Academic Background

I am an interdisciplinary freelance consultant and researcher with a background in geography and civil engineering. I completed a BA (Hons) in Human Geography and MRes in Geography at the University of Leicester. I became the first Indian woman with Cerebral Palsy to complete my PhD at the Water Engineering and Development Centre (WEDC) in the School of Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering at Loughborough University, UK. My thesis was on the WASH needs of perimenopausal women in urban Ghana. I am co-lead for the leave no-one behind theme at the Rural Water Supply Network and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.

Consultancy

Urban Infrastructure Planning

I specialise in urban infrastructure planning in India, focussing on the wider mechanisms such as city-level planning and national policy that come together to shape how different people experience cities. I draw upon my experience to understand how inclusive urban infrastructure such as sanitation, energy and housing can be delivered at scale across India, having analysed national policy mechanisms and engaged with organisations working to connect communities and local government to achieve this.

I have particular expertise in the expansion of access to sanitation through the Swachh Bharat Mission, focussing on shared community and public toilets as well as desludging services. I have also worked on the potential facilitation of access to energy for households with people with disabilities through the Saubhagya Scheme, Smart Cities Mission and the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana Scheme. I am also currently examining the extent to which ‘climate resilient’ inclusive urban sanitation can be achieved.

Hazardous and Marginalised Labour

A key focal point of my work is on hazardous and marginalised labour in India and the South Asia region, and how workers’ experiences are shaped inherently by caste, gender, and occupation. A particular area of interest and expertise is the engagement of low-caste and religious minority people in sanitation labour through septic tank and sewer line cleaning as well as toilet cleaning. I have worked in Odisha to understand sanitation workers’ hidden priorities as hidden populations, and the potential for professionalisation and targeted state and government level initiatives to ensure their safety at work, improve livelihoods and facilitate access to basic urban services such as housing. I have also engaged with work with sanitation workers in Nepal and Pakistan.

I am a member of the Hazardous Labour Geographies Network and previously was involved in organising the first online Sanitation Workers Forum in 2021. I am keen to expand this work further and welcome opportunities to collaborate on sanitation and other forms of hazardous and marginalised labour.

Capacity development and teaching

I offer two workshops on the WASH needs of perimenopausal women and how PhotoVoice can be used within the WASH sector as part of improving urban infrastructure planning and delivery. My training has reached sector professionals and postgraduate students in India, Australia,  Peru, Switzerland, Germany, Ghana, South Africa, Nigeria and more. Experiences of delivering this training can be seen from this blog by students at the Faculty of Planning, CEPT University, India.