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Representing Theme: Equity and Access

Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture or ASHA-Kisan Swaraj network is a volunteer-driven large informal network of organisations and individuals that initially came together in 2010 to organise a Kisan Swaraj Yatra, a nation-wide mobilisation to draw attention to issues pertaining to our FOOD, FARMERS, FREEDOM.

The associates in the network consist of farmers’ organisations, consumer groups, women’s organisations, environmental organisations, individual citizens and experts who are committed to the cause of sustainable and viable farm livelihoods in rural India including by ensuring that productive resources are in the control of farming communities and thereby, safe, nutritious, diverse and adequate food is available for all Indians.

ASHA works with a mission to strengthen sustainable agricultural livelihoods and food diversity/safety/nutrition by re-orienting policies, practices and public consciousness, towards a holistic vision of social, environmental and economic justice as described in the Kisan Swaraj Neeti. It is a network that enables, and draws upon synergies of collective wisdom and action, based on mutual trust and respect.

From the dialogues that emerged during the Kisan Swaraj Yatra and subsequent work, ASHA articulates a 4-pillared Kisan Swaraj Neeti and calls on governments to adopt the same. The four pillars of Kisan Swaraj Neeti are (1) income security for farm households; (2) ecological sustainability of agriculture; (3) people’s control over agricultural resources like land, water and seed; and (4) access to safe, healthy, nutritious and sufficient food for all. The Kisan Swaraj Neeti is conscious of, and sensitive to structural issues of discrimination and marginalisation, and seeks to address those within this policy framework.

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Representing Theme: Equity and Access

CPR is one of India’s leading think tanks. Founded in 1973, CPR is a non-profit, independent institution that conducts rigorous research and contributes to generating new ideas and a more robust public debate about the structures and processes that shape contemporary life in India today.

CPR is an independent, research driven policy think tank. As an institution, we are driven by a deep commitment to academic freedom and intellectual pluralism. Through our work we provide technical expert advice to the policy-making community; generate new policy ideas and bring intellectual order to public debate through an evidence-based public conversation.

In 2019, CPR launched the State Capacity Initiative, a new interdisciplinary research and practice programme focused on addressing the challenges of the Indian state in the 21st century. Through the Initiative, CPR aims to place the critical challenges of building state capacity at the heart of the field of policy research in India, where it has always belonged but remains surprisingly marginalised. We therefore start with first principles and ground ourselves in existing realities to deepen and expand the understanding of the challenges and possibilities of building state capacity in democratic and federal India. Our programme of work focuses on the changing roles of the Indian state; institutional design, implementation and administrative capacity especially at the state-level; the particular challenges of regulatory and fiscal capacity; and the complex and changing relations between society, politics and state capacity in India.

The Initiative works across sectors and states to identify and address a number of critical, cross-cutting/ transversal issues and it will be both interdisciplinary and comparative in its approach, learning as deeply, broadly, rigorously and responsively as required.

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Representing Theme: Finance and Financial Instruments

The Council on Energy, Environment and Water is one of Asia’s leading not-for-profit policy research institutions. The Council uses data, integrated analysis, and strategic outreach to explain – and change – the use, reuse, and misuse of resources. It prides itself on the independence of its high-quality research, develops partnerships with public and private institutions, and engages with the wider public. In 2021, CEEW once again featured extensively across ten categories in the 2020 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report, including being ranked as South Asia’s top think tank (15th globally) in our category for the eighth year in a row. The Council has also been consistently ranked among the world’s top climate change think tanks. CEEW was certified a Great Place To Work® in 2020 and 2021. Follow us on Twitter @CEEWIndia for the latest updates.

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Representing Theme: Data and Food Systems

The Food and Land Use Coalition in India (FOLU India) is a group of institutions and experts working to support the country's efforts to bring about a more sustainable food and land use economies. In India, through the country platform of the Coalition, it aims to provide platforms to inspire key Indian stakeholders to accelerate globally significant action that addresses important development, climate, environment, biodiversity, and health & nutrition challenges that India faces in the coming decades regarding food and land use. The core partners of the FOLU Coalition in India are the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), Revitalizing Rainfed Agriculture Network (RRAN), The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), World Resources Institute India (WRI India), and a detailed integrated country modelling effort, led by the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM-A). It also includes Action Coalition for Responsible Sourcing and Trade of Commodities (FOLU India CREST) in which Centre for Responsible Business, IDH India and WWF India have also joined with the FOLU Country Platform.

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Representing Theme:Food Production Systems

The ICAR-National Institute of Agricultural Economics and Policy Research (NIAP) acts as a think tank of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) for its agricultural science policy. It undertakes research on contemporary agricultural development issues and makes persistent efforts toward strengthening agricultural economics and policy research in the National Agricultural Research System (NARS) by organizing capacity-building programs. The Institute also offers regular technical and policy inputs to NITI Aayog, various ministries of the Central and State governments, and other stakeholders to facilitate their policy decisions related to food and agriculture. The Institute conducts research under three broad themes: (i) Agricultural Growth and Development, (ii) Technology and Sustainable Agriculture, and (iii) Agricultural Markets and Trade.

The Institute has made notable contributions in the areas such as the assessment of the impacts of agricultural R&D, returns on investment versus subsidies, total factor productivity, climate change impacts and adaptations, sustainability of agri-food systems, management of groundwater resources, agricultural diversification, structural change in agriculture, doubling farmers’ income, international trade in agriculture, institutional innovations, crop insurance, the impact of COVID-19 on agriculture, market intelligence, commodity outlook, value chains of food commodities, price volatility and transmissions, market integration and demand forecasts.

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Representing Theme: Data and Food Systems, Markets and Globalization

The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition in developing countries. IFPRI was established in 1975 to identify and analyze alternative national and international strategies and policies for meeting the food needs of the developing world, with particular emphasis on low-income countries and the poorer groups in those countries. Currently, IFPRI has more than 600 employees working in over 50 countries and is a research center of the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), a worldwide partnership engaged in agricultural research for development.

Despite its rapid economic growth, South Asia is still home to more than a quarter of the world’s hungry and undernourished population and continues to grapple with extreme poverty and deterioration of natural resources as well. To tackle these challenges, IFPRI established its South Asia Regional Office (IFPRI-SAR) in New Delhi, India, and works extensively in the region on agricultural and rural transformation, poverty alleviation, and nutrition. Visit IFPRI’s global website and the SAR website here.

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Representing Theme: Food Politics and Employment

National Foundation for India (NFI) was established in 1992, by a group of very eminent Indians including Bharat Ratna, Dr. C. Subramaniam, Prof. M S Swaminathan, Dr. Kamla Chowdhry, Ratan Tata, Dr.Vergese Kurien and Rahul Bajaj, amongst others, to further domestic philanthropy in India.  NFI has emerged over the last three decades as a pre-eminent organisation representing civil society with a very wide range of partnerships with over two hundred organisations spread across the country, working on governance and inclusion issues with some of the most marginalised communities.  NFI also continues with its core mandate of promoting social justice philanthropy.

NFI was established with the objective matches the key problem that we are seeking to address viz. to enable capacities of Civil Society organizations through financial and technical support, promoting leadership, facilitating platforms for dialogue and mobilising resources to promote social justice and drive social change at the grassroots. The primary stakeholders of NFI are the disadvantaged, marginalized and vulnerable sections of the society including dalits, adivasis, women and minorities (especially Muslims). The founding mandate of NFI was to work in the specific regions of the Northeast and the adivasi belt of Eastern and central India. NFI makes grants to the local partners (NGOs) to work on these issues. All NFIs grant making is towards benefiting the disadvantaged groups in the country.

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Representing Theme: Nutrition and Safety

Public Health Resource Network (PHRN) is a growing network of individuals and organizations with the perspective of strengthening technical and management capacities to take action towards the common goal of ‘Health for All’. Meanwhile, Public Health Resource Society (PHRS) is the core group supporting the network and functions as its secretariat. It is a national-level organization that is working directly in the states of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, and Odisha and has contributed to the ongoing work of strengthening public health and nutrition systems in several states.

PHRN’s work uses multiple approaches, including capacity building, advocacy, working with systems, model building, researching public health and nutrition, supporting peoples’ movements and campaigns, and networking. The organization has a particular focus on community-centered approaches. Past work on the theme of nutrition included capacity building of communities, systems strengthening, and leveraging agricultural and livelihood practices. All of this was accomplished under the umbrella of community mobilization. Through its advocacy work, PHRN has also influenced schemes and policies to be more inclusive and technically sound.

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Representing Theme: Consumption and Behavior

The Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition is a long-term research initiative based at Cornell University that develops and assesses innovative, food systems-based approaches to reducing poverty and improving nutrition and livelihoods in the developing world, with a specific focus on India. TCI brings together the technical capacity of Cornell faculty/researchers with the on-the-ground know-how of academic, government, research and non-governmental partner organizations to provide thought-leadership in understanding and looking for solutions to the agriculture-food-nutrition nexus. Prof. Prabhu Pingali, Professor of Economics at Cornell university is the Founding Director of TCI.

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Representing Theme: Equity and Access

The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) is an independent, dynamic, flexible and multi-dimensional organisation with a global vision and a local focus; TERI was established in 1974. It is deeply committed to every aspect of sustainable development as an organisation. TERI is working in agriculture, energy, environment, climate change, habitat, health and nutrition and resource management, having pioneered conversations between Government and Public sectors and implementing actions in these areas for over four decades. From providing environment-friendly solutions in Agriculture; rural energy; tackling global climate change issues, enhancing forest conservation efforts among local communities; advancing solutions to growing urban transport and to promote energy efficiency in the Indian industry, the emphasis has always been on finding innovative solutions to make the world a better place to live in. However, while TERl's vision is global, its roots are firmly entrenched in Indian soil. Headquartered in New Delhi, TERI has regional centres and campuses in Gurugram, Bengaluru, Guwahati, Mumbai, Panaji, and Nainital. Our 700-plus team of scientists, sociologists, economists and engineers delivers insightful, high-quality, action-oriented research and transformative solutions supported by state-of-the-art infrastructure. Analysis, quality control and toxicological issues are within the scope of TERI.

TERI's success over four decades is a result of a multitude of approaches:

• Interdisciplinary and integrated research focussed on product and technology development and analyses of the same
• Evidence and data-based decision making
• Taking solutions from lab to pilot and field-scale
• Early validation of techno-commercial / business models
• Enhancing livelihood through new technologies and practices
• Policy advisory and consultancy
• Education and outreach to influence decisions and consumer/stakeholder behaviour
• Capacity building and handholding of stakeholders
• Partnerships across stakeholders, nationally and internationally

While in its initial period, TERI's focus was mainly on documentation and information dissemination of research activities in the fields of agriculture, energy, environment, and sustainable development were initiated towards the end of 1982. Since then, TERI has developed and implemented various projects in different areas. TERI has successfully completed and worked on multiple projects for various funding agencies/ clients like the Department of Biotechnology, Department of Science and Technology, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, National Thermal Power Corporation, Central Pollution Control Board, Indian Institute of Technology, World Health Organization, Confederation of Indian Industries, Niti Aayog, Indian Council of Medical Research, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Rural Development, and several other private and government organisations and also undertaken Government-funded projects to address research and policy issues.