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In this era of information and communication, in a country like India where more than 75% of population live in rural areas, radio is the cheapest medium available in almost all families for entertainment and education.

A community radio (CR), in essence is a type of radio service that caters to the interests of a certain area, broadcasting material that is popular to a local audience but is overlooked by more powerful broadcast groups. It is usually established by the efforts of a specific community, operated by the community and for the community’s welfare. Radio can play an effective role in promoting social change.  Community radio station is one that is operated in the community, for the community, about the community and by the community.  It can play a very important role in bringing about social change. It covers all developmental and rights based issues, and can help to sustain the diversity of the local cultures and languages. It is an effort towards bottom-up approach to address specific requirements or rural Indian population. An attempt has been made to know the profile characteristics of krishi community radio listening farm women, awareness of farm women about FM krishi community radio and to study the usefulness of krishi community radio programmes as perceived by farm women.

As rural populations decrease, so does the agricultural work force. In Europe and North America, agriculture now represents about 5% of the work force. In Africa and Asia, it is expected that the number of agricultural workers will have decreased from nearly 70% of the population in the 1980s to barely 50% by 2015 (Crop life International, 2010). The events of the past few years have highlighted the vulnerability of global food security to major shocks – both in the global agricultural markets and in the world economy. The food price crisis and the ensuing economic crisis reduced the purchasing power of large segments of the population in many developing countries, severely curtailing their access to food and thus undermining their food security. “We estimate that in 2012 there will be over a million children suffering from severe acute malnutrition – what’s important to know is that malnutrition can kill,” UNICEF’s Director of Emergency Programmes, Louis-Georges Arsenault, said in a news release. “We need more resources to really scale up our response before it becomes too late and too many lives are lost.” Sahel and other regions in the Horn of Africa are facing severe food crisis (UN, 2012). In such a condition, to feed the hungry mouths of the world, agriculture needs to be more modern and decisions should be information and knowledge based and not instinct-based. Information and communication technology has a great role to play here.

Indian dairy sector has made significant progress over the last few decades. Despite three decades of cooperative movement in India, however, a large proportion of milk and milk products in India continues to be marketed through the ‘informal or unorganized sector’. Although the share of organized market has steadily increased over the last few decades, the informal sector comprising middlemen, private milk traders and direct sale from producer to consumer, still accounts for nearly 80 percent of existing milk marketing pattern in the country. Milk contributes more to the national economy than any other farm commodity more than 10.5 billion dollars in 1994-95 (Dairy India 1997). In the context of poverty and malnutrition, milk has a special role to play for its many nutritional advantages as well as providing supplementary income to some 70 million farmers in over 500,000 remote villages (Dairy India 1997).  In their study, Datta and Ganguly (2002) reported that if the current growth continues for the next twenty years (the nation has been growing at a rate between 5 and 7 percent over past five years), milk consumption is likely to more than double by 2020. So above the discussion drives us to analyse the marketing behaviour of dairy farmers.

The study area, Tamilnadu, was selected purposively and out of seven agro-ecological zones in Tamil Nadu, western region has been selected purposively as it highest share in both the bovine population and milk production in the state. And both organized and unorganized milk marketing system working in this zone with largest number of milk plants.

India has the second largest concentration of tribal population after African continent. The tribal population of India is more than 8 per cent of the total population (Anonymous 2001). However, in Maharashtra it is over 9 per cent of the state population. Among the tribal community Bhil community is the largest tribal population in Maharashtra. They live in compact areas, which are generally hilly and undulating terrain. The Bhil are primarily farmers, though they are said to be hunters since the past. Poor condition of soil, small holdings, poor resources and economic condition, traditional methods of agriculture do not provide them a regular and continuous sustenance throughout the year as such they have to depend on other subsidiary sources of earning.

Most of the tribal communities have to live under a difficult economy; the ways of their livelihood are limited and work very hard to get a bare subsistence. Thus, the tribal children from their early age are burdened with a number of economic duties, obligations and they can hardly be spared for school. Proportion of dropout is also higher among tribal children. In fact most of the tribal youth and school going children participate in farming and looking after the economic demands of the family.

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable man tries to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”     
- George Bernard Shaw

Generating productive and sustainable employment for growing populations is a challenge faced by many developing countries in Asia. In India, the daunting numbers further compounds the task. Approximately 65% of the country’s billion plus population is below the age of 45. The Tenth Five-Year Plan (2002-2007) has estimated that India’s labour force will increase faster than the ability of the economy to create new working opportunities. The average growth rate of employment in India, which stayed above 2% per annum during the 80s and the early part of the 90s, fell to only 1.1% in the late 90s. The country is adding 2 million young people to the ranks of the unemployed every year. The Plan document estimates that open unemployment could be as high as 5% at the end of the Tenth Plan period, from 2.8% at present. This is likely to entail tremendous costs, including social unrest and isolation. India’s planners have set the country a goal to create 100 million employment opportunities over the next 10 years.

A large portion of India’s population lives in the villages where still against many odds smaller units of village industry sector are struggling for survival. Abject poverty, no year round employment avenues, poor access to basic infrastructure, market, illiteracy and small holdings are few among tangible features of rural India. Desai (2007) has high lighted that poor infrastructural facilities in rural segments has been one of the factor holding back rural industrilisation in India.

On the other hand with liberalisation and globalisation of economy and the removal of quantitative restrictions the khadi & village industries including agro based industries are facing stiff competition. The situation has ultimately resulted in continuous migration of unemployed rural youth to nearby urban areas. Very few among immigrated rural youth are getting absorbed due to mechanisation in urban industries, leaving others in distress. Gopu (2007) viewed that unbridled growth of industries in urban areas has accented the regional disparities in India. Despite planned industrialisation efforts in the country agriculture remains largest industry or major occupation providing employment to 65 per cent of rural work force. In this, situation, expansion of rural industrialisation can play a vital role in abating distress migration and create employment opportunities to rural youth.

Agriculture is the main stay for majority for people in India for their livelihood as 55 per cent of population depends directly or indirectly depends on the agriculture. The farmers still follow the traditional farming system and practices. Food grain crops are dominating in the cropping pattern. The share of commercial crops in cropping pattern though rising is not significant. The condition of the farmers is such that they have lost interest in farming. The new generation has no interest and is away from farming. The new generation does not consider farming as profession and they treat it is traditional activities and family tradition. The present generation thinks that the farming system is not capable to provide a life, therefore, they are diverting from agriculture to other profession. The major problem for rural youth is non-availability of self-employment options except farming in Rural India. Therefore, rural youth are either migrating to urban area or becoming the causal labor.
 
In order to keep the rural youth in agriculture, there is dire need to create the employment opportunities in rural area. In rural area, agriculture is the major primary source of employment. In such condition, development of agriculture based entrepreneurship is the best option to keep the rural youth in agriculture. A number of agriculture based enterprises can be promoted. By introducing elements of entrepreneurship in farm business, the farming community will be able to combine land, labour and capital in right proportions.

The Government of Tamilnadu has taken a number of progressive measures on water resources and irrigation management, particularly through the Bank -assisted Tamil Nadu Water Resources Consolidation Project (WRCP) which was closed in September 2004 with a satisfactory rating. Now the Tamilnadu Government has decided to implement a project for the modernization of the Traditional Irrigation systems in Tamil Nadu with loan assistance from World Bank. The World Bank has also come forward to assist the Tamilnadu Government’s proposal. Under the World Bank funded project of “Irrigated Agriculture Modernisation and Water Resources Management” (WRCP - II) about 17 River sub basins have been selected and proposed to be taken up under the control of Water Resources organisation Wing of Public Works Department of Tamilnadu. The Varahanadhi sub basin is one among the seventeen. Accordingly this ‘IAMWARM’ Project report for the modernization of the irrigation systems of Varahanadhi Sub Basin has been prepared. The very objective of this project is to attain maximum productivity from farm lands, for which serious attention is required to modernise the existing irrigation structures, anicuts, canal systems and tanks in order to make them functionally more effective, conserve and utilise the available water from catchment area for optimum use.

Though gender is universally one of the key ways in which societies and culture allocate rights and responsibilities, yet the different roles of women and men in agriculture production have frequently been ignored in research and extension activities. Farming is a family enterprise involving both men and women. The role of women and their involvement is more important in production, processing and storage of grains and vegetables. Women in India constitute nearly half of its population and have a strong influence on the growth of the remaining half of population.

Krishi Vigyan Kendra imparted learning through work experience and concerned with technical literacy. Krishi Vigyan Kendra imparted training to practicing farm women. The Krishi Vigyan Kendra of Gandhigram Rural Institute was established in July 1989 specifically to cater the needs of the peasants of the Dindigul district.  Inspite of these efforts, there exist a wide gap-between the availability of production technologies and adoption of those technologies. Evaluation of training programmes organised for farm women would provide an understanding of their effectiveness so as to improve them. Hence, a study was undertaken to assess the training needs, appropriate season, venue, type, frequency, duration and method of training in paddy crop as perceived by the respondents.

Youth in India had been at the forefront of the nation’s struggle for freedom and development. There are over one billion youth in the world today. Eighty five per cent of these youth live in the developing world and around 50 per cent of the population with in developing countries live in rural areas. According to 2001 census, more than 40 per cent of the total population is between the age group of 15 to 35 which is considered as “youth” by the Government of India. Out of which, 73 per cent resides in the rural areas (Anonymous 2001). Unfortunately rural youth of today are counted among the most disadvantaged groups of society. Because of rapid population growth, widespread unemployment inadequate health, poor education, migration, lower family income and lacking adequate opportunity at farm level had led the rural youth in continued stress of self esteem and self confidence. Youth empowerment is an attitudinal, structural and cultural process whereby young people gain the ability, authority and agency to make decisions and implement change in their own lives and the lives of other people. Youth are the present and the future of humanity.

The livelihoods of millions of rural households in the semi-arid areas depend mainly on natural resources such as soil, rainwater, vegetation, livestock and the like. The major source of livelihood in these areas solely depends on the arrival, distribution and cessation of monsoons, which are erratic and ill distributed. However, management of natural resources like soil and vegetation in a way that these are used to optimally to produce maximum output. This requires new knowledge, better skills and improved management strategies. In this context, building the capacity of the rural households particularly the youth holds key to improving productivity and profitability ot the enterprise. Keeping these in view, the National Agricultural Innovation Project (NAIP) sub project on “Sustainable Rural Livelihoods through Enhanced Farming Systems Productivity and Efficient Support Systems in Rainfed Areas” being implemented by a consortium led by CRIDA has introduced several interventions aimed at involving rural youth right from the beginning of the project.  The project is being implemented in eight backward districts (Adilabad, Anantapur, Kadapa, Khammam, Mahabubngar, Nalgonda, Rangareddy and Warangal) of Andhra Pradesh in selected clusters of villages.

The progress and prosperity of a nation depends to a large extent on well trained and disciplined youth. The youth of today are the adults of tomorrow and farm families of the future. More than half of the India’s population is below 35 years of age. Majority of these young people live in village where they do not have adequate opportunities for vocational training and formal schooling. This vast youth population has limitless energy and enthusiasm. The proper chanalization of this energy for constructive work can make India one of the most developed and prosperous nations of the world. Youth are the future of India, it is therefore, essential to harness them in an organized manner to build up the backbone of the country. If they are given good training they grow up as individuals-physically, mentally and morally capable of playing their full part as adult members of our welfare society.

Youth, defined as those who belong to the age group of 13-35 in the National Youth policy 2003 of India, is considered to be the most vital segment of the population. Across the globe youth is being treated as an asset for a country’s development and enormous investment is being made to develop the human capital. The challenge of nations like India with ‘Youth Bulge’ in their population is to channelize the energy into positive and creative development process. Youth in the 21st Century aspires for a just global order,  They are looking for democratic process in all spheres of life, whether it is education, employment or decision making.  The issues and concerns of youth are fast changing in tune with the technological innovations.

Youth constitute a numerically dominant potential, resourceful and adventurous segment of the population in India. The share of population between age group 0-14 years dropped from 43% in 1971 to 41% in 1981, however the share of population age 65 has been fairly stable at 3% since 1971. In 1991, youth population in India with the age group of 15 to 35 years was around 31 per cent (246 millions) of the total population.  Out of this total youth population, 20 per cent (53 millions) were urban youth, while the remaining 80 per cent (211 million) were rural (Shivalingaiah, 1995). According to 2001 census, India had a total youth population of 347 millions (i.e. 35.2 per cent of the total population), out of which, about 70 per cent were rural youth and the remaining 30 per cent were urban youth. Since major segment of this population are being lived in the rural areas, they are considered as the nation builders of tomorrow. This important section of the rural population can respond to the needs of country only if they are offered fruitful opportunities for growing up as useful citizens. Today unemployment is a major problem among the rural youth which forced them to migrate from rural areas to urban areas. Indian villages are, therefore undergoing major transformation causing perceptible changes in aspirations of the rural masses, especially the youth. These aspects have been dealt in greater detail in some papers (Sharma, 2006).

Today around 25% of rural population in India are between the age group of 15 and 29 (2001 Census).  The Tenth Five-Year Plan (2002-2007) has estimated that India's labour force will increase faster than the ability of the economy to create new working opportunities. The country is adding 2 million young people to the ranks of the unemployed every year. The Plan document estimates that open unemployment could be as high as 5% at the end of the Tenth Plan period, from 2.8% at present.  This is likely to entail tremendous costs, including social unrest and dislocation resulting with large number of youth are unemployed or underemployed.
 
In India and in many developing countries the majority of the work force is employed in agriculture. However, stagnating agricultural productivity and rural environmental degradation have made agriculture a last option.  As the environment on which their livelihoods depend becomes more and more degraded, rural youth face diminished prospects of employment.  Not only do these youth lack income, they lack a means of gaining respect and a sense of belonging in their communities.  Unable to find decent employment, youth often look for employment in the urban informal sector, with poor working conditions and pay.  But without training in skills suited to the rural labour market, these youth have few opportunities in rural areas.  Inadequately trained to compete successfully in rural labour markets, they often suffer worse levels of poverty and marginalization in rural areas.

Indian agriculture is at demographic, ecological, economic and technological cross-roads. Demographically, nearly 70% of the population is below 35 years in age and 70% of them live in rural areas.  Within the next few decades, India will have the world's largest number of young people looking for employment.  Ecologically the basic life support systems of land, water, forests, biodiversity and climate are in distress and the population supporting capacity of major ecosystems is being exceeded in most parts of the country. India's ecological debt and Nature Deficit Disorder are growing. Economically, the cost-risk-return structure of farming is becoming adverse, with the result that over 40% of today's farmers would like to quit farming, if they had another livelihood option. Technologically, there is a serious mismatch between production and post-harvest technologies. Also, there is no nationally agreed policy towards the technological transformation of agriculture, involving farm mechanization and frontier technologies like recombinant DNA technology and nano-technology.

Youth of today are the hopes of tomorrow.  They are the backbone of a country.  Youth reflect the national potentiality and represent the life blood of a nation. The future of the country lies in their hands.  What they will become, what they will do, what role they will play in the free democratic society, will depend, to a greater extent, on the period between childhood and adulthood.  They are the most potent segment of the population of a country. It is they who are to shoulder responsibility for the future development of the country.

The socio-economic development and prosperity of the rural areas depends, to a considerable extent, on the type of the youth the country side has, because the rural youth have abilities to orient themselves to go along the main stream of the development process.  The youth, a bulk of total population of the country, are the national cream and the future crown with full possession of physical built and mental tenacity and power. They are the precious human assets who can play an important role in nation building activities if opportunities are provided.  If a country can harness a creative and pervasive force like youth, it can substantially and quickly advance towards modernization. Youth are the nation builders of tomorrow. They are not only carriers of new ideas and are more receptive to new ideas, ready to bear risk and willing to work as a Team.

The Agriculture sector is by far the largest employer amongst all the major sectors employing roughly half of available workforce. At the same time, agriculture is the smallest sectoral contributor to the GDP. It is ironical that the most important requirement of human being, which is the bulk of agriculture farm produce, is largely considered to be an unrewarding sector in the nation.

Though the Indian agriculture has made significant strides in the course of the last 50 years of planned development, still the farmers today are facing the consequences of host of challenges, namely dependence of monsoon, declining size of land holdings, degradation of soil & water resources, declining investment of public sectors on agriculture. So farmers are increasingly getting indebted and temptation to sell their farm land  for non-farm purposes is growing. Over 45 per cent of farmers want to quit farming says a survey conducted by National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO).

Agricultural land is still a great source of income. But the practice of unsustainable methods and improper resource management leading to successive crop failures that make agriculture non- profitable and highly  risky.  So, the interest of youth in agriculture has been declining. While most developing countries are still experiencing high population growth rates, the youth are migrating in significant numbers to urban areas. The younger generation does not consider farming as a profession and they treat it as traditional activities of their family. The farm youth think that the farming system is not capable to provide a life, therefore they are diverting from agriculture to other profession.

While on one hand, more than 25 per cent of rural population in India is between 15 and 29 years of age, on the other, very little demographic dividend in agriculture is being derived. Unable to find decent employment, youth often look for employment in the urban informal sector, with poor working conditions and pay. But without training in skills suited to the urban labour market, these youth have few opportunities in the urban areas. Inadequately trained to compete successfully in urban labour market, they often suffer varying levels of poverty and marginalization in towns than in rural areas. In rural areas, if young farmers do not replace the ageing farmers, it will result in problems related to food security. For young people to take to agriculture, farming must be personally satisfying, mentally challenging, socially acceptable and economically rewarding. However, field reality is something different.

The world is changing rapidly and education is facing new challenges as we move into the 21st century. For Extensionist, this means new approaches to teaching and learning are needed. Futurist John Naisbitt (1994) predicts that as structured employment opportunities decline, entrepreneurial skills will become necessary for the rural youth to compete. Additionally, acquiring skills and attitudes necessary for the youth can be achieved through youth entrepreneurship programs (Cox, 1998)

There is a challenge to convert ideas into policy and then into action to put in programmes aimed at helping the future farmers of the world.  According to UN report , Youth as a target group is not a major policy priority of most governments in developing countries. This review illustrates that youth are only occasionally visible in policy related documents.  Hazelman  (2008) emphasized based on lessons from case studies made by FAO in Asia and the Pacific,  highlighted  the importance of having a clear national policy relating to rural youth; building and utilizing youth networks and partnerships at the national, regional and international levels; organizing youth into youth-led organizations that are active and have strong leadership together with competent and committed advisors, with projects and activities that address youth and community needs; and giving priority and attention to education and training opportunities for continued learning and human-capacity building.

The World is a home to more than one billion young people aged between 15 and 24 years.  Many are unable to fulfil their potentional because of poverty, hunger, poor health and lack of education. As a result, they lack the skills needed to gain employment, with rural youth typically, but often fruitlessly migration in search of economic opportunities. However, given support and opportunities for gainful employment, young people have the potential to play a significant role in agriculture.

India has a big advantage as more than half of its population is below 30 years of age.  Indian agriculture will receive a big boost if the country takes advantage of its young population and encourage them into farm sector by making it lucrative.  It is necessary to launch a Youth for Agricultural Transformation Movement in rural India. Youth can provide demand driven services such as farm health monitoring and marketing of biological software essential for sustainable agriculture, climate-risk management, organization  of bio-parks, food parks, bio-village, bio-industrial watersheds and improved post-harvesting technology. Educated rural youth can establish Village Knowledge Centres (VKVs) to provide information at right time to farmers. Home Science graduates can establish nutrition clinics to help hidden hunger through appropriate local grains and vegetables (Swaminathan, M.S.). Why Youth in Agriculture?