Contents: Foreword. 1. Introduction: India's tryst with sustainable development/Gopal K. Kadekodi and Brinda Viswanathan. I. Re-engineering with the agricultural sector: 2. Reaching credit to the marginal farmers/C. Rangarajan. 3. Micro-finance programmes and vulnerability to debt bondage/D. Rajasekhar and Suchitra, J.Y. 4. Farm incomes in India: the context of development and institutions/Ramesh Chand. II. Water resource management: 5. India's surface irrigation sector: participatory management and pricing/R.S. Deshpande and A. Narayanamoorthy. 6. Reforms in irrigation water pricing/Paul P. Appasamy. 7. Sustainable watershed management: the GO-NGO dichotomy/V. Ratna Reddy and R.S. Deshpande. 8. Strategy for soil and moisture conservation through watershed development/C.H. Hanumantha Rao. 9. Re-visioning of the watershed development programme in India/K.J. Joy, Amita Sahah, Suhas Paranjape, Shrinivas Badiger and Sharachchandra Lele. 10. Conflicts over water resources: a case study from the Thamiravaruni basin in Tamil Nadu/P. Gomathinayagam and Venkatesh B. Athreya. III. Rural non-farm employment and demographic transition: 1. Re-revisiting the issue of linkages of rural non-farm employment/Mridul Eapen. 12. Migration as a new demographic transition in Kerala's development/K.C. Zachariah and S. Irudaya Rajan. IV. Institutions, governance, public policy and performance: 13. Why are we slow in removing poverty?/M.V. Nadkarni. 14. Institutions as frameworks for operationalizing capabilities/Kanchan Chopra and Anantha Kumar Duraiappah. 15. Devolution: an evolutionary perspective/V.K. Natraj, Manabi Majumdar, Kripa Ananthpur, G.S. Ganesh Prasad and Indrashis Banerjee. 16. Decentralized planning in Kerala: lessons and reflections/D. Narayana. 17. Public sector performance since 1950: a fresh look/R. Nagaraj.
"Where does India stand in terms of social and economic development goals? Are we at a crossroad today when it comes to economic development? With liberalization and globalization as the backdrop, this timely book discusses the most recent advances and changes in agriculture, rural transformation and institutional development in India. It emphasizes that public policy and decentralized local institutions have to move in tandem to ensure sustainable and deliverable agricultural development. The contributors support inclusive strategies of development, emphasize the need for better governance and decentralization in the development process, and support entry of market pricing and user charges in sectoral planning and management.
The book is divided into sub-themes with significant policy implications--micro-credit policies, water resources, farm and non-farm employment, and institutions and governance. It calls for a reversal in the thinking on the planning process, that is, creation of institutions ahead of sectoral planning and balancing the sectoral growth priorities to meet social and regional requirements.
Providing both quantitative analyses and policy prescriptions, this volume will be useful for agricultural economists, policymakers, postgraduate students, NGOs, and donor agencies." (jacket)
