Prof. Mohanakumar S.
Director
Prof. Mohanakumar is an economist by discipline and profession. He is a dedicated teacher, social and environmental activist. He graduated in Economics from the University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram and took M.Phil degree in applied economics from the Centre for Development Studies (affiliated Centre of the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi). His PhD thesis ( is an investigation into the State mediation into the process of rural wage formation for agricultural labours in India with special reference to Kerala.
Prof. Mohanakumar started the academic career as Research Investigator at the CDS, Thiruvananthapuram soon after his M. A. He worked as Scientist (Agricultural Economics Division) of the Rubber Research Institute of India, Kottayam (Ministry of Commerce, Government of India) for more than 16 years. He had worked as Associate Professor (Social Development) at the Kerala Institute of Local Administration (KILA, Thrissur, Kerala). He worked in a UNDP-Govt. of India funded research project in CDS, TVPM under the late Prof. T.N.Krishnan, former director of CDS.
Joined the Institute of Development Studies, Jaipur (IDSJ) in 2009 and continued as Professor and Director (i/c) till August 2023. He left the IDSJ in August 2023 to join the Public Policy Research Institute (PPRI, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala). He has post-graduation in Population Sciences from IIPS, Mumbai and undertook post-doctoral training at York University, Toronto, Canada.
Prof. Mohanakumar received the following research fellowships and awards:
- Kumarapillia Scholarships for MA students in Economcis-1984-85 (Government of Kerala)
- MPhil Scholarship-2987-1989 (Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala)
- PhD fellowships- Kerala Research Programme on Local Development (KRPLLD), Instituted through Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala (1996-97)
- Research training Fellowship (Post-doctoral) Ministry of Commerce availed from the Rubber Research Institute of India, Rubber Board, Kottayam, Government of India, 2007
- Recipient of research fellowship for Asian Scholars from York Centre for Asian Research, Toronto, Canada (2013)
- Designated as National Expert on Indian agriculture by Asian Productivity Organisation, APO, Tokyo, Japan (2018).
Prof. Mohanakumar has worked as expert committee members of several committees of the Government of Rajasthan and Government of Kerala.
As a social activist, he has served as the state resource person during the first phase of People’s Plan Campaign in Kerala (1997-2000).He was actively involved in the movement and initiated several pioneering experiments in decentralised planning process at Pallichal and Vellanad Grama Panchayats (Local Self Governments in Kerala) in Thiruvananthapuram district, Kerala.
Prof. Mohanakumar has extensively worked and published articles on political economy of agriculture development, labour-market issues, decentralised planning, rural development and dairying in India. He has written extensively (more than 100 research articles) and published in reputed and peer reviewed academic journals and popular media. He has published books in English and local languages.
Recent books titles are:
- Indian Agriculture: Performance, Growth and Challenges (2016): Routledge, New Delhi, (Ed. Co-authored)
- Crony Capitalism: A Study of Pallichal Gram Panchayat, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala (2022): Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram).
- Climate Change : An Asian Perspective (2012): Rawat Publications, Jaipur (Ed. Co-authored)
- Three academic books in regional languages by Kerala Institute of Local Administration (KILA, Thrissur, Kerala).
Prof. Mohanakumar has taught courses on Philosophy of Research Methodology, Political Economy of Development, Labour and Decentralisation, Plantation Crops and Natural Rubber, Regional Economies of Kerala and Rajasthan. He has supervised several PhD thesis.
Prof. Mohanakumar is visiting professor in IDSJ and Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam. He has a long research association with York University, Canada.
Relevance of Public Policy Research
Public policy formulation in most developing countries is far removed from ideal situation. Policy documents prepared in a sub optimum bureaucratic environment without taking people into confidence and without indicating the economic and social implications of alternatives forgone often generate unfavourable and hostile reactions and cause considerable wastage of public resources. One way to overcome this is to institutionalise policy formulation by putting in place systematic arrangements. Governments in most developed countries have formed or financed institutions and think tanks that are exclusively devoted to public policy research.
In India, a few such institutions are functioning at the national level. But a lot more is desired in the field of public policy research. At the state level, it seems that the need for institutional arrangements for public policy research is yet to be recognized. Nonetheless, research is most relevant to policy making when it is conveyed through comprehensive scientific assessment and analyses. The way in which research agenda are constructed, the methods used to engage in research, the actors who convey the findings, and in what fora are important considerations in determining the relevance of research to policy. Research results presented in a comprehensive scientific framework that bear the hallmarks of usable knowledge, conveying information about consequences will be most relevant to policy makers.
The context of Kerala
The unique development experience of Kerala known as ‘Kerala model of development’ has attracted world-wide attention for its outstanding social attainments. Kerala has almost become a laboratory for policy experiments. In fact other Indian States and even some of the developing countries look forward to the experiences of Kerala to draw lessons and guidance. It may be unrealistic to assume that the policies pursued by Kerala in the past have been fool proof. Of late, doubts have been expressed about the sustainability of the Kerala model of development. A model that is not sustainable is a tragedy. Several vital issues relating to climate change, cropping pattern, service delivery, service induced growth model, growing inequality, decentralized planning, fiscal consolidation, resource mobilization, rational democratic practice, gender justice, transport policy and so on cry out for solutions in the state.
Though Kerala has specialized research institutions in many areas of development, there seems to be very little inter-institutional interaction so as to evolve comprehensive policy prescriptions aimed at addressing the development problems of the state. This often results in duplication of work and wastage of considerable time and public resources. At the same time, there are several vital areas where study and documentation are quite inadequate. As a consequence of all these, policy formulation at the state level is not properly informed by the findings of these research institutions. It is against this backdrop that the ‘Public Policy Research Institute’ (PPRI) envisaged in the Kerala budget 2012-13 assumes significance.