Contributed articles.

Panchayat Is An Old Conception In India And It Is An Earlier Concept Of Democracy In The History Of Civilisation. Now-A-Days, Pris Have Been Proclaimed As The 'Vehicle' Of The Socio-Economic Transformation In Rural India. The Importance Of Panchayat System Has Been Emphasised By Political Thinkers And Administrators Of All Ages.

Papers presented at the National Seminar on Panchayati Raj Institutions and Rural Development in Western India, held at Nanded during 24-25 February 2006.

Rural poverty is often unseen or misperceived by outsiders. Dr Chambers contends that researchers, scientists, administrators and fieldworkers rarely appreciate the richness and validity of rural people's knowledge or the hidden nature of rural poverty. This is a challenging book for all concerned with rural development, as practitioners, academics, students or researchers.

Contributed articles.

Decentralisation is a much-debated issue in India and other countries with a federal system of governance. The enactment of the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act in 1993 and the subsequent state-wise Panchayat Raj acts in India brought to the front the significance of the grassroots democratic processes. After two decades, Panchayat Raj has been a matter of debate and speculation about its performance and impact. All the major states have completed at least four rounds of Panchayat elections. Almost three million people, including more than one million women, took part in these elections. The experiences of the states provide vital insights into the process of institutionalising Panchayat Raj. This volume strives to encompass all these issues related to Panchayat Raj in India.

Rural development is important for the nation's socio‐economic upliftment. It is the process of improving the economic conditions and upgradation of physical and social infrastructure in rural areas. In India, 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992, has recognised Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) as the third tier of governance and given them the constitutional mandate for bringing improvements in the lives of people living in rural settlements. Yet, the rural settlements are not getting developed as per the expectations of rural population. Rural development is either totally ignored or given less preference as compared to the urban development.Regional Planner is entrusted with the responsibility to prepare a plan integrating rural and urban settlements. For rural settlements, either a plan does not exist or it has been prepared without detailed sectoral, spatial and financial planning. For urban settlements, though master plans do exists yet they have not been made for all the towns. In the absence ofnationwide efforts to prepare regional plans for achieving the balanced regional development as per the constitutional mandate, there is an increase in region‐wide disparities between rural and urban settlement.Earlier studies have focused on comprehending different nuances of rural life by studying employment opportunities, provision of basic infrastructure, quality of life, disparity between urban and rural areas, etc. There is a lack of comprehensive study to systematically understand the relationship between rural and urban settlements, access and availability of amenities in rural areas and provide suggestions to bring improvement in the living conditions of rural habitat so as to make it a model village. The book fills this gap by imparting an understanding of the rurality in a highly urbanised district and suggesting ways to transform a village into a model village.With the help of extensive quantitative and qualitative data collected from varied tiers of governance, i.e. state, district, tahsil, block and village, the book highlights the problems existing in the rural settlements and analyses the potentials to make it an ideal settlement having provision of urban amenities.