Rural development : principle , policies, and management

With more than 500 million of its people living in rural areas, any strategy of socio-economic development in India which neglects rural people and rural areas cannot be successful. Rural development is essential to the develop ment of the country as a whole. It is a multidimensional process involving the reorganisation and reorientation of entire economic and social systems.

Prof Katar Singh deals systematically with this vast subject under three broad categories Part I deals with the basic meaning, elements. objectives, hypotheses and determinants of rural development. In particular, this section emphasises the pivotal role of man in develop ment and demystifies various dogmas of develop ment. In the second part, the author concentrates on agricultural and rural development policies, policy models and the various programmes initiated in India.

Part III covers the aspects of organisation and management in rural development, parti cularly the areas of planning, financing, implementation monitoring and evaluation. Among the major features of this section are a methodology to formulate micro and macro level agricultural and rural development plans, and a critical evaluation of alternative organisational structures for rural develop ment.

Prof Singh's critical analysis of the various aspects of rural development highlights important and useful points which can be synthesised into an operational framework of development suited to our times.

This well documented treatise will serve as a comprehensive textbook for graduate and post-graduate students of rural development. agricultural development, agricultural policy and planning and agricultural and rural management.