Infrastructure for Sustainable Rural Development

Contents: Preface. I. Introduction: 1. Infrastructure. 2. Infrastructure and rural development. 3. Rural development. 4. Research methodology and database. II. Growth of infrastructural facilities: 1. Planning for socio-economic infrastructural development in India. 2. Infrastructural development under plans in India. 3. Current status of rural based infrastructural facilities in India. 4. Inter-state disparities in rural infrastructural development. 5. Planning for infrastructural development in Himachal Pradesh. 6. Growth of economic infrastructure in Himachal Pradesh. 7. Growth of social infrastructure in Himachal Pradesh. 8. Growth of institutional infrastructure in Himachal Pradesh. 9. Main highlights. III. Rural development: 1. Planned strategies for rural development in India. 2. Programmes for rural development in India. 3. Rural development in Himachal Pradesh. 4. Main highlights. IV. Disparities in infrastructure and rural development: 1. Introduction. 2. Disparities in infrastructure and rural development : an inter-district analysis. 3. Main highlights. V. Composite indices of infrastructure and rural development: 1. District-wise composite indices of rural development. 2. District-wise composite indices of socio-economic infrastructural development. 3. Socio-economic infrastructure and rural development: an analysis in relationship. 4. Main highlights. VI. Infrastructure for sustainable rural development: 1. District-wise composite index of sustainable rural development. 2. Dimensions of sustainable rural development. 3. Main highlights. VII. Summary and conclusions. Appendices. Bibliography. Index.

"Efficient rural infrastructure is essential for accelerating the pace of rural development. No doubt, imbalances in rural infrastructural availability have been a major reason behind lopsided development in rural India. This book evaluates the veracity of this argument in the context of Indian states. The book provides nature, pattern and magnitude of inter-state disparities in rural infrastructure and rural development. It also analyses inter-district disparities in rural infrastructure facilities and rural development in Himachal Pradesh using a multidimensional approach with subsectoral, sectoral and composite indices of rural development and infrastructural availability. The empirical evidence of rural infrastructure development in Himachal Pradesh is enormously vital for comparable Indian states. An appropriate strategy is considered necessary for the creation of effectual rural infrastructural base in the rural areas so as to accomplish the ambition of sustainable rural development in India. It is hoped that this book will be of direct interest and use to academics, development planners and policy makers." (jacket)