Demography India, Special Issue: RASTA (2025)

From the Chief Editor’s Desk

Recently, our journal, Demography India, has seen several innovative changes. In this context, we are happy to present a special issue of Demography India on Health and Nutrition Among Vulnerable Populations in India. It is well known that RASTA (Research and Analysis for Scientific Transformation and Advancement) initiative of The Population Council generates vital, actionable research and strengthens evidence-based policymaking in India. By fostering collaboration between researchers, government institutions, and think tanks, RASTA addresses critical developmental challenges with a special focus on vulnerable and underserved populations. Dr. Punit Mishra, Lead-RASTA, approached IASP with a request to bring out a special issue of Demography India based on papers contributed by different authors about reproductive health and nutrition and presented during the 45th Annual Conference of IASP held at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, from 12–14 December 2024.

The management committee of the IASP and Demography India discussed the matter at length. After a lot of deliberations, we decided to publish this special issue if the papers met the standards for publication in Demography India. Although RASTA papers had gone through several rounds of review before submission, Demography India also constituted a committee to review all the papers submitted for publication. Thus, the full papers have been carefully edited by a committee comprising Prof. Suresh Sharma, Dr. Anil Chandran, Dr. Ajay K. Singh, Dr. Jeetendra Yadav, Dr. Gudakesh, and Dr. Emily Das. The final decision to publish the issue was taken when our review committee recommended that all the papers submitted by the RASTA team be published in Demography India on merit. These papers cover a diverse range of topics related to Indian demography, including anaemia among women, nutritional inequality among tribal groups, adolescents’ concerns, maternal health care, family planning practices in the North-Eastern States, and sexual and reproductive health disparities between wives of migrant and non-migrant husbands in India. Most papers are based on the data from NFHS-5 (2019-21). The findings of the papers underscore the need for targeted interventions to address the unique health and nutrition challenges faced by India's population, and they are of interest to academicians and civil society organizations.

We express our sincere gratitude to IASP President Prof. Suresh Sharma, IEG, for supporting the publication of this journal. Furthermore, we extend our appreciation to all our reviewers of this special issue for their valuable insights and timely feedback on the research papers submitted for publication. We are thankful to the staff of the IEG for providing all types of support in publishing the journal.

If you have any comments on the publication of this special issue of Demography India, feel free to contact Prof. A. K. Sharma at arunk@iitk.ac.in or 4aksharma@gmail.com, or Dr. Gudakesh, Institute of Economic Growth, at gudakesh@iegindia.org. Your feedback will help us shape the journal in the future.

Arun Kumar Sharma
Chief Editor, Demography India