Rethinking Development: Kerala’s Development Experience (In 2 Vols.)

In December 1996, the Institute of Social Sciences organised a four day International Conference of Kerala’s Development Experience in New Delhi, to reappraise the issues of sustainability of the ‘Kerala model’ and to draw lessons for the nation and the wider humanity enveloped by global capitalism. The papers presented in the two volumes chosen out of 150 papers presented in 12 working sessions and 5 symposia addressed several issues of Kerala’s sustainability besides raising questions of significance relating to development and policy. While Vol. I is a broad critique of the ‘Kerala model’ of development, Vol. II seeks to reappraise the issues relating to the sustainability of the model from specific sectoral perspectives, prefaced by an excellent discussion on the implications of the fertility decline and demographic transition of the state. The two volumes containing contributions by eminent scholars undoubtedly will make a rich addition to the theory and practice of development which has been undergoing great rethinking in recent times.