Rural economy of India: problem, progress and prospects

Rural Economy of India covers many facets of the countryside. Agriculture as also industries and services are neatly documented and their state critically analysed. The book begins with a profile of the rural setting. This is followed by a discussion of its most important problems, namely mass poverty, massive unemployment and all-pervading backwardness.
A large many chapters are naturally devoted to agriculture, being the most important activity of the people living in the rural areas. These describe its various aspects, document its progress, and evaluate its performance. The subjects covered include: role, backwardness and development of agriculture; land use and crop-pattern; production and productivity; irrigation; technological change, mechanisation and green revolution; finance including credit through the cooperatives, the com mercial and the regional rural banks; market ing of agricultural produce; agricultural ex ports; agricultural prices; food problem; land reforms spanning changes intenurial relations, ceiling on land, and farm-size. An important activity allied to agriculture, forests have been dealt with in terms of their role, problems, and government policy. Village and small industries, with a separate chapter on agroindustries, have been discussed. These highlight their placings in the rural set-up, their problems, their development, and their linkages with the growth of the Indian economy.
The book will prove extremely useful for those preparing for the various university degrees and the competitive examinations. The book is written in a story-like style, and as such the general reader, interested in rural economy, will also find it an easy and absorbing reading.