Sustainable Rural Development in India: Issues and Challenges

The term ‘rural development's is of focal interest and is widely acclaimed in both the developed and developing countries like India. In the Indian context rural development assumes special significance for two important reasons. First about two thirds of the population still lives in villages and there cannot be any progress so long as rural areas remain backward. Second, the backwardness of the rural sector would be a major impediment to the overall progress of the economy. Poverty in rural areas has remained by and large, the main focal point of governments and development agencies. Sustainable rural development is the most effective way to eliminate this curse. Aim of this paper is to study the relation between agriculture and rural development, role of agriculture in sustainable rural development. Some tools for sustainable rural development are also proposed.