Almost 60 percent of those who live below the Empowerment Line in India derive most of their livelihood from agriculture. The problem is the fact that farm productivity is very low - for example, India's yield rates for rice and wheat is drastically lower than even BRICs country counterparts.

15 million youngsters enter the workforce every year, and more than 75 per cent are not job-ready. In fact, it is said that the present skilled workforce in India is only 2% and India will need 700 million skilled workers by 2022 to meet the demands of a growing economy.

There is a growing stress on India's limited supply for water, and in some areas, demand has outstripped supply. Ironically, those who are dependent on agriculture and living in poverty will suffer the most from India's water scarcity problem.

'For poor people especially, health is also a crucially important economic asset. Their livelihoods depend on it. When poor people become ill or injured, the entire household can become trapped in a downward spiral of lost income and high health-care costs.' World Health Organisation

Women are our key agents for rural develoment. They play a critcial role in transforming the economic, environmental and social landscape of communities.

But limited access to credit, income generating actvities and savings mechanisms mean they are often disempowered and confined to household duties.

It is well understood that the distribution of personal income in society is strongly related to the amount of education people have had in life. Generally speaking - more schooling means higher lifetime incomes.