A LSE-TISS workshop on Growth, Justice and Freedom: Paths and Problems of India’s Development was organised by the India Observatory at LSE during 26th and 27th June 2007. During the course of the workshop academics from both institutions presented papers, which have further been published in an edited volume.
The publication Democracy, Development and Decentralisation in India, edited by Professor Chandan Sengupta and Professor Stuart Corbridge and published by Routledge, is a compilation of the research papers by academics from LSE and TISS. The book was launched in Mumbai at TISS on 6th August 2010 and also in London at LSE on 12th October 2010.
Chandan Sengupta, from TISS was supported as Visiting Professor at the India Observatory during 2008, when he worked on his research and editing this book.
This programme also supported the appointment of Manoj Srivastava as Jamsetji Tata Fellow during February 2009 to December 2010. He worked with Stuart Corbridge in DESTIN, researching ‘Institutions and how they transform progressively’ though a comparative study of pro-poor governance reforms across Indian States and a few other developing countries. Manoj produced four working papers:
- Crossing the "Great Divide": Does it produce positive state-society synergy?
- Could the poor demand and control their own schools?
- Do the poor effectively utilise a "Rights-Based Programme" with the support of multi-layered decentralisation?
- Transferring resources and Powers to the village Panchayats: Does it improve governance and development outcomes?