ADMINISTRATION OF DESERT AND DROUGHT-PRONE ARID AREAS

The development of desert areas, administration of drought-prone regions, arid zone agriculture, watershed development and ‘watershed plus’, water use in arid and semi-arid areas, coping with drought—these are all of the vital importance for the rainfed or dry farming areas in the country. Their administration provides a special challenge as well as an exciting opportunity for innovative sustainable development.

From scientific and planned approaches to arresting or combating deserts and monitoring desertification to social aspects of desert development, the development delivery system in desert districts, integrative machinery for desert development administration, grassland management and health problems in deserts, area development programmes and area development authorities, various aspects of watershed development, including the role of the government watershed departments, community-based organizations and panchayats in watershed and ‘watershed plus’, the undertaking of water harvesting projects, water as a tool in desert development, agriculture and land water management in arid areas, optimizing crop production, agriculture marketing, forestry and predicting and facing drought as well as the famine code and drought administration virtually every gamut of administering desert and drought-prone arid areas as well as places restricted to dry farming and rainfed agriculture finds mention in this volume.

The 24 articles by experts and practitioners divided into four sections, along with the crispy editors’ introduction, make this book of special relevance to those interested in the development of desert and drought-prone arid areas in India.

Rakesh Hooja, Ph.D. in Social Sciences, taught at University of Rajasthan before joining IAS in 1974. He has worked on important positions in both Government of India and Government of Rajasthan, and also as Vice Chancellor, Rajasthan Agricultural University. Besides 375 articles, reviews, research papers and commentaries, he has also authored/edited 24 books and 21 monographs. Two of his authored books have won Government of Rajasthan awards. Besides management and organizational behaviour, his writings have focused on land-water management, decentralization and district planning, development administration and theory. He is the Editor-in-Chief, “Prashasnika, ” Editor, “ASTI Journal of Training & Development, ” and on the Editorial Board of “Management in Government, Administrative Change” and Indian Book Chronicle.

Presently, he is Additional Chief Secretary to the Government of Rajasthan and Director, HCM Rajasthan State Institute of Public Administration, Jaipur.

R.K. Chobisa obtained his M.A. and M.Phil degrees in Public Administration from the University of Rajasthan. He has attended Training of Trainers Courses at Thames Valley University, and RIPA International, London, and is a national resource person in the area of training design and management. Currently, he is Associate Professor of Public Administration in the HCM Rajasthan State Institute of Public Administration, Jaipur.