Community ophthalmology is as important as practice of clinical ophthalmology. Community ophthalmology deals the part of ophthalmology which is meant for identifying common causes of ocular morbidity in different regions, assessing the needs of the population, selecting appropriate intervention strategies, planning education programmes and analysing the utilisation patterns. Community ophthalmology denotes the use of appropriate strategies to reduce the burden of eye diseases in the community and the consequences of ocular ill health, while striving to ensure the best possible ocular health status for a major proportion of the community. Community-based services do not mean that institutional care is being downgraded. Institutions will always be central to the success of community-directed programme. The rational for practising community ophthalmology has been pointed in the text portion.