School of Social Sciences
Department of Economics
The Department of Economics, established as an PG Extension Centre of the University of Madras in 1977, was integrated into Bharathidasan University during its inception in 1982. The Department has been headed by stalwarts like Prof.S.Neelakantan (who did Post-Doctoral work with Nobel laurate Douglas C.North and later became the Director of the prestigious Madras Institute of Development Studies), Prof.V.B.Athreya (who after his B.Tech. in IIT Madras, did P.G. and Ph.D. in Economics at the famous Wisconsin University, USA), and Prof.C.Thangamuthu (who headed Bharathidasan University as Registrar for 9 years and later became the Vice-Chancellor of the University). Other erstwhile and present faculty members of the Department include Dr. S.C.Joseph, Dr.S.Lakshmi, Dr.S.Iyyampillai, Dr.M.Ravichandran, Dr.N.Manimekhalai, Dr.J.A.ArulChellakumar, Dr.L.Ganesan, Dr.V.Bakiyavathi, Dr.N.Prasanna, Dr.S.Ganesan, Dr.K.Vetrivel, Dr.P.Natarajamurthy and Dr.T.Sudha.
The Department of Economics has always been in the forefront in carrying out research and extension activities at the grass root and pivotal levels funded by various funding agencies like World Bank, MHRD, UGC, ICSSR, IGIDR, MSSRF, Adiseshiah Trust, TNPCB, TN-SPC, RUSA, etc.. The Department has received research projects in several diversified fields like Problems in Common Property Resources, Evaluation of Hunger Free Area Programme, Analysis of Patterns of Resource Flows, Economic Aspects of Rural Areas, Household Energy with Special Reference to Bio Gas Plants, Post-Harvest Technology, Economic and Environmental aspects of Rural Water Supply in Tamil Nadu, Economic Approach to Industrial Pollution Control & Capacity Building Programme in Environmental Economics, Women Entrepreneurs in Micro Enterprises, Impact of Micro Financing on Women, Impact of Globalization on Cotton Knitwear Industry, Impact of National Employment Guarantee Programme in Tamil Nadu, Impact of Air Pollution by Cement Industries on the Agricultural Yield, Growth & Diversification Patterns in Small Scale Processed spices products Industry. The Department has also played leading roles in providing consultancy to several Governmental organisations, the latest of them being in the preparation of the District Human Development Report for three Districts and Perspective Plans for 13 Blocks in Tamil Nadu. The Department has also played a crucial role in developing the curriculum and books for Economics education at the school level in Tamil Nadu.
The students and research scholars of the department have been regularly receiving fellowships from renowned institutions like Wageningen University, Netherlands, London School of Economics, UGC, ICSSR, RUSA and students of the Department have been receiving scholarships from Central and State governments, UGC and Pvt. Companies like ChargeBee. Alumni of the department occupy coveted positions in academia, public service and industry, within the country and abroad as Vice-Chancellors, Registrars, Professors, Scientists, People’s Representatives, Civil Servants and Corporate professionals.