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Ashok Swain
Ashok Swain
Born	(1965-02-19) 19 February 1965 (age 59) Odisha, India
Nationality	Swedish
Alma mater	Delhi University, Jawaharlal Nehru University
Known for	Research on Transboundary Water Sharing, climate change, and population migration, Writing about global politics and contemporary India

Ashok Swain is an Indian-born Swedish academic and public intellectual. He is a professor of peace and conflict research at the Department of Peace and Conflict Research at Uppsala University in Uppsala, Sweden. In 2017, he was appointed as the UNESCO Chair on International Water Cooperation and became the first UNESCO Chair of Uppsala University.

He's also the Head of the Department of Conflict Research at Uppsala University. He's the Director of the Research School for International Water Cooperation of Uppsala University & SIWI. Ashok Swain is also founding editor-in-chief of the journal 'Environment & Security' (Sage).

Swain was an Associate Senior Fellow to the SIPRI Climate Change Risk Program. He was the founding director of Uppsala University's Center for Sustainable Development from 2008 to 2012. He has been a Mac Arthur Fellow at the University of Chicago. Swain has held visiting fellowship at UN Research Institute for Social Development, Geneva. He has held visiting professorships at Stanford University, McGill University, the University of British Columbia, the University of Maryland, Tufts University, and the University of Natural Sciences and Life Sciences, Vienna.

Swain writes a weekly column 'Right is Wrong' for Gulf News. Swain has also written opinion articles in publications including The Daily Mail, Nikkei Asia, Quartz, The Conversation, Business Standard, Outlook (India), Scroll India, The Express Tribune, The Wire (India), The Print, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), DailyO, National Herald, Down to Earth, The Africa Report, Economic and Political Weekly, East Asia Forum, Fair Observer, Janta Ka Reporter, The Third Pole, and The Kochi Post.

Swain is among the members of the Indian diaspora whose Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card has been canceled by the Government of India. Swain is a speaker at the World Government Summit 2024 in Dubai. Swain's Twitter account has been withheld in India since August 2023.

Early life and education

Swain was born in the eastern Indian State of Odisha. After studying in his village school, he completed his Bachelor of Arts from Ravenshaw College, Cuttack under Utkal University, Bhubaneswar.

He received his Master of Arts from the University of Delhi.

Swain received his Ph.D. in 1991 from the School of International Studies of Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India with the thesis titled Security of Small States in the International System.

Views and opinions

Swain has expressed his views through interviews with BBC Radio, NBC News, Voice of America, Al Jazeera, and TRT World, as well as through his articles and tweets.

Anti-CAA protests

Writing about the widespread anti-CAA protests in 2019, Swain said the Modi government's legislation such as the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 made India's 200 million Muslims nervous about their status in an "overwhelmingly Hindu-majority country."

Swain wrote that Muslims saw through the Citizenship (Amendment) Act's dangers as that law may lead to millions of Muslims being made stateless though the Act initially only sought to give citizenship to religious minorities from India's neighboring countries who are fleeing those countries and seeking refuge in India. The Act explicitly failed to mention Muslims while mentioning every other religion.

In February 2020, he shared false voter information of jamia shooter on twitter and alleged that he wasn't a minor. He later deleted that tweet claiming 'confusion' over correctness of voter's list entry.

Article 370

Swain was critical of the Modi government's decision to revoke the special status of Jammu & Kashmir. Swain tweeted that liberals who had turned nationalists should be careful about celebrating this decision.

Rahul Gandhi

Swain has commented that Rahul Gandhi is the only serious political challenger to Narendra Modi on a pan-India basis.

OCI Card cancellation

In December 2022, Swain filed a suit in the Delhi High Court in India challenging the cancellation of his Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India.

In his lawsuit, Swain has said that he received a show cause notice in October 2020 in which Swain was alleged to have indulged in "inflammatory speeches and anti-India activities." The Embassy of India to Sweden and Latvia has cancelled Swain's OCI card in February 2022.

Swain has stated in his legal submission that he has "never engaged in any inflammatory speeches or anti-India activities." He has further stated that as a scholar, it is his role in society to "discuss and critique the policies of the Government." Swain further states that he analyzes and criticizes certain policies of the present India government; however, such criticism of the "current ruling dispensation shall not be tantamount to anti-India activities."

In February 2023, the Delhi High Court granted further time of four weeks to the Government of India to file its response on the suit filed by Swain challenging the basis for the cancellation of his OCI card.

In July 2023, the Delhi High Court set aside the Government of India's order revoking Swain's OCI status.

The Central Government of India through the Ministry of Home Affairs informed the Delhi High Court that Swain was found indulging in ‘illegal activities inimical’ to the interests of India.

Selected publications

–=== Books ===

• Ashok Swain, Climate Security (London: Sage, 2025).
• Ashok Swain & Anders Jägerskog, Emerging Security Threats in the Middle East: The Impact of Climate Change and Globalization (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2016).
• Anton Earle, Ana Elise Cascao, Stina Hansson, Anders Jägerskog, Ashok Swain, & J¨oakim Öjendal, Transboundary Water Management and the Climate Change Debate (London: Routledge, 2015).
• Ashok Swain, Understanding Emerging Security Challenges: Threats and Opportunities (London: Routledge, 2012).
• Ashok Swain, Struggle Against the State: Social Network and Protest Mobilization in India (Farnham: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2010).
• Ashok Swain, Managing Water Conflict: Asia, Africa and the Middle East (London & New York: Routledge, 2004).
• Ashok Swain, The Environmental Trap: The Ganges River Diversion, Bangladeshi Migration and Conflicts in India (Uppsala: Department of Peace and Conflict Research, 1996).
• Ashok Swain, Environment and Conflict: Analyzing the Developing World (Uppsala: Department of Peace and Conflict Research, 1993).

Edited books

• Sofie Hellberg, Fredrik Söderbaum, Ashok Swain, Joakim Öjendal, eds., Routledge Handbook of Water and Development (London: Routledge, 2023).
• Ashok Swain, Joakim Öjendal, & Anders Jägerskog, eds., Handbook of Security and the Environment (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2021).
• Anders Jägerskog, Michael Schulz & Ashok Swain, Routledge Handbook on Middle East Security (London: Routledge, 2019).
• Ashok Swain & Joakim Öjendal, eds., Routledge Handbook of Environmental Conflict and Peacebuilding (London: Routledge, 2018).
• Anders Jägerskog, Ashok Swain & Joakim Öjendal, eds., Water Security (4 Volume Set) (London: Sage Publications Ltd, 2014).
• Ramses Amer, Ashok Swain & Joakim Öjendal. eds., The Security-Development Nexus: Peace, Conflict and Development (London: Anthem Press, 2012).
• Ashok Swain, Ramses Amer & Joakim Öjendal. eds., The Democratization Project: Opportunities and Challenges (London: Anthem Press, 2009).
• Ashok Swain, Ramses Amer & Joakim Öjendal. Eds., Globalization and Challenges to Building Peace (London, New York & Delhi: Anthem Press, 2007).
• Ashok Swain, ed., Islam and Violent Separatism: New Democracies in Southeast Asia (London, New York & Bahrain: Kegan Paul, 2007).
• Ashok Swain, ed.,Diasporas, Armed Conflicts and Peacebuilding in their Homelands (Uppsala University, Department of Peace and Conflict Research, 2007).
• Fiona Rotberg & Ashok Swain, eds., Natural Resources Scarcity in South Asia: Nepal's Water (Stockholm: Institute for Security and Development Policy, 2007).
• Ashok Swain, ed., Education as Social Action: Knowledge, Identity and Power (Basingstoke & New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005).

References

1. "Ashok Swain - Uppsala University, Sweden". katalog.uu.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 14 September 2018.
2. "First UNESCO Chair at Uppsala University - Uppsala University, Sweden". www.uu.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 14 September 2018.
3. "Unescoprofessurer i Sverige " Svenska Unescorådet". www.unesco.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 14 September 2018.
4. "Environment and Security". 13 April 2022.
5. "Varför brister politikerna när det gäller miljömålen?" [Why do politicians fail when it comes to environmental goals?] (PDF) (in Swedish).
6. "Professor Ashok Swain". sipri.org. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
7. Swain, Ashok (6 February 2024). "UNRWA in crisis: The story behind funding suspension in Gaza". gulfnews.com. Gulf News. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
8. Swain, Ashok (30 July 2020). "How the Grand Renaissance Dam might spark basin-wide water cooperation". theconversation.com. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
9. Hall, Natasha; Swain, Ashok (14 August 2023). "Water in a Multipolar World: China and the Issue of Water Management". csis.org. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
10. "Ashok Swain". muckrack.com. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
11. Lalwani, Vijayta (12 February 2024). "How The Modi Govt Is Trying To Silence Critics In The Diaspora By Banning Them From India". article-14.com. Retrieved 14 February 2024.
12. "Peace and Resilience: Can the World Be a Haven for All?". worldgovernmentsummit.org. Retrieved 14 February 2024.
13. "Post". twitter.com. 20 August 2023. Retrieved 14 February 2024.
14. "Post". twitter.com. 8 October 2023. Retrieved 14 February 2024.
15. "Ashok Swain". uu.se. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
16. "BBCWorld — Ram Temple". soundcloud.com. 22 January 2024. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
17. Jett, Jennifer (22 November 2023). "In the Israel-Hamas war, China and India walk opposite sides of the same fine line". nbcnews.com. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
18. Rahman, Shaikh Azizur (29 June 2022). "India Arrests Media Fact-Checker, Sparks Press Freedom Concerns". voanews.com. Voice of America. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
19. Hussain, Bilal (5 May 2021). "India's Media Face Increasing Hostility, Experts Say". voanews.com. Voice of America. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
20. Mohammad, Niala (17 April 2020). "Coronavirus Spread in India Sparks Intolerance Toward Minority Muslims". voanews.com. Voice of America. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
21. Mohammad, Niala (21 December 2019). "Kashmir Internet Shutdown Takes Toll on Economy". voanews.com. Voice of America. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
22. Bahree, Megha (27 October 2023). "Shifting politics make India a hotbed for Israel-Hamas war misinformation". aljazeera.com. Al Jazeera. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
23. "Where do China, Russia and India stand on the Gaza war?". aljazeera.com. Al Jazeera. 13 October 2023. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
24. "Russian mercenaries in Sudan: What is the Wagner Group's role?". aljazeera.com. Al Jazeera. 17 April 2023. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
25. Saberin, Zeenat (21 March 2018). "India: Can Congress party under Rahul Gandhi defeat Modi?website=aljazeera.com". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
26. Ghanem, Noureldein (6 June 2023). "Experts warn climate crisis could exacerbate Nile dam tensions". trtworld.com. TRT World. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
27. Swain, Ashok (16 December 2019). "Raging resistance against India's anti-Muslim citizenship law". theasiadialogue.com. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
28. Swain, Ashok (22 December 2019). "CAA-NRC protests: India must collectively rise to thwart Modi and Man Friday Shah". gulfnews.com. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
29. "Incorrect voter information of Jamia shooter circulated to suggest he's not a minor". Alt News. 3 February 2020. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
30. "The world reacts to India's "illegal annexation" of Kashmir". trtworld.com. 5 August 2019. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
31. Swain, Ashok (3 April 2023). "Why this is Rahul Gandhi's crowning political moment in India". gulfnews.com. Retrieved 5 August 2023.
32. Thapliyal, Nupur (8 December 2022). "Delhi High Court Seeks Centre's Response On Ashok Swain's Petition Challenging Cancellation Of OCI Card". livelaw.in. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
33. Jha, Prashant (8 December 2022). "Professor Ashok Swain moves Delhi High Court against cancellation of his Overseas Citizen of India card by Central government". barandbench.com. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
34. Prasad, Malavika (9 December 2022). "Delhi HC seeks Centre's response to Sweden-based professor Ashok Swain's plea against cancellation of OCI card". Indian Express. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
35. "Delhi HC Seeks Report From Govt Over Academic Ashok Swain's OCI Card Cancellation". outlookindia.com. PTI. 8 December 2022. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
36. Thapliyal, Nupur (7 February 2023). "Delhi High Court Grants Further Time To Centre For Filing Response On Ashok Swain's Plea Against Cancellation Of OCI Card". livelaw.in. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
37. "HC grants 4 more weeks to Centre to file response on plea by Ashok Swain against cancellation of OCI card". deccanherald.com. Deccan Herald. PTI. 7 February 2023. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
38. Scroll Staff (10 July 2023). "Delhi High Court sets aside Centre's order revoking academic Ashok Swain's OCI status". scroll.in. Scroll India. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
39. "Delhi HC sets aside cancellation of Sweden-based academic Ashok Swain's OCI card". hindustantimes.com. Hindustan Times. 10 July 2023. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
40. Thapliyal, Nupur (10 July 2023). "Delhi High Court Sets Aside Order Cancelling Academic Ashok Swain's OCI Card, Asks Centre To Pass Fresh Order". livelaw.in. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
41. Jha, Prashant (10 July 2023). "Delhi High Court sets aside Central government order cancelling OCI card of Professor Ashok Swain". barandbench.com. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
42. "Found indulging in 'illegal activities inimical' to the interests of India: Centre tells Delhi HC on Swain's OCI cancellation". 8 February 2024.
43. https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/climate-security/book287338
44. https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781442247642/Emerging-Security-Threats-in-the-Middle-East-The-Impact-of-Climate-Change-and-Globalization
45. Earle, Anton; Cascao, Ana Elisa; Hansson, Stina; Jägerskog, Anders; Swain, Ashok; Öjendal, Joakim (2015). Transboundary Water Management and the Climate Change Debate. Routledge. ISBN 9781136228360. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
46. Swain, Ashok (2013). Understanding Emerging Security Challenges: Threats and Opportunities. Routledge. ISBN 9780415523301. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
47. Swain, Ashok (2016). Struggle Against the State: Social Network and Protest Mobilization in India. Routledge. ISBN 9781317049050.
48. Swain, Ashok (2004). Managing Water Conflict: Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Routledge. ISBN 9781135768836. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
49. Swain, Ashok (1996). The Environmental Trap: The Ganges River Diversion, Bangladeshi Migration, and Conflicts in India. Department of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala University. ISBN 9789150611458. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
50. Swain, Ashok (1993). Environment and Conflict: Analysing the Developing World. Uppsala University. ISBN 9789150609905. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
51. "Routledge Handbook of Water and Development".
52. Swain, A.; Öjendal, J.; Jägerskog, A. (2021). Handbook of Security and the Environment. Elgar Handbooks in Energy, the Environment and Climate Change. Edward Elgar Publishing Limited. ISBN 978-1-78990-066-8. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
53. Jägerskog, Anders; Schulz, Michael; Swain, Ashok (2019). Routledge Handbook on Middle East Security. Routledge. ISBN 9781351718363. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
54. Swain, Ashok; Öjendal, Joakim (2018). Routledge Handbook of Environmental Conflict and Peacebuilding. Routledge. ISBN 9781315473758. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
55. Jägerskog, Anders; Swain, Ashok; Öjendal, Joakim (2014). Water Security. SAGE Publications. ISBN 9781446293928. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
56. Amer, Ramses; Swain, Ashok; Öjendal, Joakim (2013). The Security-Development Nexus: Peace, Conflict and Development. Anthem Press. ISBN 9781783080656. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
57. Swain, Ashok; Amer, Ramses; Öjendal, Joakim (2011). The Democratization Project: Opportunities and Challenges. Anthem Press. ISBN 9780857283993.
58. Swain, Ashok; Amer, Ramses; Öjendal, Joakim (2008). Globalization and Challenges to Building Peace. Anthem Press. ISBN 9781843312871.
59. Swain, Ashok (2014). Islam And Violent Separatism. Routledge. ISBN 9781135024420.
60. Bush, Kenneth D. (2007). Diasporas, Armed Conflicts and Peacebuilding in Their Homelands. Uppsala Universitet. ISBN 9789150619638.
61. Swain, Ashok (2007). Natural Resources Scarcity in South Asia: Nepal's Water (Stockholm: Institute for Security and Development Policy, 2007). Editor with Fiona Rotberg. Stockholm: Institute for Security and Development Policy. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
62. Swain, A. (2005). Education as Social Action: Knowledge, Identity and Power. Springer. ISBN 9780230505605.

External links

• Ashok Swain Twitter Page
• Interview on Al Jazeera
• Interview on BBC World
• Interview on DW World
• Interview on UnHerd
• Interview on TRT World regarding the 2022 Leicester unrest
• Interview on The Wire about the Taliban returning to power in Afghanistan in 2021
• Interview regarding the Nile River dispute/GERD
• Interview on TRT World regarding the Nile dam dispute
• Interview in Hindi on the 2023 Israel-Hamas war
• Interview on BBC World about Sri Lanka's economic crisis
• Interview on DW News about the political crisis in Pakistan in 2021-2022
• Interview on TRT World about global inequality
• Interview about the crises affecting Libya following Storm Daniel

• Scholars from Odisha
• 1965 births
• Living people
• Odia people
• Indian diaspora
• Indian expatriate academics
• Academic staff of Uppsala University
• Jawaharlal Nehru University alumni
• Indian emigrants to Sweden
• Swedish people of Indian descent
• Swedish scholars and academics
• People with Overseas Citizenship of India