Food System and Rural Development

The domain of ‘Food System and Rural Development’ introduces students to key contemporary concerns with food systems in the context of India. It is rooted in the discipline of public policy and focuses on concerns with the current policy concern of a ‘sustainable’ food system that can ensure food security.

The course looks at how public policy looks at food, defines its concerns, and designs solutions to address those concerns. It is situated within the Indian context through its engagement with the larger debate of rural development and its centrality to both the source of sustainable food systems and the target of food security.

Using dimensions, drivers, and challenges of the food system and food security, the course engages with two dominant policy problems: ‘hunger-poverty’ and ‘malnutrition-health’. It elaborates on the proposed policy solution of need-based food sufficiency to right-based food security.

Against this background, the course delineates the current complexity of the domain food system as it encounters climate change. It engages with the dilemma of the food system being one of the primary causes of climate change as well as among the most vulnerable to it. It presents some of the ‘models’ for dealing with this dilemmatic situation as practised by corporations and community-based organisations. It also discusses some of the policies and programmes/schemes rolled out by the state. Finally, the courses play out an immersive experience for scholars using the teaching case on ‘Hivre Bazaar’ and simulating rural decision-making through a Naranpur Express’.

Instructor

Dr Imran Amin

Fellow, Case Study Centre