The project aimed to reinvigorate social scientific research and education at a rural university located in a remote region of South India. Through a series of research activities, social science students and staff at Kuvempu University were trained in developing research skills. Thus, the university could produce social scientific research on local cultural and social problems and address the problems of caste and pluralism in local society. The Centre for the Study of Local Cultures (CSLC) focuses upon innovative research on local problems of caste/inequality and pluralism/conflict. It also established a feedback loop between the university and the local society in Karnataka, its self-government bodies, its policy makers and NGOs.