Professor B. Bhaskara Rao served at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore from May 1, 1976, to March 31, 1986, during which he made foundational contributions to the Institute’s identity as a socially conscious management school. Joining as Professor and founding Chairperson of the Centre for Habitat and Environmental Studies (CHES), he envisioned management education as people-centred rather than profit-centred, focusing on development, environment, and public systems management.

He designed and taught several doctoral-level courses—Systems Analysis for Urban and Regional Planning, Environmental Planning and Development, Urban Administration, and Settlement Management in Administration—and created PGP electives such as Habitat Paradigms and Environment and Infrastructure, Population and Human Settlement Management. He also coordinated executive and organization-based programmes (MDPs and OBPs) on housing, transport, environment, and land-use systems, which attracted national and international participants.

His research produced notable works including Housing and Habitat in Developing Countries, Migration and Integrated Urban and Rural Development in India, and Management of Social Development in Rural Areas. He pioneered Futurology Studies at IIMB, collaborating with the Department of Science and Technology and organizing foresight workshops such as India 2001. As Dean (Programmes and Consultancy), he guided the Institute through the transition from Langford Road to the Bannerghatta Road campus, playing a key role in campus design and development.

Prof. Rao’s vision integrated environmental awareness, developmental planning, and social responsibility into management education—an approach that helped define IIMB’s distinctive early character.