NIRD&PR

Centre's Mandate

Development by its nature is social. Its ends embody social values. Its means are social processes and institutions. Its benefits and costs are distributed across communities, social groups, and organisations. All development is, therefore, in some sense social because all development necessarily expresses social objectives, requires social mechanisms in order to achieve those objectives, and has social consequences. In fact, all development is social development in the sense that people are the central purpose of development, their skills and capacities its critical resource.

Within the process of development, social and economic development forms two sides of the same coin. Social development's most distinctive feature is its attempt to harmonise social policies with measures designed to promote economic development. Social development is a process of planned social change designed to promote the well being of the population as a whole in conjunction with a dynamic process of economic development.

Social development encompasses a very broad concern for the development of people, for an improvement in people's lives and for giving people some control over their lives. Social development is thus a multi-dimensional effort. It means literacy, education, good health, and all that goes to make good health possible like food and nutrition, security, drinking water, easy availability of medical and health facilities - both preventive and curative, and full and productive employment. It means life for the individual in freedom and dignity, free from being discriminated against on grounds of sex, race, colour, religion or caste. It means life in security where the society, in which the individual lives, lets the individual live in a manner that suits him/her while at the same time not infringing on other people's rights.

The Centre for Equity and Social Development (CESD) is, therefore, mandated to promote equity and social development in rural areas through research, training and consultancy services.

Objectives

• To study the problems of improvement in the quality of life of the rural people.
• To understand the factors that promote economic growth in rural areas through Human Resource Development.
• To examine the forces which prohibit and retard the process of equitable distribution of income, resources and benefits of development.
• To critically examine the factors that promote broad-based people's participation.
• To identify the constraints involved in mainstreaming the deprived and marginalised sections of society.
• To share the experiences gained in understanding the above issues through publications, seminars / workshops and training programmes.

Thrust Area & Scope

CESD focuses mainly on policies, strategies, and programmes that promote social development in rural areas. Its emphasis is on poverty reduction not just in terms of increased production but also in terms of helping the poor people gain equal access to participation in the social, economic and political processes of development through enhancement of level of education, health and employment opportunities outside family, cutting across class, caste, race, gender, ethnic groups, rural-urban divide etc. Participation, the means by which poor people can directly be involved in development, is another important area in which CESD lays its emphasis. In promoting social development, empowerment of poor people to extend their areas of knowledge, new skills and abilities that could enable them to better defend and promote their livelihoods, are very important components and area of crucial concern of CESD. Similarly, women's social and economic development and promotion of gender equity to ensure equal access to resources and development benefits are also the key areas in which CESD pays its attention. CESD also attaches significant importance to mainstreaming of the marginalised sections of the society e.g. the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, Differently Abled Persons and Child Labourers in rural areas.

Faculty