INDIA

Agrarian distress, farm waivers, and agricultural sops dominated the political and policy environment ahead of India’s general elections. Amid the hustle and bustle of the world’s largest democracy going to polls, the IFPRI launched its 2019 Global Food Policy Report (GFPR) at the epicenter of the country’s policymaking, New Delhi, at a day-long policy seminar on April 26.

India’s 2019 interim budget makes a tectonic shift in providing support to Indian farmers. Under the Modi government’s ambitious direct benefit transfer program, the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme, each farmer having less than 2 ha of land will get 6000 rupees ($86) per year. This amount will be transferred directly to farmers’ bank accounts in three installments; the first was made on Feb. 24. About 120 million farmers—87% of the total nationwide—are likely to benefit from this program, which will cost $10.7 billion per year.

Who will feed India? The country’s population will soon be larger than China’s, economic growth is averaging 7 to 8 percent, and cities are expanding rapidly. India’s rapidly evolving food needs present a major challenge for agriculture and food systems. A March 22 IFPRI seminar, co-organized with the University of Pennsylvania's Center for the Advanced Study of India, explored this key question.

Ensuring food and nutrition security and tackling the looming threat of climate change make land reforms necessary. Read the recent op-ed on Why India needs Land Leasing Framework by A K Padhee and P K Joshi.

Living in districts with air pollution from intense crop residue burning (CRB) is a leading risk factor for acute respiratory infection (ARI), especially among children less than five years, in northern India. Additionally, CRB also leads to an estimated economic loss of over USD 35 billion annually. These are the key findings of a new study from researchers at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and partner institutes. The study estimates—for the first time—the health and economic costs of CRB in northern India. 

Expansion and utilization of one of India’s largest government-run community-based nutrition programs increased significantly between 2006 and 2016, especially among historically disadvantaged castes and tribes. But, women with low education and the poorest households are relatively more excluded from accessing program benefits. Among states too, while overall utilization has improved, high malnutrition states are relatively lagging. These are the findings of a new study, the first to offer an in-depth analysis of the utilization of the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS)* program, conducted by researchers at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).

New research analyses of key demographic data shine light on the drivers of India’s progress on malnutrition, assess the emergence of new problems such as overweight and non-communicable diseases, and assess how policies and programs are reaching target populations. Participants in a September 4 conference in New Delhi—“Strengthening Actions for Nutrition in India: Insights from the National Family Health Survey” (NFHS)—explored the findings and their applications.

India's Republic Day this year marked a significant change in the country's foreign policy outreach. That day, in a historic first, leaders of all ASEAN states were together attending India's republic anniversary. India shares deep cultural and historical ties with ASEAN countries. But that gets hardly reflected in the commercial sphere. This is despite extensive research showing many big impact of ethnographic, and even anthropological links on trade and investment flows, as pointed out by pioneering research works by Rauch (1999) and Giuliano (2006) et al. Renewing those olden ties has been a long time coming and a delayed awakening. This has led to a gradient of slogans from ‘Think East’ to ‘Act East’. We would like to augment it to 'Think East, Act East, and Think Big and Act Big', if India were to pivot this subaltern Asian regional integration.

Against the backdrop of rising concerns over farm distress in India, and a farmers’ protest movement demanding policy succor, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) launched the latest 2018 Global Food Policy Report (GFPR) at a policy dialogue held in New Delhi, India, Friday.