Published Paper Details:

ABSTRACT Gaon Panchayat for Reviving Indian Agriculture from COVID 19 Pandemic Devastation Dr. Khagen Das Assistant Professor Pub Kamrup College, Assam, India Email: khagendas77@gmail.com Agricultural sector is considered as the backbone of the rural Indian economy, because around 70% of the rural households in India still depend on agricultural sector for their livelihood. It contributes around 18 percent of India�s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and provides employment to 50 percent of the country�s workforce. But the occurrence of COVID 19 pandemic has devastated this key sector of rural economic development and brought new challenges. The reverse migration of labourers to the hinterlands, shortage of markets for agricultural products, etc; have created differentiated impact on agriculture across the country. While agricultural operations in the well endowed regions have suffered due to shortage of labour, the remote areas have received an excess supply of labourers. While some areas have suffered from the shortage of supply of food grains, some other areas have made remarkable loss due to lack of demand. It signifies the importance of undertaking of measures strategically for the development of agricultural sector as well as the Indian economy more particularly during post-COVID 19 situation. Recognizing the importance of agriculture and for reviving it, government of India has already announced huge financial package for agriculture and allied sector development. But mere funding from the govt. alone can not revive Indian agriculture. There must be people�s participation in the entire process agricultural policy formulation and implementation in an organized way which is possible only through Gaon Panchayat which is the grass root level organization of the process of democratic decentralization. The responsibility of the development of agriculture and allied sector has already been entrusted to the Gaon Panchayats by the 73rd amendment of the constitution of India. Gaon Panchayats of India can play strategic role in every sphere like labour productivity, marketing, credit, storage, etc. to revive the agriculture sector. In this context, this paper has attempted to throw light on the strategies that may be undertaken by the Gaon Panchayats to revive agricultural sector from COVID 19 pandemic devastation. Keywords: Gaon Panchayat, agriculture, development strategy