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Ajay Kumar

Ajay Kumar

ajay
Ajay Kumar
Associate Professor
Centre/School/Special Centre
Group of Adult Education
School of Social Sciences
Off. Phone
011-26704189, 011-26741331, 09968292291
Email
ajaykumar@mail.jnu.ac.in, ajayritwik@gmail.com
Personal Webpage
http://www.jnu.ac.in
Qualifications
* MA (First Class with Merit Position, Political Science) Allahabad University, Allahabad
* MPhil (First Class with Merit Position, Political Studies) Jawaharlal Nehru University
* PhD (Politics) London University, London 
Areas of Interest/Specialization
Development Education, Literacy Studies, Agonistic Politics, Citizenship and Democratic Education, Development Studies, Community Engagement and Poverty Elimination, Identity, Language & Education 
Experience
1. Working full-time as an Associate Professor at the Group of Adult Education, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi 110067 since 02 August 2006.

Previous Experience:
1. Worked as a full-time Reader at GBPSSI, Allahabad University, Allahabad from 05 November 1998 to 01 August 2006.
2. Taught Political Theory as a Lecturer to Undergraduate students of Kirorimal College, Delhi University (academic year 1991-93).
3. Taught Political Theory as a Lecturer to Undergraduates of Satyawati Co-educational College, Delhi University (academic year 1990-91).
4. Worked as an Assistant Editor at the Central Monitoring Services, All India Radio, Ayanagar, New Delhi from February to August, 1990
5. Worked as an Office Assistant for two years (Dec. 1987 to August 1989) in the D/O Education, M/O HRD, Government of India 
Awards & Honours
1. Awarded Commonwealth Academic Staff Fellowship 2011 (UK) for a Visiting Associateship to an UK institution
2. Member, Editorial Board, International Journal of Development Education and Global Learning’, brought by the Institute of Education, London University, London and Trentham Books (UK)
3. Awarded Commonwealth Fellowship (UK Plan 1993) for Ph.D. programme at SOAS, London University, London.
4. Awarded University Grants Commission of India’s Junior and Senior Research Fellowship for a combined MPhil/PhD programme (1989-93) at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
5. Awarded State Scholarship from July 1974 to May 1982 for full residential schooling at Sainik (Military) School Tilaiya, a residential military public school under Union Ministry of Defence, GOI, India 
International Collaboration/Consultancy
1. Part of an ongoing international project titled, "Rural Hybrid Energy Systems" (2011-2014) led by the University of Nottingham and IISc Bangalore as nodal agencies, where I am involved in looking after community education and engagement in the four villages of India and UK with a total budget outlay of Sterling 4 millions. 
2. Completed and submitted a Baseline Study Report titled, "Impact of Fair Trade Association and Adherence on Producer Groups in India" (August 2008) to World Fair Trade Forum and Fair Trade Forum India, New Delhi.
3. Completed and submitted a Report titled, "Baseline Study for Indus – Child Labour project in Allahabad", (31 December 2004) sponsored jointly by Department of Labour of Federal Government of USA, and Ministry of Labour, GOI but managed and implemented by ILO Delhi.
4. From Feb. 2001 to July 2006, I have also been involved in coordination, supervision, and designing publicity and outreach programmes for the "Allahabad Childline Emergency Freephone & Outreach Service", a joint project of the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and the UNICEF.
5. Completed a monitoring and evaluation study of ILO - sponsored project called "International Programme on Elimination of Child Labour from Hazardous Industries in India" (IPEC) through efforts in (a) schooling, (b) creation of alternative income-generating activities for child labour families, and (c) corporate sector involvement and community mobilization (2001 to 2003).
6. In 1999, I completed another evaluation study of a World Bank funded "EFA" project called "Role of Community Libraries in Quality of Public Life in Rural Uttar Pradesh" - commissioned by the Government of Uttar Pradesh (India). 
Best Peer Reviewed Publications
1. "Mass Literacy for India, the emerging Superpower" in the Indian Journal of Adult Education, Vol. 70, No. 4 (2009), pp. 11-16.

2. "Development Education and Dialogical Learning in the 21st Century" in the International Journal of Development Education and Global Learning, Vol 1, No. 1 (2008), pp. 37-48.

3. "Deprivation, Socialization and Learning among Children" (Chapter 6) in D.M. Diwakar and G.P. Mishra (2006) edited book, titled, Deprivation and Inclusive Development, Manak Publications, New Delhi, pp. 121-131.

4. "Language and Mass Literacy: Some Rural-Urban Contexts", in Alan Rogers (2005) edited book titled, Urban Literacy: Communication, Identity and Learning in Development Contexts, UNESCO Institute for Education, Hamburg, Germany

5. "Institutionalizing lifelong learning: creating conducive environments for adult learning in the Asian context", a book review article published in the International Journal of Educational Development, 24 (2004), pp. 213-226. 
Recent Peer Reviewed Journals/Books
o "Mass Literacy for India, the emerging Superpower" in the Indian Journal of Adult Education, Vol. 70, No. 4 (2009), 11-16.

o "Development Education and Dialogical Learning in the 21st Century" in the International Journal of Development Education and Global Learning, 1/1 (2008), 37-48. 

A warm welcome to the modified and updated website of the Centre for East Asian Studies. The East Asian region has been at the forefront of several path-breaking changes since 1970s beginning with the redefining the development architecture with its State-led development model besides emerging as a major region in the global politics and a key hub of the sophisticated technologies. The Centre is one of the thirteen Centres of the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi that provides a holistic understanding of the region.

Initially, established as a Centre for Chinese and Japanese Studies, it subsequently grew to include Korean Studies as well. At present there are eight faculty members in the Centre. Several distinguished faculty who have now retired include the late Prof. Gargi Dutt, Prof. P.A.N. Murthy, Prof. G.P. Deshpande, Dr. Nranarayan Das, Prof. R.R. Krishnan and Prof. K.V. Kesavan. Besides, Dr. Madhu Bhalla served at the Centre in Chinese Studies Programme during 1994-2006. In addition, Ms. Kamlesh Jain and Dr. M. M. Kunju served the Centre as the Documentation Officers in Chinese and Japanese Studies respectively.

The academic curriculum covers both modern and contemporary facets of East Asia as each scholar specializes in an area of his/her interest in the region. The integrated course involves two semesters of classes at the M. Phil programme and a dissertation for the M. Phil and a thesis for Ph. D programme respectively. The central objective is to impart an interdisciplinary knowledge and understanding of history, foreign policy, government and politics, society and culture and political economy of the respective areas. Students can explore new and emerging themes such as East Asian regionalism, the evolving East Asian Community, the rise of China, resurgence of Japan and the prospects for reunification of the Korean peninsula. Additionally, the Centre lays great emphasis on the building of language skills. The background of scholars includes mostly from the social science disciplines; History, Political Science, Economics, Sociology, International Relations and language.

Several students of the centre have been recipients of prestigious research fellowships awarded by Japan Foundation, Mombusho (Ministry of Education, Government of Japan), Saburo Okita Memorial Fellowship, Nippon Foundation, Korea Foundation, Nehru Memorial Fellowship, and Fellowship from the Chinese and Taiwanese Governments. Besides, students from Japan receive fellowship from the Indian Council of Cultural Relations.