Synopsis We are aware that discourses on rural development had witnessed a recent spurt in India. Rural development encompasses a multidisciplinary approach as India virtually lives in its 700,000 villages. Therefore, rural development holds the key position in the hierarchy of its development goals. As such, the different aspects of rural life need great emphasis. This book has been designed to meet a long-felt need for a compendium of papers contributed by writers, authors and consultants, subject experts, academicians. It contains 53 papers covering a wide area of the subject.