Anthropology of Weaker Sections/edited by Surajit Chandra Sinha. New Delhi, 1993, 656 p., tables, $50.
Contents: Introduction/K.S. Singh. Editorial note. Socio-economic changes among the weaker sections of the Indian population since independence: an appraisal/R.K. Bhattacharya. Village studies: 1. Bamuna: a village in Assam/S.K. Mukherjee. 2. Old Agartala: a village in Tripura/Bhabananda Mukherjee and Pranabjyoti De. 3. Basilardanga: a village in north Bengal/Gopa Banerjee. 4. Pitambara: a village in south Bengal/Chandrima Chowdhury. 5. Panchara: a village in west Bengal/Satyabrata Chakrabarty. 6. Majhira: a village in west Bengal/Gopa Banerjee. 7. Balipatna: a village in Orissa/Sem Topno. 8. Sikri: a village in south Bihar/Sem Topno and Pijush Chowdhury. 9. Hamidpur: a village in north Bihar/Anshu Prokash Nandan and Sunil Maitra. 10. Bamori: a village in Madhya Pradesh/P.C. Hembram. 11. Barbadi: a village in eastern Maharashtra/Dipali G. Danda and D.K. Samanta. 12. Tasgaon: a village in western Maharashtra/D.K. Samanta. 13. Vinzer: a village in western Maharashtra/N.N. Kundu. 14. Pehar: a village in eastern Uttar Pradesh/Sadhan Sengupta. 15. Mirpur: a village in eastern Uttar Pradesh/Hasan Ali. 16. Kilhora: a village in western Uttar Pradesh/Sukumar Banerjee and S.P. Lala. 17. Bhamaiya: a village in south Gujarat/William Ekka. 18. Nangal Soosawatan: a village in Rajasthan/Bageshwar Singh. 19. Govindgarh: a village in Punjab/Sukumar Banerjee and D.B. Mandal. 20. Basantapur: a village in Haryana/Hasan Ali and Ashim Maitra. 21. Hema-Revelly: an village in Andhra Pradesh/T.N. Pandit. 22. Vithalgera: a village in north Karnataka/S.G. Morab. 23. Palayasivaram: a village in Tamil Nadu/Rajalakshmi Misra. 24. Anjmoorthy: a village in north Kerala/P.R.G. Mathur. Select bibliography. Index.
"The Anthropological Survey of India in 1972-75 had conducted a survey of the weaker sections of the populations in 24 villages located in 16 states. At one level, the study could be seen as a continuation of the studies of villages undertaken in 1950s, which covered a number of dimensions such as organisation of caste, relationship of castes, position of dominant caste, and a network of relationships centered in the village and beyond it. At the second level, this study could be seen as the first anthropological study of the weaker sections of populations in terms of their weak resource base, their low position in social hierarchy, their relative lack of access to facilities provided by developmental programmes and their inadequate participation in institutions. Most of the weaker sections belong to the other backward classes and some of them are members of the scheduled castes.
Twenty years later, the data was taken up for analysis and papers were put together for publication. The material being published has relevance today because the problems of the weaker sections of communities are still with us. Moreover, the material presented constitute a solid bench-mark for 24 villages. While our weaker sections continue to suffer from many disabilities, there has been change in socio-economic environment and many of them have been able to assert themselves and move forward." (jacket)