Presenting Professor V. S. Vyas's approach to the major national and global challenges facing Indian agriculture, this book makes available his research and writing on how policy interventions, technological changes, and institutional developments are impacting the economy of those directly dependent on it for their livelihood.

Monograph comprising a literature survey and bibliography of research studies of agrarian reform trends and perspectives in India - covers materials published from the period before independence and up to 1972.

This book shows that the failure of successive Indian governments to effect meaningful agrarian reforms has led to a political economy in rural India that is shaped, as it was prior to independence, largely by the interests of an elite minority of landholders. .

The use of modern methods of production is conditioned by the institutional framework of a production sector. If the institutional set up is exploitative, it will discourage the adoption of efficient technology. Unfortunately, in India, the institutional settings of the farm/agriculture sector are not congenial for the use of modern agricultural techniques. Although the zamindari system - a system of landholding and revenue collection - was abolished soon after India's independence in 1947, it continues to exist in a different form. Land reform laws have proved ineffective and therefore many large landlords still rule the roost in rural areas. As a result of population growth, there is tremendous pressure on available land. This has led to overcrowding and, hence, the sub-division and fragmentation of holdings. Small-sized and scattered holdings imply wastage of time and labor, difficulties in the use of modern techniques, and quarrels and litigation among farmers. As well, the institution of money lending is the greatest curse for India's poor and illiterate rural citizens. The exploitative practices of the moneylenders are no secret. This book examines the institutional framework of Indian agriculture, and reforms thereof, pertaining to land management, land reforms, agricultural credit, marketing of agricultural produce, public procurement of agricultural produce, and related areas.

This study is an attempt to contribute to our understanding of one of the most important reforms currently advocated by development economists to reduce rural poverty in developing countries: land reform. Dr. Cohen has based his study on models in which three social groups are acting: these, for brevity's sake, are called land lords, peasants and the groups who comprise the non-agricultural sector. Peasants include the so-called landless peasants which western countries generally term agrarian workers. The method can be extended to larger numbers of groups. The actors are involved in various activities, including production, consumption and saving, the latter being available either for physical or for financial invest ment. This implies that various wealth components appear in the model alongside flows of goods and services. Use is made of determinate models with linear and non-linear equations of a dynamic character. The models are employed to estimate socio-economic development under alternative regimes. Regimes differ, on the one hand, according to which group is in power and, on the other hand, according to the instruments of economic policy they use. It is an attractive feature of Dr. Cohen's study that the models are applied to two countries for which all the necessary statistical material has been estimated: India and Chile. For both countries a brief socio-political sketch precedes the numerical application of the models. For India five instruments of socio-economic policy are considered: land transfers, measures to stimulate productivity, credit policies, taxes and tenure and wage regulations.