{"product_id":"a-handbook-of-rural-india-9789352871988","title":"A Handbook of Rural India","description":"\u003cp\u003e • Author(s): Surinder S. Jodhka (Ed.)\u003cbr\u003e • Publisher: Orient Blackswan Pvt Ltd\u003cbr\u003e • Publisher Imprint: Orient Blackswan Pvt Ltd\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘Rural’ and ‘urban’ are the foremost categories through which social life has been visualised and engaged with in modern and contemporary times.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe idea of the ‘rural’ or the ‘village’ has been of particular significance in India. British colonisers represented India to the world as a land of ‘village republics’. This representation was so influential that even the nationalist leaders accepted it uncritically. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGandhi advocated ‘a return to the village’ as the only genuine way to gaining \u003cem\u003eswaraj,\u003c\/em\u003e or self-rule. Nehru and Ambedkar too saw the village as the site of India’s traditional life; however, to them it was also a signifier of India’s economic backwardness and social ills. These notions have shaped social science scholarship, popular politics and public policy. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe idea of such a demographic transition continues to be a core element of state policy and an important indicator of positive social change and economic growth\/ modernisation. However, the ‘rural’ in India persists; nearly two-thirds of India’s population still lives in rural settlements.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eA Handbook of Rural India, \u003c\/em\u003ebrings together 36 research papers written by some of the leading social scientists, from the early 1950s to the present. It provides a historical perspective on the subject of the ‘rural’ and covers a wide range of topics that have been critical to the imaginings and empirics of village life in contemporary India.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Orient Blackswan Pvt Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":45616484614295,"sku":"9789352871988","price":1129.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0666\/3471\/1191\/files\/9789352871988.webp?v=1769294917","url":"https:\/\/atlanticbooks.com\/products\/a-handbook-of-rural-india-9789352871988","provider":"Atlantic Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}