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Mission: To promote interdependence between research, action and sustainable development. 

The role of social institutions in accelerating the process of social change, by intervening at various levels, is crucial to our society in India . To affect such interventions it is necessary to relate theory to practice by combining research with action programmes.

CSR is an interface between academic inquiry and social action. The research division of CSR is motivated by the belief that the pursuit of knowledge should be a socially relevant activity. It shouldn’t limit itself to seminar rooms, professional journals and unread official documents. We believe that social science research can be made meaningful to society at large, by linking it with programmes of sustained social action.

CSR’s research and survey studies have led our organization and many others to undertake constructive action programmes. Since its formation, CSR has been able to achieve recognition in the field of social research; our work has been appreciated for its scientific rigor, and the policy-level recommendations and action-oriented insights which emerge from it. Our monographs, books and reports have been well received by social activists, universities and policy-making bodies.  

During its earlier years, CSR concentrated its research on localised problems and the lives of the underprivileged – Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, women and the un-organised urban poor. In the latter period, while we remained focused on issues concerned with the underprivileged, however the scope of our research widened to national and South Asian-level issues. The issues that currently concern us are: gender, health, violence against women, environment, education, governance, political participation, labour, industry and trade.

Click here for publications of the Research and Knowledge Management Department