Environmentally sustainable rural development in India

The 1992 United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development (the Earth Summit) in Rio de Janeiro puts environmentally sustainable development at the forefront of global concerns. Agriculture is base of India's national economy. Only with sustainable agriculture and rural devdlopment can overall sustainable development in India be ensured, therefore, it deserves high priority. Sustainabld development is the only path, Indian rural people can follow in order to eradicate poverty. This paper describes the need for an environmentally sustainable rural development in India. The particular attention is paid to issues, like environmental education, water resources management, energy management, and forest management in rural India. The paper also describes the role of decentralization in rural development.