Wrong Focus M S A Rao Village Studies in the Third World edited by Biplab Dasgupta: Hindustan Publishing Corporation, Delhi, 1978, pp 227, Rs 60, VILLAGE studies came into prominance after the emergence of independent nations in the third world. Sociologists and social anthropologists, economists and especially agricultural economists and political scientists have been interested in the problems of rural development and understanding local level processes and changes. The Institute of Development Studies of the University of Sussex has made a significant co bution in bringing together 2,000 exising studies of villages in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The Institute, in collaboration with the Agro-Economic Research Centre of Delhi, organised a conference in December 1974 and the present volume is based on the papers submitted to the conference.
