The collection of papers demonstrates that the human right to development in essence brings together several distinct but not mutually inconsistent streams of philosophical, political, economic and socio-legal thoughts and traditions.

This paper examines changes that have (and have not) occurred – at the village level in Karnataka where most or the state’s residents live, and at higher levels when they impinge upon villages – since 1972. Substantial changes have occurred on many (though certainly not all)...