Indian economy 1947 - 92

In this, the first of a three-volume study of the Indian economy from 1947 to 1972, eminent Indian economist V.M. Dandekar has revised, up-dated and put together his writings on Indian agriculture spanning forty years. In the first chapter, Professor Dandekar identifies the basic problem of Indian agriculture as the disproportionately large burden of population it has to bear which causes net capital consumption rather than capital generation. In Chapter 2, he emphasizes the over-centralized nature of agricultural administration, research and education, and argues for decentralization.

The next chapter shows how food administration in India is still suffering from the effects of the acute food shortage experienced during and immediately after World War II. This, argues Professor Dandekar, has prevented the emerg domestic market in which the is effectively integrated into a sme and where prices are determined market processes. In Chapter 5 the view that what is essentially can be made viable merely by providing concessional credit. Finally, the author draws together these themes to formulate a future agricultural policy arguing that the new technologies have made it possible for the country to come out of the poverty syndrome which informs existing policies.

Written in a simple yet vigorous style, unaffected by ideology, this major publication will be extremely useful for students of economics and agricultural economics in particular. It will also be of considerable interest to those engaged in development studies, political economy and policy studies.