This volume is the result of a joint project meeting between UNU-WIDER and the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), with research contributions from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The editors are grateful to Adam Swallow, Publications Assistant at UNU-WIDER, for his invaluable support in preparing the manuscript, and also wish to thank Liisa Roponen for her help. UNU-WIDER thanks the ICSSR for its financial inputs, and the Institute of Development Studies (IDS–Jaipur) for hosting the first project workshop in March 2005.

UNU-WIDER acknowledges the financial contributions to the research programme by the governments of Denmark (Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Finland (Ministry for Foreign Affairs), Norway (Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Sweden (Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency— Sida) and the United Kingdom (Department for International Development— DfID).