Institute for Social and Economic Change
Social Science and Development in Karnataka:
Vision for Public Action
A Multi-Disciplinary Conference
Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bangalore, India
Cornell University, Ithaca, USA
Bangalore, India
June 10-12, 2005
Karnataka represents a microcosm of the development prospects and problems and challenges for India, and for developing countries more generally. Known globally for the high tech achievements of Bangalore, and for being an early proponent of the panchayat system, the state also contains large rural areas where poor agricultural communities live in poverty, and spatial inequalities have grown in the last decade. It has enjoyed relatively high growth rates, but faces increasing water shortages and problems of environmental degradation. It has an active civil society, which has produced the well-known phenomenon of the "report cards" on municipal performance, drinking water and sanitation facilities. But it also faces problems of corruption and misuse of public resources, in spite of several good governance measures such as passing the Transparency Act in 2000, and establishing Lokayukta and Consumer Protection Forums. It has profitable public enterprises that are responsive to the needs of consumers, and moribund parastatals that cannot be closed because of political pressures. It has a need to shrink its public deficit, but faces pressures for expenditure on social and public infrastructure, on which depend the future growth and poverty reduction prospects of the economy.
Karnataka has also long been a site for world-class contributions by social scientists towards understanding the development process, from across the disciplinary spectrum. These have included anthropologists, economists and sociologists such as T Scarlett Epstein, VKRV Rao and MN Srinivas. As contemporary policy makers struggle with several important policy dilemmas, and as researchers move ahead to analyze these problems, there is a need for a forum at which the best available multi-disciplinary research across a comprehensive range of issues can be shared with researchers, policy makers and civil society in Karnataka. Moreover, the experiences of Karnataka may prove useful to other states in India, and to other countries at similar stages of development.
To provide such a forum for presentation of research, and for policy dialogue, the Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC), Bangalore, and Cornell University, Ithaca, USA, will host a major Conference in Bangalore on the Development of Karnataka. The conference will be held at ISEC on June 10-12, 2005. The conference organizers are Gopal Kadekodi (ISEC), Ravi Kanbur (Cornell) and Vijayendra Rao (World Bank).
 |
Paper Acceptances |
|||
| Corresponding author | Affiliation | Title | |
| Ananthpur, Kripa | kripa@mids.ac.in | Madras Institute of Development Studies | Dynamics of Local Governance in Karnataka |
| Gurucharan, Gollerkeri | gollerkeri@hotmail.com | Indian Administrative Service | Fiscal Reforms at the Sub-National level in India: Lessons from Karnataka |
| Inbanathan, Anand | anand@isec.ac.in | Institute for Social and Economic Change | Social Mobility in the Context of Occupational Health: The Case of Silk Reeling |
| Iyer, Aditi | aditiyer@iibm.ernet.in | Indian Institute of Management Bangalore | Systemic and systematic: Gender and health inequities in Koppal district |
| Khemani, Stuti | skhemani@worldbank.org | World Bank | Participation in a School Program in Karnataka |
| Kudva, Neema | nk78@cornell.edu | Cornell University | Uneasy Partnerships: NGO-State Relations in India |
| Kuruvilla, Sarosh | sck4@cornell.edu | Cornell University | The Karnataka Yeshaswini Health Insurance Scheme of Rural Farmers & Peasants: Towards Comprehensive Health Insurance Coverage for Karnataka? |
| Manor, James | j.manor@ids.ac.uk | University of Sussex | Change in Rural Karnataka over the Last Generation: Villages and the Broader Context |
| Narayana, M.R. | mrn@isec.ac.in | Institute for Social and Economic Change | Growth of ICT Industries and Services, and Regional Economic Development: Evidence from Karnataka State |
| Price, Pamela | p.g.price@hi.uio.no | University of Oslo | Ideological Elements in Political Instability in Karnataka: Janata Dal in the Late 1990s |
| Rajasekhar, D. | raja@isec.ac.in | Institute for Social and Economic Change | Social Security for the Unorganised Sector Workers in Karnataka |
| Scoones, Ian | i.scoones@ids.ac.uk | University of Sussex | Policy and technocracy: the case of biotechnology in Karnataka |
| Subbanarasimha, Dattathreya | dcs117@columbia.edu | Columbia University | Communication, Democracy, and Evasive Silences: A Preliminary Report on the Public Sphere in Karnataka |
| Suryanarayana, M. H. | suryaipc@yahoo.co.uk | IGIDR | Government of Karnataka Independent Evaluation Initiative: An Assessment |
| Taeube, Florian A. | taeube@wiwi.uni-frankfurt.de | Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University | Social Capital, Diversity and (Economic) Development: Evidence from the Indian IT Industry, Bangalore |
| Thimmaiah, Gujjarappa | kunnikere@yahoo.com | . | Political Leadership and Economic Development in Karnataka |
| Vadivelu, Ananda | vadivelu26@rediffmail.com | Institute for Social and Economic Change | Choosing 'not' to Participate - Evidence from Drought Prone Area Programme (DPAP) in Chitradurga, Karnataka |
| Vijayalakshmi, V. | vijayalakshmi@vsnl.com | Consultant Sociologist | Corruption and Local Governance: Evidence from Karnataka |
| Vyasulu, Poornima | poornima@cbpsindia.com | CBPS, Bangalore | Reproductive health services and role of panchayats in Karnataka |