Nilotpal Kumar

Biography

Niloptal’s research engages with interactions between political economy and culture with reference to farming in India. He is currently working on horticultural restructuring that is underway in dry parts of South India. His previous research was an engagement with the phenomenon of ​‘farmer suicides’ in post-reform India.

He has earlier worked with development organizations in various community settings, and he remains engaged with community-based development practices in rural India.

Courses

Publications

Peer-reviewed journal articles

  • Kumar, N., & Das, R. (2027). Neighbourhood associations and the problematic of government: Sub-state sovereign institutions in contemporary urban India. Contemporary South Asia.
  • Kumar, N. (2026). Accumulation in small-scale horticulture: Entrepreneurial farming and the regional state in South India (Andhra Pradesh). Journal of Peasant Studies, 53(4), 805 – 832.
  • Kumar, N., & Das, R. (2024). Unpacking urban marginalities: A new look at dispossessed peasantry and migrant communities in North India. Journal of Peasant Studies, 52(4), 751 – 786.
  • Kumar, N., & Das, R. (2023). Neoliberal city and exclusive communities: The politics of contemporary urbanization in Noida, India. Contemporary South Asia, 31(1), 19 – 35.
  • Kumar, N., & Das, R., & Priyadarshi, P. (2019). Producing multiple ​‘others’ in urban India: Spatial upheaval and illiberal politics in Noida. Contemporary South Asia, 29(4), 514 – 531.
  • Kumar, N. (2018). Towards a horticultural society: Class, caste, and masculinities in rural Andhra Pradesh. South Asia Multidisciplinary Journal.

Books

  • Das, R., & Kumar, N. (2023). The politics of community making in new urban India: Illiberal spaces and illiberal cities. Routledge.
  • Kumar, N. (2017). Unravelling farmer suicides in India: Egoism and masculinity in peasant life. Oxford University Press.

Working papers and other publications

  • Kumar, N., & Subramaniyan, A. (2025). The house of Kanooru: Understanding social transformation through an agrarian novel. Economic and Political Weekly Engage, 60(40).
  • Kumar, N., & Das, R. (2018). Contested space and political practices: Authoritarian populism in Noida, India (Working paper). Emancipatory Rural Politics Initiative, International Institute of Social Studies.

Popular media and public writing

  • Kumar, N. (2020, April 8). Chronic crisis: Migrant workers and India’s COVID-19 lockdown. LSE South Asia Blog. Article
  • Kumar, N. (2020, April 1). Noida’s migrant worker exodus is more about their notions of ​‘home’ than coronavirus. ThePrint. Article
  • Kumar, N. (2019, August 3). Peeda: What urban villagers in Noida claim to have got in return for the lands they gave up. Citizen Matters. Article
  • Kumar, N. (2019, April 23). Farmers’ politics and the 2019 assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh. The New Leam. Article
  • Kumar, N. (2019). Why voting patterns of farmers in Andhra Pradesh go beyond agricultural issues? The Wire. Article