Pathways to Rural Prosperity

Ved Arya is a serial social entrepreneur and founder of SRIJAN, Buddha Institute, and the Responsible Coalition for Resilient Communities (RCRC). Through SRIJAN, he has empowered over 2.5 lakh 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 a 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 the 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 a 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 organizational 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.

• Lists of figures. List of tables. List of contributors. Series Preface. Preface. Acknowledgements. 1. Introduction: Pathways to Rural Prosperity -Mr. Ved Arya, Ms. Ayushii Balutia, Dr. Ashwini Chhatre, Dr. Nivedita Narain Section I: Understanding Rural Poverty and Vulnerability 2. The National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) - Key Lessons for Policymaking - Ms. Nita Kejrewal 3. Graduating PVTG - Ultra-Poor from Extreme-Poverty: Experience from Jharkhand - Mr. N.N. Sinha, Mr. Suvakanta Nayak Section II: Empowerment Through Collective Action 4. Empowering the Ultra Poor: Innovations, Impact and Learning from Satat Jeevikoparjan Yojna in Bihar - Mr. Balamurgan Devraj 5. Securing Livelihoods of Rural Poor through Convergence - Mr. Saroj Mahapatra, Mr. Manoj Kumar 6. Women's Collectives and Inclusive Development: Lessons from the Field - Mr. Amarjeet Sinha 7. Empowering HER: Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) paving way for Economic Empowerment of rural women - Mr. Charanjit Singh, Mr. Gajanan Rauta 8. Promotion of Farmer Producer Company: learnings from Foundation for Development of Rural Value Chains (FDRVC) - Mr. Alok De Section III: Diversifying Livelihoods and Fostering Entrepreneurship 9. Ecosystem to Nurture Development Entrepreneurship to Solve Poverty and Unemployment Challenges: The Buddha Institute - Mr. Ved Arya, Mr. Belal Ahmad, Mr. Anupam Pandey, Ms. Shruti Sriram 10. Lessons from the Start-Up Village Entrepreneurship Programme - Mr. Raminder Singh Rekhi, Ms. Sukanya Chakrovorty 11. Livelihoods and Skilling for Adivasi/Indigenous Communities in a High Biodiversity Area - Ms. Snehlata Nath, Dr. Jyotsna Krishnakumar Section IV: Place-Based Approaches and Sustainable Resource Management 12. New Paradigm for Rural Workforce Diversification towards Productivity increase and Wealth Generation – Place-Based Approach - Mr. Neeraj Ahuja, Ms. Aliva Das 13. Enabling Adaptation to Weather Vagaries for Small Holder Farmers - Ms. Dhruvi Shah 14. Connecting People, Nature, and Livelihood in Bundelkhand - A Joint Climate Action Initiative by Six NGOs - Mr. R Parasuram, Mr. Prasanna Khemariya, Ms. Stutilina Pal, Mr. Ashish Ambasta 15. Ecological Livelihoods: Lessons from Tasar Sericulture (Antheraea Mylitta, the tropical silkworm) in India - Dr. Nivedita Narain, Mr. Satyabrata Acharyaa. Index.

‘These volumes fill a unique niche in the continuum between academic research and advocacy. They go beyond merely identifying challenges in various aspects of human development, particularly health, nutrition, and education, and instead explore potential solutions through critical reviews of what works. This makes the collection immensely valuable to both academicians and practitioners, rendering these volumes essential reading for anyone interested in public policy.’ Sonalde Desai, Professor, National Council of Applied Economic Research and University of Maryland, USA.‘Human development cannot be viewed segmentally through a reductionist lens, since the various elements are closely integrated and impact each other. Health is inseparable from nutrition, and both are influenced by education, environment and economic development. In each of these, equity is the litmus test of development serving its social purpose. These six volumes knit these varied skeins into a unified tapestry of human development. While detailing the key components of each of the main themes, the composite collection connects them to create a coherent design for accelerated and equitable people centric human development in India.’K. Srinath Reddy, Founder (Past) President, Public Health Foundation of India‘These volumes compile the results of many micro studies in the areas of health, nutrition, education and rural livelihood development. These are critical areas where India needs to improve performance to achieve the objective of Viksit Bharat. Larger funding is unavoidable but even more important is to ensure efficiency of spending and it is here that these micro studies will provide evidence-based guidance in what works and in what circumstances. The solutions will not be the same across all states and this must be built into the design of each programme at the state level. The collection is an invaluable contribution in this very important area.’Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Ex-Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission of India