In the pursuit of a society where every woman finds solace within her home and community, away from the clutches of domestic violence and with assured equal rights, the state government of Bihar implemented a profound policy shift in 2016—a…

As a young girl, Soumya Gupta would accompany her father to the hospital, where he worked as a doctor. The image of impoverished women waiting for healthcare services in long queues impacted her deeply. She decided that one day, she…

Abstract We study the relationship between alcohol consumption and crime, following an alcohol prohibition in Bihar in 2016. Using a difference-in-differences approach, we explore the differential effects of alcohol on different crime types. We find that the prohibition led to a 0.22 standard deviation point...

Banning alcohol may be an effective tool for curbing violent crimes, according to a forthcoming study coauthored by a group of researchers including Tata-Cornell Institute (TCI) Scholar Natasha Jha. The study, which is due to be published in the July…

As India’s population increases and demand for food rises along with it, farm laborers—women in particular—face increased burdens and drudgery. Enter NBeG47, a machine-harvestable chickpea variety introduced by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) to reduce…

Women in rural India face significant burdens on their time, as they often must balance farm work with unpaid housework. This is especially during the harvest seasons, when women spend even more time on the farm. The drudgery that women…

This policy brief presents the findings of a TCI study examining differences in the incidence of overweight within India according to biological, technological, and environmental factors. The study shows that overweight and obesity rates are tied to such variables as gender and the level of...

This policy brief presents the findings of a TCI study analyzing the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the availability of non-staple and staple foods, as well as its effect on women’s diet diversity at the national, state, and district levels in four economically challenged districts of...

This policy brief presents the findings of a TCI study on the impact of time constraints like housework and agricultural activities on women’s nutritional outcomes. The study reveals that time trade-offs imposed on women by peak-season agricultural work are associated with a decrease in the...

Abstract This dissertation focuses on the effects of migration and remittances on the welfare of families left-behind, in the context of farming households in rural India. Labor migration is heavily male dominant in India, and women and children are often left behind. Though internal migration...