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Poverty in rural India declined from 42% in 2004-05 to 26% in 2011-12, says yet another government-commissioned report that also finds that nearly half of the rural families rely on non-farm employment as a major source of income. The report, brought out by the IDFC Foundation in collaboration with the CESS (Centre for Economic and Social Studies) and the IGIDR (Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research), also finds that poverty is markedly higher among scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, who together constituted 44% of the rural poor in 2009-10.It also says that only 18% of rural households have access to all three basic services—drinking water, sanitation and electricity. About 20% of the rural poor did not have access to any of these. Releasing the report, rural development minister Mr Jairam Ramesh, whose ministry commissioned it, said the report aimed to capture the current status of rural dynamics, and the economic, social and institutional changes transforming the rural landscape of the country.