Feeding millions, powered by analytics: DFPD's Edelman Journey
From Resoundingly Human by INFORMS
April 6, 2026 · 28 min
About this episode
The episode discusses how advanced analytics and operations research are optimizing food distribution in India through the Anna Chakra system.
Each year, organizations from around the world demonstrate how advanced analytics and operations research are solving real problems at massive scale – from retail and logistics to healthcare systems, public services, and the complex networks that keep our world moving . Joining me today are members of the team from India's Department of Food and Public Distribution (DFPD), working in partnership with the United Nations World Food Programme in India and the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. Together, they developed Anna Chakra, an operations research–based decision support system designed to strengthen India's Public Distribution System by optimizing the logistics that move food across the country. Today we'll hear how this ambitious project came together – and how operations research is helping transform food distribution at national scale.
Topics covered
- advanced analytics
- operations research
- food distribution
- logistics
- public services
- India
Keywords
- analytics
- operations research
- food distribution
- logistics
- India
- public distribution system
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Department of Food and Public Distribution, United Nations World Food Programme, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
Products: Anna Chakra
More episodes of Resoundingly Human
- Big cloud, bigger decisions: Microsoft's Edelman story · April 12, 2026 · 19 min
- Watt's the Best Time to Compute? Google's Road to the Edelman Award · April 12, 2026 · 25 min
- When AI plans the plan: NVIDIA's Edelman story · April 6, 2026 · 14 min
- From kibble to clicks: Chewy's path to the Edelman Award competition · March 28, 2026 · 18 min
- These shoes were made for walking ... to the Edelman Award competition! · March 14, 2026 · 13 min
- Summoning the Data Whisperer: From Analytics+ to (data) puppet domination · February 27, 2026 · 24 min
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Resoundingly Human podcast page.