With the delayed monsoons and the threat of drought looming large over India, K 81kram Singh's first independent feature film, Tarpan, was premiered in July at the most appropriate time. Singh uses tarpan - the practice of offering water to the dead ancestors - as a metaphor to relate how the forces of compassion have to struggle against orthodoxy and superstition.

A TRAGEDY of Indian planners as also of those from some other developing countries is that they have considered agricultural development synonymous with rural development.

Development is a must for alleviation of rural poverty, but ironically, conventional development pro- grammes have exacerbated the pressures on the rural poor and unwittingly destroyed the environment as well. In this book, the authors seek to understand the socioeconomic dynamics underlying this paradox and suggest better ways along which development can and must proceed.

THIS is a development report based on a major study with intensive field work carried out mainly in the neighbouring Nepal's Sindhuli district - the culmination of 2 years' work. The report draws also In many on similar work labour conducted Gambia. In add - tion, the report, which was presented at a special symposium organised in London in March 1995 coinciding with the fifth anniversary year of the World Summit for Children, puts forward many rich experiences and findings of the work with children undertaken in Kenya, Uganda, Ecuador, Peru and nearer home in Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Fairy tales should be free of bias, believes James Finn Garner. And so he has written a book: Politically Correct Bedtime Stories. He has attempted to rewrite the classics in a form that is totally free from bias and the influences of a flawed cultural past, even if this effort leads to new interpretations and recasting in language that is finicky in its effort not to displease either humans or animals.