Rural development is inherently viewed as a positive thing; it is seen as something that brings together groups of individuals with automatic positive implications and outcomes. Policy rhetoric frequently uses popular terms such as involvement, participation and power sharing to describe rural development activities. However, the reality of experience on the ground does not necessarily concur with these ideals. It is not always clear who ultimately benefits from rural development: the State, the community or rural development practitioners. The book focuses on the basic concepts, policy instruments, strategies, policies and programmes, and the management of rural development. In particular, it emphasizes the pivotal role of human resources as both a means and an end of development. Recent developments and progress of rural development programmes like equity and growth-oriented programmes and natural resources and infrastructure programmes have been well-documented and analysed. ‘Rural Development: theory and practice’ is an excellent book for all. The book is very well compartmentalized into different sections in an order which itself helps to understand the subject in a better way. It contains well updated economic & social data which is extremely helpful to understand the various socio-economic plans, policies undertaken in India.
