India is a vast country with diverse population and ecological zones. Agriculture there has undergone tremendous transformation in the past seven decades. At the head of all sciences and arts, agriculture was considered the noblest and the saviour of mankind. This book with eight chapters contributed by nine authors from four institutions in India focuses on agriculture and 1) economic policy, 2) environment, 3) poverty reduction, 4) food security, 5) rural urban migration, 6) changing agrarian systems and rural urban linkages. The first chapter is an overview of the book. The last chapter challenges: ‘How rural is rural India? Rethinking options for farming and farmers’. Since the main emphasis is agriculture and socio-economic issues, the title could have been ‘Handbook of Agriculture in India: Economic and social perspectives’.

The authors acknowledge that the green revolution was a boon to India since it averted widespread famine and almost eliminated food imports. However, the benefits of green revolution did not reach all farmers. Continuous exploitation of the farmland resulted in loss of soil fertility, depletion of the water supply and pollution of the environment, and displaced farmers who sought better opportunities elsewhere. Almost all the authors discuss the pros and cons of various government policies, emphasizing that to undo the damage caused by continuous cropping, new vision and new policies are needed. Is it too late to resolve the problems of the farmers, and rural poor in India? Case studies from Punjab and Uttar Pradesh have been presented to depict the acuteness of the problem. This book poses challenging questions to scientists, policy makers and politicians to save agriculture and villages, and to ensure sustainable food and nutritional security in India.