Rural Development in Punjab A Success Story Going Astray [Hardcover]

For many years, agricultural development in Punjab symbolised one of the most successful experiments in rural development. However, this success story seems to be going astray. The crux of the problem, this volume suggests, is that externally driven modernization to meet national food needs pushed Punjab into highly specialized production of wheat and rice, resulting in over-utilisation of natural resources with adverse environmental consequences that jeopardizing the long-term viability and sustainability of the agrarian economy. Stagnating productivity, reduced farm size, falling household incomes, depleting groundwater resources, are only a few of the problems that characterise Punjabs agriculture today.

The book establishes clearly that rural development implies more than transformation of traditional agriculture. Apart from ensuring efficient use of limited resources to sustain agricultural production, rural policy should encompass promotion of non-farm activities, investments in social and economic structure and civic amenities.

1. Introduction  Section 1: Rural Development: An Analytical Frame  2. Rural Development Autar Dhesi  3. Crisis in Punjab Agriculture G.S. Kalkat  Section 2: Agriculture: Development and Challenges  4. Development of Agriculture and Allied Sector in Punjab Ramesh Chand  5. Challenges to Punjabs Agriculture in the Post-reform Era R.S. Siddhu, A.S. Joshiand A.S. Bhullar  6. Contract Farming for Agricultural and Rural Development. Sukhpal Singh  7. Agricultural Modernisation and Rural Transformation Gurmail Singh  8. Agricultural R&D in Punjab: Addressing the Emerging Challenges Prasoon Mathur, Harbir Singh, A.K. Jha andSuresh lã(