What India eats: Tata trusts use big data to gauge consumption, production

Since 2013, when Ratan Tata started to pay undivided attention to the Trusts, one of the key causes he encouraged the charities to pursue as a cause for India was nutrition

There’s a new dashboard in town. And this one demonstrates a detailed view of crop production, food consumption patterns, fortification simulation, health outcomes and even nutrient intake. Backed by the Tata Trusts, this dashboard aggregates agricultural and nutritional data from the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), the Indian Council of Agriculture (ICAR), and the National Family Health Survey (NFHS).

The dashboard — an outcome of conversations between members of the National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad (NIN), St Johns Research Institute, and the Tata Trusts,  kicked off in 2017 — with the call to set up a Tata-NIN Centre for Excellence in