Reetika Khera is an Indian development economist. Khera is Professor (Economics) at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (IIT Delhi). She was Associate Professor (Economics and Public Systems group) at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM Ahmedabad) from 2018-20.
Early life and education Reetika Khera received a B.A. in economics from Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, an M.A. in economics from the Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi and an M.Phil. in development studies from the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex in Brighton, England. Khera completed a Ph.D. in economics at the Delhi School of Economics. She did her schooling from Convent of Jesus and Mary, Baroda.
She has received fellowships from the Institute for Economic Growth, the Commonwealth Scholarship Scheme, King's College London, and from Princeton University (for a project with Nobel laureate Sir Angus Deaton).
Career Reetika Khera is a development economist. She was at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, on leave from her post as Sulaiman Mutawa Associate Chair Professor in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. Khera is an advocate for improved welfare programs in the country and participated in the campaign to implement India's National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA).
Before joining IIT Delhi she was based at the G. B. Pant Social Science Institute, Allahabad University and at the Centre for Development Economics at the Delhi School of Economics. She has published several research papers analyzing NREGA, the Public Distribution System (PDS) and other programs that affect India's most vulnerable citizens. In October 2017, she was in residence as an External Faculty Fellow at the Stanford Humanities Center and was nominated for the post (by the Center for South Asia) to edit a book titled on India's Aadhaar program.
In 2021, she won the Malcolm Adiseshiah Award for distinguished contributions to Development Studies. The award was instituted by the Malcolm & Elizabeth Adiseshiah Trust in 2000 and is presented to social scientists for their outstanding contributions to the society. The Malcolm Adiseshiah Award was first given to Abhijit V. Banerjee in 2000. Since then, Ram Guha, Pratap Bhanu Mehta, Jayati Ghosh, Nandini Sundar, Amita Baviskar, Yogendra Yadav, among others, have received it.
Khera has written columns for popular media and been profiled in the mainstream media in India—for outlets such as NDTV, Scroll.in, Wire.in, Outlook India, Financial Times, Reuters, Bloomberg Quint, Quartz, Magnum Foundation, Indian Express, Business Standard, Business Line, Economic Times, Frontline (she wrote the Nov 2016 cover feature), Business Today (she wrote the Jan 2016 cover feature) and the BBC. She is frequently interviewed on Indian television in English and Hindi and in alternative Indian media (such as Newslaundry, Counterview.org (she wrote a feature piece on Aadhaar), Deccan Herald, Livemint, South Asia Citizens Web, Countercurrents, India Together and India Spend ).
Publications
Books
Dissent on Aadhaar, Big Data Meets Big Brother Drèze, Jean and Khera, Reetika (2015), [null Readings in Social Policy and Public Action], unpublished compilation. De, Anuradha, Khera, Reetika, Kumar, AK Shiva, Samson Meera (2011), PROBE Revisited (New Delhi: Oxford University Press). Battle for Employment Guarantee (2011), (New Delhi: Oxford University Press). Edited. Citizen's Initiative for Right of Children Under Six (2006), Focus On Children Under Six, Abridged Report (New Delhi: Right to Food Campaign). Contributor. Dey, Nikhil, Drèze, Jean and Khera, Reetika (2006), Employment Guarantee: A Primer (New Delhi: National Book Trust).
Peer reviewed articles
Impact of Aadhaar on Welfare Programmes, Economic and Political Weekly, 16 December, Vol 52, No. 50. Special Article. Aadhaar and Food Security in Jharkhand, Pain Without Gain?, With Jean Drèze, Nazar Khalid and Anmol Somanchi. Economic and Political Weekly, 16 December, Vol 52, No. 50. Special Article. Recent Social Security Initiatives in India, With Jean Drèze. World Development, Vol 98, October 2017, pp. 555–572. Children's Development: Baby Steps in Odisha, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol 50, No. 40. Special Article. Clarification on PDS Leakages, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol 50, No. 39. With Jean Dreze, Himanshu and Abhijit Sen. Discussion. Food Security: Bihar on the Move, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 50, No. 34. With Jean Dreze and Jessica Pudussery. Special Article. UID: From Inclusion to Exclusion, Seminar, August 2015. Public Health in North India, An Exploratory Study in Four States Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 50, No. 21, pp. 53–58. With Kritika Goel. Insight. Understanding Leakages in the Public Distribution System, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 50, No., February 2015. With Jean Drèze. Insight. UID project: Does Evidence Matter, Yojana, July 2014. Cash vs. In-kind Transfers: Indian Data Meets Theory, Food Policy, 46, pp. 116–128, 2014. Rural Poverty and the Public Distribution System, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol 48, No 45&46, 16 November 2013. With Jean Drèze. Special Article. Mid-Day Meals Looking Ahead, Economic and Political Weekly, August 2013. On the NIPFP Response, Economic and Political Weekly, Discussion, Vol. 48, No. 10, 9 March 2013. Discussion. A Cost-Benefit Analysis of UID, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 48, No. 5, 2 February 2013. Commentary. Regional Patterns of Human and Child Deprivation, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol 47, No. 39, 29 September 2012. With Jean Drèze. Special Article. Food Security Act: One Step Forward, One Step Back?, Seminar, No. 634, 2012. Revival of the Public Distribution System: Evidence and Explanations, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol 46, No. 44-45, November, 2011. Special Article. Trends in Diversion of Grain from the Public Distribution System, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol 46, No. 26, 21 May 2011. Special Article. India's Public Distribution System: Utilization and Impact, Journal of Development Studies, Vol 47, No. 3, pp. 1–23, 2011. The UID Project and Social Welfare, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol 46, No. 9. 2011. Perspectives. The BPL Census and A Possible Alternative, Economic and Political Weekly, Volume 45 (No. 9), 27 February 2010. With Jean Drèze. Special Article. Women Workers and their Perceptions of National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, Economic and Political Weekly, Volume 44 (No. 43), 24 October 2009. With Nandini Nayak. Special Article. Right to Food: Beyond Cheap Promises, Economic and Political Weekly, Volume 44 (No. 29) 18 July 2009. Insight. Starvation Deaths and "Primitive Tribal Groups, Economic and Political Weekly, Volume 43 (No. 52), 27 December – 2 January 2008. Commentary. Self-Targeting on Employment Programmes, Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Volume 51, No. 2, 2008. Access to the Targeted Public Distribution System: A Case Study in Rajasthan, Economic and Political Weekly, Volume 43 (No. 44), 1–7 November 2008. Special Article. Empowerment Guarantee Act, Economic and Political Weekly, Volume 43 (No. 35), 30 August – 5 September 2008. Commentary. The State of India’s Children (with Jean Drèze and Sudha Narayanan), Indian Journal of Human Development, Volume 1, No. 2, July–December, 2007. Political Economy of State Response to Drought, Economic and Political Weekly, 16 December 2006. Special Article. Mid-Day Meals in Primary Schools: Achievements and Challenges, Economic and Political Weekly, 18 November 2006. Perspectives. Bringing Grassroots Democracy to Life: The MKSS Campaign in the Rajasthan Panchayat Elections, Economic and Political Weekly, 19 February 2005. Commentary. Monitoring Disclosures, Seminar, February 2004. Crime, Gender and Society in India: Insights from homicide data, Population and Development Review, Volume 30, No. 2, 2000. With Jean Drèze.
Popular media (print) In January 2018, her NYT editorial, "Why India's Big Fix is a Big Flub," was one of the most comprehensive public arguments ever made on the limitations of Aadhaar. Khera describes how the program aimed to biometrically register India's 1.3 billion residents in an even-handed, judicious way. But although millions enrolled, the program remains riddled with colossal privacy and corruption challenges.
In her January New York Times editorial, Khera argues:Aadhaar was supposed to showcase the government’s forward thinking about efficient administration; it has only exposed the state’s coerciveness. It was supposed to ease the poor’s access to welfare; it has hurt the neediest. It was supposed to harness technology in the service of development; it has made people’s personal data vulnerable. One of the Indian government’s biggest banner projects has become a glaring example of all that can go wrong with policy making in this country.As part of an April 2018 story in the New York Times, Khera highlights how India's poorest classes are among those Aadhaar has harmed the most. Rather than being aided by the program, Khera states that, "This is the population that is being passed off as ghosts and bogus by the government."
2022 The Freebies Debate: An 'Anti-Democratic' Turn, BQ Prime, 24 August. Should there be limits on ‘freebies’?, The Hindu, 19 August. Six types of problems Aadhaar is causing – and safeguards needed immediately, Scroll.in, 2 January 2022 |
2021 Hunger Index Is Limited, but There’s Enough Proof That India Has a Problem The Wire, 28 October | भूख सूचकांक में खामियां हैं, पर कमी हमारी व्यवस्था में भी है, Dainik Bhaskar, 28 October. Indian workers deserve more than Food Security, The Leaflet.in, 8 July. “Either we all live in a decent world, or nobody does.”, The Third Eye, 30 June. Doorstep delivery of rations sounds like a good idea – but it actually raises many hard questions, Scroll.in, 12 June. Decoding inequality in a digital world, The Hindu, 11 May. India’s vaccine policy mess is due to its reliance on technocrats instead of public health experts, Scroll.in, 8 May 2021. কী আশায় বুক বাঁধা যায়? Ananda Bazaar Patrika, 28 April 2021. 'Much more space must be given to public health experts in designing the vaccine strategy", Mid-Day, 26 April. Going beyond Tamil Nadu’s ‘freebies’ narrative, The Hindu, 5 April. আত্মনির্ভরতা শুধু গরিবের জন্য? Ananda Bazaar Patrika, 5 Jan, 2021.
2020 How Hunger came back to haunt India Mint, 23 December. MSP — the factoids versus the facts, The Hindu, 19 December 2020. With Prankur Gupta and Sudha Narayanan. Can the right to work be made real in India?, The Hindu, 13 November 2020. What Pay Ratios in NIFTY50 companies tell us about income inequality in India" Feminism in India, 11 November 2020. Pay Ratio Report: “RIL has blatantly dodged mandatory requirements. SEBI and government are sleeping,” says Dr Reetika KheraThe CSR Universe, 5 October. Where is the Covid money, honey?, Economic Times, 30 September. PM's One-Nation, One-Ration Scheme - What Not To Do NDTV.com, 6 July. Modi government's 'One Nation, One Ration' is an attempt to deflect attention from actual solutions, Scroll.in, 17 June. Why cash can save the rural jobs scheme, LiveMint, 26 May 2020. Getting cash transfers out of a JAM, The Hindu, 13 May 2020. With Jean Dreze. How will India emerge out of the lockdown?, The Hindu Parley, 24 April 2020. With G. Ananthakrishnan and Dr. Giridhar Babu. Cash Chorus Is Flawed. Use "Odisha Model" Instead, NDTV online, 11 April 2020. Succour for the most vulnerable, India Today, 11 April 2020. Covid-19: What can be done immediately to help vulnerable population, Ideas for India, 25 March 2020. | Hindi in The Wire and Gaon Connection. From apathy to action", The Hindu, 30 March 2020. Is there an opportunity here? BBC (in Hindi) | Tamil.
2019