Rural Development in India : Problems and Prospects

Contents: Preface. 1. Introduction to rural development. 2. Rural society in India. 3. Impact of economic reforms on rural poor. 4. Rural Development Programmes. 5. Poverty, environment and development. 6. Rural development and agro-industries. 7. Food security and rural women. 8. Literacy and rural women. 9. Rural women and local self government. 10. Gram Sabha and village level governance. 11. Indian rural Settlement System and caste and clan. 12. Rural development and volentarism. 13. Poverty alleviation in rural India: programmes and strategies. 14. Rural development: a case of Tamil Nadu. 15. Future strategies. 16. Women entrepreneurs and credit facilities. Bibliography. Index.

From the Preface: "Of late, \'Rural Development\' has assumed global attention specially among the developing nations. A country like India where verily 70% of the people live in rural areas has great significance. India is virtually a poor country though it is rich in natural as well as agricultural resources, but its resources have not yet been fully exploited. It is all because the country has passed through the foreign rule for more than two centuries. Some efforts have been applied in the field of rural development only after independence of India. Rural development implies economic development of the rural sector of the economy. It can be expressed in terms of organising the people for initiating and running the activities and programmes which contribute to raising the economic levels of the rural people. Most of the rural people of India live below the line of poverty and their economic condition is very bad.

This book analyses problems and prospects of rural development in coherent way."