International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics
Abstract
Dokur village, located in Mahbubnagar district of
Andhra Pradesh was chosen for Village-Level Studies
(VLS) initiated in 1975 by the Economics Program of the
International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid
Tropics (ICRISAT), Patancheru, Hyderabad. The present
Mahbubnagar district is also known as Palamooru,
located in the Telangana Region of Andhra Pradesh.
Dokur village (16° 36’ N and 78° 50’ E) is situated in
Devarkadra mandal in Mahbubnagar District (16° 73’
N and 77° 98’ E). Dokur’s original name was “Dakur”
derived from the Indo-Persian Urdu word “daku,”
meaning “gang of armed dacoits”. It is believed that
dacoits used to take shelter in Dakur due to its thick
vegetation. Eventually, the name Dakur became
corrupted to Dokur. Dokur is about 130 km from
Hyderabad. To reach Dokur from Hyderabad, one needs
to travel to Mahbubnagar district headquarters and then
to Deverkadra mandal on the surfaced Hyderabad-
Raichur road, and then travel a further distance of seven
kilometers south on a metal road. Autorickshaws and
Road Transport Corporation buses are the main means
of transportation from Devarkadra to Dokur
