ISEC: transforming people's lives
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The institute helps governments shape welfare policies
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- Photo: K.Murali Kumar
CRUCIAL ROLE: The Director of ISEC Gopal Kadekodi.
THE INSTITUTE for Social and Economic Change (ISEC), an all-India institute of multidisciplinary research and training in social sciences, is an incredible treasure house of knowledge.
Founded in 1972 by eminent social scientists led by V.K.R.V. Rao, who was also the former Union Minister for Education, the institute is located on a 16-hectare landscape at Nagarbhavi in Bangalore.
The institute provides advice and inputs towards policymaking at the State and Central Government level. It conducts a number of programmes to make a change in the social and economic life style of the people. "It is playing the role of a catalyst in the social and economic transformation in the country," says the Director, Gopal K. Kadekodi.
Its main objectives are to promote pure and applied research in social and economic development and change; assist Central, State and local governments by providing advise based on policy-related studies; and undertake regular training of Ph.D. students and teachers in universities and colleges, officials and political functionaries. It assists multilateral organisations such as the World Bank, the U.N. and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in undertaking research and training programmes. The former director, M. Govinda Rao, has widened the horizon of the institute by networking with the global agencies.
ISEC has a qualified faculty of 42 in different areas of social sciences. It conducts research activities under 12 units and programmes. The units include Economics, Ecology Economics, Reserve Bank of India, Agricultural Development and Rural Transformation (ADRT), Population Research Centre (PRC), Sociology, Decentralisation and Development Unit (DDU), Development Administration, and Education.
Sylvan Surroundings" The ISEC campus at Nagarbhavi in Bangalore
ISEC finetunes its research agenda once in five years. The thrust areas of research for the years 2004-10 are: macro-economic reforms including public finance, sectoral reforms of the economy, globalisation and its impact on Indian economy and society, good governance and public policy and social systems and change.
Ph.D. course
The institute admits about 10 students for the Ph.D. course every year in major disciplines. 150 students applied this year. The students are selected from all over the country on the basis of tests and interviews. They have to undergo a pre-Ph.D. training course for one year. They are allowed to register and work on their theses only after successful completion of the one-year course. All the Ph.D. fellows are required to present two seminars in a year (June and December).
The institute invites applications in March. The course starts in August every year. ISEC is affiliated to Bangalore, Mysore, and Mangalore Universities, University of Karnataka, Dharwad and Central University of Hyderabad. From 1978 to 2004, 108 students have secured doctoral degrees from ISEC in various social science disciplines, said K.S. Narayana, in-charge of the Ph.D. programme.
ICSSR Fellowships
All doctoral students at ISEC are supported with fellowships and contingency allowances. The ICSSR has allotted six fellowships to the institute. Of the six, five are for students and one is for teacher fellowship with salary protection. The ICSSR provides the fellowships only for three years. However, the institute make all efforts to support the doctoral students upto four years of their studies. The institute encourages students to take up the Ph.D. programme on part-time basis.
Training programmes
ISEC is involved in imparting training to university and college teachers and administrators at different levels. It undertakes refresher courses in quantitative techniques and computer applications for teachers under the ICSSR programme. Courses were organised for private agencies such as Action Aid and Hindustan Lever. Prof. Kadekodi says there have been requests to conduct short-term training programmes for the members of panchayats in the State.
Projects
The institute generates funds by undertaking projects of Central and State Governments and international agencies. On an average, about 25 projects are completed per year and another 25-30 are approved as new projects. Currently, the institute is completing the Karnataka Development Report and components of the Karnataka Human Development Report.
It actively collaborates with global agencies such as World Bank, ADB, U.N., Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), Department of International Development (DFID), U.K., the Ford Foundation and Mac Arthur Foundation.
Sir Ratan Tata Trust has created a permanent endowment of Rs. 3 crores at ISEC to carry out activities addressing issues of higher education.
Under the aid from the Union Ministry of Finance, it set up a Dr. V.K.R.V. Rao Chair in 1997. Eminent professors such as T.N. Srinivasan, Kaushik Basu, Arvind Panagariya and Ravi Kanbur have held this chair and brought significant changes in the economic content.
Every year, ISEC gives Dr. V.K.R.V. Rao prizes to persons who have contributed to progress in social sciences. The Dr. D.M. Nanjundappa Endowment Fund prizes, set up in 1993, are awarded annually for Ph.D students who secure the highest marks in the pre-Ph.D examination. It has also set up Dr. M.N. Srinivas and Justice E.S. Venkataramiah Endowment prizes awarded once in five years for the best Ph.D. theses in the institute in sociology and development administration respectively. The institute also conducts Dr. V.K.R.V. Rao, Dr. L.S. Venkataramanan Memorial and Rajyotsava Extension lectures annually.
NAGESH PRABHU
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