As the Corona death toll rises in India, new Leverhulme grant enables Anirban Mitra to continue this important research.
Dr Anirban Mitra has been awarded a Leverhulme International Fellowship with a value of £49,850 over 24 months to conduct research on “The (Local) Political Economy of a Global Pandemic: Lessons from India.”
“We plan to collate data on political dynasties in the major Indian states by expanding our existing database. We will then match this to various Covid-19 outcomes in the Indian districts and subsequently combine this with detailed data on Hindu-Muslim conflict. This novel database will then be utilised to study various important questions regarding the interplay between political dynasties, religious conflict, and the spread of the pandemic. Our time-varying data will help understand how politics affects the course of the pandemic and how religious conflict conditions this relationship.”
“I’m thrilled since in terms of my research agenda, this takes off from where my BA Small Grant leaves me so, the continuity is maintained.” Anirban told us “This research will deepen our understanding of how the presence and actions of political dynasties (which is a feature of many democracies) affect the course of the pandemic. Also, we can examine how on-going religious conflict conditions this relationship.”
The funds will support visits to IIM Bangalore and NYU for Anirban to work with his research collaborators over the duration of the award.