Food Technologist Vidhya Parshuramkar wins Rohini Nayyar Prize 2025

New Delhi: Pune-based social entrepreneur Vidhya Parshuramkar has been awarded the fourth Rohini Nayyar Prize for her outstanding contribution to making nutrition accessible, sustainable, and community-led.

Instituted in 2022 in memory of noted economist, bureaucrat and Padma Shri awardee Dr Rohini Nayyar, the honour carries a cash prize of ₹10 lakh, along with a citation and a trophy.

At just 24 years old, Parshuramkar is the first woman to receive the award. She was felicitated by S Mahendra Dev, Chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, at a ceremony held in New Delhi on Friday, reported PTI.

“I am a farmer’s daughter and was anaemic myself. As a food technologist, I was driven to use scientific innovation to transform traditional foods into modern nutritional solutions,” Parshuramkar said while accepting the award.

Parshuramkar leads Agrozee Organics and its flagship initiative, Millets Now, which is guided by a vision to make nutrition accessible, sustainable and community-driven.

After completing M.Tech in Food Technology from IIT Kharagpur, she has been working to bridge traditional food systems with modern nutrition science.

“I wanted to go beyond simply feeding people—to build healthy eating habits and resilient communities. For me, food is not just about products but about people—farmers, children, and rural families—coming together for a healthier future,” she said.

Agrozee develops biofortified, ready-to-eat millet products aimed at combating malnutrition and iron-deficiency anaemia. Through its Nutri Dabba initiative, Parshuramkar and her team deliver nutritious millet-based snacks to schoolchildren, while empowering women-led self-help groups (SHGs) and supporting over 7,000 smallholder farmers—enhancing both livelihoods and food security.

The Rohini Nayyar Prize, instituted by Dr Nayyar’s family, honours young individuals who contribute to India’s social and economic development. It is administered by the Nayyar Foundation for Social and Economic Purpose, which was established to further her lifelong commitment to rural progress.

Past recipients include Sethrichem Sangtam from Nagaland (2022), Dinanath Rajput from Chhattisgarh (2023), and Anil Pradhan from Odisha (2024).

The Foundation’s directors are Prof Deepak Nayyar, Emeritus Professor of Economics at JNU and former Vice Chancellor of Delhi University; Dhiraj Nayyar, Director of Economics and Policy at Vedanta Limited; and Gaurav Nayyar, Lead Economist at the World Bank.

"The prize has received great attention in civil society. When we began thinking about the prize, we were somewhat hesitant to contribute in stipulating that candidates must be less than 40 years of age. But this idea was in conformity with Rohini's commitment to nurture young people, for she believed that what they did would shape our future," Deepak Nayyar said at the event.