Udisha Saklani

Ph.D. student at the Department of Geography and Newnham College

My research interests lie in water and environmental governance, sustainability transitions, and development partnerships.

Biography

Career

• May 2018 – September 2018: Consultant, United Nations Development Programme (India)
• July 2017 – September 2018: Social Media Editor, International Journal for Water Resources Development, Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group
• October 2015 – September 2018: Consultant, Institute of Water Policy (Singapore)
• August 2014 – September 2015: Research Assistant, Institute of Water Policy (Singapore)
• October 2012- March 2014: Graduate Research Assistant (multiple projects), Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (Singapore)

Qualifications

• 2014: Master’s in Public Policy, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore
• 2011: BA (Hons) Mathematics, St.Stephen’s College, University of Delhi

Funding and awards

• Margaret Anstee Centre for Global Studies Scholarship (2019-2022), Newnham College, University of Cambridge
• GARS Travel & Research Fund (2021), Newnham College, University of Cambridge
• University Fieldwork Fund Award (2019), Department of Geography, University of Cambridge
• Philip Lake Fund II (2019), Department of Geography, University of Cambridge

Research

My research broadly examines hydropower infrastructure as a lens to study the networks and connections through which it is organized. I reflect on the role of socio-technical imaginaries, discourses, geopolitical and historical conditions, and tensions in explaining its processes and consequences. In particular, I investigate the internationalization of the Indian dam-building industry – the discourses, politics, and modalities that are driving these investments, and the manner in which host countries are dealing with the burgeoning interests, strong advocacy, and funding support for hydropower development in their territories.

My past research has mostly focussed on the Global South and has included themes such as:

• Water infrastructure and public-private partnerships
• Environmental behaviour and public reform
• Climate adaptation, resilience and livelihoods
• Water conflict and cooperation

Publications

Peer-reviewed journal articles and working papers

• Saklani, U. (2023). Building infrastructure abroad: India’s enterprises in Africa and South Asia. FutureDAMS Policy Report. Manchester: The University of Manchester.
• Saklani, U., Kaur, N., Tuladhar, S., Nagpal, D., Gyeltshen, M., Bisht, S., and Goodrich, C.G. (2022). Renewable energy and resilient enterprise development in the Hindu Kush Himalaya, ICIMOD.
• Saklani, U. (2021) Anti-dam Struggles and the Technopolitics of Hydropower: The Case of Arun-III in Nepal. FutureDAMS Working Paper 017. Manchester: The University of Manchester.
• Schulz, C.& Saklani, U. (2021) The future of hydropower development in Nepal: Views from the private sector, Renewable Energy 179: 1578-1588. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2021.07.138
• Saklani, U., Shrestha.P., Mukherji, A., & Scott C.A. (2020) Hydro-energy cooperation in South Asia: Prospects for transboundary energy and water security, Environmental Science & Policy 114: 22-34. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2020.07.013
• Saklani, U. & Tortajada, C. (2019) India’s development cooperation in Bhutan’s hydropower sector: Concerns and public perceptions, Water Alternatives 12(2): 734-759. https://www.water-alternatives.org/index.php/alldoc/articles/volume-12/v12issue2/525-a12-2-8
• Tortajada, C. & Saklani, U. (2018) Hydropower-based collaboration in South Asia: The case of India and Bhutan, Energy Policy 117: 316-325. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.02.046
• Ziegler, et al. (2014) Pilgrims, progress, and the political economy of disaster preparedness – the example of the 2013 Uttarakhand flood and Kedarnath disaster, Hydrological Processes, 28(24): 5985-5990. doi:https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.10349

Book chapters

• Tortajada, C., Saklani. U. and Biswas, A.K. (2017) Water Scarcity and Regional Security in India, in D. Reed (Ed.), Water, Security and U.S. Foreign Policy (pp. 237–252). London: Routledge
• Saklani, U. (2016) The Indian River-Linking Programme, in Vijay P. Singh (Ed.), Handbook of Applied Hydrology, Second Edition, (pp. 143.1 – 143.10). USA: Tata McGraw-Hill

Other publications (selected)

• Saklani, U. (2021, February 16) Prepare to fail? Dam development in the face of rising disasters. FutureDams Blog. http://www.futuredams.org/dam-disaster-events/
• Saklani, U. & Tortajada, C. (2020) India-Bhutan hydropower cooperation: Perceptions and Politics, Sambandh Scholars Speak, CSEP (India). https://csep.org/blog/india-bhutan-hydropower-cooperation-perceptions-and-politics/
• Biswas, A.K., Saklani, U. and Tortajada, C. (2017) India’s rural-urban conundrum, Policy Forum
• Biswas, A.K., Saklani, U. and Tortajada, C. (2017) India’s rising problem: Urban floods, The Strait Times
• Biswas, A.K., Tortajada, C. and Saklani, U. (2017), New Delhi is running out of water, The Conversation
• Biswas, A.K., Saklani, U. and Tortajada, C. (2017), Solution to Delhi’s never-ending water problems, India Water Review, Vol.7, Issue.4
• Biswas, A.K., Saklani, U. and Tortajada, C. (2017), Delhi: A quintessential example of India’s water mismanagement, The Business Times
• Biswas, A.K., Tortajada, C. and Saklani, U. (2017) Pumped Dry: India’s accelerating and invisible groundwater crisis, Policy Forum
• Biswas, A.K., Tortajada, C. and Saklani, U. (2016) Water Scarcity a key factor to regional security in India, The Business Times
• Saklani, U. and Tortajada, C. (2016) The China factor in India–Bhutan relations, East Asia Forum
• Tortajada, C. and Saklani, U. (2016) India and Bhutan: Cross-Country Power Connectivity, The Diplomat
• Tortajada, C. and Saklani, U. (2015) India’s River-Linking program highlights costs, opportunities of large-scale water infrastructure projects, OOSKA News

Conferences

• Paper presented: “India’s blended finance approach: The case of Nepal’s hydropower sector”, IUKDPF’s Indian ExIm Bank Fellowship programme, June 2022 (online)
• Paper presenter: “Context, contingencies, and configurations: Reviving dams in Nepal”, American Association for Geographers (AAG), January 2022 (online)
• Paper presenter: “Hydropower’s new techno-political regime? ‘New actors’, shifting alliances, and deflecting discourses”, Energy Ethics 2021, University of St.Andrews, United Kingdom, October 2021
• Paper presenter: “Hydro diplomacy: Prospects and Opportunities for Nepal”, Nepal Institute for International Cooperation and Engagement (NIICE), Kathmandu, Nepal, October 2021
• Discussant: “Prospects for Energy Cooperation in South Asia”, IMPRI Impact and Policy Research Institute, New Delhi, India (2021)
• Paper Presenter: “India’s hydropower sector: Recent trends and development perspectives”, ICIMOD-IWP Conference on Regional Hydropower Development in the Himalayas, Kathmandu, Nepal, November 2017
• Paper Presenter: “From Waste to Sustainable Livelihoods”, Cornell Law School conference on Women, Sustainable Development, and Food Sovereignty/Security in a Changing World, Ithaca, New York, March 2012

Reports

• Saklani, U. (2018), Gap analysis and future strategy for homestay tourism development in Uttarakhand. Report submitted to the Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board, Government of Uttarakhand, India.
• Saklani, U. (2018) Training module for Homestay Providers in Uttarakhand. Report submitted to the Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board, Government of Uttarakhand, India.
• Saklani, U. (2018) Action Plan for Establishment of Project Management Support for Tourism Programmes in Uttarakhand. Report submitted to the Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board, Government of Uttarakhand, India.

Teaching

I supervise the following undergraduate and graduate courses:

• Part 1A Paper: Geopolitics and Political Geography, Dept. of Geography, University of Cambridge
• Part 1A Paper: The Historical Geography of Globalization, Dept. of Geography, University of Cambridge
• Part 1A Paper: Society, Environment and Sustainable Development, Dept. of Geography, University of Cambridge
• Part 1B Paper 3: Development Theories, Policies, and Practices, Dept. of Geography, University of Cambridge
• Paper 5: Environmental Economics and Law, Dept. of Land Economy, University of Cambridge
• Paper EP02: Environmental Economics and Policy, Dept. of Land Economy, University of Cambridge (graduate course)

External activities

• Co-convenor of ‘Fieldwork Seminar Series: Methodologies in the field’. Department of Geography (November 2018 – April 2019)