BOOK REVIEW 77
according to the original programme. It showed that the birth rate had fallen fiom 40 per 1000 in 1957 to 35 per 1000 in 1968. That happened both in the "test^ and control populations. In the words of the Khanna Study directors, "Apparently the chief accomplishment of the programme for family planning had been to induce to one quarter to one half of the couples previously practising birth control to switch on to modern methods easier to use and more effective. The striking change in age of women at marriage is more important.5' Change in age at marriage was more due to changes in the social conditions.
Ideal Family
After a visit to the villages before the exploratory investigations were started, John Gordon, the director of the project, had been convinced that the people were conscious of the population problem as two thirds of the villagers contacted through a chowkidar, expressed the ideal family to be two boys and a girl. The final results were, therefore, a disappointment. The Technology and Science Society of Haivard wanted to know tlic causes of the failure of the Rockefeller Project. The result is a penetrating study by Mahmood Mamdani of tlie social, economic and technological changes taking place in Manupur, one of the villages included in the Khanna Study and the role of family in that setting.
After referring to the near static state of agriculture in the British days, the rigidity of caste which determined the occupation for life and tlie social and economic dominance of the Brahmin community, which acted as the moneylending class, he has delineated the developments since independence. The co-operatives gained a place in the economy of the village and the Intensive Agricultural Development Programme with its liberalized credit schemes eliminated the Brahmin community from the moneylending business and with that the ec momic dominance of that clas^. The farming community became receptive to new ideas and innovations. And with the introduction of tlie new variety of seeds, increased use of nitrogenous fertilizers and better water management, the productivity increased. The new innovations, particularly tube wells and chaffcutters, changed the class structure and the demand for seasonal labour increased. The old 'JajmanP system under which social status and conditions of work were determined have almost disappeared. Jats, who are mostly farmers, constitute 59.5 per cent of tlie population. Next in importance are Harijans who form 23.5 per cent. The rest is either high caste service classes like priests, doctors, teachers and shopkeepers or low service castes like barbers, tailors and blacksmiths.
Guessing Game
Mamdani has also noticed the emergence of a handful of big farmers with fully mechanized farms, the nucleus for the capitalist type of farming and a growing proletariat looking for opportunities to migrate. His study reveals that family labour is a necessity for the economic operation