Human Development Index: Is Rural Development an important marker?

India being the second most populated country after China, with a population of 1.34 billion people, has an approximate figure of 70% of its people living in 6,38,000 villages. This rural population includes people who are basically concerned about their small business that they own. The rural society mainly consists of farmers, potters, barbers, blacksmith, small traders who are happy with whatever they earn out of their hardship. They do not have any future planning and savings. They do not have the knowledge about the various schemes and projects introduced for their benefit. Their life is simple and the relation among them and their fellow villagers are friendly and personal. Even though, we being the urban flocks, envy the lifestyle of rural people and love to spend luxurious time in villages because of its open space environment and charming nature, but eventually it is the money, dreams, desires and broad thinking that lures even the village flocks to cities.

The villages in India being simple, people highly respect their elders and their words are a final verdict to them. This sometimes does not allow them to put forward their view even if something wrong is happening. The people there are superstitious and still follow their dogmatic beliefs and customs. Early marriages leading to early birth of a child, no birth control measures, high Infant mortality rate or maternal mortality rate, little or no education to girl child, dowry system, no say of woman in family matters, patriarchal society, following the parental business are some of the disadvantages of villages life.

Cleanliness and sanitation are also some indicators that highlights the lack or the necessity of it in rural India. According to a survey the entire Indian population has greater access to mobile phones than toilets. For instance, in India majority of the girls drop out of school because of lack of toilets. Even though, government spend a huge sum of money in the rural development, the ones responsible for implementing the measures and programmes, does not let it happen. This either develops a ‘creamy layer’ concept where the benefits and grants are enjoyed by the privileged few or sometimes the money is pocketed by the bureaucrats.

There is another problem of illiteracy which is further reiterated by increasing school drop out rates. A large number of children are engaged in agriculture as they have too many mouths to feed and too little resources.

Now, even though government has been putting in a lot of efforts in rural development areas by taking the following measures:

1.    Connecting villages and cities via proper road.

2. Educating villagers about the importance of elementary hygiene and scientific method of cultivation by means of mass media.

3. Electricity has made its presence felt in the rural areas.

4. Shallow tube wells for irrigation systems are now scattered all over the villages, fertilizers are also within easy reach of the farmers.

5. Building up hospitals and educating them about the importance of regular checkups.

6.    By means of rural banking they help the villagers to setup their business and give them other financial assistance.

This all is done by the gram sevaks in the simplest way ,villagers can understand. Now that the rural people are dreaming of a higher position in their lives, educating their children, promoting girls education, sending them to cities for their higher studies and jobs, following a proper routine of health and hygiene. They are connected with the latest updates about agriculture and ways to improve their crop yield and finding out ways to sell their crop at bestest price. Still there is a lot that is to be done. Realizing that there can be no improvement in the country’s development without improving the villages, many steps have been taken up by the government of India. For the development of the rural section of India, a special ministry i.e. the Ministry of Rural Development exist which plays a pivotal role in the overall development strategy of the rural India. The vision and mission of the Ministry is sustainable and inclusive growth of rural India through a multi pronged strategy for eradication of poverty by increasing livelihood opportunity, providing social safety net and developing infrastructure for growth.

There are many schemes operated by the Ministry of Rural Development in rural areas which include:

1. Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) which aims at enhancing livelihood security by providing at least one hundred days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to every rural household whose adult members volunteers to do unskilled manual work. This scheme notified on September 7, 2005 has shown an average growth rate of 7% per annum in nominal terms. And this year our finance minister Mr. Arun Jaitley has announced allocation of Cr. 48000/- for MGNREGA, the highest ever since the inception of the scheme.

2. National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) for self employment and skill development.

3. Indira Awass Yojana (IAY) a housing programme for the backward class in rural areas  by providing them with properly built and well lit houses with no contractors or Government departments or any organization engaged for the construction of dwelling units under IAY.

4. Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna (PMGSY) for construction of quality roads. It being launched on 25th December 2000 as a fully funded Centrally Sponsored Scheme to provide all weather road connectivity in rural areas of country involves construction of 1,46,185 kms of rural roads. In addition to new connectivity, up gradation and renewal of 1, 94,130 kms of existing rural roads is in line. This has not only helped the farmers to sell their products in cities, but also has helped students to go and study in nearby develop districts, if not cities and also has helped common villagers to connect to hospitals and other such places of emergencies.

5. National Social Assistance Program (NSAP) for social pension.

6. Integrated Watersheds Management Program (IWMP) for improving the productivity of land.

7. DIKSHA a training portal wherein we get training regarding the various schemes for Rural Development like MGNREGA, IAY, TSC, etc.

Other than this various programmes are introduced for the development of land resources like:

1.      Desert Development Program (DDP)

2.      Draught Prone Area Program (DPAP)

3.      Investment Promotional Scheme (IPS)

4.      Technology Development Extension and Training (TDET).

All this can be put into a systematic order by apprising and educating the villagers about all the schemes and benefits the government has introduced for them.

Timely training and workshops to be held which will provide help for the villagers to know about the latest updates about the scheme introduced for them and also it will help the villagers to expand their vision, outlook and their dreams. Nevertheless, one must not forget the role of schooling in the scheme of things, to educate the rural population about the indicators and means of development.This, then must hierarchically move to the higher institutions and colleges to empower the villagers and the underprivileged in the true sense.

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