CSD-SRC

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I served as Professor and Regional Director of Council for Social Development, Southern Regional Centre, Hyderabad, India from March 2011 to March 2021. During my term in CSD, I introduced the doctoral programme in collaboration with Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad and Mumbai in 2012, initiated 3 Working Paper series --  Hyderabad Social Development Papers; Interdisciplinary Law and Critical Development Studies and led several multi-state/national studies on socio-economic and educational status of vulnerable communities, directly focussed on policy change.  The Telangana Social Development Report introduced in 2017, and published periodically is an effort conceptualised and led by me till 2020.  

Apart from institutionalising the annual institutional grant-in-aid from the Government of Andhra Pradesh in 2011 and the Government of Telangana in 2015, I successfully secured a major Ford Foundation grant for research and advocacy in the area of Adivasi Rights in 2012, that saw CSD taking major initiatives in the area of socio-legal research, strategic litigation and legal training in the field of adivasi/indigenous rights making CSD-SRC the first social science institute to engage intensively with law and legal research.   Between 2011 and 2021, I have focused in terms of pedagogy on working with young researchers on honing writing skills through writing workshops, and on training lawyers from vulnerable communities, especially adivasi communities in developing lawyering skills and courtcraft to enable self-representation.

PhD STUDENTS

• Sujatha Suresh. 2015. Home-based Women Workers in Hyderabad City.  Department of Women’s Studies, Mother Theresa Women’s University University, Kodaikanal.
• Bhanumathi Kalluri. 2017. Metaphors of Gender in the Social Organisation of the Khonds in Andhra Pradesh. Council for Social Development, Hyderabad and School of Women’s Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad.
• Rimi Tadu. 2017. Writing Local History of Apatanis:  Contesting for the Native ‘s Voices. Council for Social Development, Hyderabad and School of Social Sciences, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai.
• Lata PM. Feminist Understanding of Politics of Inclusion in the Context of OBC Women’s Status, Role, Participation and Challenges in OBC Movement in Maharashtra through a Case Study.  Council for Social Development, Hyderabad and School of Women’s Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad. 2018.
• Vaishali Sonavane. A Study on the Condition of Dalit Women Employees in Relation with Cultural Renaissance in Maharashtra.  Council for Social Development, Hyderabad and School of Women’s Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad, 2019.

Refresher Courses for Lawyers from Adivasi/Indigenous Communities, 2012-2017

In 2012, twenty-two lawyers and two law students – all Adivasis from different indigenous tribes in Andhra Pradesh — joined a capacity-building program at CSD that evolved into a 5-year mentorship program with monthly reviews of cases, difficulties and learnings.  This was organized in five phases, of which in the first four phases they were supported with modest fellowships that helped sustain their work in legal practice, without looking for other part-time employment. By the fifth phase, they have moved to complete self-reliance:  

1. The first phase was basic refresher course on substantive and procedural laws along with field visits and perusal of live cases; 
2. The second phase consisted of a ‘Training of Trainers’ program was initiated where the lawyers learnt to train para-legal volunteers from literate youth who had completed schooling from Adivasi communities in different parts of the state.  
3. The third phase aimed to build capacity through supporting para legal training programs for youth conducted entirely by Adivasi lawyers.  
4. The fourth phase focused on building capacity to map status where the lawyers were trained in social science methods of conducting state-wide surveys and designing appropriate survey schedules to map socio-economic, health and educational status of adivasis in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. 
5. Finally, in the fifth and final stage, at the conclusion of the mentoring program, the Bhadrachalam Integrated Tribal Development Authority (ITDA), in recognition of the legal competence of the lawyers provided them the opportunity forming a legal cell in the ITDA office and preparing briefs for over 700 pending cases in the ITDA court.  

In 2022, this cohort of lawyers set up an Adivasi Advocates Association at the state level.  The core principle behind the conceptualization of this programme in 2012 was the idea of self-representation. 

https://theleaflet.in/we-are-children-of-the-forest-our-journey-as-adivasi-lawyers/

• CSD Annual Reports
• Investigating Low female age at marriage 
• Workshops and Conference Reports