Infrastructure For Agriculture & Rural Development In India: Need for a Comprehensive Program & Adequate Investment

This paper reviews rural infrastructure development in India.

Studies in India document positive linkages between various types of infrastructure and agricultural output growth. In order to develop agriculture, the Government of India has created organizational, institutional and physical infrastructure. The ninth Five Year Plan concentrated on good irrigation, roads and bridges in order to increase agricultural growth rate. The government set up the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund. It is also partnering with private resources for rural infrastructure development. The Bharat Nirman program has also attempted to build rural infrastructure and provide basic amenities in rural areas.

Efforts made in the six decades since independence, however, have met only a fraction of total needs. The paper states that it is time for:

• Rural households to identify their needs for infrastructure and demand them from elected representatives;
• Government to allocate adequate resources in its annual budget for infrastructure;
• Implementing agencies like banks to be concerned, committed and accountable, and put in place infrastructure in each village in a time bound program;
• Information about the performance of every program to be made available to the public every month through local print and electronic media.