Planning for poverty alleviation through rural development in India
Puttaswamaiah, K.
Poverty and rural development planners, peasants and poverty: 399-420
1990
Document Number: 379270
The majority of the rural poor in India consist almost exclusively of landless labourers and small and marginal farmers, and any programme which aims at benefiting the rural poor must focus on these people. The major thrust of the seventh Five Year Plan is to strengthen the socioeconomic infrastructure of development in the rural areas and to alleviate rural poverty. Three broad categories of programmes have been identified for accelerated rural development. These relate to resource and income development programmes for the rural poor such as the integrated rural development programme, special area development programmes such as the drought-prone area programme and desert-development programme, and works programme for the creation of supplementary employment opportunities. Each of these programmes is considered in turn. This leads to a discussion of comprehensive rural development, which should approach rural development as a conscious effort to link infrastructural activities with beneficiary-oriented programmes.