Eminent political scientist Rajni Kothari passes away

January 20, 2015

Eminent political scientist, scholar and former Planning Commission member Rajni Kothari passed away in New Delhi. He was 86.
About Rajni Kothari

He was born on 16th August, 1928.
He was a well-known political thinker, political theorist, academician and writer.
He had started his career as a lecturer at the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda (Baroda University). In 1961, for first time he received recognition when his essays series, Form and Substance in Indian Politics were published in Economic and Political Weekly (then Economic Weekly) over six issues.
In 1963, he had founded Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) – a social sciences and humanities research institute based in New Delhi.
In 1980, he had founded Lokayan (Dialogue of the People), a forum for interaction between activists and intellectuals.
He was member of the Planning Commission during the national Front Government led by then Prime Minister V P Singh.
He was also associated with number of prestigious institutions including Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), International Foundation for Development Alternatives and People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL).
Books: His famous published works include Politics in India (1970), Caste in Indian Politics and Rethinking Democracy (1973), In Search of Humane World Order Poverty: Human Consciousness (1989) and the Amnesia of Development and Communalism in Indian Politics (1995).
Awards: In 1985 on behalf of Lokayan, he has received the Right Livelihood Award from the Swedish Parliament in Stockholm (widely referred as the Alternative Nobel Prize). He has also received the UGC’s Swami Pranavananda Award in Political Science.