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CSSS organises a lecture by Richa Kumar

CSSS organises a lecture by Richa Kumar

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CSSS organises a lecture by Richa Kumar
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Centre for the Study of Social Systems

School of Social Sciences

 

CSSS Colloquium

 

RICHA KUMAR

 (Associate Professor, Dept. of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Delhi)

 

Will be presenting a paper on

 

Untangling Under-Nutrition:  Agriculture, Dietary Diversity and the
Hollowing out of Rural India

 

Date & Time: September 25, 2018 (Tuesday), 3.30 pm

Venue: CSSS Committee Room (No: 13), SSS-II

 

Abstract: This paper argues that tackling the problem of under-nutrition in rural India, requires first, situating the problem in the longer term historical context of agrarian change and second, understanding the pathways through which diets and access to food have been shaped over time. Whereas most attention to the problem of under-nutrition has focused on maternal and child health, sanitation, feeding practices and the issue of access or entitlements, we seek to show how a shift to intensive monoculture agriculture, green revolution style, in conjunction with the commodification of agrarian resources, and the shaping of aspirations surrounding food consumption, has contributed to a nutritional crisis in rural India. Using oral history interviews, focus group discussions, commodity chain mapping, and a seasonal diet survey in the plains of western Awadh in north India, the study challenges the dominant narrative of a past of scarcity and hunger that was redeemed by the green revolution. It shows, instead, that hunger was shaped by inequity and not an absolute shortage of food grains.  The paper further argues that untangling under-nutrition requires going beyond a medicalised approach and towards a fundamental re-assessment of the relationships between the production and consumption of food. Unless these relationships are transformed to bring back dietary diversity and access to a variety of nutritious foods, tackling under-nutrition will continue to remain beyond our reach.

Bio:  Richa Kumar is Associate Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences. Her research and teaching interests are in the Sociology of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition, Science and Technology Studies, and Rural and Agrarian Policy. Her current research is on the impact of monoculture farming on farm systems, the environment and human health. Her book, "Rethinking Revolutions: Soyabean, Choupals and the Changing Countryside in Central India" was published by Oxford University Press in 2016. She is a recipient of the New India Fellowship and is a member of the Network of Rural and Agrarian Studies (NRAS). She completed her Ph.D. from the Science, Technology and Society Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA.

A warm welcome to the modified and updated website of the Centre for East Asian Studies. The East Asian region has been at the forefront of several path-breaking changes since 1970s beginning with the redefining the development architecture with its State-led development model besides emerging as a major region in the global politics and a key hub of the sophisticated technologies. The Centre is one of the thirteen Centres of the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi that provides a holistic understanding of the region.

Initially, established as a Centre for Chinese and Japanese Studies, it subsequently grew to include Korean Studies as well. At present there are eight faculty members in the Centre. Several distinguished faculty who have now retired include the late Prof. Gargi Dutt, Prof. P.A.N. Murthy, Prof. G.P. Deshpande, Dr. Nranarayan Das, Prof. R.R. Krishnan and Prof. K.V. Kesavan. Besides, Dr. Madhu Bhalla served at the Centre in Chinese Studies Programme during 1994-2006. In addition, Ms. Kamlesh Jain and Dr. M. M. Kunju served the Centre as the Documentation Officers in Chinese and Japanese Studies respectively.

The academic curriculum covers both modern and contemporary facets of East Asia as each scholar specializes in an area of his/her interest in the region. The integrated course involves two semesters of classes at the M. Phil programme and a dissertation for the M. Phil and a thesis for Ph. D programme respectively. The central objective is to impart an interdisciplinary knowledge and understanding of history, foreign policy, government and politics, society and culture and political economy of the respective areas. Students can explore new and emerging themes such as East Asian regionalism, the evolving East Asian Community, the rise of China, resurgence of Japan and the prospects for reunification of the Korean peninsula. Additionally, the Centre lays great emphasis on the building of language skills. The background of scholars includes mostly from the social science disciplines; History, Political Science, Economics, Sociology, International Relations and language.

Several students of the centre have been recipients of prestigious research fellowships awarded by Japan Foundation, Mombusho (Ministry of Education, Government of Japan), Saburo Okita Memorial Fellowship, Nippon Foundation, Korea Foundation, Nehru Memorial Fellowship, and Fellowship from the Chinese and Taiwanese Governments. Besides, students from Japan receive fellowship from the Indian Council of Cultural Relations.