Roads will lead to rural prosperity

"If I had money, I would use it to build roads. If I had more money, I would build more roads. If I had still more money, I would build still more roads." -- Robert Chambers.
Roads are the veins of a country. It is easy to overlook the contribution of Roads towards rural development. Perhaps it is because there are no direct results, although every other activity depends on it. And the other reason why politicians might not be willing to spend money on building roads is because this does not benefit the people directly (as subsities for agriculture/electricity do) and thus does not help in increasing their vote banks.
This article "Roads will lead to rural prosperity" suggest Roads as the most important driver for rural development, than any other thing (be it Education/Employment Generation Schemes/Subsidies). It also supports these with some research data. Following is an extract:-

For every million rupees spent, roads raised 335 people above the poverty line, and R&D 323. Every million rupees spent on education reduced poverty by 109 people, and on irrigation by 67 people. The lowest returns came from subsidies that are the most popular with politicians - subsidies on credit (42 people), power (27 people) and fertilisers (24 people).

It's good to notice that the article ends with writing that the Indian Government has understood this idea and there are visible changes. Notable are the following schemes in practice towards this goal:-
a. PMSY (Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana)
b. Bharat Nirman Project
c. NHAI (National Highways authority of India) involved in the construction of the Golden Quadrilateral.