P.K.Viswanathan

Viswanathan has Ph.D. in Economics from the Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC), Bangalore. His doctoral research was an attempt at examining the institutional, technological and socio-economic constraints leading to the poor performance of irrigation systems as well as the virtual absence of correspondence between public investments in the water sector and the resultant agrarian transformation in the context of Kerala in south India. Prior to joining GIDR, he had worked at the Rubber Research Institute of India (Government of India) for 10 years (1994-2004) during which, he had undertaken studies broadly confining to the resource use efficiency of rubber smallholders in Kerala; dynamics of the labour market attached to the smallholder as well as the organized rubber plantations in Kerala; non-conventional uses and commercial potential of timber from rubber plantations and the status of rubber-wood processing industry in India vis-vis Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand; Socio-Economic, Political and Ecological Dimensions of Rubber Development programmes in the tribal economies of North East India; etc. He has been a post-doctoral research fellow at the Asian Institute of Technology(AIT), Bangkok during January 2005, January 2006 during which, he had completed a study on the emerging patterns and the livelihood outcomes of rubber smallholder systems in North East India and Thailand in a comparative perspective. He was also a visiting fellow at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (March, April 2006), during which, he had undertaken a study examining the contradictions and challenges confronting China's rubber industry under the free trade regime. He has also been a visiting fellow (Wellcome Trust, UK) at the Institute for Population and Social Research (IPSR), Mahidol University, Thailand (May 2006 , May 2007). Currently, he is engaged in studies such as a "Small farmers and Bt cotton: A case study of India" (Oxfam); and"Water Policy and Water Laws in India: A Critical Review of Structural and Institutional Impediments and Governance Systems and Outlook for future"(IWMI-ITP). His research interests broadly cover institutional and governance aspects of water resources development in India; collective action and sustainable livelihood outcomes in smallholder agriculture with particular reference to mountainous communities; social capital and the agrarian crisis in India, etc.

P. K. Viswanathan and N. Lalitha (2010): GM technology and sustainable agriculture future: Empirical evidences from Bt cotton farmers in Maharashtra and Gujarat in India,Journal of Development and Agricultural Economics, 2(1): 7-17, January, 2010.

India’s experience with Bt Cotton: Case studies from Gujarat and Maharashtra, in: Robbert Tripp (ed.) (2009): Biotechnology and Agricultural Development: Transgenic Cotton, Rural Institutions and Resource Poor Farmers, Routledge Explorations in Environmental Economics, Routledge, London, pp. 135-167 (with N. Lalitha and Bharat Ramaswami).
 
Gender Differences in Educational Attainments and Occupational Status in Thailand: A study based on Kanchanaburi DSS Data, Journal of Population and Social Studies, 2009, 17(2): 83-122 (with Varachai Thongthai).
 
Sustainable Growth of China\'s Rubber Industry in the Era of Global Economic Integration: Resolving Contradictions of Resources Development and Industrial Expansion Strategies, China Report, 44 (3): 251-279 (2008).
 
Integration of Tribal Economies in the Era of Globalisation: Perspectives on Rubber Based Farming Systems in North East India, Asian Profile, Volume 36, No.3, June 2008, Journal of Asian Research Service, Canada, Pp. 281-298 (with Ganesh P. Shivakoti).
 
Adoption of Rubber Integrated Farm Livelihood Systems: Contrasting Empirical Evidences from the Indian Context, Journal of Forest Research, Volume 13, No. 1, pp. 1-14, February 2008 (with Ganesh P. Shivakoti).