Socio-economic problems need research

Governor T N Chaturvedi on Wednesday said micro-level socially relevant research was essential to mitigate the socio-economic problems.

Addressing the gathering after the laying the foundation stone for the silver jubilee building of the Centre for Multi-Disciplinary Research (CMDR) at Dharwad he said scientific research in socio-economic sector has helped find solutions and frame suitable policies.

The governor hailed the services rendered by CMDR during the last 25 years in the field of socio-economic research. He said development was always a challenge and greater efforts were needed to face upto them.

The governor said that India was now a part of the WTO and it will have to find ways and means of taking advantage of WTO instead of ruing over the disadvantages. He regretted that India had failed in documentation and legal training while arguing its case at WTO.

Chaturvedi expressed his happiness over the CMDR's role in highlighting the problems of North Karnataka and suggesting remedial measures. He said that the people of North Karnataka felt aggrieved and the feeling had acquired a sharper edge since the submission of Nanjundappa Committee report. Chaturvedi said that while fighting for facilities and infrastructure, the vision of a single Karnataka should not be lost.

ICSSR chairman V R Panchamukhi expressed his concern over the decline in economic index in South Asia and the rise in unemployment among youth. He said that institutions like CMDR should hold seminars on ancient Indian scholars as their ideas and preaching were relevant even now.

CMDR chairman M S Gore said that India could not afford armchair economics and armchair sociology. What it required was a socially relevant action-oriented planning.