Department of Humanities and Social Sciences

Indian Institute of Technology Madras

Sudhir Chella Rajan

Professor

  • D.Env., Environmental Science and Engineering Program (cross-disciplinary doctorate), UCLA, 1994.
  • M.S., Meteorology, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, 1985.
  • B.Tech., Aeronautical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, 1983.
  • +91 (44) 2257 4525
  • scrajan[at]iitm[.]ac[.]in

Academic Background:

  • D.Env. Environmental Science and Engineering Program (cross-disciplinary doctorate), UCLA, 1994.
  • M.S. Meteorology, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, 1985.
  • B.Tech. Aeronautical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, 1983.

Research Interests:

  • Automobility
  • Climate politics
  • Grand corruption
  • Sustainable development

Sudhir Chella Rajan teaches at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at IIT Madras. He was formerly Head of the Department (2011-2014) and was Coordinator of the Indo-German Centre for Sustainability (2010-2016) and Area Coordinator for Land-Use (2016-2020). He obtained an inter-disciplinary doctorate in Environmental Science and Engineering from the University of California Los Angeles and has worked in progressively senior positions in government, research consultancies, NGOs and academia. His interests are primarily at the interface of political theory and the environment; in particular, on the new challenges that enter politics within democratic societies in the face of composite social and environmental encounters.

Dr Rajan has worked on emergent policy dilemmas in automobile pollution regulation in California, the politics of power sector reform in developing countries, conflicts in relation to energy access and climate change policy, the patterns of social change needed in transport in the United States for fair climate policy, ethical approaches to addressing climate change and sea level rise, new interpretations of the resource curse in resource-rich developing countries, changes to the periurban landscape in South India and the shifting meanings of corruption in environmental and everyday discourse. His latest book is A Social Theory of Corruption: Notes from the Indian Subcontinent.

  • In very broad terms, my intellectual concerns lie at the interface of the environment and political theory. What normative claims do problems such as pollution, climate change, and loss of biodiversity place on human societies, and how adequate or not are prevalent institutional arrangements to respond to them? What does it mean to describe these in emergent socio-technical formations influenced by power dynamics among other factors? How, for instance, does sovereign, territorial power identify legitimate and effective means of environmental governance, and what strategies does it use to navigate among competing concerns? I am also interested in examining situations, particularly in the context of planetary crises, where such state-making practices run into trouble at the edges of liberal democratic theory, and in exploring whether these boundary concerns in turn shift the terms of political discourse. What roles might, say, emerging practices of food sovereignty play in escaping contemporary settlement camps and other bypasses?
  • In the past, I have used liberal political philosophy as a lens to investigate the state’s commitment to sustaining automobility in Western democracies, in the face of severe local pollution concerns. I have explored how bodily dispositions such as automobility constitute globalized phenomena having cultural dimensions but are also associated politically with interlocking elite networks.
  • I do a fair amount of scenario-based analysis on transport, energy and climate change, primarily as a means to provide my conceptual interests a strong grounding in specific policy questions. In this regard, my team and I have built climate and energy scenarios for India, one of which have a strong normative focus on reducing carbon emissions while raising incomes and livelihoods for the bottom quintile. Other work of this nature includes developing sustainable transport policy both in Indian cities and in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, where I have been working in collaboration with respective UNDP offices. Along with Sujatha Byravan, I have been working on sea level rise as a possible driver of political and ethical shifts in the discourse on climate change.
  • In terms of social and policy impact, my current research, in collaboration with a broader making up the periurban initiative and PERI-CENE is to address the many harms arising from bypasses in the hinterland. The pooled threats from industrialized agriculture, new enclosures of land, particularly in developing countries, and risks to local livelihoods from these social forces as well as climate change need to be considered in toto, not by analytically separating climate impacts from all other impacts. Our focus is on creating ‘living laboratories’ of climate resilience through documented trials in community gardening, natural farming and re-use and repair cultures.
  • Climate Change, Technology and Development
  • Corruption and Development
  • Democracy Theory and Practice
  • Foundations of Social and Political Thought
  • Indian Constitution: Text and Practice
  • Perspectives in Social Sciences
  • State-Making, Governance and Development
  • 2007 – present: Professor, Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Madras
  • 2000 – 2007: Senior Fellow, Tellus Institute, Boston, MA
  • 1999 – 2000: Consultant, UNDP, New York
  • 1995 – 1999: Director (Operations and Asia), International Energy Initiative, Bangalore, India
  • 1989 – 1994: Air Resources Engineering Associate, California Air Resources Board, El Monte, CA, USA
  • 1988: Air Quality Scientist, ENSR, Camarillo, CA

Books 

 

Chapters

  • C. Rajan (2025). “Rights and Residue: Some Reflections on the Environmental Crisis.” In P.V. Thomas (ed.) Human Rights: Perspectives (pp. 108-124). Dev Publishers, New Delhi.
  • Adaina, K. C., & C. Rajan (2024). “Place Attachment and Traditional Ecological Knowledge Amongst the Rongmei Naga Indigenous Community in Manipur.” In S.C. Rai and P.K. Mishra (eds.) Sacred Landscapes, Indigenous Knowledge, and Ethno-culture in Natural Resource Management: Understanding Multiple Perspectives of Nature Conservation (pp. 269-285). Springer Nature, Singapore.
  • C. Rajan and C. Woiwode (2023): “Designing water policy in India as adaptive governance for sustainability,” in Philip, L. et al. (eds.) Technological Solutions for Water Sustainability: Challenges and Prospects: Towards a Water-secure India, IWA Publishing, London. https://doi.org/10.2166/9781789063714_0047
  • C. Rajan (2015): “Who are the people of the world?” in Gupta, S. and S. Padmanabhan (eds), Cosmopolitanism: Context, Inquiry and Critique, Routledge, London.
  • C. Rajan (2014): “Governing the Common Firm: The Evolution of Environmental Policy for Small Businesses in India” in Huang, R. and S. Gupta (eds), Environmental Policies in Asia: Perspectives from Seven Asian Countries, World Scientific.
  • C. Rajan (2012) Poor Little Rich Countries: Another Look at the ‘Resource Curse’ in Steve Vanderheiden (ed.) The Politics of Energy – Challenges for a Sustainable Future, Routledge, New York.
  • C. Rajan (2011) Vested Interest or Private Interest? The Case of India in Global Corruption Report 2011: Climate Change, Transparency International, Earthscan, London.
  • Byravan, S.C.Rajan, R.Rangarajan (2011) Sea Level Rise: Impact on Major Infrastructure, Ecosystems and Land Along the Tamil Nadu Coast, in Navroz Dubash (ed.) Handbook of Climate Change and India: Development, Politics and Governance, Oxford University Press, New Delhi.
  • C. Rajan (2011) Parental Sacrifice as Atonement for Future Climate Change, in Michael Maniates and John Meyer (eds.) The Environmental Politics of Sacrifice, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.
  • C. Rajan (2008) Meeting the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Challenge: The Case for Biome Stewardship Councils. In Janet Ranganathan et al., (Eds.) Policies for Sustainable Governance of Global Ecosystem Services, Edward Elgar, UK.
  • C. Rajan (2006) Automobility and the Liberal Disposition. In Steffen Boehm et al. (Eds.), Against Automobility: Social Scientific Analyses of a Global Phenomenon, Blackwell Publishing, Oxford.
  • C. Rajan (2006) Public Avenues to Private Spaces: Regulating the Car. In J.D. Wolfhorst and Anne K. Haugestad (eds.), Building Sustainable Communities: Ecological Justice and Global Citizenship, Rodopi, Amsterdam, New York.
  • C. Rajan (2005) Contributions relating to Corruption and Pollution. In Ashis Nandy and Vinay Lal (Eds.), The Future of Knowledge and Culture: A Dictionary for the 21st Century, Penguin/Viking, New Delhi.
  • C. Rajan (2004) A Fine Balance: Controlling Automobile Pollution in California. In Melanie Dupuis (ed.), Smoke And Mirrors: Air Pollution as a Social and Political Artefact, New York University Press, New York.
  • Dubash, N. and C. Rajan (2002) India: Electricity Reform Under Political Constraints. In Power Politics: Equity and Environment in Electricity Reform, World Resources Institute, Washington, DC.
  • C. Rajan (1999) Energy and Environmental Management. In S.N. Chary and V. Vyasulu (Eds.) Environmental Management: An Indian Perspective New Delhi, Macmillan.
  • FitzSimmons, J. Glaser, R. Montemor, S. Pincetl and S.C. Rajan (1994) “Environmentalism and the liberal state,” in Martin O’Connor: Is Capitalism Sustainable? Guilford Books.
  • C. Rajan (2025). “What would Greta do? Anthropocene politics and the reclamation of universal Earth justice,” International Journal of Žižek Studies 19(1) (https://zizekstudies.org/index.php/IJZS/article/view/1269)
  • Woiwode, C., Ramachandran, A., Philip, T., Rishika, D., and C. Rajan (2024). “Identifying entry points for adaptive governance in peri-urban Chennai (India): a multi-dimensional, multi-level, and multi-scalar approach.” Frontiers in Sustainable Cities (10.3389/frsc.2024.1368240).
  • Jayaraman, A., C. Rajan, and Ramu, P. (2024). “Food system resilience: Unraveling power relations and the Matthew effect in farmers networks.” Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 200, 123144.
  • Mohanty, A. and C. Rajan (2023). “Impact of Neoliberalism on the Socio-economic life and Food system of Kondh Tribes of Odisha.” Asian Journal of Social Science (10.1016/j.ajss.2023.04.005).
  • Jayaraman, A., Ramu, P., C Rajan, and Thole, S.P., 2023. Data-driven analysis of social capital in Farmer Producer Companies. Heliyon, 9(7).
  • Khan, Saleem A., S. Mandal, and C. Rajan (2022) “Risk communication and capacity-building: A case study on framing CBA strategies of artisanal fishing communities to sea-level rise using BASIEC.” Climate Services Vol 26, 100299.
  • Byravan, S. and C. Rajan (2022) “Cross-border migration in a warming planet: A policy framework.” WIRES Climate Change, e763.
  • Kozhisseri, D. and C. Rajan (2020) “Unfolding nomadism? A feminist political ecology of sedentarization in the Attappady Hills, Kerala.” Journal of Political Ecology Vol 27: 939-960.
  • C. Rajan (2019) “Becoming Urban or Bypassed in the Periurban? An Emerging Challenge for Global Ethics.” Journal of Global Ethics 15 (1): 6-20.
  • C. Rajan and S. Byravan (2018) “Below the Guard Rail: Transformative Change for Climate Security.” Commentary in Economic & Political Weekly 53, no. 51: 13-16.
  • C. Rajan (2017) “Practising Theory in the Anthropocene.” Discussion in Economic & Political Weekly 52, no. 14: 72-74.
  • Byravan, S. and C. Rajan (2017) “Taking Lessons from Refugees in Europe to Prepare for Climate Migrants and Exiles.” Environmental Justice, 10(4): 108-111.
  • Byravan, S. and C. Rajan (2015): “Sea level rise and climate change exiles: A possible solution.” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 71(2): 21-28.
  • Adaina, K. C., C. Rajan, Aarti Kawlra., 2012. Revisiting Environmental Valuation: A Multi-dimensional Approach. International Journal of Development Studies. Volume IV, Issue I. pp 191-202.
  • Adaina, KC and C. Rajan (2012): “Rethinking Rationality in Environmental Policy” Indian Economic Journal, 60(1): 2338.
  • C. Rajan (2011): “Poor little rich countries: Another look at the ‘resource curse’” Environmental Politics, 20(5): 617-632.
  • C. Rajan and Byravan S. (2011): “Developmental benefits from a low-carbon pathway” Economic and Political Weekly, 46, 15:18.
  • Byravan and S.C. Rajan (2010): “The ethical implications of sea-level rise due to climate change” Ethics & International Affairs Vol. 24, no. 3 , pp. 239–60.
  • Byravan and S.C. Rajan (2009): The social impacts of climate change in South Asia. The Journal of Migration and Refugee Issues, 5(3), 134-147.
  • Byravan and S.C. Rajan (2009): “Warming up to immigrants: An option for U.S. climate policy, Economic and Political Weekly, 44, 19-23.
  • Dougherty, S. Kartha, S.C. Rajan, M. Lazarus, A. Bailie, B. Runkle, A. Fencl (2009): “Greenhouse gas reduction benefits and costs of a large-scale transition to hydrogen in the USA,” Energy Policy, 37, 56-67.
  • C. Rajan (2008): Review of “Americas Kingdom: Mythmaking on the Saudi Oil Frontier” by Robert Vitalis, Arab Studies Journal, 15, 218-222.
  • C. Rajan (2007): “Global Politics and Institutions: A ‘Utopistic’ View,” Economic and Political Weekly October 13, 42 (41): 4174-4182.
  • C. Rajan (2007): “Automobility, liberalism and the ethics of driving,” Environmental Ethics Spring 2007, 77-90.
  • Byravan and S.C. Rajan (2006): “Providing homes for climate change exiles,” Climate Policy 6 247–252.
  • C. Rajan (2006): “Automobility and the liberal disposition.” The Sociological Review 54, no. s1:, pp.113-129.
  • C. Rajan (2006): “Climate Change Dilemma: Technology, Social Change, or Both? An Examination of Long-Term Transport Policy Choices in the United States,” Energy Policy 34: 664–679.
  • Byravan and S.C. Rajan (2005): “Immigration could ease climate change impact,” Nature Mar 24; 434 (7032): 435
  • C. Rajan (2004): “The role of social change in the U.S. transport sector for climate change mitigation,” Energy for Sustainable Development, VIII (2), 39-46.
  • A. Phadke and S.C. Rajan (2003) “Electricity Reforms in India: Not too late to go back to the drawing board,” Economic and Political Weekly, 38 (15).
  • K.Dubash and S.C.Rajan (2001) “Power Politics: The process of power sector reforms in India,” Economic and Political Weekly, 36(35): 3367-3390.
  • C. Rajan and A. D’Sa (2000) “Captive power generation – air pollution impacts due to increased capacity utilisation,” Energy for Sustainable Development, 4(1): 77-85.
  • C. Rajan (1996) “Diagnosis and repair of excessively emitting vehicles,” Journal of the Air and Waste Management Association, (46): 940-952.
  • C. Rajan (1992). Legitimacy in environmental policy: the regulation of automobile pollution in California. International Journal of Environmental Studies, 42(4), 243–258. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207239208710800M.
  • FitzSimmons, Glaser, R., Montemor, S. Pincetl and S.C. Rajan (1991) “Environmentalism and the American liberal state,” Capitalism, Nature, Socialism, 6.
  • D. Farley and S.C. Rajan (1986) “Comparison of numerical schemes applied to the particle growth equation in a hail model,” Preprints in Cloud Physics, American Meteorological Society, JP301-304.