Centre for the Study of Developing Societies
 Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), Delhi | |
| Abbreviation | CSDS |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1963 |
| Founder | Rajni Kothari |
| Purpose | social sciences and humanities research |
| Headquarters | 29 Rajpur Road, Civil Lines, Delhi - 110054 |
Director | Sanjay Kumar |
Main organ | Board of Governors |
| Website |
www |
The Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) is an Indian social sciences and humanities research institute. It was founded in 1963 by Rajni Kothari[1] and is largely funded by the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) under the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India.[2] It is located in New Delhi, close to Delhi University[3]
Overview
Professor Rajni Kothari, left his position as the Assistant Director of the National Institute of Community Development in 1963 to start the CSDS. Housed initially at a building owned by the Indian Adult Education Association (IAEA) at Indraprastha Estate, Delhi.[4] CSDS later moved in 1966-67 to its present location, with a regular inflow of adequate funds from Indian Council for Social Sciences Research.
"The Centre provides a unique institutional space which seeks to nurture intellectual interests outside the entrenched boundaries of academic disciplines. This simultaneously gives the Centre a sense of intimacy with and distance from universities. Therefore, the Centre has deliberately chosen not to duplicate the structure of university department. This also allows the Centre to support and nurture interdisciplinary modes of inquiry. Over the years, the Centre has also managed to generate and utilize a productive tension between rigorous scholarly work and social movements, between academic commitment and political practices."[2]
In 2004, CSDS established the "The Rajni Kothari Chair in Democracy" in the honour of founder Rajni Kothari, it is funded by grants from Ford Foundation and the Sir Ratan Tata Trust.[5] On November 27, 2012, CSDS celebrated its 50th anniversary in the presence in founder Rajni Kothari, and people who have been associated with the institute over years, Ashis Nandy, Sudhir Kakar, Sudhir Chandra, D.L. Sheth, Ramashray Roy, T. N. Madan, Ghanshyam Shah, J.S. Oberoi, Suresh Sharma, Harbans Mukhia, and Romila Thapar.[6]
Library
The library at CSDS started with a few bookshelves in the basement of IAEA and grew up into a full-fledged one by 1970. It is a library meant primarily for research and higher learning in the field of social sciences and humanities and reflects the interdisciplinary research ethos of the center. The collection consists of about 29,000 books and 5,000 bound volumes of journals and a modest set of reports and booklets. More than 130 journals are received regularly. Apart from works on contemporary themes, the library houses a rich collection of works on Asia and Africa, arms race and peace movement, non-European perspectives, science studies, ecology and environment, human rights collected over many years. Among the significant collections developing now, the areas are media, city/the urban, democracy, philosophy, political theory, cultural studies, art, history, and information society. There is a separate collection of Hindi books covering a broad range of subjects including literature. The access to CSDS library collection has been computerized and the catalogue can be accessed through any computer in the center. The electronic journal database JSTOR and Project Muse can be accessed in the library. The CSDS library is a member of Developing Libraries Network (DELNET) and Social Science Libraries Network (SSLN).[7]
Data Unit
The CSDS Data Unit, established in 1965, maintains an archive of social scientific survey data on political behaviour and attitudes, spanning over four decades. The Data Unit also holds a number of secondary data sets, specially on elections in India.[8] Its data archive hosts information on the following areas:
- National Election Studies
- Survey Data Sets
- National Election Studies
- State Assembly Election Studies
- State of Democracy in South Asia
- State of the Nation Surveys
- Other selected data sets
Programmes and projects
Ongoing research programmes in the Centre include:[9]
- Lokniti Programme for Comparative Democracy[10]
- The Sarai Programme[11]
- Programme in Social and Political Theory
- Indian Language Programme[12]
Faculty
- Ashis Nandy
- Rajeev Bhargava, Senior Fellow and Ex-Director
- Yogendra Yadav, Senior Fellow
- Madhu Purnima Kishwar, Senior fellow
- Abhay Kumar Dubey, Political Analyst
- Sanjay Kumar, Political Analyst and Present Director of CSDS and Co-director of Lokniti Program
Found Our Location on google map
See also
References
- ↑ "Personally speaking: Rajni Kothari". India-seminar.com. March 30, 2009. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
- 1 2 About CSDS CSDS website, March 30th, 2009.
- ↑ "Getting to CSDS". Csds.in. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
- ↑ "Interview Rajni Kothari, The Centre and Indian reality". Seminar. 2012. Retrieved 2014-01-14.
- ↑ "The Rajni Kothari Chair in Democracy at CSDS". CSDS. Retrieved 2014-01-13.
- ↑ Ananya Vajpeyi (December 4, 2012). "After the party: In celebration of mavericks, visionaries, loners and outliers". The Telegraph. Retrieved 2014-01-13.
- ↑ "CSDS - Centre for the Study of Developing Societies". Csds.in. Retrieved 2012-04-25.
- ↑ "CSDS". Csds.in. Retrieved 2012-04-25.
- ↑ "CSDS". Csds.in. Retrieved 2012-04-25.
- ↑ "Lokniti". Lokniti. 2011-07-30. Retrieved 2012-04-25.
- ↑ "Welcome to Sarai — S A R A I". Sarai.net. Retrieved 2012-04-25.
- ↑ "CSDS". Csds.in. Retrieved 2012-04-25.