Present study analyse irrigation, agriculture and level of living in the districts of Orissa. District wise scenario of irrigation, agriculture and living standard were revealed with the help of different indexes developed for the study, which are groundwater development index, irrigation coverage index, composite irrigation index, agricultural development index,Level of living index and poverty ration index. Balasore, Bargarh, Bhadrak, Cuttack, Ganjam, Jajpur and Puri districts show higher irrigation and agriculture development. While Deogarh, Dhenkanal, Kandhamal, Malkangiri, Nawapara, Raygarh and Sundargarh districts show lower irrigation and agriculture development. Groundwater development index values of 25 districts are found low to very low. Half of the districts show medium agricultural development index values; while level of living is found at medium level in majority of the districts. About 60% of rural families below poverty line comprise of agricultural labourers, marginal and small farmers. The study delineated the links and/or missing links between irrigation resources, agriculture development, poverty and level of living in the districts of Orissa, which is understood through a correlation matrix. Agricultural development index is significantly related with composite irrigation index, while level of living is significantly related with irrigation, agriculture and poverty indices. The regression analyses revealed that 71% variation in agricultural development index is explained by composite irrigation index

Keyword: Ground water development;