Kamal Siddiqui. Land Management in South Asia: A Comparative Study. Karachi: Oxford University Press, 1997. 484 pages. Hardbound. Rs 595.00.

There is something refreshingly honest about Dr Kamal Siddiqui’s writings on reform and management aspects of land in South Asia, where land is considered a source of prestige and political power. He has the analytical sharpness of an economist and the disciplined coolness of a bureaucrat. The author’s objective is to help shape land management policy appropriate to the needs of South Asia. He selects for investigation the time-period from the late 1940s to the present and studies seven entities: Punjab, Sindh, Utter Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Bengal, and Bangladesh, in three countries, viz., Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh. However, Nepal, Bhutan, and Sri Lanka have not been included. We do not know why these smaller but equally important states were omitted from the land management perspective.