVID-19 crisis and its implications on the Indian labour market. Indian Economic Journal, 69(3): 369-590. (Special Issue).
Journal Articles
Saha, Debdulal, Bhue, Chitrasen, & Sinha, Rajdeep. (2023). Rising wage theft in tea industry: Consequences of ineffective labor market institutions. Labor History. 10.1080/0023656X.2023.2243472 (Taylor & Francis)
Segbenya, Moses, Angela Dziedzom Akorsu, Francis Enu-Kwesi & Debdulal Saha. (2022). Organising as a catalyst for improving work conditions among informal quarry workers in Ghana. Work Organisation, Labour & Globalisation, 16(2): 59-81. DOI: 10.13169/workorgalaboglob.16.2.0059 (Pluto Journals)
Segbenya, Moses, Angela Dziedzorm Akorsu, Debdulal Saha & Francis Enu- Kwesi. (2022). Exploring gendered perspectives on working conditions of solo self-employed quarry workers in Ghana. Cogent Social Sciences, 8:1, 2098624, DOI: 10.1080/23311886.2022.2098624. (Taylor & Francis)
Saha, Debdulal & Roychowdhury, Anamitra (2021). Indian labour market in the time of COVID-19 pandemic: Issues, experiences and policy. Indian Economic Journal, 69(3): 369-376. (Editorial) (Sage)
Saha, Debdulal. (2020). Producer collectives through self-help: Sustainability of small tea growers in India. International Review of Applied Economics, 34(4): 471-490. (Taylor & Francis).
Leubolt, Bernhard, Karin Fischer & Debdulal Saha. (2014). Targeting and universalism: Complementary or competing paradigms in social Policy? Insights from Brazil, India and South Africa. International Journal of Labour Research, 6(1): 75-94. (ILO, Geneva).
Saha, Debdulal. (2011). Collective bargaining for street vendors in Mumbai: Toward promotion of decent work. Journal of Workplace Rights, 15(3-4): 445-460. (Sage).
Saha, Debdulal. (2011). Working life of street vendors in Mumbai. Indian Journal of Labour Economics, 54(2): 301-325. (Springer).
Saha, Debdulal. (2010). Decent work for the street vendors in Mumbai—A distant vision. Journal of Workplace Rights, 14(2): 229-250. (Sage).
Chapters in Edited Books
Saha, Debdulal. (2022). Migration, Informality and COVID-19 Pandemic in India. In Chandan Kumar Sharma and Reshmi Banerjee (Eds.). Coronasphere: Narratives on COVID 19 from India and its Neighbours, pp. 26-40. London & New York: Routledge.
Saha, Debdulal (2019). Occupational Health, Risk and Vulnerability: Conditions of Farm Labour on Independent Tea Plantations in India. In Christoph Scherrer and Katja Radon (Eds.), Occupational Safety and Health Challenges in Southern Agriculture, 156-170, München: Rainer Hampp Verlag.
Saha, Debdulal, Rajdeep Singha & Padmini Sharma (2019). Beyond Standard Outcomes: State of Employment and Labour in Tea Industry of Assam. In Virginius Xaxa, Debdulal Saha and Rajdeep Singha (Eds.), Employment and Labour Market in Northeast India: Interrogating Structural Changes, London & New York: Routledge.
Saha, Debdulal, Virgnius Xaxa and Rajdeep Singha. (2019). Introduction. In Virginius Xaxa, Debdulal Saha & Rajdeep Singha (Eds.) Employment and Labour Market in Northeast India: Interrogating Structural Changes, London and New York: Routledge.
Saha, Debdulal (2018). Informalisation of Tea Labour: from Plantations to Small Tea Gardens. In Christoph Scherrer and Santosh Verma (Eds.), Decent Work Deficits in Southern Agriculture: Measurements, Drivers and Strategies, Mering (Germany): Rainer Hampp Verlag.
Saha, Debdulal, Virgnius Xaxa & Rajdeep Singha. 2017. Introduction. In Virginius Xaxa, Debdulal Saha and Rajdeep Singha (Eds.), Work, Institutions and Sustainable Livelihood: Issues and Challenges of Transformation, Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan.
Saha, Debdulal. (2016). Social Security for Urban Informal Workers: Street Vendors in Mumbai’ in Anand Kumar, Ashish Kumar Das & Sarada Prasanna Das (Eds.), Chronic Poverty in India: Policy Issues and Challenges, New Delhi: Vitasta Publications.
Saha, Debdulal. (2014). Public Space and Livelihood Security in the Urban Economy: The Case of Street Vendors in Mumbai. In K. Fakier and E. Ehmke (Eds.), Socio-Economic Insecurity in Emerging Economies: Building New Spaces, London & New York: Routledge Earthscan.
Saha, Debdulal. (2014). Decent Work for Urban Informal Economy: The case of Street Vendors in Mumbai. In Sharit Bhowmik (Ed.), The State of Labour: Global Financial Crisis and its Impact on Labour, London & New Delhi: Routledge.
Saha, Debdulal & Christoph Scherrer. (2013). Introduction: The Neglected Labor Dimension. In Scherrer, Christoph & Saha, Debdulal (Eds.). The Food Crisis: Implications for Labor, Mering (Germany): Rainer Hampp Verlag.
Research Projects
2022-2024: Project Director, “Employment, Digital Labour and Urban Precarity: Insights from Chandigarh, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Mumbai” (Major Project), funded by Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), New Delhi (Ongoing)
2018-2020: Team Leader (TL), ‘Study on Labour Influx under the Civil Works of Assam Agribusiness and Rural Transformation Project (APART)’, funded by World Bank and ARIAS Society, Government of Assam. Completed.
2019: Principal Investigator (PI), ‘Decent Work for Tea Plantation Workers in Assam: Constraints, Challenges and Prospects’, funded by Oxfam Germany (ODE). Completed.
2018-2019: Principal Investigator (PI), ‘Social Impact Assessment on Corporate Social Responsibility’, funded by ONGC, New Delhi. Completed.
2016-2018: Scientific Project Leader (SPL), ‘Value Chain and Decent Work: Study of Small Tea Growers in India’, funded by International Center for Development and Decent Work (ICDD), University of Kassel, Germany. Completed.
2015- 2017: Project Supervisor (PS), ‘Multidimensional Poverty and Vulnerability Assessment Survey in Selected three Districts of Meghalaya, India’, funded by International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Kathmandu (Nepal). Completed.
2013 – 2014: Researcher, ‘Combating Inequality in Labour Market and Social Welfare Policies’ funded by Hans-Böckler-Stiftung and International Labour Organisation (ILO). Completed.
2011: Project Coordinator, ‘Financial Accessibility of Street Vendors: Cases of Inclusion and Exclusion’, funded by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), N. Delhi. Completed.
2009: Project Coordinator, ‘Street Vending in Ten Cities in India’ funded by National Alliance of Street Vendors in India (NASVI), New Delhi. Completed.
Position outside IISER Mohali: Associate Editor, Indian Economic Journal (SAGE)
Awards & Fellowship:
Short-term Visiting Fellowship (23 November- 7 December 2015). University of Kassel funded by German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), Germany.
Post-Doctoral Fellow (2012). International Centre for Development and Decent Work, University of Kassel, Germany.
Doctoral Fellow (2010-2012), International Centre for Development and Decent Work, University of Kassel, Germany.
Visiting Ph.D. Scholar (February – March 2010), Research Institute of Law, Politics and Justice, University of Keele, United Kingdom (UK).
Visiting Doctoral Fellow (May 2009 – July 2009), University of Kassel, Germany under “New Passage to India” scheme of German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).