This research paper undertakes an exhaustive investigation into the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), scrutinising its history, ideological orientation, funding ecosystem, and collaborations with foreign entities. The analysis contends that CSDS operates as a node in a transnational network of NGOs, think tanks, and media organisations that are ideologically opposed to India’s interests—particularly those of its majority Hindu population and the democratically elected government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This executive summary distils the paper’s major revelations, critiques the intentions and motivations at play, and exposes the coordinated efforts of CSDS and its funders to influence India’s political and social discourse, furthering foreign interference in India’s democracy and undermining India’s sovereignty at the behest of foreign powers and furthering the foreign policy agenda of other countries under the pretext of research and civil society activism.
Origin and Ideological Leanings of CSDS
CSDS was established in 1963 by Rajni Kothari, whose early academic work and later activism display a consistent bias against Hindu society, secularisation of the state, and a tendency to launder divisive, caste-based, and anti-majority narratives through academic jargon. The paper traces CSDS’s roots to foreign-sponsored entities such as the Asia Foundation—a CIA front—making it clear that its founding moment was tainted by external influence. Over decades, CSDS leadership and faculty have cultivated an intellectual project that pathologises India’s majority community, champions false minority victimhood, and provides ideological ammunition for adversarial foreign policy goals, particularly those aimed at undermining the sovereignty and unity of India.
The Foreign Funding Web: Cash, Collaboration, and Confluence of Interests
CSDS’s operational and research budgets are sustained not only by Indian government grants (primarily through the Indian Council of Social Science Research, ICSSR) but also reveal a heavy and steadily increasing reliance on foreign funding. Since 2016, CSDS has received at least ₹15.6 crore via FCRA, though actual foreign receipts are likely far higher due to incomplete disclosures. Major foreign contributors include:
Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS): The German government-funded foundation, directly affiliated with the ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU), has donated over ₹2.6 crore since 2016. KAS’s explicit mandate is to advance German foreign policy and Western democratic values, which often align with undermining or “reforming” target countries’ political cultures and supporting regime change operations.
International Development Research Centre (IDRC): A Canadian crown corporation, IDRC provided up to a third of CSDS’s annual budget (over 8 years) under its Think Tank Initiative. IDRC is an arm of Canadian foreign policy, and its support focused on amplifying identity-based and separatist agitations. Canada’s open patronage of Khalistani secessionists further compounds the strategic risk posed by its funding of Indian civil society and think tanks.
Siemenpuu Foundation: This Finnish NGO, bankrolled by Finland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, funds “ecological democracy” projects via CSDS and its offshoots (notably SADED). Siemenpuu’s India interventions are framed around “supporting Adivasis,” but their networks and dialogue platforms routinely provide oxygen to Naxal-aligned and anti-Hindu intellectuals and activists, often amplifying Western narratives about oppression and dispossession in India.
Berggruen Institute: Founded by a globalist billionaire, the BI’s anti-India and anti-Hindu output is disseminated through its magazine “Noema,” which repeatedly denigrates India as authoritarian, communal, and backward—often using overtly ideological and factually selective authors, including those with links to hostile Pakistan and anti-Indian Western lobbies.[1]
Ford Foundation, Henry Luce Foundation, Omidyar, Open Society Foundations: These U.S.-based entities are well-documented for funding regime change, “civil society empowerment,” and promoting identity politics internationally. Their support to CSDS directly or via collaborative projects (such as the “Indian Muslims Project”) habitually seeds, amplifies, and exports the victimhood and “rising fascism” narrative about India and its government.
Sciences Po/FNSP: France’s premier political science institution, through the FNSP, made substantial financial contributions to CSDS. Its faculty, notably Christophe Jaffrelot, has routinely produced research critical of Hindu identity politics and the Modi government, contributing to a hostile international narrative.
Collusion with Western Media, “Investigative” Networks, and Regime Change Actors
The research details how CSDS and its research/policy ecosystem—Lokniti, SADED, and affiliated academics—are intricately connected to and promoted by Western “media freedom” and “investigative journalism” networks (such as GIJN, OCCRP, Bellingcat, Reporters’ Collective, RSF, and others). The overlap is not accidental: these global networks have documented histories of receiving support from the U.S. State Department, NED (an acknowledged CIA offshoot for regime change), Soros’s Open Society, and European government agencies. Through these channels, Western intelligence and political actors shape India’s media and research discourse, selectively funding those who amplify Western policy priorities and narratives of India’s failure, oppression, or “authoritarian drift”.
This nexus generates a feedback loop: foreign-funded Indian researchers produce alarmist reports on India’s democracy, media, or communal situation; these are then cited in global “freedom indices” and media exposés, which, in turn, justify more foreign funding and “democracy assistance” to a curated set of Indian actors—many of whom have either direct or indirect links to urban Naxals, separatists, and radical activists.
Intellectual Strategy: Caste, Minority Victimhood, Anti-Hindu, and Anti-Nationalism
The CSDS’s research, publications, and “surveys” are found to advance four strategic goals consistently:
Divide Hindus: CSDS research uses Western sociological categories and caste frameworks to amplify intra-Hindu divisions—especially by alienating Dalits, Adivasis, and OBCs from their Hindu identity, and by framing political outcomes through the lens of caste oppression and “majoritarian tyranny.” The creation and perpetuation of these fault lines mirror the strategies advocated by known separatist outfits like PFI and global anti-India campaigners.
Promote Dalit-Muslim Unity narrative: The CSDS repeatedly attempts to hyphenate Dalit and Muslim victimhood, asserting that both face oppression from Hindus or the state, and that unity between them—often at the expense of Hindu social cohesion—is necessary for “democracy”.
Demonise Hindus and the Indian State: CSDS scholars, affiliated journalists, and collaborators like Ashis Nandy and Ananya Vajpeyi, systematically paint Hindus as fascists, bigots, or perpetrators of violence, even when evidence disproves these claims (e.g., Godhra 2002, Delhi 2020). Their research is weaponised to delegitimise Indian nationalism, justify external intervention, and feed global media outrage cycles.
Undermine Indian Sovereignty: Foreign-funded CSDS research and agenda provide spin and intellectual cover for “civil society” agitation, street protests, and social media campaigns that regularly challenge the legitimacy of the Indian state, undermine national unity in Kashmir or the Northeast, and advocate for changes in laws or policies that align with foreign interests—often directly at odds with democratic majorities or the elected government.
Alliance with Hostile Foreign Stakeholders and Adversarial Groups
The paper demonstrates that CSDS’s ecosystem is not only ideologically aligned with, but is sometimes directly patronised by, entities and individuals openly hostile to India:
Association with US Deep State Proxies: Several CSDS partners and funders (NED, IDRC, Open Society, Ford Foundation) have well-documented involvement in regime change operations across Latin America, Eastern Europe, and Asia.
Links to Pro-Khalistani, Pro-Pakistani, Islamist, and Leftist Groups: IDRC’s own staff and grantees have participated in farmers’ protests and anti-CAA/Delhi riot networks. Key actors in CSDS or its partner NGOs routinely appear in agitation circles alongside urban Naxals, Khalistani backers, and anti-India lobbies.
China Factor: By hosting, funding, or affiliating with academics and journalists (and even a former Pakistani PM) known for anti-India activism, Western and Chinese funding channels (via the Berggruen Institute) further compromise any pretense of neutrality.
Recurring Patterns and Motivations
A systemic pattern emerges: foreign foundations and governments—with explicit foreign policy goals—collaborate with Indian think tanks and activists who embrace critical or adversarial stances toward India’s government, majority community, and nation-building projects. Their combined efforts amplify negative narratives globally, pressurise India’s policy space, and attempt to create internal social divisions and political instability. This coordinated campaign, the paper argues, is designed to constrain India’s sovereignty, undermine its global standing, and—when possible—influence regime changes through intellectual, media, and activist “soft power”.
Furthermore, the selective silence of these organisations on anti-Hindu violence, religious conversions, and the global targeting of Indian interests—contrasted with overt activism on any perceived or manufactured minority issue—reveals an entrenched, ideologically motivated bias.
The Centre for the Study of Developing Societies and its web of allied NGOs, media platforms, and funders operate as part of a coordinated ideological challenge to India’s sovereignty, cultural integrity, and democratic legitimacy. Foreign funds systematically steer their research, outreach, and activism from governments and billionaire foundations invested in global regime change and social engineering. The case study of CSDS exposes how “civil society” and “academic” institutions can be transformed into instruments of narrative warfare against democratic states. For India to maintain its autonomy and national stability, the agendas, funding sources, and linkages of such organisations must be subjected to rigorous scrutiny, regulatory oversight, and public accountability.
Research Team:
Lead Researcher: Nupur J Sharma
Researchers: Ashish Nautiyal, Divyansh Tiwari, Prarabdh Rai, Dhruv Mishra, Rohit Kumar Pandey, Chandan Kumar.
Graphics: Prashant Vashishth, Rohit Arya, Ritika Chandola.
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