MA in Development
Understand the complexities of development and its challenges in India.
Introduction
Development as a word and idea structures so much of the world which we live in. Its agendas shape the way we access the basic necessities of everyday life and view the world. But it is a concept fraught with conflicting viewpoints.
How do we begin to understand it? Many approaches have emerged over time in the evolution of development as a domain of knowledge and practice. We see development as the creation of conditions that can improve the quality of human life.
We think that the most important aspect of development needs to be in the creation of a life of equity, dignity, happiness and justice, for present and future generations of people who live in this country.
We believe in equipping you with the ability to call into question current trends, think of long-term perspectives, and envision a desirable future.
To understand the nuances of development
We ensure that you understand the complexities of development and its diverse meanings and practices, especially the complex challenges of development in India in the twenty-first century. We equip you to contribute to India’s growing need for individuals who can engage with challenges to further pluralism, democracy and justice.
To work with a diverse and experienced faculty
Our faculty and research staff come from diverse backgrounds: social justice movements, development management and academics. They engage in research and projects across different agencies in areas concerning the development of India’s futures. Your time in the classroom is enriched by their extensive experience in the field.
On the ground with Azim Premji Foundation
You will benefit from working in close association with Azim Premji Foundation which has been working with six state governments in India in shaping and implementing policies and programmes at the grassroots.
India has daunting developmental challenges. We face malnutrition, public health crises, poor quality education and agrarian distress. Intervention in many of these challenges require a holistic understanding of Indian society, its institutions, policies and the ways in which developmental challenges have been dealt with elsewhere. There are a number of meaningful work opportunities you can choose to engage with after you graduate.
A variety of organisations: from NGOs to CSRs
You can work in a variety of organisations: non governmental organisations, community based organisations and civil society organisations. There are national and international campaigns, social movements, banks, philanthropic foundations, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) units of corporate bodies and of course, government missions and United Nations’ organisations.
At local, national or international levels
Development interventions take place in multiple sites and scales. They can be local, national, or international. They can be in the shape and form of policy, programmes, movements, campaigns, institution, model buildings and so on.
Mobilising change
Your role can vary from directly mobilising communities for behaviour change, building lasting community institutions, district level programme oversight, to policy analysis, programme design and evaluation.
Be a social entrepreneur
We need social entrepreneurs capable of innovative thinking are needed to ideate, create and implement path-breaking solutions to social problems.
Field Project Fair
MA Development Field Project Fair 2022
Course structure
Our courses are structured to help you synthesise different approaches to development. You will use tools to work in multiple settings – whether with government bodies, social movements or grassroots organisations.
Our programme will help you articulate a historically and socially grounded understanding of India’s development experiences and understand the evolution of development thought, practices and critiques.
Your time in this programme will not be restricted to the classroom: we encourage you to engage with the complex lived realities of individuals and communities as sites of development knowledge and practice.
Our core courses draw from selected disciplines for you to develop a deep understanding of the nature of development. They will set the context for key debates and equip you with the basic skills required for effective action.
You will learn the pattern and history of what came to be called ‘socio-economic development’. You will critically appraise policies and practices of development that have emerged in the last seven decades in India. We throw light on India’s development experience and experiences of individuals, communities, civil society and the state in influencing these processes.
Ecology and Development in India
Core
The history and socio-economic impact of development interventions on ecological systems.
Economy and Development: The Indian Experience
Core
A historically informed account of India's economic development.
Foundations of Social Research and Reasoning
Core
Foundational aspects of research by using examples from developmental research and debates in India.
Methods for Social Research and Action
Core
Learn how to define a problem, design research, collect data and present findings.
Social Interventions
Core
This course enables students to understand deliberated and strategic actions for social change by analysing the subjects, sites and modes/modalities of social action.
Sociology of Modern India
Core
Sociological approaches to modern India.
State, Democracy and Civil Society in India
Core
Students study the centrality of state, democracy and the active engagement of the civil society in development
Theories and Histories of Development
Core
Histories and theories of development across contexts, tracing changes in the meaning of the practice of development.
Building on the core courses, the programme offers you a chance to deepen your understanding and competencies in a wide range of issues. We offer a large set of courses that help you deepen your understanding of theoretical, practical or procedural aspects of development.
We offer perspectives on globalisation, employment, nutrition, land, disaster, sustainability, agriculture and livelihoods. Ours is a model of study that is conceptual, analytical and action-oriented.
Our electives vary from semester to semester and across academic years. Check in with your teachers about what is on offer at the beginning of your course work.
This is an indicative list.
Agricultural Livelihoods in Contemporary India: Critical Perspectives
Elective
Who are the people involved in India's largest occupation and who is a farmer?
Building Member Based Organisations
Elective
Understanding the most-prevalent types of Member Based Organisations (MBOs) that either work for the vulnerable communities or for rights of informal and formal labour.
Building Social Enterprises
Elective
Learning about the key concepts and regulations that shape social enterprises, as well as enable them to systematically plan for the establishment of a social enterprise.
Climate change: Science, adaptation and mitigation
Elective
Introduction to the three critical aspects of the subject- climate science, climate mitigation, and climate adaptation.
Commons and Livelihoods: Understanding and reflecting on interrelation
Elective
Understanding the nuances of commons, its governance, and its intricate relationship with the livelihood.
Competencies for Designing Livelihood Interventions
Elective
This course will help students with relevant knowledge and skills to conceptualise appropriate livelihood interventions incorporating people’s capacities and aspiration on the one hand while addressing the questions of sustainability, inclusion, dignity, and equity on the other.
Critical Perspectives on Financial Inclusion
Elective
What is the institutional architecture of financial institutions in India?
Critical Perspectives on Mental Health
Elective
Explore the notions of mental health and well-being.
Dalits: State and Development
Elective
Engages critically with the ‘Dalit Development Question’-i.e, how have Dalit communities engaged with the Indian State, and in turn, how has the State responded to that question both in colonial and post- colonial India.
Economics of Sustainability: Exploring Perspectives and Possibilities
Elective
What are the economics of creating a sustainable world?
Education and Development: Inter-linkages
Elective
This course tries to answer interesting questions related to the domain of `education for development’.
Environmental health: Approaches to action
Elective
The course will cover a range of topics that are relevant to environmental health in India.
Environmental Justice in India
Elective
What is environmental justice and how is it made real in India?
Exploring Interrelationships: Environment and health
Elective
Do gains in human health status come at the cost of future generations?
Forests, Governance and Livelihoods
Elective
Understanding the major historical and contemporary policies/laws that have shaped forest-based livelihoods.
Gender and Development
Elective
What is it about being a woman or a man that particularly heightens our risks of being affected by certain issues/problems?
Gender, health and rights
Elective
Drawn on the experiences of community level experiments, national and global level advocacy allowing students to be part of the journey of several efforts in gender-based interventions.
GIS for Sustainability
Elective
The course extends student capacity to analyze and understand the spatial dimension of these issues.
Health Education and Communication
Elective
Introduction to Epidemiology
Elective
The course covering the basics of epidemiology, tools used in epidemiology and application of the tools for better decision making.
Kautilya and his Arthasastra
Elective
An introduction to the rich diversity of the ancient Indian discussions on statecraft, economy, and law and the problems arising out of anachronistic interpretations of the past to address contemporary political exigencies.
Local democracy and development action in India
Elective
Media, Development, and Communication
Elective
This course will explore the role of media and communication in the field of development.
Migration in contemporary India
Elective
A course designed for future development practitioners, action-researchers, and social activists to understand the challenges faced by migrant workers.
Perspectives on Political Economy of Labour
Elective
This course is geared towards giving students an overview of concerns and questions that make up the landscape of labour in India.
Programme evaluation for development action
Elective
Programme Planning and Designing for Development Interventions
Elective
The course focuses on the programmes and interventions of Social Sector Organisations and locates them in the context of the organisational mission, vision, goal and strategic plans.
Political Economy of Global Health
Elective
What are the forces that shape the way we formulate policies on health in a globalising world?
Poverty – Concepts, Measurement and Critiques
Elective
The course will try to build a humanistic perspective to understand the multidimensionality of poverty and the lived experiences of the poor.
Policy architecture for environmental governance
Elective
Emphasizes on the role of various policy tools and institutions for environmental governance.
Political Economy, Development and Governance
Elective
How does political power determine the economic gains of different social groups?
Political Economy of Government Statistics
Elective
An exploration of the mutually constitutive relation between data, development and democracy.
Public Health Care, Rights, and Accountability
Elective
The course aims to equip the students with the perspectives of human rights and social accountability, to apply this framework to understand the health rights of communities, and to learn tools and techniques for strengthening the public healthcare system.
Qualitative Research Inquiry in Development Practice
Elective
Training in qualitative research and analysis to enhance skills and confidence to produce and analyse qualitative evidence.
Reading Nagaland
Elective
An introduction to the rich diversity of everyday lives in Nagaland through “non-academic” sources.
Reading Regional Mahabharatas
Elective
An introduction to regional Mahabharatas as autonomous (knowledge) texts that are creative retellings of the Vyasa Mahabharata rather than imperfect, incomplete, or corrupt translations.
Remote sensing for sustainable development
Elective
Explores the concepts and practical applications of satellite remote sensing to map and understand transformations in landscapes, relating these to impacts on development and sustainability.
Sociology of Food
Elective
This course reflects on how social practices and traditions around food have critically impacted the availability and accessibility of food for certain groups and profoundly impacted their human development outcomes.
Sustainable agriculture and development
Elective
This course aims to situate agricultural growth in the country within the development and sustainability debate.
The District As A Development Unit of The State: An Exploration
Elective
This course tries to outline the roles and structure of the District to the Village/ Ward panchayats, from Municipal Corporations to Nagar Panchayats, and open up the classroom to the reality of how administration, programmes, politics and issues play out with each other, and what are the ways and manner in which groups, and individuals impact, shape and influence lives.
The Global Context of Development
Elective
This course examines the meanings and history of the process known as globalization, locating the present moment in a longer history of capitalism, colonialism and neo-colonial governance.
The Land Question in India
Elective
The course prepares students to employ political-economy– and anthropological perspectives to explain and analyse several topics that they may encounter in their fieldwork such as land acquisition, women’s property rights, Dalit-Adivasi land rights, and the role of middlemen in land deals.
Understanding social sector organisations
Elective
The course will help students to gain familiarity with various forms of organisations and critically assess the need for different forms.
Understanding the Coastal Zone: Ecology & Livelihoods
Elective
Exploring the ecology and livelihoods of the coastal zone which is gradually becoming the most contested ecological interface in the country today.
Understanding Livelihoods: Perspectives, Concepts and Theories
Elective
How do people make a living?
Urban India: Trajectories of Development
Elective
A course to help students discern sociological, political-economic, and phenomenological tenets on urbanisation and urbanisms in India that aid the students to map and analyse the interconnections, flows and processes of development.
Water: Resource, history, management and challenges
Elective
Women and Work
Elective
This course provides a nuanced understanding of the domain of women’s work, agency and empowerment in the context of India
Work, Labour and Informality
Elective
What is the nature of informality in work in India?
The ‘field’ is a diverse set of social and cultural contexts and lived realities across the country. These are areas where development activities and actions routinely intervene. As part of your study, you will step out from the domain of theories and ideas in the classroom and into the field to learn of practical realities and gain experience of participative and empathetic action.
You will relate concepts you learn in the classroom with the lives of different communities and places.
Field Immersion in Development
Field
A two week exploration of the life experiences of different communities
Summer Field Apprenticeship in Development
Field
Participate in a development intervention.
Winter Field Project in Development
Field
The third component of the field practice occurs over eight weeks following the 3rd semester.
Learn the history and evolution of cinema as art forms, watch film noir, or appreciate the music of Indian films. Walk through the city to experience it with a new lens or understand the built world around us in a class on architecture for non-architects to. Talk about Indian classical dance in dialogue with a dancer. What wrought Carnatic music into the form it exists in today? Listen to music, read science fiction, star gaze, write poetry, or explore the city in which you live.
In our open courses, you can explore one or two courses outside of your main progamme. You will work with visiting faculty who are artists, writers and experts in the field spanning literature, the fine arts, cinema, science, and history.
We offer creative courses for you to choose from every semester. Courses are updated each year.
Total 80 credits