Rural change in South Asia : India Pakistan Bangladesh

What will be the impact of the economic reforms on the countless villages of Bangladesh, India and Pakistan? To answer this issue, the book focusses on the rural economy and its links with the actual reforms.

The approach is rather unusual, since time and space play a central role. In 1952, Gilbert Etienne landed for the first time in Bombay and Karachi. Between 1963 and 1993, he surveyed on many occasions the same villages and districts.

The areas selected richly sample a variety of typical situations widespread throughout South Asia, from the deserts of Baluchistan to the paddy fields of Bangladesh, from the irrigated basins of the Indus and the Ganges to the plateaux of the Deccan...from prosperous districts to poor and slowly developing areas. The author combines micro observations at the grassroot level with the study of macro socio-economic issues. He interviews not only righ and poor farmers or small local officials but also senior civil servants at the provincial and national levels.

Another original aspect of the book is its comparative approach. while the three countries share a number of similarities derived from geography and history, differences are no less obvious, a consequence of the respective government policies followed over the years since 1947.

In spite of considerable progress and improvement in the income of poor farmers in a number of districts, much remains to be done remove acute poverty. It is there that danger singals come from. The rural economy requires much more public and private investment than at present. The book focusses: Are the urban elites conscious enough of such requirement and ready to such commitments? How far can the reforms be expanded further in order to speed up rural development.