chapter 1 Introduction -- Land, capital and well-being in India / Dayabati Roy -- chapter 2 Right to work! -- Politics of poverty alleviation policies in India / Dayabati Roy -- chapter 3 Political parties, employment generation policies and governance / Dayabati Roy -- chapter 4 Caste, class and rural employment / Dayabati Roy -- chapter 5 'Civil society', NGOs and rural employment / Dayabati Roy -- chapter 6 Women, gender and employment in rural West Bengal / Dayabati Roy -- chapter 7 Conclusion -- Employment, capital and the state in rural India / Dayabati Roy.

In comparison to other social groups, India's rural poor - and particularly Adivasis and Dalits - have seen little benefit from the country's economic growth over the last three decades. Though economists and statisticians are able to model the form and extent of this inequality, their work is rarely concerned with identifying possible causes.