Area of Interest: South Asian Studies
Rajesh Kharat is a distinguished professor and former Chairperson of the Centre for South Asian Studies at the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi. He also served as Chief Advisor of the Educational Opportunities Office (EOO) at JNU and was Dean of Humanities at the University of Mumbai from 2019 to 2022. He has held the position of Chairperson at the Board of Studies for Civics and Politics at the Maharashtra State Education Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education, Pune, from 2003 to 2008.
Prof. Kharat earned his MA in Political Science from the University of Pune and completed his M.Phil. and PhD at the Centre for South Asian Studies, School of International Studies, JNU. He also holds an LLB from the University of Mumbai and a Master’s in Maritime Laws from NALSAR University, Hyderabad. Beginning his teaching career in 1991 at the Department of Civics and Politics at the University of Mumbai, he has been associated with JNU since 2008.
Prof. Kharat has received prestigious fellowships, including from the Latin American Council for Social Sciences, Argentina, and he spent two months in Cuba in 2005. He has authored, edited, and co-edited 15 books and published 30 research papers in both national and international journals. Additionally, he contributes regularly to Marathi and English dailies and web portals on South Asian affairs.
Throughout his career, he has led five major research projects in India and abroad, focusing on contemporary South Asia. As Dean at the University of Mumbai, he established the School of International Relations and Strategic Studies (SIRSS) in 2021 and served as its first Director. He also initiated three online research journals in English, Marathi, and Hindi and is the Honorary and Founding Editor of Sambhāṣaṇ, an interdisciplinary humanities journal accredited by ISSN at the University of Mumbai.
He has held several other notable roles, including as a representative at the Executive Council of Mahatma Gandhi Central University, Champaran, Bihar, and as a member of the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi, and the Society for Indian Ocean Studies, New Delhi.
Recently Edited Books:
Contextualizing Indian Experiences on Covid-19: People, Pandemic and Policies (London: Routledge, August 2024).
Environment, Climate Change and Migration in South Asia (London and New York: Routledge, March 2023).
Publications
Kharat, R. (2004). Bhutan’s security scenario. Contemporary South Asia, 13(2), 171-185. Bhutan’s security scenario
Kharat, R. (2003). Gainers of a stalemate: The Tibetans in India. Refugees and the State: Practices of Asylum and Care in India, 1947–2000, 281-320. Gainers of a stalemate: The Tibetans in India
Kharat, R. (2009). Indo-Bhutan Relations: Strategic Perspectives. In Himalayan Frontiers of India (pp. 153-182). Routledge. Indo-Bhutan Relations: Strategic Perspectives
Kharat, R., & Gupta, R. (2023). Climate Change and Human Mobility in Nepal. In Environment, Climate Change and Migration in South Asia (pp. 165-186). Routledge India. Climate Change and Human Mobility in Nepal
Kharat, R. S. (2003). Bhutanese refugees in Nepal: survival and prospects. Economic and Political Weekly, 285-289. Bhutanese refugees in Nepal: survival and prospects
