Rajni Kothari, founder of CSDS and prominent political scientist passes away

Eminent scholar, political scientist and a former Planning Commission member Rajni Kothari passed away on Monday at the age of 86. Kothari was suffering from urinary tract disease for some time and died at around 9:45 am at his residence at Patparganj in East Delhi. He was born on 16th August, 1928.

A well known political thinker, Kothari was also the founder of Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) in 1963, a social sciences and humanities research institute based in Delhi.

“He was not keeping well for the last two years. He died of old-age,” a family member said. He is survived by his two sons Miloon and Ashish. His last rites will take place tomorrow.

Kothari was a member of the Planning Commission during the National Front government led by V P Singh. He had also floated Lokayan in 1980 which is a forum for interaction between activists and intellectuals.

Kothari was also associated with number of prestigious institutions like Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), International Foundation for Development Alternatives and People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL).

Aditya Nigam, CSDS professor, told Hindustan Times that he saw Kothari’s contribution at two levels. “One was of course as an intellectual and political scientist. When he started out, he was interested in themes like nation building and Congress party. Then he worked on the changing nature of caste and how it became a part of democratic politics.”

Yogendra Yadav, who was a former member of CSDS wrote a tribute to Kothari in the Indian Express.  Yadav noted how Kothari’s book Politics in India, which he picked up in college, inspired him to study further and analyse politics.

On CSDS, Yadav remembers how Kothari build the institute. Yadav writes in the Indian Express:

“He (Kothari) gathered a group of exceptionally talented social scientists and turned the place into a school of thought. Legend has it that he recruited a faculty member who demanded a higher salary than Kothari himself. Unlike most Indian institution builders, he stepped aside from the leadership of his own institution when he turned 50. That is one of the key reasons why the CSDS made a generational transition and is still a leading intellectual centre after completing its golden jubilee.”

Kothari’s published works include Politics in India, Caste in Indian Politics and Rethinking Democracy, In Search of Humane World Order Poverty: Human Consciousness and the Amnesia of Development and Communalism in Indian Politics.

With inputs from PTI