Creating development opportunities for rural development in India

The concept of rural development is quite comprehensive and extensive. Rural development is defined as “the development of rural areas, often rural development has meant the extension of irrigation facilities, expansion of electricity, improvement in the techniques of cultivation, construction of school building and provision of educational facilities, health care etc.”

71% of Indians live in rural areas. 89% have no access to telephones. 52% do not have access to power. 10% have no access to drinking water, 91% have no access to toilet facilities. Average distance to all weather roads is 2 km. 244 million rural people are “poor” V/s 80 million urban poor.

Integrated rural development is the systematic, scientific and integrated use of all our natural resources and as a part of this process enabling every person to engage himself in a productive and socially useful occupation and earn an income that would meet at least the basic needs.

The concept of integrated rural development addresses itself to various rural problems like widespread poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, exploitation, inequitable distribution of land, poor health conditions etc. It signifies that various facets of rural development are integrally connected.

Several studies show that infrastructure is indeed correlated to economic growth in rural areas also. Therefore infrastructure, which can be a driver of rural growth, is often not available in rural areas.

Provision of power and irrigation infrastructure in rural areas of India and Bangladesh has improved productivity, increased income and savings. Water and Sanitation infrastructure in rural Thailand has led to more jobs, better health, increased school attendance, tourism benefits.

Studies indicated government spending is one approach that can improve rural infrastructure and lead to economic and social growth. In keeping with this requirement the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act has been enacted to empower panchayats. Bharat Nirman Program has been introduced to provide infrastructure in rural areas. Over Rs. 186,900 Crores outlay planned in 2006 has been directed towards Bharat Nirman. Other schemes such as the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadhak Yojana for rural roads, the Accelerated Rural Water Supply Program for rural water and sanitation, the Rajiv Gandhi Vidyukranthi Yojana for rural electrification etc. have been introduced. To upgrade rural infrastructure, the Government has formulated a proposal for providing the road connections to more than 38,484 villages above 1000 population and all 20,867 habitations above 500 populations in hilly and tribal areas.

To achieve the targets of Bharat Nirman, 146,185 kms of road length was proposed to be constructed by 2009. This would benefit 66,802 unconnected eligible habitations in the country. To ensure full farm to market connectivity, it was also proposed to upgrade 194,132 kms of the existing Associated through Routes. A sum of approximately Rs.48000 crore is proposed to be invested to achieve this.

The main thrust of research and development in the roads sector is to build a sustainable road infrastructure comparable to the best roads in the world. The various components of this strategy are improvement in design, modernization of construction techniques, introduction of improved material conforming to latest trends, evolving better and appropriate specifications, encouraging development and use of new technologies etc. The research schemes sponsored by the Department are generally 'applied' in nature, which, once completed, would enable them to be adopted by user agencies/departments in their work in the field. The areas covered are roads, road transport, bridges, traffic and transportation techniques etc. The Department takes the help of various research institutions, academic institutions and universities to implement the schemes. 

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Created on Dec 31st 1969 18:00. Viewed 0 times.

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