DEMOGRAPHIC TRANSITION: An Asian Perspective

by R. Balakrishnan

The volume stitches together a vast canvas that begins with historical demography and moves on to examine ethnographic perspectives, gender, family health and the ageing population of Asia.The volume also highlights gender, family planning and reproductive health issues, and dwells on the tragic consequences for the girl child when family size norms go down even as son preference persists. A compelling presentation of demographic transition in Asia that brings to fore contemporary research in this area.

Paperback

Published January 1, 2011

About the author

R. Balakrishnan (ஆர். பாலகிருஷ்ணன்), a postgraduate in Tamil literature, is the first student of Tamil literature to clear the Civil Service exam. He joined the Indian Administration Service in 1984. His initial postings in the Tribal areas of Odisha triggered his interest in Indology, Anthropology and Place-name Studies. It was Iravatham Mahadevan who led Balakrishnan into the area of Indus Studies.

Balakrishnan has published several research papers on Place-name Studies, Odisha's history, and it's plural culture. Using Geographical Information System tools, he formulated the 'Korkai-Vanji-Tondi Complex', a place-name complex in the Indus geography. His paper on High-West:Low-East Dichotomy of Indus cities gained wide attention. His Tamil books on the Dravidian foundations of Indus Civilization received accolades as the 'best book written in Tamil on the subject'.

Balakrishnan is an author, poet and has published several books in Tamil. After 34 years of service with the Government of Odisha and the Government of India, he retired from the Civil Services in 2018. He is currently the Honorary Consultant of the Indus Research Centre of the Roja Muthaih Research Library, Chennai.