An accomplished thinker, researcher and writer on the agrarian economy of the third world, Prof Utsa Patnaik, collects through this book a dozen of her previously published essays -- written over the period of last one decade. The unifying theme of these papers is the impact on the third world of the new imperialism in the present era, which takes the form of deflationary neo-liberal ‘economic reforms’ and a thrust towards free trade. The focus is on the impact of these policies on the agrarian question and in particular, the food security and livelihoods of the rural populations of developing countries, including India. Marked with a voice of sanity, conscience and true scholarship, these essays provide a though-provoking reading to a wide variety of readers.