Managing rural development : health and energy programmes in India

Rural development programmes invariably have substantial components dealing with public health and energy. However, these two elements have received only scanty at tention from researchers. This volume, therefore, fills a critical gap in the literature by providing field bied case studies on rural health and rural energy, by analy. sing them from the order perspective of rural development and by focusing on the managerial implications.

The original es crya comprising this book follow an integrated approach not only in terms of analysing the socio-economic and political systems prevalent in rural India but also in terms of an interdisciplinary ap proach. The contributors reflect two differ ent perspectives the management' ap proach to rural development; and the an thropological-sociological one. The major area of disagreement between these two approaches is the ability to control those in fluences from the environment which have an impact on the implementation of de velopment programmes. The applicability of Western ideas of managing development in the Indian context is another major con cern of the contributors to this volume.

The live essays devoted to health prog rammes deal, among other topics, with conditions for reducing infant and child mortality; difficulties experienced in intro ducing vaccines against childhood dis ecses and oral rehydration therapy; and the operation of drinking water supply sys ters. The section on energy takes up issues like bio-gan projects, forestry programmes, and gender-related problems arising from new cooking technologies.

Breaking new ground as it does, this vol ume will be of considerable interest to pol icy-makers, health and energy specialists sociologists, environmental scientists, and, above all, those concemed with rural de velopment, whether activists of lunding bodies.