Purendra Prasad is a Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Hyderabad and a senior research fellow in the School of Public Policy at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA.  He has served as the Head of the Department of Sociology from 2017 to 2020 at University of Hyderabad.   Before his current position, he was affiliated with the Centre for Social Studies (CSS), Surat, and the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai.  He teaches courses in Classical Sociological Theory, Urban Sociology, Sociology of Development, Rural Society and Agrarian Change, and Sociology of Health.    His research interests span several critical domains:

• Critical Agrarian Studies - focuses on caste-class inequalities, regional histories, forced migration, agrarian social structures, and movements.

• Political Economy of Health, examining health inequalities, the role of the state and market in healthcare, and the commodification of the body.

• Development and its Discontents in the context of globalisation.

• Urban Transformations in Indian cities and towns.

• Sociology of Wealth, particularly wealth accumulation and inequalities.

Grants and Awards:

• Fulbright Nehru Visiting Chair at the School of Public Policy, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA, during 2024-25.

MEMBERSHIP IN COMMITTEES

• Governing Board Member,  Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC), Bengaluru for the period 2025-2027. Also, a life member of ISEC.

• Editorial Advisory Committee Member, Sociological Bulletin, Official Journal of the Indian Sociological Society, Published by Sage Publications. From March 2024.

• Chairperson, Ethics Sub-Committee for Medical Graduate Students (ESGS) of NIMS Institutional Ethics Committee, Hyderabad, from 8 July 2023 to date.

• Vice Chairperson, Institutional Ethics Committee, Nizam Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) from 8 July 2023 to date.  (Worked earlier during 1st October, 2013- 30 September, 2015).

• Member, Board of Studies, Department of Sociology, Nagaland University, Nagaland, for three years, August 2023-2026.

• Member, Board of Studies, GITAM University, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam Campuses for two years, June 2023-2025.

• Institutional Ethics Committee Member, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Hyderabad, from May 2021 to April 2024.

• Institutional Ethics Committee Member, National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), Hyderabad, from September 2020 to date.

• Expert member, Board of Studies, Department of Sociology, M.S. University of Baroda from 1 October 2020 to date.

• Editorial Board Member of Explorations, e-journal of Indian Sociological Society, from April 2020 to March 2022.

• Policy Research Advisory Committee Member, National Institute of Rural Development & Panchayati Raj (NIRD & PR), Hyderabad from May 2020 - April 2022. 

• Stem Cell Research and Ethics Committee Member, Nizam Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS), Hyderabad from 24 Nov 2022 to 23 Nov 2025 .

• Advisory Committee Member, for restructuring M.Phil./Ph.D. programme in Society and Development and M.A. `Society and Development' in the school of social sciences, at Central University of Gujarat, June 2011, at Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

• Life Member, Indian Sociological Society (ISS).

Publications:

BOOKS/MONOGRAPHS (4)

• Prasad Purendra & Lalatendu Keshari Das (2025) (Ed.).  Politics of the Anthropocene and Climate Crisis in India: Seeking Socio-Ecological Transformations.  Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/Politics-of-the-Anthropocene-and-Climate-Crisis-in-India-Seeking-Socio-Ecological-Transformations/Prasad-Das/p/book/9781032689500

• Prasad Purendra & Amar Jesani (2018) (Ed.).  Equity and Access: Health Care Studies in India.  Delhi: Oxford University Press.  https://scholar.google.com/scholar?oi=bibs&cluster=3826295133670641093&btnI=1&hl=en

• Prasad Purendra, CVR Murthy, Marjorie Green, Sudhir K Jain & Vipul Mehta (2005). Earthquake Rebuilding in Gujarat, India - An EERI Recovery Reconnaissance Report'. California:  Earthquake Engineering Research Institute

• Prasad Purendra (1998). Famines and Droughts: Survival Strategies. Jaipur: Rawat Publications

PAPERS PUBLISHED (24)

• Prasad, Purendra and Rambarki R (2023).  Wealth Elites and Their Accumulation Dynamics:  Hyderabad City Region.  Southern Centre for Inequality Studies Working Paper No.52, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. https://hdl.handle.net/10539/35633

• Prasad Purendra (2022).  State and Health Markets in the Times of Pandemic. Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. LVII, No.23, P. 41-47.

• Vakulabharanam, Vamsi & Purendra Prasad (2017). Babu’s Camelot: Amaravati and the Emerging Capitalist Dynamics in `New’ Andhra Pradesh. Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. LII, No.2

• Prasad Purendra (2015). Agrarian Classes and Caste Relations in “United” Andhra Pradesh during 1956-2014. Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. L, No. 16

• Krishna, Shilpa &  Purendra Prasad (2014). 'Ethical Issues in the Recruitment of “Healthy Volunteers”: Study of a Clinical Research Organisation in Hyderabad’. Indian Journal of Medical Ethics, Vol. XI, No.4

• Prasad Purendra (2014). Changing Structure of Governance in Non-Metropolitan Cities: A Study in Andhra Pradesh. Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.XLIX, No.22

• Prasad Purendra & P.Raghavendra (2012). ‘Healthcare Models in the era of Medical Neo-liberalism: A Study of Arogyasri in Andhra Pradesh ‘. Economic and Political Weekly, Vol XIVII, No.43

• Prasad Purendra, Vamsi Vakulabharanam, K Laxminarayana, & Sudheer Kilaru (2012). Tragedy of the Commons Revisited (II) – Mining in Tribal Habitats of Araku Valley. Economic and Political Weekly, Vol XLVII, No.42

• Vakulabharanam Vamsi, Purendra Prasad, Lakshminaryana K, & Sudheer Kilaru (2011). Understanding the Andhra Crop Holiday Movement. Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.XLVI, No.50, pp.13-16

• Prasad Purendra (2010). A Study of New Governance Mechanisms in Two Non-metropolitan Cities in Andhra Pradesh. Vikalpa, Vol.35(1), pp.86-89

• Jena, Asima &  Purendra Prasad (2009). Risk Culture, Propertied Classes, and Dynamics of a Region: A Study of HIV/AIDS in East Godavari District (Andhra Pradesh). Sociological Bulletin, 58 (3): 383 - 402.

• Prasad Purendra (2007). 'Medicine, Power and Social Legitimacy: A Socio-Historical Appraisal of Health Systems in Contemporary India'. Economic and Political Weekly, vol.XLII, No.34

• Prasad, Purendra (2006). Healing in South Gujarat: Conceptions, Practices and Restricted Medical Pluralism’. Indian Anthropologist, Vol 36 (2)

• Prasad Purendra (2005). Narratives of Sickness and Suffering: A Study of Malaria in South Gujarat’. Sociological Bulletin, 54(2): 218-237,

• Prasad Purendra (2003). `Rights of Farmers in the context of Suicides in Andhra Pradesh’. Indian Journal of Human Rights, 7(1&2): 101-120

• Prasad Purendra (2000). “Health Care Access and Marginalised Social Spaces - Leptospirosis in South Gujarat”, Economic and Political Weekly, xxxv(41):3688-3694

• Lobo, Lancy & Purendra Prasad (1998). “Ethnography of Malaria in Surat - Putting People on the Agenda”. Economic and Political Weekly, Vol xxiii (24):1444-6

• Prasad Purendra (1997). “State Response to Famines and Droughts: A case of Anantapur District (8100-1947)”. Man in India, 77 (2 & 3):219-231

• Prasad Purendra & S. Parasuraman (1997). “Differential Distribution of Social Cost: An Electricity Generation Plant in Telangana”. Economic and Political Weekly, xxxii(35):2218-2222

• Prasad Purendra (1997). “Industrial Displacement and Rehabilitation - A case of Lambada Thanda”. Social Change, 27(1 &2):74-83

• Prasad Purendra & P Venkata Rao (1997). “Adaptations of Peasants in a Stress Environment”. Economic and Political Weekly, xxxii(5)229-234

• Prasad, Purendra (1997). “Cognitive Beliefs as a Coping Mechanism of Drought”. Indian Journal of Social Work, Vol 58(1):57-64

• Prasad Purendra & P Venkata Rao (1996). “Patterns of Migration from a Drought-Prone Area of Andhra Pradesh : A Case Study”. Journal of Human Ecology, 7(3):155-162

• Prasad Purendra (1996). “Response to Drought: An Overview”. Man in India, 76(1):35-51

CHAPTERS IN EDITED BOOKS (14)

1. Region as a Contested Socio-Ecological Space: India's Eastern Coast in the Capitalocene in Sudha Vasan (ed). Environmental Studies from India: Engaging the Planetary Crisis. Oxford University Press (OUP), 2025.

2. `Climate-Smart' Aquaculture in Coastal Regions of India: Capitalist Logic of Repair and Restoration In Prasad Purendra and Lalatendu K Das (eds). Politics of the Anthropocene and Climate Crisis in India: Seeking Socio-Ecological Transformations.  Routledge, 2025.

3. With Lalatendu K Das. Contextualising the Debates of Anthropocene and Climate Change: A Critical Introduction.  In Prasad Purendra and Lalatendu K Das (eds). Politics of the Anthropocene and Climate Crisis in India: Seeking Socio-Ecological Transformations.  Routledge.

4. Political Centrality of `Capital' Cities: A Case of Amaravati, Gurgaon and Rajarhat In S Patel (ed). Neoliberalism, Urbanisation and Aspirations in Contemporary India. Oxford University Press (OUP), 2021.

5. Health Inequities in India: The Larger Dimensions. (Ed) Equity and Access : Health Care Studies in India.  New Delhi: OUP, 2018.  https://scholar.google.com/scholar?oi=bibs&cluster=3826295133670641093&btnI=1&hl=en

6. Health Care Reforms: Do They Ensure Social Protection for the Labouring Poor? In Prasad Purendra and Amar Jesani (Ed), Equity and Access: Health Care Studies in India. New Delhi: OUP, 2018

7. New Migrant Question: Exploitative Forms of Transit Labour in Three Regions of Andhra Pradesh In Rajan Irudaya (ed). India Migration Report 2017: Forced Migration. Routledge, 2018

8. with Abhijit Dasgupta. Silent Violence and Neo Bondage in the Urban Informal Sector: A Study of Forced Migrants in West Bengal In Rajan Irudaya (ed). India Migration Report 2017: Forced Migration. Routledge, 2018 

9. Closed City `Spaces’: Differential Access to Education in Vijayawada, South India In W.T Pink, G.W Noblit (eds). Second International Handbook of Urban Education. Switzerland: Springer International Publisher, 2017

10. Health and Development in Andhra Pradesh : A Critical Assessment of Health Care during 1956-1996. In Ramakrishna Reddy (ed). Comprehensive History of Andhra Pradesh, Vol.8., 2016

11. With Satish Ch. Changing Caste and Power Relations in Andhra Pradesh during 1956-1996. In Ramakrishna Reddy (ed). Comprehensive History of Andhra Pradesh, Vol.8., 2016

12. Medicine and Health in Hyderabad State 1857-1956 in B Kesavanarayana (ed) Comprehensive History of Andhra Pradesh, Vol.7., 2016, Hyderabad: EMESCO publishers

13. State, Community Health Insurance and Commodification of Health Care: A Study of Arogyasri in Andhra Pradesh, In Rama Baru (ed). Medical Insurance Schemes for the Poor : Who benefits? New Delhi: Academic Foundation, 2015

14. `Drought, People and the State: Towards a Sociological Perspective’ In Aswathanaryana (ed). Natural Resources Development Methodologies. Hyderabad: B.S.Publications, 2006

BOOK REVIEWS (PUBLISHED)

1. Revisiting Conceptual Debates in Agrarian Studies.  Agrarian and Other Histories: Essays for Binay Bhushan Chaudhuri edited by Shubhra Chakarabarti and Utsa Patnaik.  New Delhi: Tulika Books, 2017 in The Book Review, VolXLII, No.10, October, 2018. 

2. Unhealthy India: Is Privatisation the way forward?  Do We Care?  India's Health System by K Sujatha Rao. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.  In MFC Bulletin, pp.11-12, July, 2018.

3. Reading Perrie Bourdieu in a Dual Context – Essays from India and France by Roland Lardinois and Meenakshi Thapan (eds). New Delhi/London : Routledge. In the Social Scientist, Vol.37, Nos.1-2, January-February, 2009

4. AIDS and Civil Society: India’s Learning Curve (ed) by Radhika Ramasubban and Bhanwar Rishyasringa, Sociological Bulletin, 55(3): 494-96, 2006

5. Peasant Movements Revisited. Review of Mridula Muikherjee’s Peasant’s in India’s Non-violent Revolution: Practice and Theory and Debal K Singha Roy’s Peasant Movements in Post-Colonial India: Dynamics of Mobilization and Identity in The Book Review, Vol. Xxix, No.8. pp.24-25, August, 2005

6. Religion as Emancipatory Identity: A Buddhist Movement among the Tamils under Colonialism by G.Aloysius. Journal of the Henry Martin Institute. Hyderabad, pp. 95-96, 2001

POPULR ARTICLES/BOOKS (PUBLISHED IN TELUGU)

1. Book Discussion on Marx's Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts 1844 ((పరాయీకరణకు పరాకాష్ట కులవ్యవస్థ). https://youtu.be/QLSG51K1DGY?si=0aKA5yw5Fugq1Dr7  held at SVK Hyderabad 25 August 2024

2. Health Inequalities: State Interventions in Andhra Pradesh (ఆరోగ్య అసమానతలు : ఆంధ్ర ప్రదేశ్ లో ప్రభుత్వాల పాత్ర) at a seminar held in Vijayawada on 6th November 2022.  https://youtu.be/4wxSmXDfmXQ

3. Is Decentralisation in A.P Achieving Equitable Ends? (విచ్చిన్నం దిశగా వికేంద్రీకరణ).  Andhra Jyothi.  https://www.andhrajyothy.com/telugunews/decentralization-towards-disintegration-ngts-editorial-1822041212191723.  

4. AP Three Capitals:  Decentralisation Agenda or Another Real Estate Bonanza (ఆంధ్రప్రదేశ్ మూడు రాజధానులు: వికేంద్రీకరణ అజెండా లేక రియల్ ఎస్టేట్ బొనాంజా?)  Andhra Jyothi.   https://m.andhrajyothy.com/telugunews/land-grabbing-in-the-name-of-the-three-capitals-1921080312383854, 2021.

5. Corporatisation of Education (కార్పొరేట్ విద్యా వ్యాపారం).  Prajashakti Book House, Vijayawada. 2019.  drive.google.com/file/d/1OcEveUuqOvrlna0wREvLPt5wGgzngUGE/view

6. Migrant Question in Andhra Pradesh (శ్రామికుల నూతన వలసలు). Prajashakti Book House, Vijayawada. 2019 drive.google.com/file/d/1I_1OQ3PTA-HxnRj5tDYOIizN7fvzw_I1/view

7. Amaravati and the Emerging Capitalist Dynamics in `New' Andhra Pradesh. (బాబుగారి ఊహానగరం - రాజధాని అమరావతిలో ఆవిర్భవిస్తున్న పెట్టుబడి పోకడలు)  Hyderabad: Prajashakti Book House, 2017. drive.google.com/file/d/1Ych5Pywh677FenKGMmE0xQwUvPrOTjoY/view

8. Significance of Village Studies in Contemporary India - A Social Science Perspective (సమకాలీన భారతదేశంలో గ్రామీణ అధ్యయనాలు అవసరమా?  సామజిక శాస్త్ర దృక్కోణం), In Sambi Reddy C, K Veeraiah and Y Siddhaiah.  Changing Social Life in Villages (మారుతున్న గ్రామీణ జీవనం - ఒక అధ్యయనం)  Hyderabad: Sundaryayya Vignana Vedika, 2015. 

9. Price Controls on Life-Saving Drugs: Is it in the Public Interest? (లైఫ్-సేవింగ్ డ్రగ్స్‌పై ధరల నియంత్రణలు: ఇది ప్రజల ప్రయోజనాల కోసమేనా?) Prajarogyam, Vol, 1, Issue 4, Oct-December, 2014

10. Does Arogyasri Health Insurance Programme provide Social Protection of Labourng Classes? (ఆరోగ్యశ్రీ – పేదవారి ఆరోగ్య రక్షణ పథకమేనా?) in Prajarogyam, a public Health magazine, Jan-March, 2014

11. Health and Poverty (ఆరోగ్యం – పేదరికం)  Prajarogyam, a public Health magazine, July-September, 2014

12.  Farmers Suicides in Andhra Pradesh: A Social Science Perspective (ఆంధ్ర ప్రదేశ్ లో రైతుల ఆత్మ హత్యలు – సామజిక కోణాలు’. In the book "Agrarain Crisis in Andhra Pradesh" (ఆంధ్ర ప్రదేశ్ లో వ్యవసాయ సంక్షోభం).  Hyderabad: Sundarayya Vignana Kendram, 2005

Research Guidance: 

PhDs Supervised: 17

1. Dandu Chinna Rangaiah. The Political Economy of Agricultural Markets and the State: A Study of Caste and Class Dynamics in Rayalaseema, South India (Thesis Submitted 2025)

2. Shilpa Krishna.  Pharmaceuticals, State and Local Communities: A Study of Health Inequalities in Hyderabad. Awarded 2024.

3. Abdurahiman P.C. Capital, Labour and Health : A Study of Tea Plantation Workers in Wayanad, Kerala . Awarded 2024.

4. Raviteja Rambarki.  Provincial Capital and Social Networks : Study of Propertied Classes in a North Andhra Town.  Awarded 2024.

5. A Chandrashekar Reddy. State, Labour and Rural-Urban Processes: A Study of Agrarian Relations in North Telangana. Awarded 2023

6. Yashwant Singh. Planetary Gentrification, the New Middle Classes, and the "Urban Question": Study of a Neighbourhood in the Patna Metropolitan Region. Awarded 2021.  

7. Bhupathi Reddy.  Caste, Class and Labour: A Study of Changing Agrarian Relations in a Telangana Village. Awarded 2019.  

8. Lalmangaihi Chhikchauk. Diseased Body and Social Suffering:  A Study of Cancer Affected People in Mizoram. Awarded 2019. 

9. Debapriya Ganguly. Development, State and Labouring Poor:  A Study of Urban Processes in Visakhapatnam.  Awarded 2019.

10. Lalatendu Keshari Das.  State, Capitalist Development and Informal Sector: A Study of Chilika Region in Odisha. Awarded 2019.

11.  Priyam Sharma.  Understanding Medical Marginality:  A Study of Unani Hospital in Hyderabad.  Awarded   2017.

12. K P Rajesh.  Development, Marginality and  Agency of Tribals: A Sociological Study of Social Movements in Kerala.  Awarded 2016. 

13. Satish Ch.  Caste, Mobilizational Processes and Political Power: A Study of `Kapus’ in Andhra Pradesh. Awarded 2015.

14. Sanjukta Malik. Migration, Inter-Generational Mobility and Development : A Study in Bhadrak Town, Odisha.  Awarded 2013.

15. Madhumita Biswal.  Women, Body Politics and the Dominant Health Discourses: A Sociological Study in Orissa.  Awarded 2009.

16.  Asima Jena.  Communities, Tradition and Politics of Risk : A Study of HIV/AIDS in Coastal Andhra.  Awarded 2009.

17.  Katema Abebe.  Common Property Resources and Rural Livelihoods: A Comparative Study of Marginalized Groups in Ethiopia and India.  Awarded  2006.

Current PhDs: 7

1. Jagdeep Singh.  Land Question in Rural Punjab: A Study of Dalit’s Struggle for Village Commons (Tentative)

2. Naresh Subramani.  Land, Capital and Caste Dynamics: A Study of Rural Urban Entanglements in the Shadown Regions of Chennai (Tentative)

3. Minu Anna Philipose.  Aspiring Communities and Speculative Spaces in a Neoliberal City : A Study of the Rentier Class in the Peri Urban Areas of Hyderabad (Tentative)

4. Aman Kumar.  Political Economy of Capital, Business and Elites:  A Study of Marwarhis (Tentative)

5. Vimala Reddypogu. Land, Family Structure and Capital :: A Study in Telangana (Tentative)

6. Vivekanandhan S. Reconfiguring Caste: Political Economy and Cultural Contestations in Rural Tamil Nadu 

7. Salchuba R Marak. Urban Citizenship and Resistance: A Study of Dalit Sikhs in Shillong, Meghalaya.

M.Phils Supervised: 21.

1. Minu Anna Philipose. Contested Space, State and Development: Study of a Peri-Urban Area in Metropolitan Hyderabad. Awarded 2021.

2. Jagdeep Singh.  Current Forms of Rural Labour and Nature of Dependency: A Study of Dalit Households in a Punjab Village. Awarded 2019.

3. Monika Reddy.  Changing Patterns of Women’s Work:  A Village Study in Telangana. Thesis Submitted June 2018.

4. Abhijit Dasgupta.  The Role of Mukaddams among Seasonal Migrants in India: A Sociological Study.  Awarded 2015.

5. A Chandrashekar Reddy.  Understanding Agrarian Relations in Telangana through Literary Texts: Sociological Reflections. Awarded 2015.

6. Afeeda K T.  Embodied pain and Politics of Palliative Care: A Sociological Study in Calicut District, Kerala.  Awarded 2014.

7. Lalatendu Keshari Das.  The Politics of Emancipation in the Nationalist Discourse: A Sociological Review.  Awarded 2013.

8. Debapriya Ganguly.  `Free Nagas’ and the Paradox of Development.  Awarded 2012.

9. Shilpa Krishna.  Regulating the Social Body:  A Study of Clinical Trials in Hyderabad.  Awarded 2011.

10. Priyam Sharma.  Politics of Medical Pluralism in India: A Review of Literature.  Awarded 2011.

11. Lalmangaihi Chukchuk.  Mizo Encounter with Colonialism: Notions of Medical and Religious Healing.  Awarded 2011.

12. Prashanth.  Religious Groups, Social Capital and Social Mobility: A Village Study in Krishna District (A.P).  Awarded 2009.

13. Sameera Manhappulan.  Gulf Migration and Changing Agrarian Structure in a Kerala Village.  Awarded 2008.

14. Satish Kumar Ch.  Village Power Structure and Social Dynamics: A Study of two Gram Panchayats in Nellore District (A.P). Awarded 2008.

15. Nazia Hussainy.  Social Construction of Mental Health: A Study in Hyderabad.  Awarded 2006.

16. Sanjukta Malik.  Epidemics of Malnutrition in India: A Case Study in Orissa.  Awarded 2006.

17. Ashok Kumar Mocherla.  Politics of Hunger – A Sociological Appraisal of Development Discourse.  Awarded 2004.

18. Shewli Hira.  Discourses on Identities in Dalit and Non-Dalit Literature: Towards a Sociological Perspective.  Awarded 2004.

19. Asima Jena.  HIV AIDS, Gender and Inequality – A Study of an Urban Slum in Orissa.  Awarded 2003.

20. Madhumita Biswal.  Issues of Accessibility in Primary Health Care: Study of A Rural Health Centre in Patancheru (A.P.) Awarded 2002.

21. Aparna Mohanty.  `Impact of Health Policies on Different Social Groups: A Study of Malaria in an Orissa Village’.  Awarded 2002.