October - December 2012 - National Institute of Rural Development

Book Reviews 541encompass the role of an agronomist,irrigation engineer, a scientist, a cooperativeexpert, an economist and a social scientist. Thestrategy adopted in the book is to set up aself-sustained development authority with anarea of jurisdiction equal to the mainland Indiaand make it responsible for bringing about thistransformation even to modern agriculture.The production and destruction of resourcesare the two extreme points and in betweenthese two the second one takes several formsin order to serve mankind.Overall, the history of forest dwellers,resources and approaches for ecosystem wereanalysed based on the problems anddistribution of forest type and its products thatnecessitate the conservation of forest for bothnational as well as global context. The authorstresses the need for prevention of waterresources by elaborating the existing statusand problems in the irrigation systems andreservoirs. The author has not forgotten toanalyse the impacts of urbanisation andindustrialisation that cause damage tosustainable development of the region in hisbook. He also cautions the distribution ofindustry which not only pollutes theenvironment but also carnage the rurallivelihoods. The author also discusses road andtransport infrastructure that includes railways,waterways and surface transport systems andprescribed some policy initiatives for futureendeavour.Though data used are obsolete, this bookpresents obvious ideas for conservation andmanagement of resources and presentinganalysis of the various elements involved inintegrated development of resources andresource systems that subject specialist,researcher, planner and policy maker will findthis book interesting and useful.– Dr. R. MurugesanTechnology and Rural India, Edited by :S. V. Prabhath and P. Ch. Sita Devi, Published in2012 by Global Research Publications, New Delhi,Pages 274, Price : `350.Science and technology are oftenhyphenated and spoken of in the samebreadth. One would, however, like todifferentiate the two. Technology generally(though not always) derives and draws fromscience, and often manifests itself in physicalform — for example, as a piece of hardware.Science, on the other hand, is knowledge. Inrural India, there is a dire inadequacy of both.Agriculture is the backbone of the ruraleconomy that provides marginal subsistenceto most of the country’s population. Crop yieldsare far lower than what they are indemonstration farms, where science andtechnology are more fully applied. The scopeto apply technology to both farm and non-farmactivities in rural areas are huge, as are thepotential benefits. Hence, it is time fortechnology to play its role in transforming ruralIndia.It is an acceptable fact that rural Indiafaces a severe technology deficit. Whileserious shortages persist towards subjects likeeducation, electricity, water, health facilities,roads etc., these are known and recognisedby the public. However, the role of technologyin solving these and/or other problems is butbarely acknowledged, and the actualavailability of technology in rural areas, at best,is marginal. The so-called digital divide iswidely spoken and written about; thetechnology divide is hardly mentioned. Yet, thisdisparity is arguably more important, as it hasfar greater impact.The progress of technology anddevelopment, irrespective of whether rural orurban areas, among Indian states is notuniform. This book ‘Technology and Rural India’Journal of Rural Development, Vol. 31, No. 4, October - December : 2012