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The Centre for Development Studies (CDS) is an autonomous research institute. Its main objective is to promote research, teaching and training in disciplines relevant to development. Established in 1971 by the noted economist Professor K.N.Raj, it is considered to be one of the foremost development economics research centers in the country.

It has a faculty of about 26. The core activities of the CDS are research, teaching and training.

Research at CDS is organized into six distinct themes:

· agriculture and natural resources,

· gender, migration, population,

· health and education,

· poverty, vulnerability and social security,

· industry,

· trade and technology.

There is a seventh cross cutting theme, analysing the impact of globalisation on each of the six themes.

CDS has two teaching programmes:

· a two year MPhil Programme in Applied Economics and

· a four year PhD Programme in Economics.

Both programmes are affiliated to Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. The University of Kerala also has recognized CDS as a center for its doctoral studies. Further, it also has a number of short duration training programmes.

CDS located in a quiet residential area in the northwest part of the City of Trivandrum. The 10 acre campus, designed and constructed by the famous architect, Dr Laurie Baker, epitomizes his unique style and philosophy of adaptive building methods. The CDS Library is now one of the biggest in South India with over 1,25, 000 titles in Economics and allied disciplines and subscribing to about 400 professional journals.The library is in the process of being automated.

CDS draws financial support from the Government of Kerala and the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR). The Reserve Bank of India and the Indian Planning Commission have instituted endowment units for research in selected areas at CDS. The Union Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs has established a migration unit at CDS to study issues relating to international migration from India.

The governance of CDS rests with the Governing Body consisting of academicians from across India. It follows a unique style of decentralisation in governance through various bodies assisting the Director in the management.

The present chairman of the Governing Body is Professor N.R. Madhava Menon. The current Director is Professor K. Narayanan Nair.