Plethora of studies confirms that irrigation impacts on rural poverty reduction. However, studies seldom available relating irrigation and rural poverty across districts in India. Therefore, the main objective of the study is to analyze impact of irrigation on rural poverty across districts in India. The study is based on purely secondary data covering 178 districts from 13 states across India for the period 2004–05. Both descriptive and regression analysis have been used for the study. Simple and multiple regressions have been used considering percentage of rural poverty (PRP) as dependent variable and other selected poverty determinant variables as independent variables for analyzing. The study pointed out, not only in regression analysis but also in descriptive analysis, that among the selected poverty determinants variables, irrigation is predominantly and significantly impacting on reducing rural poverty which is expected in this study. In other words, irrigation is one of the most important factors in reducing/influencing rural poverty across districts in India.
Agricultural, Livelihood, Living standard, Irrigation, Rural poverty alleviation
