The book, Five Decades of Economic Development and Social Change in Village India, covers authors works on village India over a span of half a century. His interest in studies of village life, its economic and social structures and power relation, direction and speed of change goes back to 1945 when he wrote his first essay based on his ancestral village Jhavaria in Shahpur District (now in Pakistan), Farming Communities in Irrigated Lands of Punjab for the award of Whitbeck Scholarship later published in Journal of American Geographers in 1949. His posting with the Programme Evaluation Organization of the Planning Commission in India (1953-57), further increased his interest and knowledge about rural societies in the country. Later as Collector of Sawai Madhopur district in Rajasthan in early 1960s gave him another opportunity for in-depth studies in Rajasthan villages and make comparative studies in the Punjab. He sustained his interest in changes in village India and commissioned a resurvey of Rajasthan villages in 2001 and had plans for similar survey in the Punjab. The contents of this volume bring out his in-depth understanding of rural communities and broad perspective on development and large differences in inter-regional and intra-regional progress and speed of change. Kamla Nath, his wife who participated in some parts of these studies and has edited this book.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Kamla Nath
is a development economist who has worked in studies on women economic role in developing countries of India, West Africa and the Middle East. Her professional interests include project identification, implementation and evaluation of projects and programmes for integration of women in development of the developing countries. She has undertaken consultancies on behalf of the World Bank, UNIFEM, UNIDO, UNDP and UNESCO in India and in West Africa. She worked briefly as a lecturer in Economics in Delhi University and conducted field studies on changes in women economic role, and patterns of living, consumption and social practices as a result of economic development in India, Middle East and West Africa. She was attached to The African Studies Centre of University of Boston, USA as a senior research fellow and with Centre for Social Research, New Delhi, India as a Consultant. She is heading an NGO SarvSaandesh and The Nath Foundation.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR V. Nath
spent his entire career as a development economist in India, the Middle East and Africa. Born in Lahore on July 14, 1923, Dr. Nath trained as a geographer and economist joined the Indian Planning Commission in 1950. He worked on the Census of India and led the Project Evaluation Organization (PEO) of the Planning Commission to evaluate the Community Development Programme. Later assignments in the Planning Commission included work in the Natural Resources and Urban Planning Divisions. In between in 1957, he joined the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and was the District Collector in Sawai Madhopur and Pali districts in Rajasthan. This volume is based on his work in Sawai Madhopur and later in The Punjab. From 1966 to 1984 Dr. Nath worked with the United Nations as a development economist in the Middle East and West Africa and worked as a Senior Research Fellow at the Asian Development Studies Centre of Boston University, USA and at The Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi. His academic interests include work in Economic Development. Regional Planning, Urbanization, Rural Development and Administration and Planning.
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