Study, with reference to the Panchayati Raj set-up in Pudukkottai District, Tamil Nadu.

This original conceptualization provides insights into the role of inequality in the processes of change in rural India. It presents in-depth analyses and understanding of the nature and form of inequality, and its causes and consequences. The volume examines interpersonal, intergroup, and intrapersonal inequalities in the country’s rural transformation. Through research based on ethnographic, primary survey and secondary data methods, this multidimensional study discusses key themes such as normative and descriptive inequalities; class, caste and other identities; economic poverty; educational poverty; poverty in health; gendered poverty; inequality and power; the impact of migration; ethical issues and vulnerabilities; and suicidal consequences of inequality. It builds cohesive arguments, based on the development of several new indicators, to examine rural inequality. This book will be of interest to scholars and researchers of political economy, economics, development studies, development economics, sociology, public policy, political science, political sociology, and rural sociology.

Based on fifteen years of intensive anthropological and sociological fieldwork, this book presents provocative insights in the daily life of men and women in various villages of India. The topics dealt with are varied as also important and policy relevant. The author deals with the propensity of the village panchayats and their actual working in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, the impact of land reforms on development, the causes of the high human development index in Kerala, communalism at the village level, the views of poor villagers on the post-modernist views on development, child labour and family views on children as capital, and with the changing world view in relation to religion, caste and the position of women. The author deals with these issues drawing on a multifaceted background, taking care at the same time that the views of the villagers, and their daily concerns come through as the principal empirical evidence.

Papers presented at the Third International Conference on Rural India : achieving Millennium Development Goals and Grassroots Development, held at Hyderabad during 10-12 November 2005.

This book, first published in 1992, examines the attitudes of local elites - the hinge between Indian state and rural society - towards protest and participation in development, illuminating arguments about the nature of the state as well as the development process. It looks at the role of local elites in India both as the representatives of the state and of the rest of rural society, and explains their importance in the country's development. The book deals with the elites' contribution to the credibility of the state and examines the strategies through which they manipulate the allocation of resources and influence the pace and direction of social change. It contrasts the rural elites in two areas, one more economically advanced than the other. The elites in the first area were shown to be capable of combining institutional participation with radical protest, whilst in the other they tended to rely on state channels to achieve reform. The author concludes that despite the different settings, both groups were informed, active and responsive to political conditions. This contrasts with the conventional view that local elites of the dominant castes oppress the lower ones by obstructing reforms, for reasons of self-interest.

This work is an indepth analysis of the entire gamut of problems afflicting the rural economy. Some of the questions specifically looked into are: With how much of sincerity the plans were prepared, and how these were implemented? What were the effects on productivity and expansion of activities in different sectors of the rural economy? How much of attention was given to the problems of the weaker sections, and what improvements came over the years? What were the state of social and economic infrastructure? Did human resource development receive the attention it deserved?

In this updated and enlarged edition of his classic study, S R Maheshwari discusses the conceptual, historical and constitutional background of rural development, placing it within an holistic framework. He then evaluates the major rural development programmes implemented since independence and examines their strategies and impact. Iissues examined include: rural credit, land reform, rural unrest and rural technology. The author concludes with suggestions for future policy options.