The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 12, responsible consumption and production, aims to halve worldwide food waste and reduce global food loss by 2030. When thinking about this goal, many questions arise, such as: How is food loss and food waste defined? What metrics and methods are used to determine a baseline and measure progress? How does food loss and…

On 8 November 2016, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi issued a demonetization policy not only to eliminate black currency, but also to promote a digital and cashless economy. The “Cashless India” and “Digital India” initiatives propose to reduce corruption at all levels of society by enforcing the use of cards, checks, or mobile phones for…

India has spent the last 50 years combating hunger by boosting its production of staple crops like wheat, rice and maize. The strategy has worked – up to a point. Now India struggles with chronic malnutrition and child stunting, even though it produces enough calories to keep hunger at bay. But new policies could diversify India’s diet…

This article in the Cornell Chronicle summarizes Tata-Cornell’s recommendations for food policy priorities in India and highlights our latest publication “The bumpy road from nutrition to food security – slow evolution of India’s food policy.”

A key feature of the Tata-Cornell experience is conducting fieldwork. As TCI Scholars, we gather primary data for our thesis research through a long-term engagement with villages in rural India.  Before we finalize our research questions, write a proposal and present the project to our PhD committee, we get a chance to conduct a summer…

In a previous blog, I talked about the changes in the agriculture and food policy at the national level. It is evident that the newer changes in India’s food policy landscape suggest a greater ‘stepping in’ of the state in the contemporary “food regime”. This has been facilitated through various policy and legal processes centered upon the notion of human rights…

In this article appearing in The Washington Post, TCI Founding Director Prabhu Pingali provides expertise on role of mechanization and crop varieties on food prices within the changing food system.

Dr. Tanvi Rao graduated with her Ph.D. in Applied Economics and Management from Cornell University’s Charles H. Dyson School in Applied Economics and Management. She has been a Tata-Cornell Scholar from 2012-2017 where she has made exceptional contributions through her research on the multidimensional nature of the malnutrition problem in India. Thank you Tanvi!  We…

From last year, I have been working on my PhD dissertation thesis that focuses on the effects of women’s time allocation in agriculture on their nutritional status.  The sample for my study comprises of 1920 individuals from 24 villages in Chandrapur district of Maharashtra, India. Primary data on dietary intake, 24 hour time use, anthropometry, health and income variables are…

A more nuanced understanding of how food and agricultural policies in India have evolved over time could be a very useful guide in understanding why nutritional outcomes continue to fare poorly. It is a widely accepted fact that the agricultural sector remains key to improved nutritional status. However, given the role played by electoral arithmetic and political economy factors in…