Community development and democratic growth / edited by N. R. Inamdar

The concept of community development in the world as well as in India has suffered over the years from certain amount of con fusion. This has been inter alia due to varying emphasis in terms of the objectives which have been pursued in the overall endeavour of community development. Some have emphasised material improvement as a necessary condition for all other development. This improvement is measured in terms of economic growth and technological advancement. Others have visualised it essentially as an educational process emphasising the democratic participa tion and cooperative effort of the people. In this economic well being comes as a by-product. Discerning students would readily agree that the two concepts are not essentially antithetical; they are really two sides of the same coin. However, the two ways of looking at community development quite frequently have given ris: to serious problems in planning, execution and administration.