The VDSA proposal planning and review meeting to finalize the project proposal was organized at ICRISAT- Patancheru from 9-11 July 2008. The participants included the founding father of ICRISAT’s Village Level Studies, Dr Hans Binswanger (ICRISAT Economist from 1974 to 1980), the first generation scientist Dr Tom Walker (ICRISAT Economist from 1985 to 1991), and social scientists from NARS, IRRI and US institutions. They made valuable contributions and shared their experiences to enhance the relevance of VLS in ICRISAT’s integrated genetic and natural resource management research. The discussions included plans for pursuing new innovations in the development of a high quality VLS longitudinal micro-level panel dataset.

In his inaugural speech, Director General William Dar referred to the VLS as one of the diamonds of ICRISAT, nurtured for over 30 years. He said the deliberations would allow the voices of the poor to be heard.