We continue to support and develop RSA networks across India. If you would like to connect with RSA members based in India or learn more about regional activities, please get in touch with Marcus Atkinson (marcus.atkinson@regionalstudies.org), who can provide further information and help facilitate introductions.
Are you interested in joining the RSA? India is classified as a Band D country, meaning reduced membership rates are available. Membership fees are as follows:
| Career Stage | New member (£) | Renewing member (£) |
| Individual | 35 | 33 |
| Early Career (within 5 years of PhD award) | 30 | 27 |
| Student (Undergraduate, Masters, PhD) | 19 | 17 |
Joining the RSA offers academics in India the opportunity to connect with a global community of regional studies scholars and practitioners. Members gain access to international research networks, conferences, funding opportunities, and six RSA journals, including Regional Studies; Spatial Economic Analysis; Territory, Politics, Governance; Regional Studies, Regional Science; Area Development and Policy; and Finance and Space, helping increase the visibility and impact of their work while building collaborations with researchers worldwide.
Upcoming Events
Rethinking Urban Development in India: Capital, Governance and the Politics of Urban Change Webinar
Dr Gaurav C. Garg (Ashoka University) in conversation with Dr Sumit Kumar (Manipal University Jaipur)
📅 16 November 2026
🕐 16:00 IST / 10.30 GMT
💻 Online via Zoom · Free
Why do urban plans in India so often fail? Why is the real estate market so hard to regulate? And is it right to assume that business always drives cities forward?
In his new book, Agents of Inertia (Cambridge University Press, 2026), historian Dr Gaurav C. Garg looks at how Calcutta went from one of Asia’s leading business centres to an economic backwater. He argues that the city’s own big businesses played a central part, resisting state-led investment in infrastructure from 1900 well into the 1960s. The book questions two common assumptions: that businesses chasing profit always serve society, and that capitalist cities are always driven to remake their built environment.
In this Scholar-to-Scholar Dialogue, Dr Sumit Kumar talks with Dr Garg about how that history relates to cities today.
The conversation centres on:
- the evolution, and the weakness, of urban democracy in India
- the role of capitalists in shaping Indian cities
- what “urban development” and “urban crisis” mean
- why urban plans so often fail
- concretisation, housing and the real estate market
- why the reputation of a city matters
The session runs for 60–75 minutes: 45 minutes of dialogue, then open Q&A.
It is for researchers, practitioners and students in history, geography, planning, political science and development studies.
Scholar-to-Scholar Dialogues is the RSA India Division’s peer-to-peer exchange programme. It brings scholars together across career stages and institutions. Sessions are recorded and published on the RSA India page.
About the speakers
- Dr Gaurav C. Garg is Assistant Professor of History at Ashoka University. He works on the history of cities, mountains, international development and modern South Asia. His articles have appeared in the Journal of Global History, Journal of Historical Geography and Comparative Studies in Society and History. He is now writing a history of the Ford Foundation in India (1951–2014).
- Dr Sumit Kumar is Assistant Professor at Manipal University Jaipur and an RSA member.
Recent Events
RSA India Network Connect
20 May 2026, online
This was the first RSA India networking session to bring together researchers from institutions across India and explore how the Regional Studies Association (RSA) can build an active presence in the country. Held on Zoom, the session was facilitated by Lavanya Gupta, the RSA Blog Editor, who shared her vision for collaborative networks and mentorship programmes tailored to India’s research community.
RSA Head of Partnerships and Engagement, Marcus Atkinson, provided an overview of RSA’s global reach, including grants, travel awards, and publication opportunities.
Participants discussed a range of potential activities and structures, with a strong focus on supporting early career researchers and creating a sustainable, bottom-up community.
Read the India Network Event May 2026
RSA Blogs with an India focus
What Life Really Looks Like: Women Labourers in Sangamner
Tide and Territory: Vernacular Regionality in Maharashtra’s Koli Fishing Communities
Focusing on food security by tackling zero hunger and poverty
Socio-cultural rights amidst climate-induced migration in India
Is ‘Digihenheimer’ an opportunity or a vulnerability for gig workers in Indian cities?
Backdoor Effects of Decentralisation on State Investment Spending through Central Grants in India
Urban development and real estate in India – new knowledge generated from the COVID-19 pandemic?
Approaching holistic regional development in rural northern India through a gendered lens
Please get in touch with our Blog Editor if you are interested in writing for the RSA Blog.