Dialogues on development

An important book with major policy implications, this study critically reviews the various rural development schemes initiated by the Government of India after independence. It traces successive policy shifts, organisational changes and prog ramme innovations, as also considers the impact of all this activity at the grass roots level through field studies conducted in selected rural development blocks in the country.

The planning, direction and implementation of rural development programmes have been concentrated in government hands. The people have no part in this process, participating neither in policy formulation nor in implementation. It is therefore not surprising that, despite the plethora of schemes and the vast amounts of public money that have been spent on them, India's efforts at rural development have failed to generate a development process.

The authors conclude from their detailed field observations that there is a complete mismatch between ideas and the institutions created to translate the former into practice. While there are frequent shifts in official policy and direction, the government's rural development efforts have largely remained barren be cause they have not been able to spark off local initiative or produce a multiplier effect.

In the circumstances, the only solution is democratic decentralisation. The people, say the authors, must be involved both in the design and the actual operation of rural development schemes. Without this, efforts at alleviating poverty and hunger in India's villages will remain an exercise in futility.