Reetika Khera
Biographic Data
| ID | 1380687 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Reetika Khera |
| GIVEN NAMES | Reetika |
| FAMILY NAME | Khera |
| SIGNATURE | KHERA R |
| AFFILIATIONS | Indian Institute of Technology Delhi |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-9955-8087 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 14 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 71 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 14 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2000 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
What’s cooking? Public canteens in India
The need for urban food security policies became apparent during India’s Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns. Public canteens provide subsidized cooked meals at popular locations in many Indian cities. This paper reports the findings of a survey of over 700 guests at 174 canteens in 12 cities across three Indian states. Public canteens are essential for guaranteeing food security for the destitute, elderly and other vulnerable people. They are especially…
Employment Guarantee
India’s national rural employment guarantee act was the outcome of a sustained deliberative process that gave it some mettle. Within a few years, the act became a lifeline for the rural poor with wide-ranging benefits. Later on, however, interlinked problems of erratic payments, centralization, technocracy and corruption undermined the programme. The VB-G RAM G Act, rushed through Parliament last December to replace MGNREGA, defuses the employmen…
Mothers' Social Status and Children's Health
The premise that a woman's social status has intergenerational effects on her children's health has featured prominently in population science research and in development policy. This study focuses on an important case in which social hierarchy has such an effect. In joint patrilocal households in rural India, women married to the younger brother are assigned lower social rank than women married to the older brother in the same household. Almost …
Minimum Support Prices in India
In recent years in India, minimum support price (MSP) and government procurement, especially of paddy and wheat, have been discussed widely, but these discussions have often drawn on evidence that is dated and incomplete. Consequently, such discussions have clouded the facts, resulting in a large number of factoids. According to these popular misconceptions, very few farmers (6 per cent only) benefit from MSP and government procurement, only larg…
India's Welfare State
[E]ntrenched class interests and social inequalities rooted in religion, caste, and gender have made the transition slow and uncertain
Aadhaar and the creation of barriers to welfare
Being watched means much more than being seen. This forum investigates information flows of sensing culled from sources as diverse as temperature check and iris scans to sound and movement sensors across terrains. After Veillance discusses how these systems distribute risk unevenly and shape the lives of populations across the globe. --- Sareeta Amrute, Editor
Fashions, framing and expertise
Compared to other social sciences, it appears economists enjoy overwhelming influence in policy debates. What are the ethical concerns that should bear upon the exercise of such voice? Two forms of conflict of interest are explored here: funding sources may undermine objectivity in framing the research agenda as well as through the better-known route of influencing research outcomes. What questions get asked or ignored, and the methodological app…
The Aadhaar debate
The Aadhaar project which aims to provide all residents in India with a unique identity number requires much more attention from sociologists of India. There are several areas of research where sociologists can help: one, the implications of new technologies of surveillance for (a) privacy and (b) society; two, the repercussions of the desire for social ordering and control and technocratic solutionism for people in their interactions with the st…
Recent Social Security Initiatives in India
Cash vs. in-kind transfers
Quand les Indiens font valoir leurs droits
India's Public Distribution System
This article studies the effectiveness of India's Public Distribution System (PDS) as a food security intervention, using field survey data collected by the author in Rajasthan. Utilisation is low, and many households purchase wheat from the market at higher prices before exhausting PDS quotas. This ‘puzzle of under-purchase’ is analysed by extending the dual-pricing model to account for supply-side (for example, diversion) and demand-side (for e…
Early Childhood in India
Crime, Gender, and Society in India
This study presents an analysis of inter-district variations in murder rates in India in 1981. Three significant patterns emerge. First, murder rates in India bear no significant relation with urbanization or poverty. Second, there is a negative association between literacy and criminal violence. Third, murder rates in India are highly correlated with the female-male ratio in the population: districts with higher female-male ratios have lower mur…
Recent Social Security Initiatives in India
Crime, Gender, and Society in India
This study presents an analysis of inter-district variations in murder rates in India in 1981. Three significant patterns emerge. First, murder rates in India bear no significant relation with urbanization or poverty. Second, there is a negative association between literacy and criminal violence. Third, murder rates in India are highly correlated with the female-male ratio in the population: districts with higher female-male ratios have lower mur…
Cash vs. in-kind transfers
The Aadhaar debate
The Aadhaar project which aims to provide all residents in India with a unique identity number requires much more attention from sociologists of India. There are several areas of research where sociologists can help: one, the implications of new technologies of surveillance for (a) privacy and (b) society; two, the repercussions of the desire for social ordering and control and technocratic solutionism for people in their interactions with the st…
Mothers' Social Status and Children's Health
The premise that a woman's social status has intergenerational effects on her children's health has featured prominently in population science research and in development policy. This study focuses on an important case in which social hierarchy has such an effect. In joint patrilocal households in rural India, women married to the younger brother are assigned lower social rank than women married to the older brother in the same household. Almost …
Crime, Gender, and Society in India
This study presents an analysis of inter-district variations in murder rates in India in 1981. Three significant patterns emerge. First, murder rates in India bear no significant relation with urbanization or poverty. Second, there is a negative association between literacy and criminal violence. Third, murder rates in India are highly correlated with the female-male ratio in the population: districts with higher female-male ratios have lower mur…
Early Childhood in India
India's Public Distribution System
This article studies the effectiveness of India's Public Distribution System (PDS) as a food security intervention, using field survey data collected by the author in Rajasthan. Utilisation is low, and many households purchase wheat from the market at higher prices before exhausting PDS quotas. This ‘puzzle of under-purchase’ is analysed by extending the dual-pricing model to account for supply-side (for example, diversion) and demand-side (for e…
Cash vs. in-kind transfers
Quand les Indiens font valoir leurs droits
Recent Social Security Initiatives in India
The Aadhaar debate
The Aadhaar project which aims to provide all residents in India with a unique identity number requires much more attention from sociologists of India. There are several areas of research where sociologists can help: one, the implications of new technologies of surveillance for (a) privacy and (b) society; two, the repercussions of the desire for social ordering and control and technocratic solutionism for people in their interactions with the st…
Fashions, framing and expertise
Compared to other social sciences, it appears economists enjoy overwhelming influence in policy debates. What are the ethical concerns that should bear upon the exercise of such voice? Two forms of conflict of interest are explored here: funding sources may undermine objectivity in framing the research agenda as well as through the better-known route of influencing research outcomes. What questions get asked or ignored, and the methodological app…
India's Welfare State
[E]ntrenched class interests and social inequalities rooted in religion, caste, and gender have made the transition slow and uncertain
Aadhaar and the creation of barriers to welfare
Being watched means much more than being seen. This forum investigates information flows of sensing culled from sources as diverse as temperature check and iris scans to sound and movement sensors across terrains. After Veillance discusses how these systems distribute risk unevenly and shape the lives of populations across the globe. --- Sareeta Amrute, Editor
Minimum Support Prices in India
In recent years in India, minimum support price (MSP) and government procurement, especially of paddy and wheat, have been discussed widely, but these discussions have often drawn on evidence that is dated and incomplete. Consequently, such discussions have clouded the facts, resulting in a large number of factoids. According to these popular misconceptions, very few farmers (6 per cent only) benefit from MSP and government procurement, only larg…
Mothers' Social Status and Children's Health
The premise that a woman's social status has intergenerational effects on her children's health has featured prominently in population science research and in development policy. This study focuses on an important case in which social hierarchy has such an effect. In joint patrilocal households in rural India, women married to the younger brother are assigned lower social rank than women married to the older brother in the same household. Almost …
What’s cooking? Public canteens in India
The need for urban food security policies became apparent during India’s Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns. Public canteens provide subsidized cooked meals at popular locations in many Indian cities. This paper reports the findings of a survey of over 700 guests at 174 canteens in 12 cities across three Indian states. Public canteens are essential for guaranteeing food security for the destitute, elderly and other vulnerable people. They are especially…
Employment Guarantee
India’s national rural employment guarantee act was the outcome of a sustained deliberative process that gave it some mettle. Within a few years, the act became a lifeline for the rural poor with wide-ranging benefits. Later on, however, interlinked problems of erratic payments, centralization, technocracy and corruption undermined the programme. The VB-G RAM G Act, rushed through Parliament last December to replace MGNREGA, defuses the employmen…
Economics (7 works) · Political science (7 works) · Geography (6 works) · Agricultural risk and resilience (5 works) · Computer Science (5 works) · Income, Poverty, and Inequality (5 works) · Law (5 works) · Sociology (5 works) · Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare (4 works) · Food security (3 works)