State of Agricultural Extension reforms in India and the need of convergence

Abstract

Extension reforms play a significant role in catalysing the extant policies and provisions that are af-fecting the extension service across India. Although the country has seen a series of reforms in the past seven decades, the changing contours of agriculture over the years demand new sets of inter-ventions and reform measures. Regimes in the past decades have brought a series of measures to strengthen the extension system. The present study found that the most of the reforms were concen-trated on a single theme and even the multiple reforms were overlapping with similar mandates. This resulted in poor performance and poor accessibility to the needy households. Moreover, during the pandemic the existing system reforms showed a fair amount of refinement. Therefore, the study high-lights the importance of convergence across common themes of various interventions brought in to enhance the extension services.