It is widely known that as economies develop and societies modernize, agriculture declines. Before the rise of industrial society, all societies were rural. In the advanced industrial societies today, agricultural sectors constitute less than 5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). Contrariwise, in the poorest economies of the world, agriculture still accounts for anywhere between 30 to 65 percent of GDP. An inescapable irony thus marks agricultural development in the poor economies. Without agricultural development food may not be forthcoming. Agriculture must therefore develop, but it develops sectorally only to decline intersectorally. It is a rare idealist, or Utopian, who believes in keeping agriculture and rural communities as they always were. Whether one likes it or not, industrialization requires the eclipse of agriculture.

This irony has given birth to the central question of town–country debates: on what terms should agriculture decline, for decline it must. The answer has both economic and political implications. Focusing on the role of agriculture in industrialization, the economic literature deals with how to industrialize and develop agriculture at the same time. The political economy literature examines the conflicts and coalitions that emerge as industrialization gets under way. The economic issues are examined first (Section 1.1), the political issues subsequently (Section 1.2). The distinctiveness of India's town–country struggles will become clear only after the existing economic and political theories have been examined.