Rural development is a subject that appears to be plagued by a central paradox: development is necessary to alleviate rural poverty, but while new technology has raised agricultural output, it has also increased the suffering of millions of poor landless families in many Third World countries. The rural poor, especially women, have been marginalized; urban migrants have become desperate unemployed squatters, not well-paid industrial workers; and environmental degradation has proved severe. The authors argue that many development programmes go awry because the authorities neglect essential development issues. Development must be defined in terms of the provision of basic human needs which include life expectancy, infant mortality, and literacy indicators which reflect the quality of life of the bulk of the population, not just a narrow elite. What they suggest is that the issues neglected by the conventional approach must be addressed if true development is to occur.