N. Lalitha
Economics
Gujarat Institute of Development Research (GIDR)
India
Biography
N. Lalitha began her career at GIDR in 1994. Trained in Economics, her research focuses on issues around globalization, trade and development. In the area of globalization, she had focused on issues relating to pharmaceutical patents and geographical indications. She had recently completed a research project on the socio economic impact of protecting handicrafts through Geographical Indications, choosing select products from the four southern states of India. She had written in refereed books and journals on access issues related to both patented and generic medicines. As part of the latter, she has studied the Tamil Nadu government model of providing essential drugs and prepared the health accounts for Government of Gujarat for the year 2005-06. Lalitha’s work on agri-bio technology centresonBt cotton adoption in Gujarat.She recently co-edited a book titled “India’s Tryst with Bt Cotton-Learning from the First Decade”, published by ConceptPublishing Company Pvt.Ltd, New Delhi. Mitigating the adverse impact of globalization on producer groups by emphasizing on adoption of production and labour standards is gaining rapid approval among the big retailers in the agricultural supply chain. She has examined the role of voluntary standards such as Fairtrade and Rainforest Alliance in the context of cotton and tea in India. She had been a visiting scholar at Institute of Industrial Relations, University of California, Berkeley, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Maison Del Sciences Homme, Paris and Universite Pierre Mendes France, Grenoble.
Research Interest
She was also selected as a fellow of the FondationMaison des Sciences de l’Homme, Paris and Columbia University, at Reid Hall to work on a project `Globalisation and Public Health in Developing Countries’ which culminated in the form of a book- Intellectual Property, Pharmaceuticals and Public Health-Access to Drugs in Developing Countries co-edited with Kenneth C. Shadlen, Samira Guennif, and Alenka Guzman, published by Edward Elgar in 2011.
