Reflection on economic development and social change c.1

Vijayendra Kasturi Ranga Vardaraja Rao, who completed seventy years of his life on 8 July 1978, occupies an eminent position in the public life of India for his services to the nation in many fields. He has also won an enduring place in the international community of scholars for his work as an economist and as an institution-builder. The present volume of essays in his honour brings together contributions by a group of scholars who have known him closely and have held him in high esteem. It presents a bunch of studies on the theme of economic development and social change which has been and is of deep interest to V.K.R.V. Rao. The fact that the contributors belong to many disciplines is an indication of the position enjoyed by him not only in economics but in social sciences as a whole.

The editors of this volume do not consider themselves competent to present a full and meaningful story of V.K.R.V. Rao's thought and action extending over half a century. It is possible, however, to give some broad account of the activities of this academic pioneer who has contributed significantly towards putting Indian economics on the map of the world. Students of economics in India should remember that as recently as

three decades back economics did not enjoy the same position as it does today in academic institutions and in the society at large. In the field of humanities even up to the late forties it was not economics but literature, philosophy, and history that attracted the most talented students. No doubt the emergence of independent India in 1947 and her leading role in planning for economic growth created the favourable background for the elevation of economics to a high pedestal both in the Universities and outside. True, the appreciation by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, of the role of scientists including social scientists in nation-building and the encouragement given by him to institution-building was itself a significant factor contributing to new opportunities for social science emerging in independent India.