CONTENTS:- 1. Integrating the Poor into Market Systems (IPMAS): A Blueprint by Amitabha Sadangi. 2. Agricultural Policy and Rural Poverty Reduction in India by N. C. Saxena. 3. What Ails Indian Agriculture? by Satyaprakash, T.L. & Ashutosh Apa Teli. 4. Growth and the Poor Farmer: Why is it so Important to Reform Agriculture? by Amir Ullah Khan. 5. Challenges of Integrating Small Holders in Markets S. J. Phansalkar. 6. Managing Risk: Insurance for the Rural Poor? by Saleema Razvis. 7. The Indian Microfinance Experience: Accomplishments and Challenges by Rajesh Chakrabarti. 8. Soil Degradation in India: An Environmental and Socioeconomic Hazard by S. Bhattacharya, M.Q.I. Khan & S. Riyazuddin. 9. Is Drip Irrigation an Answer to the Water Problems of Small Farmers? by Shagun Krishnan. 10. Bt Cotton in India: A Case Study by Shabana Zahoor. 11. Information Technology and Rural Development in India by Nirvikar Singh. 12. ICT and Poverty by Bibek Debroy. 13. Incidence of Child Labour: Theory, and Evidence from India by Shubhashis Gangopadhyay & Wilima Wadhwa. 14. Organic Farming: Sustainable Step Towards Food Safety, Production and Consumption by Sugata Ghosh. 15. Coping with New Environmental Issues Concerning Agriculture Exports by Mohammed Saqib. 16. Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standards, Quality Norms and Complementary Agricultural Activity by Samrat Bose. 17. Are Subsidies in US Agriculture Justified? An Economic Analysis by Shashwat Mody.
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As the editors Bibek Debroy and Amir Ullah Khan put it : "Agriculture may account for only 25% of GDP. But 70% of India's population earns a living from the rural sector. If there is a perception in India that liberalization has been anti-poor and pro-rich, that is largely because the agricultural cum rural sector has been untouched... "After the recent (2004) elections, negative expectations about reforms concern privatization and labour market reforms. On the positive side, there are expectations that agro and rural reforms will finally get off the ground, after having been talked about ad nauseam.... If these expectations materialize, parts of India that are hitherto bypassed and marginalized in the growth process, will be mainstreamed. If one is looking for a reform agenda for such liberalization, this volume provides it. The agenda set out in these 17 papers is by no means exhaustive. But collectively, one obtains a very good idea of what needs to be done to bring the rural poor into interaction with markets, so that they can tap the opportunities that market-based liberalization throws up."
