As India is trying to achieve a growth rate of more than 8% during the 11th Plan period, infrastructure development in both rural and urban areas is vital. So far urban areas have been ahead and care should be taken to achieve development of infrastructure in rural areas on an equally large scale. Otherwise, the rural-urban imbalance will grow further, which is unjust and could undermine the very legitimacy of our governing institutions.

The report under review was prepared by the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), New Delhi. It builds on the foundation of previous reports, such as Government of India's 1996 India Infrastructure Report. The report examines the current status of rural infrastructure in four sectors: telecommunications, power, roads and transport and, water supply and sanitation. In India, the rural infrastructure is largely owned by Government. The report proposes a public-private partnership, advocates decentralisation and regulation of ownership, greater reliance on user fees to partially recover costs and greater use of microfinance. It makes policy recommendations regarding the mode of provision, amount and types of financing needed and the appropriate forms of governance and regulation.

Development of infrastructure is intimately linked with economic growth and success in poverty alleviation, the Report points out (chapter one). This linkage is important in rural areas because economic growth is slow and poverty is very high. But there are some obstacles to the expansion of infrastructure in rural areas because population and habitations are scattered and incomes are low. Objective of this report is to recommend ways and means of achieving universal coverage and universal access to the basic infrastructure in the villages and rural households.

Infrastructure: Foundation of Rural Development,infrastructure, report, Government, growth, achieve, poverty, regulation, economic, coverage, decentralisation, during, achieving, expansion, foundation, financing, governance, households, habitations, alleviation, incomes, imbalance, Infrastructure, institutions, intimately, microfinance, legitimacy, Objective, ownership, partnership, policy, prepared