Medical Geography is a scientific discipline which links medicine with Geography. It is concerned with systematic study of spatial distribution of diseases in the backdrop of geographical conditions in order to find out answers to ‘where’ and ‘why’ of diseases. In India no disease has taken toll of such a large number of human beings as Malaria. Moreover, it steps the vitality of millions of people and forces them towards poverty.
This book Tribal Situation and Development in Central India is a comprehensive work prepared with the help of a term of Experts in various fields ranging from social sciences to medical sciences covering contemporary problems and development of the tribals of Madhya Pradesh. It contains an exhaustive account of the geographical location of these tribes, their subdivisions, their way of life, etc. This book also deals with the work done by certain private organizations to help these tribals. Issues, such as land rights, come up for discussion too.
Interrelationship between spatial structure and scenario of development is the focal theme of this volume. Attributes of the environment, man, his culture and society and their interaction shape the spatial structure which ultimately determine the pace of development. Unless transferential approach of resource exploitation is not changed to transformational one it is difficult to reduce the glaring disparity in development. Transformational approach is people oriented and nature oriented development concept, in which social justice, welfare, quality of life and environmental protection are kept at par with the economic growth.
Of the nine chapters in the book the one on local systems of medicine is particularly interesting. This chapter is very rich in the empirical facts and it details ailment, vernacular name of medicine, botanical name, its availability and use have been depicted in a scientific way. The book on the whole is an important addition to the Medical Anthropology in general and Applied and Action Anthropology in particular.
Tribal groups of India, reside in genetico-environmental strain and stress in different ecological and geo-climatic conditions. In view of National commitment to achieve Health for All through primary health care approaches, the information on Scheduled Tribes is important for the planning of effective need-based area and group-specific health-care strategies in these groups. The book would be most useful for the health planners, bureaucrats, politicians, academicians and the persons concerned with health.
Deals with different aspects of Women's issues, viz. women in family and Society, access of girls and women to education, impact of science and technology on women, women and politics, image and role of women in Hindi drama and theatre, women's development role of media, women and work and her identity, role of voluntary organisations on women's development, national women's information centre and the programmes of Government of India for women's development. Since the development and education of women has become a growing concern of the present day society and Government, it is in the fitness of things that women themselves should present their own assessment of the current status of women and point out the maladies.
Annotation: In the present book the author has analytically examined the behaviour of the electorate and the factors influencing them before and after independence according to the electoral system, the situation of the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.
In the years following World War II, the concept of State Welfare did seem to be the golden mean between Marxian revolution and laissez faire evolution in the human pursuit of social justice. Western democratic states that upheld the primacy of the individual and his liberty over that of the 'State' operationalized State responsibility for welfare on the basis of social policies compatible with their socio-political and economic systems. This resulted in the coming into existence of a large number of services rendered by the State to its citizens touching all aspects of their lives, cutting through informal, intermediary institutions, and developing a direct link with it. The focus of this study is on these services in two such states, i.e., the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Their provision and administration for ethnic minorities that form part of their national communities is dealt with in particular. The Netherlands and the United Kingdom have constitutional monarchical systems based on the sovereignty of the people. Liberalism is an underlying sociological base for their societies. Both had acquired overseas colonies which resulted in the settlement of people with ethnic origins different from their dominant group within their national communities. These factors make the two comparable. However, the ideological basis, social and economic forces and movements that led to the establishment of State welfare in the two states differ significantly. The study reveals that their particular ideological positions on State-Society relations have a significant impact on social policies adopted by them and in the modalities of their implementation. The British stand on assimilation in one dominant culture and the Dutch stand on integration with acceptance of pluralism throw up the genuine problems in the harmonization of social policy in a United Europe of the future.
