Independent India of Plenty: Food, Hunger, and Nation-Building in Modern India

Abstract

This dissertation situates debates over food procurement, provision, and hunger as the key economic and social contestations structuring the late colonial and postcolonial Indian state. It juxtaposes the visions of national statesmen against those advanced by party organizers, scientists, housewives, journalists, and international development workers and diplomats. Examining their promises and plans - and the global contexts in which they were made - this project demonstrates how India's "food question" mediated fundamental arguments over citizenship, governance, and the proper relationship between individuals, groups, and the state.