Bihar Economy Through The Plans

Highlights the changing population scenario during the last ninety years in a developing region of India. It embodies relevant information about characteristics of population in Madhya Pradesh, viz., growth trends, age and gender composition, literacy rate, and occupational structure in the first half of the book while the population-resource relationship, and regionalisation of population have been discussed in the second half. A separate chapter has been devoted to the comparative analysis of population trends in the developing and the developed world.

With reference to Bihar State, India.

Contributed articles.

Religion-based educational disparities, especially relative educational backwardness amongst the Muslims in India, are the focus of serious debate. The 2006 Sachar Committee Report rekindled public interest and attention in this important issue. Yet, considerable gaps exist in our understanding of the dynamics of religion and access to education. In Religion, Community, and Education, Alam uses a spatial approach and multilayered analytical framework to understand educational disparities in schooling between the Hindus and Muslims in Bihar. The study draws upon national-level data as well as focused fieldwork carried out in Bihar's Patna and Purnia districts. This book highlights the larger historical trajectories that have shaped educational development as well as the forms of disparities therein vis-à-vis the minorities in India. It contends that the relative educational backwardness of the Muslims reflects underlying socio-economic patterns that are often overlooked. Thus, the Muslims should not be seen merely as homogeneous socio-cultural aggregates.

With reference to India.

Comparative study of Bihar and all-India.

In the developed economies two-thirds of GDP comes from the tertiary sector. The share of this sector in the less developed economies tends to be more than two-fifths. In spite of the vast and growing importance of this sector, there are few comprehensive studies in the field. This is particularly true of the Indian economy. The need for a comprehensive study is only too apparent, particularly in view of the grievances expressed in some quarters about the rapid growth of the sector. The book studies the significance of the growth of the tertiary sector from a general view point and then goes on to scan the major sub-sectors of this sector for the Indian economy, one by one. The study ends by taking a birds’ eye view of the development of the tertiary sector.