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Cornell University

Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition

Tag: Soumya Gupta

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Women’s Empowerment and Intra-Household Diet Diversity Across the Urban Continuum: Evidence from India’s DHS

Abstract Women’s empowerment has been associated with improved nutritional outcomes in various settings. However, the gains from empowerment do not necessarily accrue to different members of the same household in the same manner. Furthermore, the relationship between empowerment and nutrition itself is likely to be...
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Empowerment Programs Can Improve Nutrition of Women Left Behind by India’s Urban Transformation

New research from the Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition (TCI) reveals that Indian efforts to improve household nutrition through women’s empowerment could have a greater impact with a more targeted approach that takes into account different levels of urbanization.  …
Soumya Gupta and a staffer handle medical equipment

Notes From the Field: Giving Back to the People You Study

For my doctoral dissertation, I ventured into the field to explore the role that women’s empowerment in agriculture can play in determining their iron status. In addition to collection of survey data on agriculture, empowerment, and other socioeconomic variables, blood…

Did the COVID-19 Lockdown Reverse the Nutritional Gains in Children? Evidence from Rural India

Abstract To address the missing link that goes beyond the changes in dietary consumption and food expenditures to assess the impact of the pandemic on child undernutrition, specifically anthropometric outcomes, this paper uses primary panel data (pre- and post-COVID-19) from rural India within a child-fixed...
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COVID-19 Pandemic Linked to 14% Increase in Underweight Children in India

The nutrition of Indian children suffered dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new research from the Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition (TCI) that found a sharp rise in underweight children. In a study published in Economic and Political…
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Leveraging Men’s Education as an Effective Pathway for Improving Diet Quality: Evidence from Rural India

Abstract Investing in nutrition-sensitive sectors such as education can be an effective strategy for combatting malnutrition. In this paper, we analyze the role that men’s education plays in determining dietary diversity outcomes using primary data from 3600 households across four districts of India. Dietary diversity...
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Well-Educated Men Mean Well-Nourished Households

Among development practitioners and policymakers, women’s education is a key tool for improving household nutrition, but according to new research from the Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition (TCI), men’s education also plays an important role in improving the nutritional…
Soumya Gupta

Alumna Pursues Gender and Nutrition Research at TCI

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…
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Op-ed Highlights Anomaly in India’s Anemia Figures

While anemia has declined in India from 2005-2015, the latest round of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) shows that it is now on the rise, increasing from 53-57% in women and 58-67% in children in the past five years.…
Food, Agriculture, and Nutrition in Bihar

Food, Agriculture, and Nutrition in Bihar: Getting to Zero Hunger

TCI’s 2022 report on Food, Agriculture, and Nutrition in Bihar (FAN-Bihar) provides a detailed reassessment of the food system approach for achieving the 2nd Sustainable Development Goal (SDG2) — zero hunger by 2030 — in Bihar. The report emphasizes the high rates of malnutrition in...