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Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition

Tag: True Cost of Food Subsidies in India

TCI Publishes 2023–24 Annual Report

The Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition (TCI) has published its 2023–24 Annual Report. The report offers an in-depth look at the full range of TCI’s research and other activities, including projects like Zero-Hunger, Zero-Carbon Food Systems, and field research…
Bowls of millets and millet flour on a blue tarp

Millets Are Key to Making the PDS Environmentally Friendly

In 2021–22, India spent US$17.4 billion on the Public Distribution System, or PDS. For a program that ensures food security for over 800 million people, that seems like a good bargain. However, new research on the hidden costs of the…

Reducing the True Cost of Food-Based Safety Nets: Evidence from India’s Subsidized Food Program

Abstract Public procurement of food plays a pivotal role in determining the production and consumption of various food items. This is particularly true for staple grains in countries such as India, where the government procures over 40 percent of rice and wheat. This grain is...

Millets Make Sense for India’s PDS

Replacing some of the rice provided through India’s Public Distribution System (PDS) could lower the costs associated with the subsidized food program by $770 million, according to new research from the Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition (TCI). In a…
Policy brief on promoting millets in the PDS

Promoting Millets in the Public Distribution System

This special policy brief provides cost-saving estimates associated with the potential introduction of millets into India’s Public Distribution System (PDS), which provides subsidized food to more than 800 million people. This analysis provides policymakers and other stakeholders with valuable information that can be used to...
Raghav Puri speaking into a microphone

TCI Researcher Talks True Cost of Food at World Sustainable Development Summit

At the World Sustainable Development Summit in New Delhi last week, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition (TCI) organized a panel event entitled “True Value of Food: A Call to Action to Solve Climate Change…
Close-up of a cashier's hands using a POS machine

Environmental and Health Effects Add Billions in Hidden Costs to India’s Public Distribution System

Through the Public Distribution System (PDS), the Indian government ensures the food security of its most impoverished citizens. However, new research from the Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition (TCI) reveals that the production of food grain for the PDS…
True Cost of the PDS Special Policy Brief

Revealing the Hidden Production Costs of India’s Public Distribution System

This policy brief presents preliminary estimates of the environmental and health-related costs associated with the production of food grain for India’s Public Distribution System (PDS), a program that provides subsidized food to more than 800 million Indians. This new analysis provides government policymakers, advocates, and...
People purchasing grain from a shop

New Project Will Reveal True Cost of India’s Food Subsidies

Each year, India spends tens of billions of dollars on the Public Distribution System (PDS), a food subsidy program that helps to ensure the food security of more than 800 million people. The largest such program in the world, the…
Colorful arrangement of pulses and lentils for sale at a market

True Cost of Food Subsidies in India

The Public Distribution System ensures the food security of some of India’s most impoverished citizens, but high transaction costs and a reliance on resource-intensive crops impose a price that does not appear on government ledgers. TCI aims to estimate the true cost of the PDS by accounting for hidden costs like the health and environmental impacts of the program.