Pathways to Rural Prosperity

India's rural transformation journey has been remarkable – characterised by innovation, community resilience, strategic interventions, and continuous learning from both successes and challenges. Delving into India's rural livelihood, this volume presents learnings from livelihood interventions across the country.

Through the authors’ on-field experiences and case studies, the book documents the evolution of flagship programmes like the National Rural Livelihood Mission, showcasing how decentralised approaches and collective action have fostered sustainable changes within India’s most vulnerable populations. Whether it is about graduating tribal communities from extreme poverty to creating women-led enterprises, or introducing watershed management and climate-resilient farming, this book captures diverse strategies that have proven effective in different contexts. Each chapter reveals implementation challenges, success factors, and scalable solutions, demonstrating how government programmes, partnerships, and community ownership create widespread impact far beyond individual beneficiaries. It highlights the critical role of women's collectives, place-based approaches, and the potential of ecological livelihoods in building sustainable rural economies, offering a roadmap for replicating successful interventions adaptable to local contexts and emerging challenges.

Part of the “Innovations, Practice and the Future of Public Policy in India” series, this open-access volume is an evidence-based compilation which will be an essential resource for policymakers, development practitioners, researchers, and students seeking to understand effective rural development strategies and working on global development, development policy, rural development, public policy, and social policy.

Ved Arya is Serial Social Entrepreneur and Founder of SRIJAN, Buddha Institute, and the Responsible Coalition for Resilient Communities (RCRC). Through SRIJAN, he has empowered over 250,000 rural women across six Indian states, forming nine women’s federations. He received the Schwab Foundation Award 2025 at Davos, the Business Standard Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award (2018), and IIT Kanpur’s Distinguished Alumnus Award (2020). An IIT Kanpur and IIM Ahmedabad graduate, Ved is also a Humphrey, UNEP, Ashoka, and Aspire Fellow.

Ayushii Balutia is Research Associate at the Bharti Institute of Public Policy, Indian School of Business. She holds a master’s degree in public policy and management from the University of Glasgow and a bachelor’s in Economics from Christ (Deemed to be) University, Bengaluru. She previously worked with Women’s Enterprise Scotland, co-authoring their 2023 report on women entrepreneurs, and interned with NITI Aayog’s Aspirational Districts Department. Her research focuses on good governance, sustainable development, and socio-economic inclusion.

Ashwini Chhatre is Executive Director of the Bharti Institute of Public Policy and Associate Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the Indian School of Business. He holds a PhD in Political Science from Duke University and a BA in Economics from the University of Delhi. With over a decade of grassroots experience in natural resource governance, his research explores the intersection of democracy, environment, and development. A former faculty member at the University of Illinois, he has held editorial roles in leading international journals.

Nivedita Narain is Senior Research Advisor at the Transform Rural India Foundation and adjunct faculty at the School of Public Policy, IIT Delhi. With nearly 40 years of experience in development practice, she has led initiatives in gender equity, sustainable livelihoods, and organisational development. She previously served as CEO of Charities Aid Foundation India and held leadership roles at PRADAN. A PhD holder from IIT Delhi, she has held fellowships at Stanford, LSE, McGill, and Göttingen, focusing on gender, food, water security, sustainability, and rural development.