Condition of Indian Peasantry

This book contains a summary of the main findings of the Situation Assessment Survey of the Farmers undertaken by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) of the Ministry of Statistics and Plan Implementation, Government of India, during 2003. The Survey graphically brings out some disturbing facts about the state of affairs in the farming sector. It highlights the dissatisfcation of the farmers with their profession, their ignorance about matters most important for their future, and the dismal failure of the credit institutions and numerous government agencies in fulfilling their assigned tasks for the farming sector. The survey results also show that most of the farmer households have low living standards and low earnings and nearly two-fifths among them are under debt.

G.S. Bhalla is at present Professor Emeritus at the Centre for the Study of Regional Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He is a former Member of the Planning Commission, and former Chairman, Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices, Government of India. In his long teaching tenure, Prof. Bhalla worked as Professor and Dean, School of Social Sciences, JNU, New Delhi, Professor of Economics at Punjab University, Chandigarh, and an Associate Professor at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada.

Prof. Bhalla has written, edited and co-authored many books and articles. Some of his publications include: Globalisation and Indian Agriculture, Agriculture and the World Trade Organisation: Indian and French Perspectives; Suicides in Rural Punjab; Economic Liberalisation and Indian Agriculture; and World Economy in Transition: An Indian Perspective.

**Contents and Sample Pages**