Rural Industrialisation: Reflections on Development Trajectory in India

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Rural industrialisation has its rationale, approaches as well as experiences across different developing as well as developed countries of the world. The present work examines the trend and pattern of rural industrialisation in India having reflections on development trajectory in the perspective of rural development, liberalisation and globalisation of the Indian economy.

It discusses different approaches to rural industrialisation, rural industrialisation experiences across states of India and districts of West Bengal, determinants and problems of rural industrialisation and its internal dynamics as reflected in the saving and investment behaviour of manufacturing households. Against the backdrop of the classical approach to rural industrialisation that is viewed as a transitory phase of economic development the work holds that the socio-economic conditions of the developing economies and the rapidly changing world scenario as reflected in the World Bank/WTO approach lend support to the positive rural industrialisation of the developing countries like India.

Sachinandan Sau is Professor of Economics and former Coordinator, Departmental Research Support (DRS), University Grants Commission at the Department of Economics with Rural Development, Vidyasagar University. He got his Master of Arts, Master of Philosophy and Doctorate of Philosophy (Arts) Degrees in Economics from University of Calcutta. While serving a college as lecturer in Economics he was granted four years' teacher fellowship by University of Calcutta under the Faculty Improvement Programme of the University Grants Commission, during which he completed his M.Phil. And Ph.D. works. He was a Visiting Fellow at and is associated with the Centre for Urban Economic Studies, Department of Economics, University of Calcutta as Research Associate (honorary). He was a member of the Expert Committee on Encyclopaedia Asiatica (Vol. VII - The Economy). He is the founder Managing Editor of Economic Development Review which was later renamed as Vidyasagar University Journal of Economics of which he is now editor. He has presented his papers at large number of national and international Seminars and Conferences and has got over 50 research articles published in edited volumes and learned professional Journals including Economic and Political Weekly. He has published a book on Port and Development: A Study of Calcutta Port in India and edited Rural Development Theories and Experiences, Fifty Years of Rural Development in India, Participatory Decentralised Planting Issues and Experience with Reference to India, Participatory Decentralised Planning in India: Issues of Finance and Statistical Information, and Participatory Decentralised Planning in India: Issues of Functions, Functionaries and Finance.

Preface

Industrialisation has always been considered the key to rapid economic growth, provision of gainful employment to surplus labour, promotion of a rational approach to social and economic issues, and advancement of domestic technological capability. Rural industrialisation also plays both economic and social roles in the form of ensuring participation of different sections, particularly weaker sections of the society, namely women, scheduled castes and tribes, enhancement of their earnings, promotion of saving, investment and exports. World Bank and World Trade Organisation focus on importance of rural industrialisation as a strategy of growth of the rural economies of developing countries. In India, from the very beginning of the planning era rural industrialisation became the important policy objective. Rural industrialisation as a process and strategy enlists a lot of attention and importance and ensues de- bate in recent years, particularly in the context of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation of a developing economy. In this context relevant questions are: How far are different approaches to rural industrialisation relevant to explain the status of rural industries in developing counties like India? What have been the level and pattern of rural industrialisation in India in recent years, particularly during the 1990s that is characterised by comprehensive economic reforms? What are the determinants of rural industrialisation? What is the status of rural industries and what problems do they encounter? What is the internal dynamics of rural industries, particularly rural crafts? Some theoretical and empirical works have recently developed on rural industrialisation, but there are inadequacies. There is hardly any serious analytical empirical work concerning rural industrialisation in India in relation to the issues mentioned above. The present work seeks, in a modest way, to address the diverse issues and discusses experiences of rural industrialisation with reference to India.