Centre for Development Studies


The Centre for Development Studies, Trivandrum, Kerala, India is a social science research institution. Its main objective is to promote research, teaching and training in disciplines relevant to development.
The institute was established in October 9, 1970 by the economist Professor K. N. Raj.

Overview

Set up in 1971 by the late famous economist Professor K.N. Raj, the Centre for Development Studies is a self-governing institution known for its research in applied economics and topics germane to socio-economic development, pedagogy, and training programmes. TCDS is housed in Prasanth Nagar, a hamlet off the Thiruvananthapuram city. It is easily accessible by road, rail and air. The 10 acre campus is designed and delivered by late Laurie Baker. The K. N. Raj Library at CDS is one of the biggest repositories of books in South India with over 1,700,000 titles in economics and related disciplines and subscribing to about 260 print and 1800 online professional journals. It has a faculty strength of about 20.
Research at CDS is organised into six distinct themes:
There is a seventh cross-cutting theme, analysing the impact of globalisation on each of the six themes.
The teaching programme of the CDS includes:
All three programmes are affiliated to Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. The University of Kerala also has recognised CDS as a Centre for its doctoral studies. Besides, it has a number of short-duration occasional training programmes.

The Organizational Structure

The core financial support to the Centre comes from the Government of Kerala and the Indian Council of Social Science Research. Reserve Bank of India and the Planning Commission of India have instituted endowment units for research in selected areas at CDS. The Union Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs has established a migration unit at CDS to study issues relating to international migration from India.
The governance of CDS rests with the Governing Body consisting of academicians from across India.
The present chairman of the Governing Body is Shri. K. M. Chandrasekhar. The current Director is Professor Sunil Mani.

Notable Alumni

Notable alumni of CDS are alphabetically listed below:
  1. Agriculture, Water and Natural Resources: Pace and pattern of agricultural growth across regions in India with focus on the role of price and non-price factors in agricultural growth. Trade liberalisation and agriculture: opportunities and challenges factors, processes and determinants of agricultural and non-agricultural employment. Changes in the pattern of irrigation development and its linkages to agricultural development; changing pattern of water use in agriculture and non-agricultural sectors; pricing of water; institutional and technological issues in water management and sharing water between river basins and by states. Linkage between agricultural development and environmental degradation; macro- economic policies; natural resource utilisation and environmental protection.
  2. Gender and Development: Gender equality and development; gender analysis of public expenditure choices and the gender impact of specific macro and sectoral policies. The effects of globalisation, new information technologies, the spread of HIV/AIDS and population ageing from a gender perspective. The dimensions of the status of women in terms of both conventional indicators and non-conventional indicators. The effectiveness of development policies and programmes for women’s empowerment; documentation of ‘best practices’ for women’s empowerment through specific strategies and interventions at the micro level. Gender-specific constraints/barriers and progress towards gender equality; rights-based approach to gender equality. Gender, development and participation in the public sphere. ‘Gendered’ history of development in Kerala.
  3. Industry, Trade and Technology: Emerging issues in industrial organisation: Patterns of entry and exit, firm strategies, collusive behaviour and changing nature of competition, with special emphasis on the impact of mergers and acquisition on firm behaviour. Industry specific studies relying on primary data and in-depth case studies to unravel the processes of global integration with focus on inter-firm relationships and production networks. Patterns of innovation, their sources and extent of their diffusion, their role in the changing nature of competition and returns to innovations, innovations of small firms to negotiate globalisation through knowledge clusters, networking and co-operative research and development. Systems of innovations and technological capability enhancement with specific reference to the role of different agents in the context of globalisation of R&D with special emphasis on the role of indigenous technologies and the management of innovations. Barriers to diffusion and extent of path dependence of technologies. Challenges posed, and opportunities offered by the ‘new economy’ relating to growth, competitiveness, employment, productivity and redistribution.
  4. Migration: Linkages between migration, economic growth, income distribution, and social change.
  5. Population and Human Development: Changing age structure of the population consequent to demographic transition and its implications for human capital, savings and economic growth. Socio-economic inequalities in health, nutrition and education in the era of globalisation and their determinants. Social, economic and health security issues for the elderly.
  6. Poverty, Vulnerability and Social Security: Multiple dimensions of poverty and well-being in the capability approach framework. Vulnerability coping up mechanisms and livelihood strategies in the context of risk and uncertainties due to natural disasters and changing economic and social policies. A design for universal social security in combating poverty in its multiple dimensions. Concept and practice of development from a human rights perspective; poverty as violation of the right to development and its implications for interpreting different concrete situations, both in the past and present. Linkages of social security in its universal coverage, human development and economic growth.
  7. Cross-cutting theme:
  8. #Globalisation and Development: Social dimensions of globalisation, with focus on national and regional issues such as employment, social security and movement of people. WTO agreements and their implications for the national and the regional economies.
  9. #Impact of international capital flows: Non-tariff barriers in international trade and the national policy responses.
  10. #Environment and sustainable development under globalisation

    Research Units and Funds

CDS located in a residential area in the northwest part of the City of Thiruvananthapuram, called Prasanthnagar. The campus, designed and constructed by the architect, Dr Laurie Baker, epitomizes his style and philosophy of adaptive building methods. The CDS Library is now one of the biggest in South India with over 1,25, 000 titles in Economics and allied disciplines and subscribing to about 400 professional journals.The library is in the process of being automated.
Directors

  • P.G.K. Panikar, 1971-1985
  • T.N. Krishnan, 1985-1989
  • P.S. George, 1989-1995
  • Chandan Mukherjee, 1995-2003
  • K.P. Kannan, 2003-2004
  • K. Narayanan Nair, 2004-2010
  • Pulapre Balakrishnan, Dec. 2010-Dec. 2013
  • Amit Shovon Ray, Dec. 2013–Dec.2016
  • K. J. Joseph, Dec.2016-Jan.2017
  • Feb 2017 – present