Founders

Dr. (Smt.) Durgabai Deshmukh & Dr. C.D. Deshmukh

The Council for Social Development (CSD) was founded by the eminent social reformer Dr. (Smt.) Durgabai Deshmukh, with the active support of Dr. C.D. Deshmukh, a distinguished civil servant, economist, educationist and scholar, as an affiliate of the India International Centre in 1962. In 1970 the organisation was registered as an autonomous institution under the Societies Registration Act of 1860 in Delhi.

President

Prof. K. Srinath Reddy

Prof. K. Srinath Reddy, a cardiologist and epidemiologist by training, is the founder past President of the Public Health Foundation of India (2006-2022), presently serving as an Honorary Distinguished Professor of PHFI. He was earlier Head of Cardiology at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences. Prof. Reddy was the first Bernard Lown Visiting Professor of Global Cardiovascular Health at Harvard (2009-13) and is presently an Adjunct Professor at Harvard, Emory, Sydney and Pennsylvania universities. He serves on the Advisory Boards of the School of Population and Global Health at McGill University and the Centre for Global Health Equity, University of Michigan. He also serves as the Honorary President of the Population Foundation of India. In 2024 he was elected as President of the Council for Social Development in India.

He is a first Indian to be elected as International Member of the US National Academy of Medicine. He was President of the World Heart Federation (2013-14) and is co-chair of the Health Thematic Group of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. He served on a several WHO expert panels and Technical Advisory Groups. He chaired the High-Level Expert Group on Universal Health Coverage constituted by the Planning Commission of India (2010-11). He is a member of the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition. He previously served as Advisor on Health to the state governments of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, with a cabinet rank.

Prof. Reddy has 593 scientific publications in peer reviewed journals. He has published two books: "Make Health in India – Reaching a Billion Plus" and "Pulse to Planet: Long Lifeline of Human Health". Among his several honours received by him are WHO Director General's Award and Luther Terry Medal of the American Cancer Association for 'outstanding contributions to global tobacco control, the Queen Elizabeth Medal for Health Promotion and Padma Bhushan, the prestigious civilian award conferred by the President of India. He is a recipient of several honorary doctorates, including from Universities of London, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Lausanne.

Chairperson

Prof. Shantha Sinha

The CSD-SRC enjoys functional autonomy through its own Managing / Finance Committee. Currently, Prof. Shanta Sinha is the Chairperson of the Managing Committee, a Retired Professor of Political Science, University of Hyderabad and Raman Magsaysay Awardee for her distinguished work on elimination of Child Labour.

Regional Director

Prof. Sujit Kumar Mishra

Prof. Sujit Kumar Mishra is currently the head of the institute as Regional Director.
A skilled practitioner and teacher of research methods and skills include impact assessment, economic analysis and statistics. The other areas of his research interests include interrogating the equity aspects of development - access to education, health, livelihoods - along several axes of marginality - caste, tribes, gender and minorities.