Concern in this volume is with policy issues involved in the use of natural resources and the implications and consequences of strategies adopted for their development. The 36 papers brought together in this volume were presented in a colloquium in Dushambe, Tajikistan, in September 1985 under the aegis of the lndo-Soviet Cultural Exchange Programme. Considering their analytical emphasis the papers have been divided into sections dealing with regional issues of resource utilization, development of water and power resources, problems of resource use in arid and mountainous regions and issues of resource management. This book provides an introduction to the problems and prospects of resource development in two countries, India and the U.S.S.R which share a common heritage of a vast territorial domain, uneven distribution of resources, diverse regional resource combinations and disparateness in natural resource potential. The papers also convey to the readers the need for multidisciplinary and cross-national research in resource planning and the urgency to view resource development policies within the framework of environmental issues and political and social conditions in the world.
