Development of rural areas is important for India because nearly 78% of its population lives in villages, and the development of India, by and large, lies in the development of its rural population. Non-Governmental Organizations, (NGOs) with their advantages of being non-rigid, locality-specific, felt need-based, beneficiary-oriented and committed nature of service, have established a multitude of roles that affect development. In the present study, the opinion of the sampled respondents regarding rural development with the help of NGOs in fields like construction of link roads, irrigation facilities and preservation of natural sources of water, watershed development, plantation of medicinal plants, development of cash crops, awareness about modern technologies in cultivation and harvesting, total sanitation campaign, development of sericulture units, disseminating awareness about wormy compost and social audit, promotion of organic farming and implementation of MGNREGA is collected and analyzed. It is clear from the study that the NGOs have definitely added wheels to rural development in Himachal Pradesh.

The main concern of the State Government of Himachal Pradesh has always been the overall development of the state and betterment of its people. But the government knew that betterment of the people is the issue that would need outside support, may be in the form of Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) or Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs).

While the government kept itself totally busy with regulatory functions, enacting new laws, and establishing political institutions, it shared the development of the state and upliftment of the people with NGOs. It started encouraging the local NGOs in the field of development. Many non-profit organizations got themselves registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860. The relationship between the state government and the NGOs has been like a swing, sometimes swinging towards happy moments, sometimes towards unhappy moments, and sometimes having a dry response. The state NGOs have, however, continued building up and nurturing formal relationship with the state government. There are many examples of happy partnership between the government and the NGOs that augur well for the coming relationship of the two. One thing is certain that fine-tuning of this relationship depends much on the individuals sitting on the high chairs, whether in the government or in the NGOs.

Entrepreneurship Development Journal, An Empirical Analysis, Impact of NGOs, Rural Development, Himachal Pradesh.