IT IS WIDELY believed that economic reforms widen inequalities in societies which are already highly unequal and the impact of economic reforms on social sectors, particularly in developing economies like India, has therefore been a subject of great concern These economies, it is argued, face the double problem of poverty, deprivation and inequality on the one hand and cutbacks in fiscal expenditures (to prune budgetary expenditures) on the other. This book addresses this problem, drawing out the debates in each of the themes of poverty alleviation, nutrition, health and education with the use of theoretical and empirical analysis.