Joshi-Adhikari Institute of Social Studies (JAISS) is a registered institution under Societies Registration Act, 1860 with registration no. S/16252 of 1985. It is named after two great veterans in the fields of science and humanities and  who played seminal roles in  the political and social life of the country, Com. P.C. Joshi and Com. Gangadhar Adhikari.

Comrade P.C. Joshi, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of India from 1935 till 1947 was a great visionary whose contribution n the building of political, social, cultural and literary movements in the country is unparalleled. He united the scattered groups of communists and moulded them into a national party with a base among the people. He helped build and empower mass organization of peasants and students in the country. He was the inspiration behind the formation of the Progressive Writer’s Association (PWA) and Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA). He was a leading initiator in the movement for cultural renaissance in India.

Dr. Gangadhar Adhikari was an internationally renowned physicist, and a student of such eminent luminaries as Max Planck and Albert Einstein. Apart from his contribution in the field of science, he dedicated himself to the cause of Indian National Freedom Movement against British colonial rule and for the nation building activities in a newly independent India.

Comrades Joshi and Adhikari, together with other colleagues, collaborated in spreading the thought of scientific socialism founded by Marx and Engels, and in building the Indian Communist Movement. It is therefore fitting that an Indian Institute of Social Studies be named after them.

The membership of the institution includes the professionals and the students in the fields of academics, science, technology, leading persons active in the organizations of the writers, persons active in the field of art and culture, social activists from the movements of women, peasants, workers from industry, agriculture and service sector. Institutions may also be admitted as members of the society.

The Institute has state level functional units in some of the states of India engages in promoting the aims and objects of the society.