Main trends of research in the social and human ... - unesdoc - Unesco

The organization andjinancing of research 771
includes one of the new centres of advanced study - in agricultural economics.
24. A number of research institutes in the social sciences also exist outside the
university system, which are administratively independent of government or
any particular user. Examples are:
Institute of Economic Growth at Delhi
Indian Institute of Economics
National Institute of Community Development
Indian Institute of Asian Studies
National Council of Applied Economic Research
Indian Institute of Public Administration
Al Indian Institute of Local Self-Government
Demographic Training and Research Centre, Bombay
Indian Institute for Population Studies
Indian Statistical Institute
Indian Institute of Public Opinion
The Demographic Training and Research Centre at Bombay was set up in
1956 under the joint sponsorship of the Indian Government, the Dorabji Tata
Trust and the United Nations, to conduct research on population problems
in Asia and the Far East, and to train local personnel in demography. It awards
its own diplomas but for teaching purposes draws on the post-graduate depart-
ments of the University of Bombay. Courses comprise a mix of social sciences,
statistics and research methods, genetics and the physiology of human repro-
duction, and family planning. Training is financed largely through government,
United Nations and Population Council Fellowships. Candidates include
foreign nationals from the ECAFE region. Grants for research are not tied to
specific projects. Many of the programmes undertaken are in co-operation with
Indian state governments or with regional organizations such as ECAFE.
25. All these bodies, with the exception of the Institute of Public Opinion,
carry out training in methodology and research techniques. Some - the Indian
Institute of Public Administration, for example - also perform certain of the
functions of learned societies. In respect of research most of them rely on grants
and contracts from the central government or from state governments, from
private organizations, and from foreign and international foundations. The
Indian Institute of Public Opinion does contract work for commercial firms
and the Indian Statistical Institute for government. Only the Institute of Sta-
tistics is of major size - employing about 2,000 part-time or full-time workers,
of whom 500 are interviewers. Its work in the field of social statistics is consid-
erable. Amongst fields recently covered have been surveys of the living condi-
tions of different social classes, a quinquennial national survey, and studies of
social mobility. It may be compared with INSEE.
26. A relatively recent development has been the creation of two graduate
schools of management conducted in cooperation with American universities
and aided by the Ford Foundation. One at Calcutta is linked to the Sloan
School of Management at MTT, the other at Ahmedabad, is linked to Marvard
Business School. American faculty go to India on regular tours of duty. The
aim is to develop research as well as teaching. The Administrative Staff College