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The Union Cabinet has approved the establishment of Global Development Network (GDN) as an international organization with its headquarters in New Delhi. It has also approved the signing of the ‘Agreement Establishing the Global Development Network’ by India as a ‘State Party’.
GDN is a global network of research and policy institutes working to address the problems of national and regional development. It has its own governing structure with the objective of generating, sharing and applying multidisciplinary knowledge for the purpose of development. It began as a unit of the World Bank and provides funds of new research through regional competitions, supports networking through global research projects and conferences, and builds capacity for electronic networking through the GDNet.
It supports multidisciplinary research in social sciences and promotes the generation of local knowledge in developing and transition countries. It produces policy relevant knowledge on a global scale; builds research capacity to advance development and alleviate poverty; facilitates knowledge sharing among researchers and policymakers; and, disseminates development knowledge to the public and policymakers. It is serviced by a Secretariat currently at Washington DC.
India would benefit from the establishment of the Headquarters of GDN as it would shift the hub of global research on development activities to New Delhi. The biannual hosting of the conference at the headquarters of GDN presents an opportunity for a confluence of eminent researchers and think tank groups to gather in India and share their ideas. This is also likely to give a fillip to social and economic research in India and benefit the academic community as a whole.
YSR/DS/HS/LV
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