Post India’s economic liberalization in the 1990s, the village ceased to be central to ongoing sociological concerns. As a result, the period saw a marginalization of rural life and agrarian economy in the national imagination. However, in the 21st century as India transforms, so does its rural life. This book revisits the realities of contemporary rural India, exploring the trajectories of change across regions such as those in rural economies, the relationship of villages to the outside world, and the dynamics of caste inequalities. The volume puts together 14 papers based on empirical studies carried out by sociologists, social anthropologists, and economists over the past 15 years to begin a holistic conversation on contemporary rural India which continues to be an important site of social, political, and economic activities. India’s Villages in the 21st Century stresses diversity as a fundamental structure of Indian economy and society and illustrates the point by focusing on the economies, patterns of settlements, and organization of social and political life in India’s villages.

A profound analysis of a broad range of issues, providing a masterly overview of rural development in India.

Published in 1998, Indian Village is a valuable contribution to the field of Sociology & Social Policy.

A focused and accessible introduction to modern India by award-winning author Mira Kamdar, India in the 21st Century addresses the history, political and social structures, economic and financial system, and geopolitical landscape of a country set to play a critical role in how the world evolves in the coming decades.

A Mouthful of Petals is a nonfiction account of three years working in an Indian village in the early 1960s. Previously published, it became a minor classic among good samaritans, particularly in Britain, and was reviewed by The Times, New Statesman and such like. At the invitation of India's venerated political leader and activist Jayaprakash Narayan, Wendy and Allan Scarfe, two dedicated but far from solemn young Australian teachers, travelled to the remote village of Sokhodeora in Bihar in 1960. They had been asked to take charge of the educational activities of his ashram, but over the three years they lived there, their activities extended far beyond that. This humane and important book recounts their efforts in helping local people counter the misery, poverty and ignorance that afflicted so much of the region. By the time they left, the Scarfes had succeeded in teaching both children and adults much that would help them to lead better and fuller lives. And they left behind, for the young at least, something to hope and work for. This new edition of A Mouthful Of Petals includes an account of Wendy Scarfe's return trip to Sokhodeora during a famine in the late 1960s, and how those who live in Bihar state fare in the early twenty-first century.

This book highlights various dimensions of human habitats in 21st Century India. The human habitats in the country are marked by perceptible inequality in social and economic spheres. This is occurring in tandem with rapid socio-economic transformation across both rural and urban landscapes. There is a plurality of transformative characteristics in terms of social and economic classes, gender and space. Inequality in access to natural resources such as land and water is still a big factor in socio-economic differentiation in rural habitats. This constructs a pedestal of unequal opportunities and access to basic human necessities such as healthcare, education, potable water and sanitation. Human habitats experiencing socio-spatial segregation and exclusion based on caste, community and gender are detrimental in formation of a civil society and its sustainability in long terms. The ideal situation for this would be formation of an inclusive society that celebrates age old socio-cultural diversities, reduces inequalities and reveres composite culture.