ABSTRACT
Discussion of rural poverty in India has focused on the likelihood of an increasing share of the population living below the poverty line. The discussion on a possible time trend has used the simplest possible statistic, namely the share of the rural population below a certain poverty line. Reference to the importance of major roads can be found far back in India's history. Roads became a provincial subject and the greater part of road mileage was placed in the charge of local bodies. In 1927 the Government of India appointed the Jayakar Committee to advise on road policy. Roads were classified into national highways, provincial highways, district roads and village roads. The Bombay Plan has been the main guideline for road planning since 1961. While an improvement over the Nagpur Plan, the Bombay Plan failed to recognize the need to start with local road planning.
