Human Development and Rural Indebtedness in North East India

This book examines the dynamics of rural indebtedness along with dimensions of human development in rural Assam vis-a-vis other states of India. It is largely based on a primary survey of a cross-section of the agricultural labourers and marginal-small-medium’ farm households in Assam. The importance of the study lies in the fact that it tried to explore the ground realities behind the prevailing sentiment that in the era of globalisation and lower supportive role of the government for poverty alleviation and inequalities reduction, the provision of institutional credit support to the ‘asset-less and asset poor’ may become scarce and obviously dearer. No serious discourse/study on the subject of human poverty vis-a-vis rural indebtedness has so far been initiated by the academics of this region. This book aims at addressing these aspects of rural development. The present study is successful in unraveling rural indebtedness in Assam arising out of the local, socio-economic specificities of the state. This study has a number of policy implications, particularly in the context of the economic liberalization in India.