Shubhagato Dasgupta (shubhagato@cprindia.

org)

A. Employment History:

Academic: Senior Fellow, Centre for Policy Research

May 2013 Onwards
1. Leading two large multi-year, Research and Policy Advocacy programs on
Scaling up urban water and sanitation infrastructure and services in India.
2. Research on national urban flagship programs (incl. JNNURM, AMRUT,
RAY, SMART Cities) design and its resultant impacts on project planning
monitoring and implementation
3. Member, German Government Scoping Mission for German program design for
collaboration on the Clean Ganga (Namami Gange) Mission
4. Board Member, J-Pal Urban Service Initiative – proposal selection 2013-2016
5. PhD candidate, Amsterdam Institute of Social Sciences, University of
Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Independent consulting:
Team Leader: Support to National Policies for Urban Poverty Reduction, UK Aid
from DFID-MoHUPA, GoI Partnership
July 2010 to April 2013
Led a 40 member team of senior consultants (international and national) and a
technical assistance fund of GBP 8 million and financial assistance fund of GBP 7
million, embedded as the Policy and Programme Support Unit at the Ministry of
Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, GoI. Supporting Policy and Program
development and implementation at MoHUPA; Strengthening a network of Resource
Centers and 4 National Resource Centers in particular; and supporting 20 cities in 15
states implement urban poor focused programs of the MoHUPA.
 Lead advisor on the design on two flagship National Programs National
Urban Livelihoods Mission and the Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY).
 Contributed to number of efforts of the MoHUPA including various Task
Forces, and schemes such as CF, CMTF, RRY and AHP etc.

Govt of India Committees:

1. National Transport Development Policy Committee, Government of India
Chaired by Dr Rakesh Mohan. Anchored the work on Urban Transport including
primary drafting of the urban transport chapter, 2011-13.
2. High Powered Expert Committee (HPEC) on estimating investment requirements
for urban infrastructure services, JNNURM, MoUD, Government of India, 2011.
Papers on Estimation of Urban Infrastructure Finance requirements till 2031 and
Estimates of Cost Escalations in urban projects in India with Ramesh Ramanathan,
Janagraaha for the HPEC.

Academic: Senior Fellow, Centre for Policy Research.

November 2008 – July 2010
Senior Fellow leading the collaboration with India China Institute (ICI), The New
School, New York, running the India – China Fellowship program and undertaking
India – China urban research and comparative analysis of Chinese and Indian Urban
governance and institutional framework; Water and Sanitation policy, governance
and service delivery provision challenges in India; and Supporting the
development of theindiacity.org web site for collaborative research on urban
issues. Various assignments for the World Bank, especially in Bangladesh and India
Shubhagato Dasgupta
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 (Gujarat).

Shubhagato Dasgupta
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Independent Consulting: Senior Urban Specialist – based in Johannesburg, South Africa
January 2007-August 2008
1. International Finance Corporation – worked on a number of urban sector projects
in Tanzania, Uganda, Lesotho, Kenya, Rwanda, India and Afghanistan on sector
policy, strategy, governance, institutional analysis and PPP design (water, sanitation,
solid waste management and urban development strategy), 2007-08
2. Acumen Fund: Identifying and screening pro-poor water, sanitation and waste
management projects for venture capital investment in East Africa and South Asia,
2007
3. Mvula Trust, South Africa: Inputs into programme planning on Water for
Development program for DWAF- Government of South Africa, and Participatory
Budgeting tool design for the water sector, 2007-08
4. Hifab/Stephen Berrisford Consulting - supported the strategy paper on Integrated
Urban Development for the African Development Bank, 2008

Multilateral Senior Urban Specialist, Water and Sanitation Program (WSP-SA), World Bank
Organization: Senior Urban Specialist, supported urban governance and institutional reform,
sanitation, solid waste and water supply initiatives of WSP especially on
commercialization, bank ability and pro-poor aspects and work on developing public
private partnerships (PPPs). Various activities which contributed to the design of the
JNNURM, including the CCF, Rapid Assessment of cities, design of various reforms
and the CDP structure.

Private Sector: Assistant Vice-President – Operations, Infrastructure Development Finance

Company (IDFC)
Assistant Vice-President – Operations, lead the urban infrastructure work in northern
India, including investment appraisals and the development and structuring of urban
infrastructure projects, for e.g., solid waste management, urban transport, tourism,
education, etc.

Public Sector: A.Appraisal Officer, Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO)
Appraisal officer to the Chairman and Managing Director, direct responsibilities
as part of the Chairman’s team included developing research papers and
presentations on issues related to Housing and Urban Development for HUDCO and
the MoUD; internal organizational co-ordination/management; and external
institutional liaisoning and coordination. Supported the CMD on a range of
externally aided projects and policy work for the MoUD.

Academic: Researcher, Human Settlements Management Institute (HSMI)

Researcher; wrote three sections of the UNDP and DOPT study, the first of its type
looking at third tier reforms entitled `Quest for Urban Sector Reforms’; organized
workshops, seminars and training programs for National, State and Local level
officials.

Non-Government: Researcher on Habitat and Poverty

Researcher at The Action Research Unit (TARU); Involved in action research for
governments and donors on development programs with specialization in analysis of
poverty issues in physical infrastructure. Also, worked in post-disaster situations esp.
in Uttarkashi and Latur.
Researcher at Ahmedabad Study Action Group (ASAG )in Ahmedabad; worked on
a rural housing project; developed participatory tools for decision making at the
community level.
B. Education and Professional Training:

Education: M.Sc. International Housing Studies, 1995-96

Development Planning Unit, University College London
University of London, United Kingdom
Recipient of Overseas Development Assistance Shared Scholarship Scheme

Dip.Arch in Architecture, 1988-94

School of Architecture, Centre of Environmental Planning & Technology,
Ahmedabad
Undergraduate Thesis "A Decision Support system for an Architect in the Rural
Housing Situation in India."

Professional Training:
Urban Water Supply and Sanitation reform, New Delhi, India, 2006
Advanced International Training program on Solid Waste Management,
Goteborg, Sweden, Apr-May 2006
Water Week Learning and training, World Bank, Washington DC, USA, 2004
Urban Symposium and learning week, World Bank, Washington DC, USA, 2003
Workshop on Urban Mobility and BRT Planning, World Bank and Institute for
Transport Development and Policy, Bogotá, Colombia and Quito, Ecuador, February
2003
South Asia Urban and City Management Course, World Bank Institute, Jaipur,
India, January 2002
Frontiers in Infrastructure Finance, World Bank Institute (WBI), Goa, India,
January 2001
Project Financing Alternatives: Opportunities, Risks, Evaluation. Strategic
Decisions Group, Stanford (USA), Mumbai, India, October 2000
Financial Decision Analysis Workshop, Strategic Decisions Group Stanford
(USA), Lonavala, India, 2000
C. Past Publications

Dasgupta, Murali, George and Kapur 2016. “Faecal Waste Management in Smaller Cities across South Asia: Getting
Right the Policy and Practice”, CPR – FANSA Research Report.
Dasgupta, 2015. Urgency of Understanding Sanitation Drivers in ‘Smaller Cities’ In India: National And
International Relevance. Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore, Policy Briefs: 400,
December, 2015.
Dasgupta, Ramaswamy, Norohna, Rao, et al 2015. Swachh Bharat: Industry Engagement – Scope & Examples. SCI-
FI: Sanitation Research Report. New Delhi: Centre for Policy Research.
Dasgupta 2015. “Sanitation effort must not go to waste”, Article in the India Today Magazine, New Delhi, August
2015.
Dasgupta, Jain 2014. Indonesia’s approach to urban sanitation: lessons for India, Centre for Policy Research New
Delhi.
Dasgupta, Jain 2014 (a). India in the World- Benchmarking Progress in Urban Sanitation Performance. Centre for
Policy Research New Delhi.
Dasgupta, George 2014. Keeping the NUSP effort on Track - A Case for Active Monitoring. Centre for Policy
Research New Delhi.
Misra, Dasgupta, 2013. “Evolution of National Policies for Basic Services, Affordable Housing and Livelihoods for
the Urban Poor”, in State of the Urban Poor Report 2013 ed. by O.P Mathur, Oxford University Press, 2013 pp 3-
23.
Dasgupta, 2010. Unravelling India’s enduring urban drinking water indigence, YOGANA.
Mehta, Dasgupta 2006. Alternative Service Delivery Models To Transform Citywide Municipal Waste Management
Services : The Case of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. CWG Workshop Proceedings, Kolkata, 2006
Savage, Dasgupta 2005. Governance Framework For Delivery of Urban Services, India Infrastructure Report, New
Delhi India, 2005 pp 42-58.
Mohan R and Dasgupta S, 2005. The 21st Century : Asia Becomes Urban, Economic and Political Weekly, pp.213–
223.
Mohan R and Dasgupta S, 2004, Urban Development in India in the 21st Century: Policies for Accelerating Urban
Growth, Working Paper Number 231, Stanford Centre for International Development, Stanford University,
Stanford, CA.
Dasgupta, 2002. “Towards Public Private Partnership: Solutions for India’s Urban Public Transport Problems”
chapter in `Urban Transport for Growing Cities – High Capacity Bus Systems’ edited by Dr. Geetam Tiwari,
Macmillan, New Delhi 2002
Dasgupta, 1996. Participatory tools for an Architect involved in community design. Environment and Urbanisation,
Vol. 8 Num. 2, London. pp 201-212.
Dasgupta, 1996. Habitat II and the new Partnerships Agenda, in the DPUNEWS London, July 1996
Dasgupta, 1996. “A Decision Support System for an Architect in the rural housing situation in India” Conference
proceedings of the second international conference on Design and Decision Support Systems Eindhoven, 1994.

E. Selected public talks and outreach presentations since 2015:

1. “Evolution of Water and Sanitation Policies and Programs in India: Getting scale
right!”, Keynote Talk at the Third International Faecal Sludge Management Conference, Melina
Hotel, Hanoi, Vietnam, January 2015.

2. “Framing the Open Defecation Free measurement question”, lead presentation at the Niti Aayog
– CPR Open Seminar, New Delhi, May, 2015.

3. “Zero waste in India : Some Policy questions”, lead presentation at the Niti Aayog – CPR Open
Seminar, New Delhi, June, 2015.
 4. “Rajya Sabha TV: The Big Picture – Housing for all: Viability and Roadblocks”, panel
discussion, 18th June 2015

5. “Lok Sabha TV: Smart Urban Plans” – panel discussion, 25th June 2015.

6. “Understanding Sanitation Challenges in “Smaller Cities” in India”, talk at the India’s Worlds of
Waste Workshop at the Institute of South Asian Studies, NUS, July 2015.

7. “Evolution of Sanitation Policies and Programs in India”, Special Lecture, CDD Society,
Bangalore August, 2015.

8. “Inclusive and sustainable “Swachh” Urban India: Prioritizing outcomes over infrastructure
creation”, Keynote talk at the University of Florida and Institute for Human Development, New
Delhi August 2015.

9. “Sanitation effort must not go to waste”, Article in the India Today Magazine, 15th August, 2015.

10. “Urban Sanitation – Challenges faced in India”, plenary presentation at the Asia Pacific Housing
Forum 5 (APHF5), Delhi, on the 3 September 2015

11. “Swachh Bharat: Industry engagements scope and examples” presentation on the report at the
CPR-CII National Conference on Sanitation : Swachh Bharat – Creating Demand and Building
partnerships, at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, 24th September 2015.

12. “Prioratising outcomes over infrastructure creation”, presentation at the 25th East-West Center,
New Generation Seminar program in Mumbai, India on "Rising India: Shifting Regional Power
Dynamics, Meeting Domestic Challenges", Sept 25, 2015.

13. “Conceiving an inclusive and sustainable “Swachh” Urban India”, Special Lecture at the Asian
Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand, October, 2015.

14. “Smart innovations for city-wide urban sanitation”, presentation at the training program on
SMART cities, organised by the Ministry of Urban Development and the Bloomberg Foundation,
New Delhi, 2nd November 2015.

15. “Policy Limitations due to limited urban research”, talk at the Urban Thinkers Workshop, NIUA
November 2015.

16. “Urgency Of Understanding Sanitation Drivers In ‘Smaller Cities’ In India: National And
International Relevance”, Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore, Policy
Briefs: 400, December, 2015.

17. Curated a Roundtable discussion on “Waste-full Cities: Ground-level Challenges and Research
Questions”, at the Eighth INSEE Biennial Conference, on “Urbanization and the Environment”,
Bengaluru, January, 2016,

18. “Faecal Waste Management in Smaller Cities across South Asia: Getting Right the Policy and
Practice”, presentation on the CPR – FANSA Research Report at the South Asian Regional
Conference on Sanitation (SACOSAN), January 2016.

E. Personal details: First Floor, S-141, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi 110070,
India Cell: +919811660176
and
27 Claymore Road, # 20-03, The Claymore, Singapore 229544.
Singapore cell: +6591064322
email: Shubhagato@cprindia.org; shubhagato@hotmail.com
Born on Feb 26, 1968, Male, Indian national, Married