ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to move in the direction of empirical arguments in order to substantiate the abstract and analytical model presented in the introduction. It analyses the social origin of local netas, and to examine the paths they take to reach their social, economic and political objectives, and to infer from their social composition the impact of rural development on the local power structure. The research design, in its attempts to pin down a group local elites representative of rural India, retains the duality of focus that was already alluded to in the introduction. In view of the geographic immensity and social complexity of India, the construction of a representative sample of local elites is a daunting task. A Latin American reading of the local political scene sometimes leads to the description of rural India in terms of clientelism. Agriculture is the main but by no means the only business that most rural netas are engaged in in Gujarat.
