Contents;
Introduction;
Still Crazy After All These Years
A brief introduction to the absurd

The Trickle Up & Down Theory
Health in rural India

This .Is the way We Go to School
A look at rural education

And the Meek Shall Inherit the Earth
The problems of forced displacement

Beyond the Margin
Survival strategies of the poor

Lenders, Losers, Crooks & Credit
Usury, debt and the rural Indian

Crime & No Punishment
Targeting the poor

Despots, Distillers, Poets & Artists
Characters of the countryside

Everybody Loves a Good Drought
Water problems, real and rigged

With Their Own Weapons
When the poor fight back

Poverty, Development & the Press
Acknowledgements;
Appendix 1: The official poverty line;
Appendix 2: The districts: A few indicators;
Glossary;
References;
District-wise index of stories