Dr. Swati Narayan

Education

• Ph.D. in Development Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai, 2014 – 2019
• Visiting Research Student, Department of Gender Studies, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), 2017
• M.Sc. in Development Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, 2002-2003
• M.A. Personnel Management and Industrial Relations, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai, 1998-2000
• B.A. Economics, St. Xavier’s College, University of Mumbai, 1995 – 1998

Profile

Swati Narayan is an academic, activist and author. She teaches courses on social policies and universal healthcare. Previously, she has been an Associate Professor at the Jindal School of Public Health and Human Development at O.P. Jindal Global University. For more than a decade, she has also been an activist with various civil society organisations and social movements. Her articles have been published in Gender and Development, the Economic and Political Weekly and various other journals and media publications.

For more, please see here https://www.swatinarayan.info

Publications

Book:

• Unequal: Why India Lags Behind Its Neighbours, 2023, Chennai: Westland Context  

Journal Articles: 

• Fifteen Years of India’s NREGA: Employer of the Last Resort? Indian Journal of Labour Economics, 2022, 65 (3)
• Breaking New Ground: Women’s Employment in India’s NREGA, the Pandemic Lifeline Gender and Development, 2022, 30 (1&2), 217-246
• Time for Universal Public Distribution System: Food Mountains and Pandemic Hunger in India, Indian Journal of Human Development, 2021, 51(3), 503-514
• Religion and Female-Male Ratios in India, Indian Journal of Human Development, 2018, 12(3), 441-452
• Towards Equality in Healthcare: Trends over Two Decades, Economic and Political Weekly, 2016, 51(12), 24-26

Book Chapters: 

• Stunted Food Security: Time for Universal Entitlements in Behera, A and S Mishra (Eds.), Varying Dimensions of India’s National Security: Emerging Perspectives, 2022
• Food Security: India from a Global Perspective in Reddy, S (Eds.), Food security and Food Production, 2015, 45-68, Cambridge Scholars Publishers, UK

Book Reviews

• S Narayan, The Dravidian Years: Politics and Welfare in Tamil Nadu, Social Change, 2021, 51(3), 441-453
• Louise Tillin, Indian Federalism, Contemporary South Asia, 2021, 29(2), 305–306
• Katrine Marçal, Who Cooked Adam Smith’s Dinner: A Story About Women and Economics, Indian Journal of Human Development, 2019, 13(2), 233-238

Op-Eds

• SOUTH ASIA AND BEYOND
  • Dreaming of Ladyland, The Daily Star, 4 December 2024
  • Make America think again, The Hindu, 6 November 2024
  • Bangladesh fares better, Indian Express, 14 February 2020
• GENDER
  • No Country for Women, Indian Express, 28 April 2021
  • Where Is The 0.1% Of GDP For India’s Mothers?, Huffington Post, 10 March 2017
  • What the Census Tells Us About Having Faith in Daughters, The Wire, 1 September 2015
• RIGHT TO HEALTH
  • After Covid-19, what can India learn from the universal healthcare systems of its neighbours?, Scroll, 7 May 2022
  • Why India needs an NHS-like healthcare model, Indian Express, 25 August 2021
• RIGHT TO FOOD
  • New foodgrain scheme as an illusion, doublespeak, The Hindu, 18 Jan 2023
  • The Dubious Campaign To Remove Eggs From School Meals, The Wire Science, 1 July 2022
  • A Budget with little social sector content, Hindu Business Line, 3 February 2022
  • With 45% of Indians excluded from the food security net, it’s time to universalise the PDS, Scroll, 20 June 2021
  • Union Budget 2021: Slashed funds, FirstPost, 2 February 2021
  • In maps: India’s vulnerable children are paying the price of upper-caste prejudice with their bodies, Scroll, 6 January 2021
  • Large sections of poor are unlikely to benefit from extension of food grains scheme, Indian Express, 7 July 2020
  • The Invisible Ghosts Who Walk Will Haunt India for Years to Come, The Wire, 19 May 2020
  • Why NYAY is unlikely to deliver results, Business Standard, 4 May 2019
  • The Egg Debate Boils Over – Will Governments Stop Playing With Children’s Food?, The Wire, 17 February 2019
  • The Aadhaar verdict and class bias, Business Standard, 21 October 2018
  • Beating back the food police, Indian Express, 14 July 2018
  • In Jharkhand, suspected starvation death sheds light on deprivation of a whole settlement, Scroll, 25 June 2018
  • Aadhaar-for-food can’t be a mandatory requirement, Hindustan Times, 22 February 2018
  • India feeds 100 million children a day—so why can’t Britain have free school meals?, Prospect Magazine, 29 June 2017
  • What’s in a unique number?, Indian Express, 13 February 2017
  • The government must go beyond just repackaging subsidies for the poor, Hindustan Times, 5 January 2017
  • Soup kitchens are a silver lining for the urban poor, Indian Express, 28 April 2016
  • Why Cash Transfer’s First ‘Beneficiaries’ Want to Opt Out of the JAM, The Wire, 30 November 2015
  • Food security act may be too little too late for parched Jharkhand, Huffington Post, 14 October 2015
  • Ten Facts That Set the Record Straight on Cash Transfers, The Wire, 15 August 2015
  • The specious arguments against eggs, The Mint, 16 June 2015
  • Food Security And Taking The BJP With A Grain Of Salt, Huffington Post, 12 March 2015
  • Sweeping away India’s social security, The Mint, 17 February 2015
  • Promises to Keep, Sunday Magazine, The Hindu, 22 June 2014
  • Puducherry in a Unique JAM, Huffington Post, 12 April 2015
  • Delete the errors to save the census, The Hindu, 12 April 2012
  • India’s Battle against Hunger, The Guardian, 8 April 2011
  • Not Smart Enough?, The Hindu, 27 February 2011
• RIGHT TO WORK
  • A slow death, The Telegraph, 7 June 2023
  • Digging for Goddess Laxmi On Diwali, Outlook India, 2 November 2016
  • Half Full, Half Empty: 10 Years of NREGA, IndiaSpend, 9 February 2016
• RIGHT TO EDUCATION
  • Making a mockery of the right to education, The Mint, 1 July 2016
  • Private Mischief: Private Schools Default on 25% Quota, Lucknow Tribune, 20 July 2013
  • Children of a Lesser Law, Sunday Magazine, The Hindu, 7 July 2013

Podcasts

• Why India lags behind its neighbours in human development, Sandip Roy podcast, Indian Express, 15 April 2024
• Bangladesh-Nepal ने ऐसा क्या किया कि India से आगे निकल गए?, Aaj Tak Radio, Padhaku Nitin, Ep 137, 6 March 2024
• India ने ऐसी कौनसी गलती कर दी जिसका फायदा Bangladesh ने उठा लिया? Kitabwala| Unequal, Deepak Tenguriya, The Lallantop, 29 Nov 2023

Selected Interviews

• What is happening in Bangladesh?, Saba Naqvi, Frontline Magazine, 9 August 2024
• ‘Diminishing Inequalities Is The Key To Robust Human Development’, Shreehari Paliath, IndiaSpend, 8 June 2024
• Modi’s economic promises: Is India lagging behind?, Marie Sina, DW News, 1 June 2024
• Interview: Swati Narayan, author, Unequal; Why India Lags behind its Neighbours, Syed Saad Ahmed, Hindustan Times, 25 May 2024
• World 5th Economy होकर भी Nepal-Sri Lanka-Bangladesh से भी पीछे क्यों है India?, Avinash Rai, Uncut, 4 March 2024
• ‘India’s Widening Inequalities Driving Poor Performance In Social Indices’: ‘Unequal’ Author Swati Narayan, Zaina Azhar Sayeda, Outlook India, 25 January 2024
• India’s North-South divide,  Daanish Bin Nabi, Roportaj, 24 December 2023