In agriculture, the dictates of vote bank policies have reduced to a mockery the whole lot of catalysts. In the farm economy, the various agencies entrusted with the role of catalysts were also required to regulate, police and carry out corrections. Those who provided credit, for instance, necessarily had to check whether the money lent was productively utilized and also see to it that credit was so deployed as to facilitate easy recovery. The not so starting findings of the Sivaraman Committee nearly two decades ago had made it explicit that the prescribed catalysts simply poured more and more good money after bad. The quality of rural credit has not changed for the better in the intervening period, which is not saying much for the efficiency level of farmers as much as that of the various institutions associated with rural development. Clearly, an effort has to be made to phase out vote bank policies and to delink electoral compulsions from matters of rural development. Without this, it is going to be extremely difficult to subject farming to the basic commercial norms of management. Sooner than later, irrigation facilities, electricity and diesel should be made available to farmers only at cost-plus prices. Various farm produce, however, should be offered for sale on consumer-friendly terms. This would demand a high level of farm efficiency, especially when the State ceases to be the assured buyer in respect of foodgrains and the industrial users of cash crops are freed from the longstanding rigours of discretionary and grower-friendly price fixation as in the case of cotton, sugarcane, oilseeds and natural rubber.

As long as politics determines the farm economics, agriculture will remain populist driven and competitive growing of various crops will remain a pipe dream. Corporates, if they are really professional and mean to run the farms on a truly cost and quality competitive basis, should refuse to draw on the natural benefits of vote bank politics.

They must be prepared to pay a commercial return to those supplying the various inputs. By doing so, they must put pressure on the suppliers (which, effectively, are propped up by the Government) to leave the populism of the present in favour of the commercial demands of the emerging future.

This book is a landmark in scientific assessment studies of development potentials in specific reference of Indian Economy. There exists a dearth of such novel studies felt for long. It combines economic theory, status of potentials scientific assessment of achievements of planned development, critical examination of lags, failures and lapses, identification of new dimensions seeking change in policy and approach, with particular solution oriented prescriptions specially regarding reorganization and decentralization. It opens up discussions with intensive theoretical foundation built by fairly well documented write up on strategies like agro-fundamentalism in Growth-, models. The derivations are empirically verified by selected experiences of Developed and Underdeveloped world Core content follows the theory and makes a serious attempt to resource appraisal. Analysis of natural resources, in Indian economy is very penetrating. How decentralized model can fit in the existing structure and how liberalized policy can help strengthening the economy is fairly explained in analysis covered by concluding chapters. The style throughout is lucid, compact, and highly methodical. The book makes a worthwhile acquisition for research personnel, administrators, and teachers as a collection besides the wider community of students in disciplines of Economics, Sociology, Social Work, Public Administration, and Political Science.

Indian Agrarian Economy is undergoing a change which is metamorphosising the whole agrarian scenario. There has been a tremendous pressure on agriculture to meet the growing demand of foodgrains due to rapid growth in population growth on one hand and increased tempo of industrialization on the other. Among the various alternative solutions to this problem, technological approach was considered as a more possible, feasible and positive alternative. Punjab, Haryana demonstrated this approach where Green Revolution, White Revolution were successful. They used high-yield variety of seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, irrigation, mechanization, improved implements, soil conservation, institutional credit etc. in achieving the targets.

Application of developed technology in the field of agriculture has improved the value of non-farm assets, non-agricultural incomes and wages, which has benefited all categories of farmers. Therefore, in this book an attempt has been made to assess and evaluate the impact of new farm technology in agricultural productivity, farm incomes and farm employment etc. in relation to different sections of the agrarian society.

This book is highly useful to the students, teachers, research workers and policy makers connected with agricultural and rural development.

The book attempts to provide a comprehensive, thought provoking and thorough review of the New Agricultural Policy known as "National Agriculture Policy-2000" announced by the Government of India after 53 years of our Independence. Consisting of very crucial issues like Evolution of Agricultural Policy in India, Indian Agricultural strategy after green revolution; draft of agricultural policy; National Agriculture Policy-2000; relevance and objectives of new agriculture policy in the new millennium; agricultural strategy and focus during Ninth Five Year Plan; Second generation reforms in Indian agriculture, current leading issues in Indian agriculture etc., it also deals with the problems relating to WTO and globalisation. It is designed and presented in a very systematic, simple, lucid and rigorous manner. It provides the subject matter in advanced, descriptive, analytical, cooperative, critical and comprehensive treatment keeping in view the needs and interests of researchers, students, teachers, bureaucrats, politicians, policy-makers and all concerned. It is hoped that readers will like the book. Their valuable suggestions will be widely welcomed.