Food Security at Emerging Urban Spaces in India

An examination of the important public policy issue of contemporary significance of linkages between migration, urbanization and food and nutrition security in India, within the wider context of post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) agenda. The paper responds to the call by Crush (2013, p. 62) to bridge the “massive institutional and substantive disconnect” that currently exists between the two prominent development agendas of migration and food security. The geographic focus of this paper is on the lower echelons of India’s urban system comprising erstwhile rural regions which have witnessed rapid urbanization over the past few years. This urban growth is fast changing the sources of food security for millions of Indians, and rising land demands to accommodate future urban growth will put more pressure on the agri-food systems. The project reviews the implications of this urban growth for food security in India and identifies the relevant policy issues that may help promote SDG targets of food security and inclusive urbanization.