Rapid economic growth and eradication of abject poverty have been the core concerns of India’s polity and government throughout the last five decades. Coordinated planning with the state playing the leading role in initiating and regulating the process of development in pursuit of these objectives has been a distinctive feature. Specific targets, perceptions of the problems involved and their solutions have been changing over time. The essays in this collection provide an overview of evolution of this process culminating in the far-reaching reorientation of strategy and policies during the nineties and a critical assessment of their rationale, implementation and impact from the political economy perspective.

The essays are divided into two sections : Those in the first part, mostly written in the nineties, focus on key elements of overall development strategy being pursued from the early nineties, the rationale and the thrust of the structural adjustment package soon after it was unveiled by Dr. Manmohan Singh, issues relating to subsidies and foreign direct investment and broader issues of the role of the state generally and of planning in particular in the changed context.

The lead piece in this section pulls together the assessment of different aspects and attempts an overall assessment of the antecedents of the reforms of the nineties, their halting and meandering course and the reasons for their less-than-expected achievements. It also reflects on the prospects for the future.

Selections in the second section spanning over a much longer period discuss issues relating to poverty — concepts, data and measurement and regional variations, evolution of poverty alleviation programmes, critical commentary on their design, implementation and measures to improve their efficacy.
The general thrust of the essays is critical of the design and implementation of the reform package and skeptical of its impact on growth and socio-economic inequality.

CONTENTS:
Preface 11;
Introduction 15;
Section – I : Planning, State and Development;
1.A Decade of Reforms 31;
Antecedents;
Expectations and Achievements;
Factors Affecting Reforms and their Impact;
Political Resistance to Reform;
Prospects;
Decentralisation;
Improvement on the Fiscal Front;
Agriculture;
Role of Planning;
2.Structural Adjustment in the Indian Economy 65;
Approach to Planning;
Policy Package and Growth Rate;
Problem of Liberalisation;
Devaluation and After;
Major Changes;
Price Increases;
Safety Net;
3.Attitude Towards Multinationals 89;
The Magnitude;
TNC’s and MNC’s;
The Experience of South Asian Countries;
Lessons for India;
4.Subsidies in India 99;
Magnitude;
Implications;
5.Planning, State and Development 111;
Criticism of Planning;
Planning Development at Sub-State Level;
Management of Public Enterprises;
State-Private Sector Relationship;
6.Planning in India : Retrospect and Prospect 127;
Introduction;
Indian Planning: Distinctive Features;;
Planning in a Federal Set-up;
The Political Environment;
Changes in Political Environment;
The Functioning of the Planning Commission;
Reorientation of Planning;
7.Development Planning Models : The Indian Experience 149;
8.Growth of Indian Industry : Role of Demand Factors;
Background;
Overall Trends;
Impact on Income Distribution Changes;
Pattern of Consumer Demand for Manufactures: Textiles and Clothing;
Other Manufactures;
Durables;
Conclusion;
9.Cottage and Small Scale Industries in India : Policy and Performance 197;
The Rationale and Strategy;
The Impact;
State Intervention;
Section – II : Poverty, Inequality and Development Policy;
10.Poverty and Development Policy 227;
Background;
Conceptual Issues;
Measurement Issues;
Correlates and Determinants;
Policy : Targeting; Accountability;
11.The New Economics of Poverty 287;
Increasing Labour-Intensity of Production;
Product-Mix;
Limits to Technological Choice;
Rural Development;
Works Programmes;
12.The Political Economy of the Evolution of Anti-Poverty Programmes 309;
Raising the Standard of Living of the Poor: The First Four Plans;
Political Pressures Impinging on Poverty Alleviation Programmes;
Organizational Problems Facing Poverty Alleviation Programmes;
Recent Shifts in the Debate on Decentralization;
13.Restructuring Poverty Alleviation Programmes 337;
Main Characteristics;
Deficiencies;
Integrated Local Area Planning;
Targeting;
Accountability;
Role of Panchayat Raj Institutions;
Conclusions and Suggestions;
Design;
Monitoring and Evaluation;
14.Some Aspects of Inequalities in Living Standards in Rural India 361;
Introduction;
Review of Recent Literature;
The Scope of the Present Study;
The Pattern of Inequality : All India Distribution of Land Holdings and Consumption Inequality;
The Influence of Family Size;
Occupation and Consumption Inequality;
Consumption Inequalities: Inter-State Variations;
Behaviour of Inequalities Over Time;
15.The Validity of NSS Consumption in Rural India 397;
Sources of Inaccuracy in NSS Data;
Sampling Errors;
Sampling Design;

Bias in Sampling;
Non-Sampling Errors;
Comparison of NSS and CSO Estimates;
Nature of Non-Sampling Errors in NSS;
Changes in Non-Sampling Errors;
Effects of Non-Sampling Errors;
Conclusion;
16.Asset Holdings and Consumption of Rural Households in India : A Study of Spatial and Temporal Variations 425;
Level and Composition of Assets of Rural Households;
Relation between Assets and Consumption;
Changes in Asset Holding and Inequality;
Changes in Asset-Consumption Relation;
Conclusion;
17.Poverty and Economy : The Regional Dimension 451;
Level and Composition of Assets of Rural Households;
Reducing Regional Disparities: The Approaches of Planners;
Regional Strategy for Agriculture;
The Problem of Wage Labour in Poor Regions;
Implications for Programmes and Policy;
Institutional Requirements;
18.Assessment of Nutritional and Health Status 477;
Nutrition and Health Status: Concepts and Measurement;
Conceptual Problems; Food Intake;
Requirement Norms; Relevance of Morbidity;
Measurement Problems;
Determinants of Morbidity;
Directions of Further Work.