India Dilemma of Development

After colonialism, India has been facing acute dilemma of economic development even after the series of five Year Plans. Virtually, India has chosen difficult development path with a democratic form of government to overcome such strain and conflicts. The select essays of the book dealt with a wide range of subject on socio-politico-economic development dynamics and also a few of these essays are in historical context but the approach and thrust retain their relevance as much now as of their first publication. Prof. Pradhan has come out with a vision and hope which lies in the theses of Gandhi and Marx, and India's own strength of development. He builds up a strong case for achieving the modified goals set by Gandhi for upliftment of the large sections of the society. Intensive discussions are going on among progressive intellectuals and planners as what wrong with Gandhi, Marx and Lenin, and on the question of alternative path of progress and the strategy to realise that. The book will provide an excellent and critical analysis of the dynamics of Indian economic development what we have achieved and what should be aimed at in the present circumstances. A sensitive observation by Prof. Pradhan warns that in the wake of liberalisation and globalisation dilemma will become more sharper in near future.

Prof. Pradhan H. Prasad, Emeritus Professor and Former Director, A.N. Sinha Institute of Social Studies, Patna is an economist of international repute. His contribution to the discipline of economics and to social sciences has been significant. He is strongly fascinated by socialist ideals of Marx but also by Gandhi’s concept of secularism, Panchayati Raj etc. He is an academician with a varied and wide experience with a couple of hundred published articles on mass struggle, agrarian structure, equity and secularism. He has to his credit the books “Growth with Full employment” (1970); “Lopsided Growth” (1989); “The Determinants and Consequences of International Migration in India (co-author) 1989; and “Gandhi, Marx and India: An Attentive Path of Progress” (Hindi & English) 1994. He has served in various committees and commissions of Governments of Bihar and India and also served as a member of Board of Directors/Governors in many academic and financial institutions. He has been awarded National Fellowship (1992-1994) by Indian Council of Social Science Research, New Delhi. Dr. Meeta Krishna obtained her Post-Graduation in Economics in 1987 and Ph.D. in 1977 from Patna University. At present, she is Senior Research Officer in A.N. Sinha Institute of Social Studies, Patna. Her major areas of interests are rural development, poverty and agricultural marketing. She has published more than two dozen research papers in reputed Journals in addition to her forthcoming book ‘Poverty Alleviation Programmes and the Rural Poor: A Case Study in Bihar’. She has co-authored a mineograph research report on ‘Production and Marketing of Vegetables in Bihar: A Case Study of Two Agricultural Markets’. Currently, she has been engaged with research on ‘Problems of Adoption of Improved Rainfed Technology for Agricultural Development in Bihar’, a study sponsored by the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India.