India Rural Development Report, 2012-13

The report presents a comprehensive sweep of rural issues over the past many decades based on field surveys, evaluation of on-ground initiatives by communities and analysis of secondary data. Prepared by the IDFC Foundation in partnership with Centre for Economic and Social Studies, Institute of Rural management, Anand and Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, the report is mainly concerned with sustainability , inclusion and governance as the main themes. With the focus on the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act that embodies these themes in its vision, it deals with sustainability of natural resources, land degradation, depletion of groundwater, livelihoods, rural infrastructure and Panchayati Raj Institutions for local self-governance and rural development. The report examines the impact of the employment programme, considering its weaknesses and studying the benefits it has resulted in.