• A large number of cattle die in veterinary epidemics especially during rainy season because timely help cannot reach them.
• Water tankers cannot reach several thousand drought prone villages leading to migration of rural population in total despair.
• The public distribution system fails to penetrate to thousands of villages leading to malnutrition and infant mortality.
• Poor connectivity has a high correlation with high levels of illiteracy. Unemployment and poverty.
• Low levels of accessibility have deprived large number of villages from the equality of opportunity as compared to the urban population.

Till about two years ago hundreds of children were dying of malnutrition every year in the tribal area of Melghat in Maharashtra on the border of Madhya Pradesh. The major reason for this tragedy was the lack of accessibility to these tribal villages, preventing the delivery of food supplies and health care services in the vital rainy season.

All this has created an urban-rural divide with the resultant tensions between the urban and rural populace.

It must, however, be appreciated that the scenario is not equally bleak all over the country. While in some states, the level of connectivity is quite low, in some other states it is much better than average. Even in the same state, there are wide vaiations from district to district.

India is a country with predominantly agrarian economy. About 75 per cent of its population lives in 5.89 lakh villages. A reliable system of roads serving the rural areas is a basic requirement for:

• Socio-economic transformation.
• Breaking the isolation of village communities.
• Elimination of the disparity between rural and urban population and bringing about urban – rural integration.
• National integration.

The level of accessibility determines the extent of development and quality of life. Several studies have been carried out to determine the impact of connectivity on the life in the rural areas. The nine districts study carried out by the Government of