The nature and magnitude of genetic divergence and character association were estimated in identified 205 core rice germplasm accessions (landraces) received from National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resource (NBPGR), New Delhi. A total of nineteen quantitative traits were measured at suitable stage of rice germplasm under rainfed condition. Core rice germplasm accessions were grouped in to 10 clusters. The utmost inter cluster distance varied from 6.653 to 2.903. The highest inter cluster distance observed between cluster VIII and cluster III (6.653) suggesting maximum variability among them. Highest mean shown by cluster IV viz. plant height (cm) and chlorophyll content (SPAD value), cluster VIII viz. ATR, cluster V and Cluster X viz. grain yield per plant (gm), mature panicle weight, cluster II viz. no. of tiller and no. of effective tillers and cluster VII indicating that largest mean for more character shown by cluster IV followed by cluster VIII. This indicates that these clusters could be utilized in the hybridization programme for obtaining desirable transgrassive segregants. The correlation coefficient of grain yield per plant (gm.) had positive and significant correlation (p<0.01) with days to 50% flowering (r = 0.2823), chlorophyll content (r = 0.2189), mature panicle weight (r = 0.9224), stem weight (r = 0.4417), panicle harvest index (r = 0.5123) but negative significant with ATR (r = 0.3607). The hybridization concerning genotypes belong to these clusters is expected to give desirable segregants in rice breeding programmes. On the basis of yield and by considering all desirable traits, the germplasm accessions were identified viz. IC 299924, IC 376408, IC 459645, IC 369301, IC 369303, IC 331148 and IC 580202 for diverse characters.