CPPR Centre for Comparative Studies in India launched

Dr Chandra Ranade, Adjunct Faculty of Virginia International University launched the CPPR Centre for Comparative Studies in India (CIS) in Kochi on September 6th. On the occasion of the formal launch of CPPR-Centre for Comparative Studies in India, the keynote address on ‘Various Indicators of Economic Development at State Levels in India’, was delivered by Dr. Chandra Ranade.

Dr. G. Gopakumar, Hon’ble Advisor to CPPR, delivered the introductory remarks stressing on the uneven development in our country. He referred to some reports which said that the state of Kerala was growing horizontally and not vertically but he questioned if this condition did not pertain to India also since a country was a culmination of its states.

In his key-note address, Dr. Chandra Ranade, expressed his optimism on achieving the Millennium Development Goals by a nation like India. However, he associated this foresighted success with three main approaches to be taken up by the government of India: 1) Indian states like Kerala that are in the fore front in terms of their achievement of the Millennium Development Goals must be rewarded with special allocations. 2) Inter-State Collaborations should be strengthened 3) More emphasis on “Knowledge Infrastructure” rather than Physical Infrastructure should be the manthra.

To read the complete version of his lecture, Please Click here Dr Ranade Transcript

The event started with the welcome address by Dr D. Dhanuraj, Chairman, CPPR who also introduced the CPPR-Centre for Comparative Studies. He mentioned about the former JNNURM Cities Livelihood Study as well as the India Development Indicators project undertaken by CPPR. He added that the experience in the above said areas was an inspiration to kick-start a study centre like CPPR-Centre for Comparative Studies to conduct comparative and focused research on political structure, economic models, governance and socio-cultural aspects. Akash Ramakrishnan, Communications Associate, CPPR proposed the vote of thanks.