The book carries contributions by eminent social scientists on some very important topics relating to India's economic and social development.

The volume begins with issues relating to human development, such as education, health and governance. This is followed by comparison of India and China development paths. In a diverse country like India, fiscal matters at State level are important. These are discussed in the section on Indian fiscal federalism. Another section covers issues on employment, unemployment, safety nets for the poor and social dimensions of globalisation. The volume concludes with an analysis of the recent issues in agriculture.

Prof. S. Mahendra Dev is currently Director, Centre for Economic and Social Studies, Hyderabad. He did his Ph.D. from the Delhi School of Economics and his Post-doctoral research at the Economic Growth Centre, Yale University and was faculty member at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai for 11 years. He was Senior Fellow at Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (1996-97) and Visiting Professor at University of Bonn, Germany (1999). He has written extensively on agricultural development, poverty and public policy, food security, employment guarantee schemes, social security, farm and non-farm employment.

K.S. Babu is a Faculty Member (Reader) at the Centre for Economic and Social Studies (CESS) in Hyderabad. He has M.A. in Anthropology from the Andhra University, Visakhapatnam and Ph.D. from the University of Delhi, Delhi. In the past he has worked on healthcare, health insurance, tribal development and child labour issues. 

Overview
S. MAHENDRA DEV & K.S. BABU

Social Issues—Higher Education, Human
Development and Governance

1. Universities as Public Institutions
ANDRÉ BÉTEILLE

2. Minimal Visible Inequality is Human Development
BHANOJI RAO

3. Governance and Growth
JAYAPRAKASH NARAYAN

Comparison of India and China Development Paths

4. China and India: A Comparison of Recent Development Trajectories
JAYATI GHOSH

Comparison of Indian Fiscal Federalism

5. Fiscal Federalism in India: Emerging Challenges
M. GOVINDA RAO

Employment, Poverty and Social Dimension

6. Trends in Employment, Unemployment and Wages in India since the Early Seventies
T.N. SRINIVASAN

7. Protecting the Poor against Risk through Anti-poverty Programmes: International Experience — K. SUBBARAO

8. Lumbering Elephant or Running Tiger? Independent India, Half A Century Later
DEEPAK NAYYAR

9. A Stronger Social Dimension for Globalisation
GERRY RODGERS

Some Recent Issues in Agriculture

10. From the Green Revolution to the Gene Revolution: How will the Poor Fare
PRABHU PINGALI & TERRY RANEY

11. Fragmenting Bottom and Consolidating Top: India's Changing Food System and Implications for Small Holders — ASHOK GULATI

André Béteille
Chairman, Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), New Delhi.

Jayati Ghosh
Professor of Economics, Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi.

Ashok Gulati
IFPRI Director in Asia, based in International Food Policy Research Institute’s New Delhi office.

Jayaprakash Narayan
Founder and leader of the Lok Satta Party, who earlier resigned from the IAS to launch people’s movement in India.

Deepak Nayyar
Professor of Economics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

Prabhu Pingali
Director of the Agricultural and Development Economics Division of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations.

Bhanoji Rao
Professor Emeritus, GITAM Institute of Foreign Trade (GIFT), Visakhapatnam and Visiting Professor at Administrative Staff College of India, Hyderabad.

M. Govinda Rao
Director, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, New Delhi.

Gerry Rodgers
Director, International Institute for Labour Studies, Geneva.

T.N. Srinivasan
Samuel C. Park, Jr. Professor of Economics, Yale University, USA.

K. Subbarao
Consultant on safety nets and social protection for the South Asia Region of the World Bank.