Funded by ESRC-DFID, this project aimed to study and research the low-carbon emissions in an informal economy. Professor Barbara Harriss-White, the Oxford School of Global Area Studies, having prior experience and knowledge in the study of green revolution and its impact on Indian economy, lead this pilot project .
The project develops a series of methods for the first-hand study of the materiality of the informal economy. The primary focus was on greenhouse gases (GHGs) (in CO2e), energy and water as indicators of materiality, on labour conditions and on the structure of costs and profits. The field based case studies are rice production-distribution systems (intensive, SRI, rainfed and organic production; plus the partially regulated, private, post-harvest system; supermarket supply chains; and the state’s public distribution system) in three states of India: Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
Indian centres including the Institute of Human Development, New Delhi; the National Institute of Rural Development, Hyderabad; the Madras School of Economics, Chennai; Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi; the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad; the New Trade Union Initiative, New Delhi; and the Centre for Workers' Management, Bangalore and Chennai partnered with the University of Oxford for this project. This project has also paved the way for a follow up collaborations with other countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh by focussing on other carbon emitting objects.