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Abstract
Rural Development is defined as “improving the living standards of the mass of low- income population residing in rural areas and making the process of their development self-sustaining’. It embraces all those programmes that touch all levels of human living, e.g., agriculture and related matters, irrigation, communication, education, health, supplementary employment, housing, training and social welfare. Rural development needs to complement urban development so that a balanced growth will be ensured and growth in each sector will be reinforcing. During the Twelfth Plan (2012 -2017) the State Government focused its attention on the basic infrastructure facilities in all habitations, addressing the shelter requirements, creating an open defecation free and garbage free environment, bringing down rural poverty to below 10 percent, energizing street lights with solar energy and building up a conducive environment in schools for the upliftment of rural education and increasing livelihood opportunities in rural areas.