ABSTRACT
Diversification and development of livelihoods and improvement of infrastructure holds the key to poverty reduction and improved well-being of households. The Department of Rural Development has taken twelve transformational initiatives over the last 28 months to make a real difference to the lives of the rural poor. The more recent HSBC study pointing out that 70% rural households who own up to one hectare of land or are landless do not seem to have faced the rural distress unlike the top 30%, seen in terms of increasing wages and reducing rural unemployment, also confirm that initiatives for the rural poor have worked even during a difficult period of drought and falling prices for agricultural commodities. A family could be deprived due to asset deficit, no wage/work opportunities, lack of education, skills, or health care, gender and social inequality, absence of sustainable livelihoods, lack of proper housing, sanitation, and clean water, among others.
