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Based on the doctoral work of Dr. Arbind Sinha, this book—Mass Media and Rural Development—is a complete account of the village life and the effects mass media like television have on it. It is based on a five-year longitudinal study, wherein the holistic approach of anthropology was used to successfully trace the communication process, decision - making, other related factors, and finally the effects of Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE) on the life of Ismailpur village in Bihar.The book raises some pertinent questions regarding the limitations of communication, which can only provide information input in the development of the masses. Rather the agents of development assume higher responsibility, and in the absence of which the communication input may lead to distrust and dissatisfaction towards the message as well as the media. It therefore suggests that if these two factors of development are supplementary to each other and go hand in hand, the pace of development will be hastened.This book will be meaningful to those interested in rural upliftment, communication, social sciences and in understanding the basic problems of development.