TISS sets up lab to research on religious diversities

Mumbaikars will now be able to view the religious and ethnic changes the city has seen over the past few decades as researchers would be researching on this subject and making the data available to public.

An urban research laboratory named Urban Aspirations would be set up in the Tata Institute of Social Science (TISS). The research on the changing religious and ethnic diversities would be carried out over here. This is a project between TISS, German based Max Planck Society and Partners for Urban Knowledge, Action and Research (PUKAR). A memorandum of understanding was signed by the three organizations entering formally into this project, on Monday evening.

The project would see the involvement of Ph.D. scholars teaming up with barefoot researchers.

The barefoot researchers are the people living in a particular area and particular community and having a thorough knowledge about their community.

“ There wouldn’t be any qualification required for any volunteer to conduct a research.

We would be judging them by the level of commitment they show and then go ahead with them” said S Parasuraman, Director, TISS. The organizations would be communicating the message to the colleges as well as the slum areas. They would also be inviting proposals to study the area. The financial assistance in form of fellowship would be provided to individual researchers. They would also be provided training on conducting group discussions, interacting with people and documenting the facts received.

The three organizations are specialized in three key areas that would a boost for the current research project. TISS is specialized in academic research, whereas PUKAR is best at the community research. The Max Planck’s forte is cultural research and hence the combination of these three organizations would see a larger perspective covered during the research.

The laboratory would be based at TISS in Govandi. The researchers would also be using the existing data of TISS to provide a complete picture, including the history, recent trends and representation of the communities in the city.

The data collected would be made into a research paper and once finalized all these papers would be available on the website of TISS. “ We would study the aspirations of different groups and ultimately it would be helpful in maintaining harmony in the city” said Parasuraman.