From the blurb
Food for Policy — Reforming Agriculture: Surabhi Mittal, Arpita Mukherjee, Foundation Books, an imprint of Cambridge University Press, Cambridge House, 4381/4, Ansari Road, Daryaganj, New Delhi-110002. Rs. 795.
This is a compilation of articles by experts, who provide comprehensive solutions to the Indian agriculture sector, highlighting the reforms needed to achieve a “second Green Revolution” in India. Although there has been much discussion on reforming the Indian agriculture sector and making it globally competitive, it continues to be plagued by various constraints and the reform process has been extremely slow.
A unique feature of this book is that it builds on the existing work on reforms and trade in agriculture while focusing on the gaps in the current literature. It addresses the following questions on core policy issues: what is hindering the development of the Indian agricultural sector? How can India achieve a four per cent growth in agriculture? Would agricultural reforms lead to an inclusive growth? Can the government and the private sector work together to achieve a “second Green Revolution”?
Vyasa’s Mahabharatam: Bharadvaja Sarma; Academic Publishers, 5A, Bhawani Dutta Lane, Kolkata-700073. Rs. 1000.
This is a condensed book-by-book abridgement of Vyasa’s Mahabharatam in 18 chapters. It follows closely the sequence of events and episodes, stories and anecdotes, fables and legends, discussions and discourses contained in the vast treatise. Though reduced this summary translation does not leave out anything of value that is essential to the understanding of the nature and character of the epic, both as a complicated story and as a compendium of ancient laws, customs, rituals, religious practices and philosophical systems.
Gender Sensitive Disaster Management — A Toolkit for Practitioners:
Indian Ocean Tsunami Through the Gender Lens — Insights From Tamil Nadu, India: Chaman Pincha; Published for Oxfam America and Nanban Trust by Earthworm Books, 118, Damji Shamji Industrial Complex, I.B.S. Marg, Kurla West, Mumbai-400071.
These two timely titles, which are companion volumes, are the outcome of a study to uncover how gendered realities result in disasters impacting differentially. Through extensive field work in the Tsunami struck districts of Tamil Nadu, it brings to the foreground how deeply embedded and how widely dispersed are the attitudes, beliefs, and practices that perpetuate gender inequalities and how these influenced both the impact as well as its redress.
Disasters impact along fault lines produced by pre-existing, socially constructed gender specific vulnerabilities. Processes of relief, rehabilitation, and reconstruction, if not consciously implemented with a gender perspective will deepen these fault lines. The study makes a case for gender as the central organising principle. The key strength of the toolkit is that the tools for gender mainstreaming in disaster management are sharpened by a bright and committed group of NGO staff and grassroots women’s federation members with their insights, experiences, emotions and inputs.
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