Pluralism in Agricultural Extension in India: Imperatives and Implications

Indian extension system is said to be pluralistic in nature with number of agencies involved in delivery of extension services. There are public, private and third sector actors along with information communication technology (ICT) based initiatives proactively involved in information and technology dissemination in agriculture and allied sectors. Some of the actors are involved in the provision of support services also. It has brought added responsibility to public extension like quality assurance along with provision of technical backstopping, and ensuring coordination between different actors in pluralistic extension system. This article tries to reflect on the imperatives for and major actors of pluralistic extension system in India as well as its implications.