Mahatma Gandhi University has drawn up the biggest-ever project by a university in the State for setting up an Inter-University Centre for Social Science Research and Extension (IUCSSRE) at its School of Social Sciences (SSS). The project is estimated to cost around Rs.104 crore. The venture is expected to transform the university into a beehive for multidisciplinary research in social science and is destined to bring in an impetus to the much relegated, quality research activity.
The State government has sanctioned an amount of Rs.1.47 crore for the initial expenses of the project, which is under the active consideration of the Ministry of Human Resources Development. Designed to take social science to the people, the project will facilitate theoretical researches in the interfaces of established social sciences.
The project is designed by Prof. Rajan Gurukkal, Vice-Chancellor and former Director of SSS. Eight interdisciplinary units will be set up as part of the project. Two of them—Women Empowerment Centre and Human Ecology and Human Geography Centre—will be set up soon with the funds sanctioned by the State.
The Women Empowerment Centre seeks to evolve methodological strategies to combat the dominant worldview that helps perpetuate the subordinate position of women, and empower the urban as well as rural women folk.
The Human Ecology and Human Geography Centre aims to build up an advanced centre for the promotion of research and teaching in explanatory geography. This is going to be a seminal research centre for studying social and ecological consequences of industrial land-use.
