Dr. Nabajyoti Deka

About

Nabajyoti Deka is an early-career applied economist passionate to work in cutting-edge research seeking to address some of the critical economic, social, and environmental challenges that lie in the intersection of agri-food systems, society, and climate change. He has considerable experience of working in field-based research using mixed methods. At FMS, he deliver courses on Sustainability and Strategy.

Research

• 1. Nabajyoti Deka and Kishor Goswami. (2024). Analyzing Alternative Food Networks in Highly-globalized and Standardized Agrifood Systems to Attain Sustainability for Small-scale Growers: Inferences from Tea Sector. Local Environment, 29 (3), 317-338.
• 2. Tom H. Oliver, Prosper Bazaanah, Jeff Da Costa, Nabajyoti Deka, Andre D. Dornelles, Matthew P. Greenwell, Magesh Nagarajan, Kavin Narasimhan, Emmanuel Obuobie, Marian Osei, Nigel Gilbert. (2023). Empowering community-led adaptation to systemic risks from climate change. Nature Climate Change, 13, 671-678.
• 3. Kishor Goswami, Dwiti B Thapa, Jigyasa Sandilya, and Nabajyoti Deka. (2023). An assessment of economic profitability of black rice (Oryza sativa L. indica) production in Assam, India. Journal of Applied Research on Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, 34, 100488.
• 4. Nabajyoti Deka and Kishor Goswami. (2022). Organic Cultivation and Sustainable Value Chain Development for Tea Smallholders: Findings from Assam, India. Sustainable Production and Consumption, 32, 562-579.
• 5. Nabajyoti Deka, Kishor Goswami, and Kumar Anurupam. (2021). What will drive the small tea growers towards environment-friendly cultivation? Implications from the tea sector in Assam, India. Climate and Development, 14(5), 443-458.
• 6. Nabajyoti Deka and Kishor Goswami. (2021). Economic sustainability of organic cultivation of Assam tea produced by small-scale growers. Sustainable Production and Consumption, 26, 111-125.
• 7. Nabajyoti Deka, Kishor Goswami, Abhay S. Thakur, and P. B. S. Bhadoria. (2020). Are farmer producer companies ready to behave as business entities? Insights from the vegetable-based farmer companies in West Bengal, India. International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability, 18(6), 521-536.
• 8. Nabajyoti Deka and Kishor Goswami. (2020). Organic cultivation and farm entrepreneurship: a case of small tea growers in rural Assam, India. Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, 44(4), 446-466

Journal articles under review

• 1. Nabajyoti Deka and Kishor Goswami. (2024). Indigenous Entrepreneurship and Agricultural Development: Insights from the Case of ‘Darjeeling Tea’ in Eastern Himalayas.
• 2. Nabajyoti Deka, Magesh Nagarajan, Tom H. Oliver, and Kavin Narasimhan (2024). A Sustainable Livelihood Approach to Food Security amidst Climate Change: Inference from Majuli Island, India.

Conferences

• 1. Nabajyoti Deka, Nitin Zimazi Akhade, and Rupesh Badkhal. (2024). Can Integrated CSR Promote Self-sustaining Microenterprises in Rural-Agrarian Societies? Lessons from the Case of an Energy Firm’s Initiatives in Odisha, India. Paper presented in the International Conference on Responsible Production and Consumption. Held in March 2024 at the University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, India.
• 2. Nabajyoti Deka, and Kishor Goswami. (2023). Indigenous Entrepreneurship and Agricultural Development: Insights from the Case of ‘Darjeeling Tea’ in Eastern Himalayas. Paper presented in the Global Development Conference 2023: Biodiversity and Sustainable Development. Quito, Ecuador, 31st Oct to 1st Nov 2023. Global Development Network.
• 3. Kishor Goswami, Nabajyoti Deka, Dwiti Thapa Baruah, and Jigyasa Sandilya. (2022). Does the Production of Exotic Fruits Create Value for the Farmers? Inferences from the Emerging Kiwifruit Value Chain in Arunachal Pradesh, India. Paper presented in the 92nd Annual meeting of the Southern Economic Association, USA.
• 4. Nabajyoti Deka and Kishor Goswami. (2022). Alternative Food Networks in a Highly Globalized Agri-food System: Inferences from the Small-scale Organic Tea Growers in Eastern India. Paper presented in the 92nd Annual meeting of the Southern Economic Association, USA.
• 5. Nabajyoti Deka and Kishor Goswami. (2020). Organic cultivation as the way forward to develop value chain and market linkages for small tea growers: evidence from India. Paper presented virtually in the 2020 Global Marketing Conference held in Seoul, Republic of Korea, November 2020. (Paper presented virtually due to pandemic).
• 6. Nabajyoti Deka and Kishor Goswami. (2020). Farmer producer companies and the development of agricultural value chains in Assam. Paper presented and in the proceedings of the 19th Biennial General Conference, Agricultural Statistical Services Officer’s Association, Assam.
• 7. Nabajyoti Deka and Kishor Goswami. (2019). Economic viability of organic vs. conventional tea cultivation: The case of small tea growers of Assam, India. Paper presented in the 89th Annual Meeting of the Southern Economic Association held at Fort Lauderdale, Florida USA, November 2019.
• 8. Nabajyoti Deka and Kishor Goswami. (2018). Challenges and prospects of organic tea cultivation for the small tea growers in Assam. Paper presented in the International Conference on Climate Change, Biodiversity and Sustainable Agriculture (ICCBSA-2018) held in Assam Agricultural University Jorhat, India, December 2018.
• 9. Nabajyoti Deka and Kishor Goswami. (2017). Organic agriculture in Eastern India: opportunities and challenges. Poster presented in the workshop on Green Revolution in Eastern India: Constraints, Opportunities, and Way Forward, organized by IFPRI and Tata-Cornell Institute in New Delhi, October 2017.
• 10. Nabajyoti Deka. (2017). Environmental migration and the dynamics of labor economics: narratives from the Bank of River Brahmaputra in postcolonial Assam. Paper presented and in the proceedings of the Sixth Critical Studies Conference organized by the Mahanirban Calcutta Research Group, Kolkata, August 2017.
• 11. Nabajyoti Deka. (2016). Reconstructing the concept of ‘entrepreneurship’ through the framework of ‘sustainability’ for North-east India. Paper presented in the 12th International Research Conference on Quality, Innovation and Knowledge Management jointly organized by Monash Business School, Australia, IIT Delhi, India, and IIM Raipur, India, held in New Delhi, February 2016.
• 12. Nabajyoti Deka. (2016). CSR vis-à-vis sustainable marketing, and its implications for the Indian Market. Paper presented in the International Conference on CSR World at IIM Calcutta held in February 2016.
• 13. Nabajyoti Deka and A. Sai Krishna. (2015). The role of corporate towards food security and sustainability: a study to understand the significance of bio-chemical knowledge to formulate policies, practices and profit for the food industry. Paper presented in the International Conference on Managing Critical Resources: Food, Energy, and Water organized by CDEP, IIM Calcutta, April 2015.
• 14. Nabajyoti Deka. (2015). A retrospective study of commercial activities and economic development in Assam. Paper discussed under the panel titled ‘Collapse of a nation-state in the Asian continent: critical views and reviews’ at the Association of Asian Studies-in-Asia Conference held in Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, June 2015.
• 15. Nabajyoti Deka and Jahnu Bharadwaj. (2015). Social entrepreneurship as the path towards sustainable development in North-east India: A study based on the case of ‘Antorik’ and other related organizations. Paper presented in the International Conference on Social Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Development organized by TISS Mumbai in February 2015.
• 16. Nabajyoti Deka and Ratika Srivastav. (2014). ‘Retail management’ Vis-a vis ‘consumer behavior’: A study to understand how small retailers can achieve operational excellence by understanding their consumers. Paper presented and in the proceedings of XVIII International conference of the Society of Operations Management, IIT Roorkee, December 2014.
• 17. Nabajyoti Deka. (2014). Brands in the rural market: a retrospective study to understand the future of branding in Rural India by considering the young consumer. Paper presented in the Conference on Excellence in Research and Education held at IIM Indore, May 2014.

Research Interests

• 1. Themes that cut across Agri-food systems, climate change, and society
• 2. Business and sustainability with some connection to agriculture and allied sector

Books / Book Chapters

• 1. Pardeep Singh, Bendangwapang Ao, Nabajyoti Deka, Chander Mohan, Chhetan Chhoidub. (2024). Food Security in a Developing Countries: Status, challenges, and opportunities. Springer Cham. 978-3-031-57283-8 Published: 31 May 2024 (Edited book)
• 2. Nabajyoti Deka and Kishor Goswmai. (2023). Small tea growers and indigenous entrepreneurship in Assam: transcending the ‘colonial-capitalist’ archetype of the tea industry. Edited book project entitled Transcribing a Frontier: Marginal and Alternative Narratives from Postcolonial Assam. (Under review)

Scientific reports

• 1. Magesh Nagarajan, Nabajyoti Deka, Tom H. Oliver, and Kavin Narasimhan (2022). EMPOWER India: Empowering citizen and community adaptation to systemic risks from climate change in Majuli Island, Assam. EMPOWER project, India case study report, March 2022
• 2. Monaki Dey, Parth Pandit, Nabajyoti Deka, Nikhil Havele, Akshita Singh, and Epica Mandal. (2024). Indian EVs and Battery Giga Gigafactories: Imperatives for Robust Supply Chain. Report by Customized Energy Solutions Ltd.

Academic experience

• 1. Research (November, 2021 to March, 2022)
  • Postdoctoral Research Associate in a multi-country and multi-disciplinary project on the impact of climate change on community member’s livelihood, health, and well-being. (Leading Institution: University of Reading, the UK, Partner institutions: Indian Institute of Management Nagpur, India, University of Surrey, the UK, and CSIR-WRI, Ghana). Please visit https://www.empower-project.org/ for more details
• 2. Teaching
  • Assistant Professor (April, 2022 to February 2023) School of Business, VIT AP University, Andhra Pradesh, India
  • Teaching Assistant for Microeconomics (UG Level) & Business Economics (PG level) at IIT Kharagpur, 2018 to 2021
  • Lecturer (July 2012 to December 2016) Department of Management, Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies Nuzvid Campus, Andhra Pradesh, India 521202

Professional/ Industry Experience

• 1. Assistant Manager (June 2008 to August 2009)
• 2. Sales and Marketing Department, Calderys India Refractories Ltd., Nagpur, India

Consulting experience

• 1. As an external expert for an industry project “Indian EVs & Battery Gigafactories: Imperatives for a Robust Supply Chain”. Company: Customized Energy Solutions Ltd. May 2023 to March 2024.

Awards and Honors

• 1. UGC-NET & Research Fellowship for a Ph.D., 2017 to 2021, University Grants Commission, Govt. of India
• 2. Complete travel grant to attend international conference in Florida, USA, Nov 2019. Funding agency – ICSSR India
• 3. Complete travel grant to attend international conference in Quito, Ecuador, October 2023. Funding agency- Global Development Network

Other projects associated with

• 1. As an external expert for the project “Assessing the Role and Contribution of Traditional/local Knowledge Systems for Sustainable Development in the Indian Himalayan Region”. Project funded by the ICSSR. (Principal Investigator: Dr. Pardeep Singh, 2024-2026.
• 2. “Economic viability, value chain analysis, and micro-entrepreneurial development for selected crop varieties with medicinal values in North East India”. Project sponsored by Ministry of Human Resources Development under Impactful Policy Research in Social Science (ICSSR -IMPRESS) (Principal Investigator: Professor Kishor Goswami), 2019-2021.

Other significant responsibilities/ involvements

• 1. Member of the Circular Area Group (CAG) - Economics, Social Sciences division, in the committee formed by NCERT India to formulate new textbooks for the schools.

Invited Sessions/ Resource person for panels/workshops/ other significant activities

• 1. Panel member for a panel discussion on key policy initiatives like critical mineral, recycling, ACC and FAME, and future path, in Stakeholders Roundtable on EV Battery Value Chain and Report Launch by the India Energy Storage Alliance in New Delhi on 29th August 2024
• 2. One of the resource persons on behalf of the EMPOWER Project team (initiatives) for a workshop on Community Resilience through Systemic Risk Assessment and Response perspective organized by Catalyzing Social Impact (CSI) and Accelerating Systemic Risk Assessment (ASRA) in New Delhi on 1st of August 2024
• 3. Delivered an invited session on the topic entitled “Organic agriculture and sustainable development” for the Masters and Ph.D. students of Economics at Dept. of HSS, IIT Kharagpur on the 2nd of March, 2022