Education

• PhD Science Policy (CSSP, JNU, New Delhi)
• MPhil Applied Linguistics (University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad)
• MA Linguistics (JNU, New Delhi)
• MA English Literature (North Gujarat University, Patan, Gujarat)

Profile

Himanshu has a deep interest in studying and teaching environmental policy and regulatory framework. With a deep interest in environmental history, his doctoral research explored the cultural, social and economic lives of bovine animals in late colonial India. Outside of his academic work, he was actively involved with several environmental justice movements from 2000-2010. He has spent time working with several civil society and academic organisations such as the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People; Hydro Monitor India at Delhi Forum; Intercultural Resources (with prominent Post-Development scholar Smitu Kothari); the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (where he authored a research study titled Performance and Development Effectiveness of Sardar Sarovar Dam Project in 2008). A collection of his popular articles on the Narmada Dam were published in 2010 under the title ‘Big Dam, Bigger Questions’ by the Delhi Forum. He was also part of an oral history project culminating in the publication of testimonies by environmental activists titled ‘Plural Narratives from the Narmada Valley (2010).

Research Interests

• CAG of India
• Environmental Policy and Regulatory Framework
• Environmental History
• Public Finance and Accountability
• Pastoralism

Publications

Books

• (2024) Critical Insights on Colonial Modes of Seeing Cattle in India (1850-1980): Tracing the Pre-History of Green and White Revolutions, Springer Nature, https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-97-1560-2
• (2010) Big Dam, Bigger Questions, Delhi Forum, New Delhi

Journal Papers

• (2022) ‘Registration, Expenditure and Audit Trends: A Technical Commentary on the Karnataka Building and Other Construction Workers’ Welfare Board’, International Development Policy, Vol. 14, No 1, https://journals.openedition.org/poldev/5179
• (2016) ‘Policy Versus Performance: Auditing Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation in Odisha’, in Journal of Land and Rural Studies, Vol 4, No 1, pp. 79-96. (with Nazma Sheikh). https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/2321024915616674
• (June 2010) ‘Gandhi, Gujarati Spellings and the Ideology of Standardisation’, in Economic and Political Weekly, Vol 45, Issue 24, pp 26-33. https://www.epw.in/journal/2010/24/commentary/gandhi-gujarati-spelling-and-ideology-standardisation.html
• (January 2010) ‘Sardar Sarovar Project: The War of Attrition’, in Economic and Political Weekly, Vol 45, Issue 05, pp. 39-48. https://www.epw.in/journal/2010/05/special-articles/sardar-sarovar-project-war-attrition.html
• (2008) ‘Breaches in the Narmada Command’, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol 43, No 30, pp. 21-23, https://www.epw.in/journal/2008/30/commentary/breaches-narmada-command.html
• (2004) ‘Narmada Project: Concerns over Command Area Environment’, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol 39, No 19, pp. 1879-1882, https://www.epw.in/journal/2004/19/commentary/narmada-project.html

Chapters in Edited Volumes

• (2021) ‘On Grazing Lands and Cultivated Fodder’, in Suvobrata Sarkar (ed) History of Science, Technology Environment and Medicine in India, Routledge, Delhi. pp. 195-213.
  https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003241980-14/grazing-lands-cultivated-fodder-1-himanshu-upadhyaya
• (2020) ‘Inordinate Delays in Tabling of CAG’s Audit Reports in the Legislatures’, in Ajit Pattnaik, Nandini Y. Kapdi and M. Naveen Kumar (eds) Government Audit and Governance, Institute of Public Auditors of India, New Delhi. (with Abhishek Punetha). https://ipaiindia.org/books/
• (2020) ‘A Review of the audit reports on land acquisition and rehabilitation’, Chapter 13 in S. Irudaya Rajan and Debabrata Baral (eds) Development, Environment and Migration: Lessons for Sustainability, Routledge.
  https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003049982-16/review-audit-reports-land-acquisition-rehabilitation-himanshu-upadhyaya
• (2018) ‘Large Dams as Temples of Modern India?: An Obituary to Nehruvian Techno-Political Dreams and a Plea for Gandhian Ethics’, in Savyasachi (ed), Intractable Conflicts in Contemporary India, Routledge, Delhi.
  https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781351057066-5/large-dams-temples-modern-india-himanshu-upadhyaya
• (2016) ‘Cattle Breeding Policies in Colonial India’, in Deepak Kumar and Bipasha Raha (eds) Tilling the Land: Agricultural Knowledge and Practices in Colonial India, Primus Books, Delhi.
  https://primusbooks.com/tilling-the-land/