Balanced regional development has been one of the major objectives of planning in India. Its desirability, rather indispensability, has been emphasised in each successive plan document right from the first plan. The emphasis became more pronounced since the Third Plan which stressed continuous strides in regional development. The differential strategy for backward area was put in operation since Third Plan for according special care and treatment to the development of backward regions (which led to techniques of area planning and sub-plan for backward areas) as distinct from the integrated strategy adopted till then. In spite of the pronounced and pious objective of reduction in regional disparity, the area of planned development presents a picture of uneven growth in India. Eastern India, comprising Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa and eastern U.P. has lagged much behind in the race of economic development vis-à-vis the rest of India. Eastern India has the highest incidence of poverty as it constitutes half of the population of India living below the poverty line. Thus, both the economic feature and the economic future of the region are intimately linked to Rural Development. The question of rural poverty can be effectively tackled by the sustained growth of agriculture. Poverty eradication programmes, in terms of wage and self-employment schemes hitherto launched, were ill-conceived and clumsily implemented.

In view of all these disquieting features enveloping the region, the university of Bhagalpur arranged a two-day workshop (22-23rd Dec. 1993) organised by University Department of Rural Economics and Co-operation. This book is the compilation of the lectures delivered by the participants mainly on the following agenda.

1. Anatomy of Rural Development.
2. Socio-economic features of eastern India and the strategic significance of rural development.
3. Pace and problems of rural industrialization in eastern India.
4. Rural eco-system in eastern India. 5. Rural Poverty Alleviation Programmes in eastern India: Pace and problems.
6. Rural Public Administration Institutions in eastern India-their efficacy and problems.
7. Jawahar Rojgar Yojna: Problems of Implementation: State experiences.

This book presents a critical appraisal of the co-operatives in India. It examines the problems and suggests the ways and means for improving their working and management. The book, compiled in ten chapters, has made an extensive and exhaustive probe of all the effectiveness of an organisation.

Certainly, the book will prove usefully and informative to all co-operatives concerned and personnel, policy-makers, researchers, and teachers of economics, commerce, management and public administration.

Human resource constitutes the ultimate basis for the wealth of nations. Capital and natural resources are passive factors of production, human beings are the active agents who accumulate capital, exploit natural resources, build social, economic, and political organizations and carry forward national development. Development of persons to their maximum potential and the conservation of talent is the gist of the concept of human resource development through education, both formal and informal. The innovative character of this work is particularly striking, because it seeks to examine the processes of human resource development in the rural context. Most of the empirical work in this area has been undertaken from a managerial perspective and is confined to industrial manufacturing organizations and in exceptional cases to service based organizations.

In a predominantly 'rural-oriented' country like India where more than three fourth of its population live in villages and where a majority of rural population depend on agriculture and allied activities for their livelihood, rural development to a sine qua non with the national development. Hence the development of rural areas has been matter of abiding concern in Indian planning.

Thought the government has shown awareness of the existence of voluntary agencies in its various plan documents the desire of the govt. to associate voluntary agencies in rural development as stated in the draft sixth Five Year Plan had added new dimension to programmes in Rural Development. The development works either relief or welfare that are being administered by religious institutions is a new area for research, more so in the context of rural development and community development projects.

This study is intended to study the approaches adopted by different agencies including the religious institutions and to evaluate the impact of different programmes in the beneficiaries and community. Evaluation is made of the impact created through religious philanthropy specially on the development of socio-economically excluded communities. Suggestions are made for required changes to improve the results of these programmes in the light of analysis of results.