In this blog, Mr Thiruppathi P discusses his research in Tamil Nadu, India and the impact of receiving an IJURR Foundation Writing up award in 2025. He was a PhD student at the Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC), Bengaluru during this period. His recent work focuses on political communication, welfare governance, and regional inequality in Tamil Nadu
Published: 19.06.2026
In 2025, I was fortunate to receive an IJURR Foundation Writing-Up Grant while completing my PhD research on political communication, welfare governance, and regional development in Tamil Nadu, India. As a first-generation scholar, the award meant much more than financial assistance. It provided something that is often difficult to secure during the final stages of a doctorate: the time and stability needed to think, write, and complete research with care.
My research examines how Dravidian parties in Tamil Nadu use activism, populism, and welfare to communicate with citizens and shape governance. Through a survey of 210 respondents, interviews with politicians, journalists, and intellectuals, and analysis of party manifestos and public speeches, I have explored how welfare is understood by ordinary citizens and how political communication influences development across regions.
Source: Author’s fieldwork photographs, Tamil Nadu, India (2023–2024).
One of the most memorable parts of this journey was conducting fieldwork in Virudhunagar district in southern Tamil Nadu. Travelling between rural and urban communities, I often expected people to speak about welfare programmes in terms of political parties. Instead, many respondents described welfare as something that governments should naturally provide. Several participants did not associate welfare benefits with a particular party but viewed them as a responsibility of the state itself.
These conversations changed how I understood welfare politics. Much public debate in India treats welfare as an electoral tool or dismisses it as a “freebie.” However, what I encountered during fieldwork was different. Welfare had become part of everyday expectations of citizenship. For many people, access to subsidised food, education, healthcare, and financial support was not viewed as generosity from politicians but as a legitimate entitlement.
Yet another observation repeatedly emerged during my field visits. While welfare programmes reached households across different communities, development outcomes remained uneven. Virudhunagar, for example, has a long history of political participation, industrial activity, and welfare penetration. Nevertheless, local journalists, political actors, and residents frequently expressed concerns about infrastructure gaps, limited industrial diversification, and uneven investment when compared with larger urban centres such as Chennai or Coimbatore.
This led me to one of the central findings of my research: welfare has travelled further than development. Welfare programmes have expanded social citizenship and improved everyday lives, but they have not necessarily produced balanced regional development. Political communication helps explain part of this puzzle. The places that receive greater attention in political speeches, policy announcements, and media narratives often attract stronger developmental follow-through, while other regions remain less visible despite continuing needs.
The IJURR Foundation’s support allowed me to explore these questions in greater depth during the writing-up stage of my PhD. More importantly, it provided a sense of encouragement and recognition. For researchers from the Global South and particularly for first-generation scholars such support carries significant meaning. It affirms that our experiences, questions, and perspectives have a place in wider academic conversations.
As I complete my doctoral research, I remain grateful to the IJURR Foundation for making this work possible. The award not only supported my research; it strengthened my confidence to contribute to debates on governance, inequality, and regional development from the perspective of Tamil Nadu and the wider Global South.
Mr Thiruppathi P, Board Member of IPSA Research Committee 22 (Political Communication).
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