Tamil Nadu projects several important positive dimensions. Among them, from a development perspective, stand out: dynamic entrepreneurial class; well developed educational system; efficient administrative system; impressive and long history of advancement of the backward classes; continuing emphasis on social safety nets for the people; spread of industries in clusters and avoidance of concentration in a few locations; close attention to state autonomy and adherence to the federal principle especially after the mid-sixties.

As a result of industries getting spread—including most recently the IT sector—Tamil Nadu has avoided the diseconomies of concentration in a few locations. Also being a highly urbanised state, this has provided the poor with a supplement to other social safety nets. It should cause no surprise that Tamil Nadu is a front ranking state in terms of economic growth as well as concern for social welfare. And in this respect upholds the legacy it has as one of the pioneers in the uplift of the weaker sections.

The papers in this volume highlight significant trends and development in: population, labour force and employment, agriculture and irrigation, industrial development, social sectors and environment. The papers are a mix of the descriptive and the analytical. This collection, like most research, raises more questions than it offers solution for. If it provokes further thought and hopefully results in some pointers for future policy, the effort to put it together would not be unrequited.

V.K. Natraj studied economics in the University of Mysore and University of Oxford. He worked for three decades in the University of Mysore, where he was Professor of Development Studies in the Institute of Development Studies. After retirement, he was Director, Madras Institute of Development Studies, Chennai. He had a close association with the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex UK. His fields of interest are: decentralisation, panchayat raj institutions and positive discrimination.

A.Vaidyanathan occupies a pre-eminent place in the field of academic research as well as policy making. His contributions to irrigation and water management are hailed for their originality.  He has worked for the National Council for Applied Academic Research, Planning Commission, Centre for Development Studies and the Madras Institute of Development Studies. Apart from this, he was associated with the FAO and the World Bank.  In recent times, he chaired a committee to frame a plan for restructuring ICSSR and also for revitalising rural cooperative societies. His papers include several which incisively examine India’s growth record and in particular focus on some puzzles it exhibits. One of his interests focuses on the use of Census data for gleaning socioeconomic inferences about rural India in particular.