insufficient investment per household, absence of post implementation audits of the scheme, regional disparities in lifting the identified beneficiaries above the poverty line was a major issue. Considering the limited success achieved by the programme it was restructured in as a programme to promote self-employment of the rural poor. Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, (MGNREGA) Over the years, due to concerted efforts, the percentage of households below the poverty lesson to be learnt is that development comes at a certain cost. (b) Rural Development Programmes By the 1970s, the levels of poverty had not declined in spite of overall development of industry and agriculture.
The assumption that development would solve the problem of poverty was not realised, and nearly half the population was found to be living below the poverty line. (The poverty line is defined as the level of expenditure required to purchase food grains to supply the recommended calorie level to sustain a person.) Though the percentage of the persons below the poverty line did not increase, as the population grew, the number of persons living below the poverty line kept increasing. Poverty prevailed both in rural and urban areas. But since nearly three-fourths of the population lived in rural areas, rural poverty was a much more critical problem requiring immediate attention.
Poverty levels were also much higher among specific social groups such as small and marginal farmers, landless labourers and depressed classes in resource poor regions without irrigation and with poor soil, etc. A whole range of rural development programmes was introduced by the government to tackle rural poverty. These included Community Development Programmes, reviving local institutions like Panchayati Raj, and targeted programmes aimed at specific groups such as small and marginal farmers. The thrust was on providing additional sources of income to the rural households to augment their earnings from agriculture.
Two major programmes are explained in greater detail below. Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP), – In a consolidated rural development programme called Integrated Rural Development Programme was introduced. The