Since independence, our country has witnessed relentless experimentation with rural development and these efforts are manifested through a metamorphosis of intervention strategies and evolving institutional arrangements. Integrated Rural Development envisions all encompassing prosperity of rural communities and has come to be recognized as the only proposition for sustainable prosperity of rural India. Systems approach and systems thinking—what is now commonly called holistic approach— in both theory and practices, is a precursor to integrated development. This idea has also been central to the Indian Philosophy. The present book draws on this point and seeks to bring together the thoughts of experts — academicians, practitioners, rural administrators, etc. – in an attempt to synthesize them to prepare a comprehensive blue-print to improve the health of rural development in India. Forty two papers included in this compendium address six interconnected themes of Integrated Rural development such as – Sustainable Development, Natural Resource Management / Ecosystem Management and Environmental Issues, Education and Rural Health, Women and Child Development, Rural Development Programmes and Management, and Institutional Issues in Rural Development. One added significance of publication of this book is its coinciding with the 150th Birth Anniversary Celebrations of Swami Vivekananda being planned all over India for four years from 2010 to 2014.