The REDS datasets, collected in four rounds between 1971 and 2006, form a database on villages and households across India, allowing analyses on the micro characteristics of households and their interactions at the village, district, state, and national levels. The first round (ARIS) in 1971 was intended to represent the entire rural population of India residing in 17 major states and covered 4,527 households in 259 villages. Follow-up surveys were conducted in 1982, 1999, and 2006 to re-visit the original households. The latest round in 2006 (agricultural season 2005-2006) had a sample size of 9,500 and included all the households surveyed in 1999, with approximately 8 new randomly selected households included in each village.

Recruitment is ongoing