The Asian Development Research Institute was established in 1991 as a registered body by a group of social scientists in Patna, Bihar. It focuses on social sciences including economics, politics, development issues, and culture.
Research
The organization conducts and supports both empirical and theoretical studies in different areas of social sciences. This research has included examinations of the imperatives of a knowledge society, the forces of liberalisation and globalisation, issues of good governance and civil society, poverty, state finances in Bihar and other states, and evaluation studies of various social and economic programmes sponsored by national and international development agencies. The Institute holds seminars and workshops and publishes research reports and papers. Apart from conducting its own research, the Institute also runs a database for development researchers and agencies across the country. The Institute also provides research support to the State Resource Centre on adult education and other agencies. After the state of Bihar was bifurcated into Bihar and Jharkhand, the Institute established another centre at Ranchi to take adequate care of the research needs of the newly created state.
From the founding of the Institute, it has provided professional support on issues of development strategy or public finance. During 2006-07 and 2007–08, the state government outsourced to the Institute the responsibility of preparing the Annual Economic Survey for Bihar. In 2008, ADRI established a dedicated centre for the regular preparation of the AES and conduct other research studies related to the economic policy and public finance of the state as well. This centre, called the Centre for Economic Policy and Public Finance provides research support to the state government for evolving a framework of improved management of public finance. Such research includes studies on resource mobilisation, quality of state government spending, management of deficits and debt, framework of centre-state financial relations, and policies for economic and social development. Besides undertaking such studies, the CEPPF also maintains a Data Bank on the state’s economy. The Centre also organises seminars and workshops on various issues.
The International Growth Centre is based at the London School of Economics and functions in partnership with the Oxford University. It is initiated and funded by the Department for International Development of the UK Government. The IGC has 16 country offices in partner countries and one of them is located at ADRI. The IGC India-Bihar Programme started in December, 2009 when the Government of Bihar invited IGC to come to the state and help sustain the growth of the Bihar economy. The IGC accepted the invitation and agreed to provide demand-led policy advice based on frontier research. For Bihar, the IGC has identified two key research areas through an ongoing consultation process with policy stakeholders and researchers — economic transformation and resource mobilisation. The IGC Programmein Bihar currently focuses on five key sectors — agriculture, education, state finance, health, and water resources. Having identified these focus areas, a variety of products — rapid response notes, research and analytic work, training and dissemination workshops, and events — were commissioned to fulfill the need for independent, policy-oriented academic research on Bihar.
Jan Shikshan Sansthan
Keeping in view the growing number of new literates to be covered under the Saakshar Bharat Programme, of which skill development is an integral part, the National Literacy Mission supports a number of Jan Shikshan Sansthans or Institutes of People’sEducation across the country. The Institutes organise vocational and skill development programmes for neo-literates in both rural and urban areas. Through a polyvalent approach, each JSS ensures a continuous access to the need-based vocational training. Since the needs vary, each JSS has the autonomy to design their courses that have flexible content, duration and instructional arrangements. ADRI was entrusted with the responsibility of hosting a JSS in 2000. Every year, about 2,500 persons attend various vocational courses of the JSS, ADRI. At present, besides the main centre on the ADRI premises, JSS runs 12 rural centres in Patna district, some of them in collaboration with local NGOs.
The National Literacy Mission started an innovative programme for adult educationin 1988. The programme had to be organised in a mission mode, where the active participation of the people and non-government organisations was very essential. In this context, the NLM established a number of State Resource Centres, each of them hosted by a reputed NGO. In 1995, the NLM entrusted ADRI with the responsibility of hosting one such SRC in Patna to support the literacy campaign in selected districts of Bihar, the campaign being supported in the remaining districts of the state by another SRC. In 2000, Bihar was bifurcated and the NLM then entrusted ADRI with the responsibility of organising another SRC at Ranchi to support the campaign in the newly formed state of Jharkhand. Till 2007, the NLM used to be implemented in three phases —Total Literacy Campaign, Post-Literacy Programme and Continuing Education. When nearly all the districts of the country completed the first two phases of the programme and entered the Continuing Education phase, the NLM restructured the programme and named it as Saakshar Bharat programme. The responsibilities of the two SRC's under ADRI include — development of teaching-learning and training materials for literacy programmes; production and dissemination of literature for adult education; training literacy functionaries; undertaking motivational and environment-building activities for adult education; multimedia works; running of field programmes; action research, evaluation and monitoring of literacy projects; and undertaking innovative projects to identify the future need of literacy programmes. One of the innovative initiatives of SRC has been to organise the Akshar Bihar and Akshar Jharkhand functions annually to honour dedicated literacy functionaries. The SRC at Patna also organises, along with the Akshar Bihar function, anannual lecture in memory of Myles Horton and Paulo Freire, doyens of adult education.
