1Nabard Ph. D., Fellow, Department Of Economics And Rural Development, Alagappa University, Karikudi, Tamil Nadu.
2Nabard Chair Professor And Head, Department Of Economics And Rural Development, Alagappa University, Karikudi, Tamil Nadu.
Online published on 13 August, 2014.
The impact of groundwater irrigation on rural poverty is being analyzed in this study. 12 major states of India are selected for the study. The secondary data, collected from various sources, have been calculated using both descriptive and regressions analysis for this study. The upshot of the study is that groundwater irrigation is negatively and significantly associated with rural poverty. This shows that groundwater irrigation is predominantly and significantly impacting on rural poverty for all the time points which is expected in this study. Further, the inverse association between groundwater irrigation and rural poverty is confirmed not only from descriptive analysis but also from both the regressions analyses. On the contrary, it is observed that the strength of relationship between groundwater irrigation and rural poverty is declining. Therefore, the long term policy should be formulated to develop groundwater irrigation without harming environment.
Agricultural growth, Indian states, Irrigation development, Policy implications, Rural poverty alleviation
