Professor K.S. Chalam is a economist, specializing in economics of education, political economy, public economics, and Dravidian studies. He is one of the few economists who has widely written about education and the disprivileged in India - an issue that has re-emerged and has been intensely debated in recent years. Chalam has pioneered some innovative ideas in his interdisciplinary studies when there were very few serious works drawing from India's history, economics, education, sociology, and related disciplines. This festschrift - in honor of Professor K.S. Chalam - examines four states of southern India. The book focuses on the history and socio-economic transformation of marginal communities or disprivileged groups - Dalits, tribes, and other occupational communities - and reflects on economic development and the process of social change. The essays in Perspectives on Economic Development and Social Change incorporate many of Chalam's cherished ideas.