Although the book clearly concludes that India is not yet the victim of a rural exodus as experienced by many Latin American and African countries, the contributors do not negate the seriousness of the consequences of unchecked rural-urban migration. The unique feature of the book thus lies in its emphasis on rural retention rationales and on the need to generate further research in this area so as to prevent potentially tragic consequences if India's rural population should in the future become less attached to their roots. This book will be of considerable interest to policy-makers and planners, geographers, economists and anthropologists, as well as those engaged in the fields of urban studies, rural development and migration studies.