The Kerala Academy of Social Sciences (Academy) is an NGO, registered under the Travancore-Cochin Literary, Scientific and Charitable Societies Act of 1955.
Formation of the Academy
C.N Somarajan, Department of Politics, University College Thiruvananthapuram convened a meeting of fellow social scientists in the YMCA (Mini Hall) at 4 P.M on 25.08.1993. The meeting resolved to form an association of social scientists, namely, Kerala Academy of Social Sciences to promote study and research on social science disciplines. It was also resolved to get the Academy registered with the Government of Kerala under the Travancore-Cochin Literary, Scientific and Charitable Societies Act of 1955. The meeting authorized Dr.C.N Somarajan to initiate necessary steps in this regard and elected the following as the
The Academy at a Glance
The Academy has been forging ahead successfully in attaining its proclaimed objectives. It has been an inspiration to all the enlightened sections in the society, particularly social scientists. It has been promoting study and research extensively in inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary areas. The Academy began its formal activities by organizing a National Seminar on December 07, 1993 in a crowded meeting, inaugurated by the late E.M.S Nambudiripad. Ever since the first Seminar, the Academy has been organizing serious academic seminars of interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary interest at various places in the State, though most of them were at Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram.
Membership
The Academy confers individual, institutional and donor memberships. The activities of the Academy have been so credible that hundreds of social scientists joined the group as life members. Most of them are research scholars, doing research, leading to PhD or post-doctoral research. The active Life Membership, as of now, the majority with PhD, has crossed 300, in addition to many Institutional and Donor Members.
Review of Social Sciences
As per the proclaimed objective, the Academy has been bringing out the Peer-refereed Bi-Annual Research Journal, ‘Review of Social Sciences’, with ISSN number, incessantly for the last twenty three years, in the months of January and July. As of now, 17 volumes of the journal, some volumes in more than the formal two numbers have been brought out, covering all inter/multi disciplinary areas of research and study in social sciences have been issued to all members of the Academy, free of cost. The Issues of the journal have been well received by all sections of the society and formally approved by the concerned Board of Studies of almost all Universities in South India. The journal has been of great service in securing teaching and academic positions/placements as per the UGC guidelines. It is hoped that it can attain international heights shortly, the vision with which the forthcoming Issues are designed. The copies of the journal are also available in pdf form in the website of the Academy, www.kassindia.in
The Academy has been efficiently and effectively led for the last 14 years by Dr.J.Rajan, Director and Head, Department of Management Studies, University of Kerala, in his capacity as General Secretary. Dr.P.Sathyaseelan has been extending unstinting support as the President of the Academy and Prof.S.Sivadasan as Editor, Review of Social Sciences.
Research Projects
The contemporary Kerala society has been demanding resource persons in all areas of social sciences. The contemporary society has been suffering from all kinds of evils – political, social, intellectual, economic, cultural, religious and the like – that warrant instant intervention of social scientists, sufficient enough to offer panacea. Many agencies, both public and private have been searching for the man power, sufficient enough to take up and the challenge and contribute positively to overcome such social evils. The Academy envisages that it has ample resources to attend to such challenges and hence aspires to contribute along this direction in the near future.
Publications
The Academy is committed to promote knowledge production, as part of which a number of scholarly works, with ISBN number are being published. The first Book in this direction entitled ‘Water Management for Sustainable Development’, authored jointly by J.Rajan and A.Udayakumar, released on April 16, 2016 is well received. The Fellow members are requested to co-operate with the Academy in this mission.