This book analyses the use of rural road networks and the causes and effects of road programmes in the areas of personal travel, education, health and poverty alleviation. It discusses the criteria which are being used for rural road selection and their impact in Egypt, India, Botswana and Thailand.

Change is no where more urgently needed than in the so called developing countries. In the Constituent Assembly charged with the drafting of a constitution for free India, Jawaharlal Nehru expressed the sentiment very eloquently. Referring to Gandhi he said, "The ambition of the greatest man of our generation has been to wipe every tear from every eye. That may be beyond us, but as long as there are tears and suffering, so long our work will not be over." To bring about speedy socio-economic changes has been the ideal of all the newly independent Afro-Asian nations. After the Second World War, the new nations emerged out of the dark experience of imperial exploitation and embarked upon a complex process of social reconstruction.

With reference to Uttaranchal a newly formed state of India.