News and Events

Organizer: Department of Sociology, GITAM (Deemed to be) University Hyderabad In Collaboration with Indian Sociological Society (ISS)

About the Workshop

• When: 16th -17th October 2025
• This is an in-person workshop at GITAM Hyderabad Campus
• Call for Papers-  (submission of a full paper up to 5000 words is mandatory for participation in the workshop)

Concept Note

Agrarian studies in India continue to hold critical significance due to the country's vast rural populaton, the enduring importance of agriculture, and the ongoing transformations shaping rural lives. Also, it has a crucial role in analyzing the "agrarian question" and proposing solutions for addressing the challenges faced by rural communities engaged in agricultural practices. 

Moreover, India's rural and agrarian landscape is undergoing significant and multidimensional transformation, from shifting land relations and changing livelihoods to deepening agrarian distress and mass protests. The study of rural India, within the context of the agrarian sector, remains crucial to understanding the country's broader socio-economic and political fabric. While classical debates on land reforms, tenancy, and modes of production remain relevant, contemporary shifts demand renewed methodological, theoretical, and empirical engagements. 

range of emergent questions animate current research and policy discussions in agrarian and rural studies such as: how do we understand the plurality of agrarian change in rural India? What explains the coexistence of capitalist and non-capitalist agriculture forms in India today? How are gendered and caste-based inequalities reshaped or reinforced the agrarian economy? How are climate change, environmental degradation, and water scarcity altering agrarian practices? In what ways are emerging trends like globalization and agriculture market, digitization of land records, and climate change influencing agrarian change? And how do we make sense of agrarian distress and farmer suicides amid the promises of modernization, and policy intervention in agriculture?

This workshop aims to provide a platform for young scholars and early career researchers to engage with these pertinent questions critically. It will give an opportunity to young scholars and early career researchers to present their ongoing research work and will be given critical comments and insights by experts in the field of agrarian studies. It will also foster dialogue, encourage empirical grounding, and open up space for intellectual collaboration among early career researchers interested in agrarian and rural issues

Session Themes Session

• 1: Methodological Approaches in Agrarian Studies Session 
• 2: Agrarian Structure, Change and Plurality Session 
• 3: Understanding Policy Interventions and Agrarian Distress Session 
• 4: Women and Marginalized Groups in Agrarian India Session 
• 5: Peasant Movements and Agrarian Resistance Session 6: Emerging Trends in Agrarian Studies

Call for Papers 

• Note: Financial assistance up to Rs 4,000 (maximum) will be reimbursed for Outstation Travel and Local transport (on submission of tickets/bills). 
• Free hostel accommodation on sharing basis with food will be provided (separately for male and female participants) for maximum of three days (15th to 17th October 2025).

The workshop will give an opportunity to young scholars and early career researchers to present their ongoing work and will be given critical comments and insights from experts in the field of rural and agrarian studies.

Workshop Themes

• Methodological Approaches in Agrarian Studies
• Agrarian Structure, Change and Plurality
• Understanding Policy Interventions and Agrarian Distress
• Women and Marginalized Groups in Agrarian India
• Peasant Movements and Agrarian Resistance
• Emerging Trends in Agrarian Studies

The organizer invite abstracts between 300-500 words (with title and keywords) on the above themes to be mailed at: issworkshop2025@gmail.com

Important Dates:

• Submission of abstracts: 10th September 2025. 
• Notification of selected abstracts: 18th September 2025. 
• Submission of full paper: 10th October, 2025

Contact:

Convenor: Dr Avinash (Assistant Professor, Sociology, GITAM Hyderabad). avinash@gitam.edu

Co-Convenor: Dr Saqib Khan (Assistant Professor, Sociology, GITAM Hyderabad). skhan2@gitam.edu

Session Discussants & Panelists 

Prof. Surinder S Jodhka (Professor of Sociology, Centre for the Study of Social System, Jawaharlal Nehru University) 

Prof. B. B Mohanty (Professor of Sociology, Pondicherry University) 

Prof. Manish K Thakur( Professor, Public Policy and Management, IIM Kolkata) 

Dr. S Seethalakshmi (Independent Researcher & Member of Mahila Kisan Adhikar Manch-MAKAAM, Hyderabad 

Prof. Purendra Prasad (Professor fo Sociology, University of Hyderabad) 

Prof. R Ramakumar (Professor, School of Development Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai) 

Prof. D Narasimha Reddy (Retired Professor of Economics and former Dean of the School of Social Sciences at the University of Hyderabad)