Small Is Not Beautiful

Small and Cottage Industries: A Study in Assam by Prabin Baishya; Manas Publications, Delhi, 1989; pp xv + 336, Rs 225.
THE book under review is "based on a study on role of small and cottage industries in the state of Assam and is based on field investigation and studies". The field study was undertaken with three broad objectives: (i) evaluation of the operative conditions of the industries, (ii) assessment of their specific problems, and (iii) suggestions for their improvement. The substantive part of the book is a field study in five centres of village industrial concentration and five sample villages containing 25 industries divided into two groups of 14 cottage and 12 small industries. The author with a view to making the survey a 'diagnostic' one has made painstaking efforts to analyse all relevant aspects of the surveyed industries. The survey has brought out revealing information about income and employment generation, and about the numerous problems that beset these industries.