Impact of Institutional Development Programmes on Rural Livelihoods of North-Western Himalayan State, India

For uplifting the rural sector of our country, the Ministry of Rural Development and the Government of India in coordination with Department of Rural Development and Department of Land Resources have been carrying forward various schemes. These schemes are formulated to benefit the citizens of rural India who will eventually become the pillars of Indian Economy in the long run. Therefore and attempt has been made in this paper to analyze the impact of different institutional development programmes on the livelihood of rural households of Himachal Pradesh. Primary data was collected based on stratified multistage random sampling from 360 households. To test the significant impact of different Governmental development programmes on sampled households Response Priority Index (RPI) was used. Among all the government sponsored schemes, the schemes which had significant impact on livelihood of sample households were Kisan Credit Card Scheme (KCC), Horticulture Training and Extension Service, Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanization, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). So the rural people should be made more aware of these schemes in order to accomplish their overall growth.