Contribution of Agriculture and Poverty Eradication Programme in Economic Development of India

India hosts one-third of the world's poor, most of them in rural areas. This makes it imperative for all those involved in the rural sector, including agricultural researchers, to examine the extent to which they contribute to poverty alleviation. The main objective of this research paper is to examine agriculture development and poverty eradication programme in economic development of India can support this objective. The paper first reviews the past contributions of agricultural research to poverty alleviation, as seen through a variety of studies, including village studies. These studies show that Green Revolution technologies were effective in reducing poverty, but their impact on the poor was moderate and after a considerable time lag. Poverty is an important concern for most of the developing countries. Both the agriculture and non-agriculture sector plays an important role in reducing poverty. But in case of agrarian economy like India, the contribution of agriculture in poverty reduction is dominant since the majority of poor people are relied on this sector for their sustenance. Although economic growth leads to poverty reduction but the sector mix of growth matters substantively. It is always a tough job for policy makers to quantify the contribution made by each sector. This has implications for future research. Multidisciplinary research, with a social science component, is required to better understand the conditions of the poor and to develop appropriate technologies. The most widely accepted view is that it contributes to economic growth and economic growth is directly related to poverty alleviation. However, it is suggested that the impact of agriculture on poverty reduction cannot be judged by focusing on this sector alone. Instead, balanced growth between agriculture and manufacturing is required to reap the maximum benefit of forward and backward linkages. Poverty is a social phenomenon in which a section of society is unable to fulfill even its basic necessities of life .Government of India launched several poverty eradication programmes to create assets that benefit the poor and by raising the productivity of the poor through education, public health and other human resource related measures. This research paper also examines the overviews of poverty eradication programmes implemented in India. From the study, it is clear that the Government have been attempting the eradication of the poverty through multi dimensional approaches. Even though the Government plays a major role the implementation of the programmes the success yet vests with the public private partnership where the role and commitment of the private beneficiaries without whom the projects would not success Proper implementation of programmes is important to achieve the specific set objectives rather than the numbers and huge financial allocation in the present era of economic development.