Rural Development

When this term Rural comes, I feel more excited to describe it. I belong to a Rural village where I spent most of my childhood. In my days I didn’t witness much development in my area but gradually the focus of the government changes as they focused to build a robust Rural Economy. History says people of the Rural are innocent, trustworthy, etc. So why there are so little development? Actually, This answer will be a never-ending argument but sometimes we ignore this and pass on to the next topic. In Villages people live with we-feelings, joining in every ritual irrespective of their caste. They don’t feel poor or rich.  I have seen villagers carrying pregnant women with wooden beds for her treatment to nearby hospitals which is farther than 50km. This kind of incident always reminds me of my dream to help them. Gradually things are changing at least now governments are recruiting ASHA didi and building Anganwadi center and sanctioning more ANM projects. A normal person can imagine rural villages in different ways as per geography. With introducing AEPS(Adhar Enable Payment System) banking facilities are in their doorstep. People no need to travel to a bank to deposit or withdraw money. They can do this with a simple adhar card. So the solution to my earlier question is innovation. Central governments CSR schemes which say every company will mandatorily spend 2% of the company profit  for CSR activities. By this many companies have adopted many villages and transformed it to modern villages. I am not saying all rural villages are picture-perfect in our country but by innovation and proper utilization of schemes, we can change it.

Rural development is the process of improving the quality of life and economic well-being of people living in rural areas. So the role of a social worker is to reach out to these villages and do a case study and submit a report to a good NGO which then translates to development. Today’s there are hundreds of NGOs working for these rural villages. They primarily focus to transform these villages. So development is not always hardcore it is a mixing reality like education, skill development, Rojgar, renewable energy, etc. Now, these terms are a reality to these Rural Villages. Solar pumps and Solar lights are common in rural villages. So this says developments are undergoing.

The main problems I think is migration, people migrate to the city for a job and the remaining people don’t have the strength to fight with the local administration and which leads to disaster. When young talented youth will remain in villages and help their parents in Agriculture then I guarantee this will be a significant impact to boost our GDP. Agriculture loans are not very hard to get, even landless farmer can get Loan up to RS 50000.00 from any Nationalized Bank. So my point is when you have money in your hand then you will educate your children and then when education comes to our society then the darkness of blind beliefs will vanish. This will translates to skill development and governments have developed DIC,KVIC in every district to train these rural young stars. And with this training and support from Bank, these young stars will translate the geography of our Rural villages. Microfinance also plays a significant role in uplifting the rural economy but they charge more interest which again creates a misery to them.

Lets discuss what are the Objectives of Rural Developments:

Objectives of Rural Development

1. Development of agriculture and allied activities.

2. Development of village and cottage industries and handicrafts.

3. Development of socio-economic infrastructure which includes setting up of rural banks, co-operatives, schools etc.

4.Development of community services and facilities i.e. drinking water, electricity, rural roads, health services etc

5.Development of Human resource mobilization.

Government Schemes of Rural Entrepreneurship in India:

1.     Entrepreneurship Development Institution Scheme

2.      Rajiv Gandhi Udyami Mitra Yojana (RGUMY)

3.     Performance and Credit Rating Scheme (Implemented through NSIC)

4.      Product Development, Design Intervention, and Packaging (PROTIP)

5.     Provision of Urban Amenities to Rural Areas(PURA)

6.     Khadi Karigar Janashree Bima Yojana for Khadi Artisans

Innovative Ideas for Rural Development in India:

1.      Utilization of Local Resources: For example: If there are water resources like rivers and tanks nearby the villages, in summer itself, arrangements must be made to tap this resource by removing slit in the tanks, constructing new reservoirs, ponds, canals and simultaneously strengthening the existing ones, so that the water cannot go waste. Similarly, if there are any mines like iron, coal, and granites, they should be excavated so that local the population can be provided employment.

2.      Establishment of Rural Industries: All the village industries come under the following broad categories:

a). Agro-Based Industries: Sugar industries, Jaggery, Oil processing from oilseeds, Pickles,  Fruit juice, Spices, Dairy products etc.

b). Forest-Based Industries: Wood products, Bamboo products, Honey, Coir industry, making eating plates from leaves.

c). Mineral-based industry: Stone crushing, Cement industries, Red oxide making, wall coating powders, etc.

d). Textile Industry: Spinning, Weaving, Colouring,,and Bleaching.

e). Engineering and Services: Tractors and Pump set repairs etc. Small and medium-sized industries to produce agricultural machinery, equipment for usage in rural areas, etc.

f). Handicrafts: These include the making of wooden or bamboo handicrafts that are local to that area, traditional decorative products, toys, and all other forms of handicrafts typical to the region.

4.         There are a wide range of services including mobile repair, agriculture machinery servicing, etc which are being undertaken under this category.

5.      Startups: They are entrepreneurial ventures, which are newly emerged businesses aim to meet marketplace need, want or problem by developing a viable business model around products, services, processes, or platforms. For example Agriculture, Supply Chain, Trading in Agricultural produce, Processing Agricultural produces, Fisheries - Both Culture and Trading, Rural Micro Finance, Rural Health - Rural Primary Health Cared and Rural Education etc.

Finally, We could do a lot more to develop our Rural Villages. We could transform these villages to modern villages by simply adopting some changes. Through Education, we could create awareness amongst them. With some help from NGO we could help the needy to get back their rights.