Factional politics, undoubtedly, constitutes a very significant area as well as a pervasive theme in contemporary social science. Factionalism, a growing phenomenon in Indian government and politics, has not only of late, assumed new dimensions but also infected almost all organizations including political parties, interest group, pressure groups, trade unions, voluntary association etc. It is quite disheartening and distressing to observe that even village community and its government and politics are largely as well as deeply affected and afflicted by this all-pervading evil that has spread its tentacles to eat away the very vitals of the Indian rural society. It has assumed so much of importance and significance that it has attracted the attention of social scientists, policy-makers and administrators.

Study conducted in an anonymous village in north Bihar, India.

India s rural sector still remains underdeveloped to a great extent inspite of her impressive achievements in the field of technology, science, human resources development, Industry and Green Revolution. The developmental path chosen by Indian planners has failed to evenly spread the developmental benefits in area of health, literacy and minimum subsistence needs. Various social science studies of development processes have either portrayed macro-synoptic scenario largely based upon official statistics or have remained confined to micro level cognitive phenomonologism. The conflicting interest-norm configurations inbuilt into socio-cultural matrices and those generated by developmental inputs have tended to be grossly neglected in social science investigations of rural development processes.

CONTENTS: Chapter 1 - Introduction, Chapter 2 - Socio Economic Profile, Chapter 3 - Political and Organizational Profile, Chapter 4 - Needs and Priorities, Chapter 5 - Case Studies, Chapter 6 - Findings and Conclusions. PREFACE: Decentralized development in rural area requires networking or partnership among the grassroots organizations. The village level panchayats are local self-government institutions responsible for the planning and implementation of various activities for socio-economic development in rural areas. The NGOs are working for the development of rural areas by executing various development programmes of the government and non-government agencies. The CBOs, as Users Groups have been working to protect their interest through participatory management of the resources. In context of convergence approach, these organizations are expected to work together for the cause of development. In the case of these organizations, nature and origin differ from each other, but they have a common goal of development and of their own interest. The PRIs are local self-government with Constitutional authority; the NGOs are registered societies working as development catalyst; and CBOs are association of users of various resources and services.

Study in the context of Agra Division, which consists of five districts namely Agra, Aligarh, Etah, Mainpuri, and Mathura, in Uttar Pradesh.

The book critically examines the role of Social Work in developmental process in the context of Community Development programmes in India. It gives the history of Rural Development in India and with the help of action situations discusses the value of social work intervention in organizing rural poor. An analysis of five Panchayat elections in three villages of Delhi, graphically describes intense struggle for power at the grassroot level. The book makes some practical suggestions to improve the effectiveness of Panchayat in village development work. The main thrust of the book has been on involvement and peoples participation in their own development rather than merely accomplishment of projects or programmes. Review Professor K.D. Gangrade’s book describes the process of decision-making and the tussles that take place in electing panchayat members. Meher C. Nanavatty, in a Foreword to the book, poses an interesting question: Can the social work profession as it exists today “with little roots in the culture of the country and mostly woven around theories from the West†, face the challenge of change?