List of Tables; List of Figures; Preface, Acknowledgements and Dedication; PART ONE: LONG-TERM CHANGE: 1-1 Introduction: Heavy Agriculture and Light Industry in South Indian Villages; Appendix 1: The Selection of Villages and Sampled Households; Appendix 2: Production Statistics; 1-2 Irrigation: The Development of an Agro-Ecological Crisis; 1-3 Time and Space: Intervillage Variation in the Nort Arcot Region and Its Dynamics, 1973-95; Appendix: Analysis of Clusters; 1-4 Social Stratification and Rural Households; 1-5 Labour, Gender Relations and the Rural Economy; 1-6 Social Institutions and the Structural Transformation of the Non-Farm Economy; PART TWO: PRODUCTION PPOLICY AND PILLAGE PERSPECTIVES: 2-1 Policy and the Agricultural Development Agenda; 2-2 Rural Infrastructure and Local Utilities: Institutions and Access; 2-3 Populism and Electricity in Rural Tamil Nadu; 2-4 Rural Credit and the Collateral Question; 2-5 Fertilizer Reforms and Nutrient Balances; Appendix 1; Appendix 2; PART THREE: SOCIAL WELFARE IN THE VILLAGES: 3-1 Introduction: Village Studies and Welfare; 3-2 Antipoverty Policy: Targeting and Screening for Eligibility; Appendix: Deatils of Class Probability Tree Analysis; 3-3 Life Chances: Development and Female Disadvantage; 3-4 Incapacity and Disability; 3-5 Food, Nutrition and the State in Northern Tamil Nadu; Appendix 1: Nutrition Data 1973-4 to 1982-4; Appendix 2: Income, Price and Household Factors in Household-level Calorie Availability, 1994; Appendix 3: The Public Distribution Scheme (PDS); Appendix 4: Noon Meal Scheme (NMS); 3-6 No End to the Betrayal? Primary Education in Its Social Context: Evidence from Rural Tamil Nadu; Appendix: Summary Statistics for Probit Model Variables; 3-7 Socially Inclusive Social Security: Social Assistance in the Villages; 3-8 So What for Policy? The Rural Development in a Poor State; Notes; References; Index