Paper 2 – Section C – Social Changes in India:
(i) Visions of Social Change in India:
(a) Idea of development planning and mixed economy.
(b) Constitution, law and social change.
(c) Education and social change.
(ii) Rural and Agrarian transformation in India:
(a) Programmes of rural development, Community Development Programme, cooperatives, poverty alleviation schemes.
(b) Green revolution and social change.
(c) Changing modes of production in Indian agriculture .
(d) Problems of rural labour, bondage, migration.
INTRODUCTION
According to UN, rural development is a process which leads to a continuous rise in the capacity of the rural people to control their environment accompanied by a wider distribution of benefits resulting from such control. Robert Chambers opined that rural development is a strategy to enable a specific group of people, poor rural women and men, to gain for themselves and their children more of what they want and need. It involves helping the poorest among those who seek a livelihood in the rural areas to demand and control more of the benefits of the rural development. The group also includes small scale farmers, tenants and the landless. According to World Bank rural development is a strategy designed to improve the economic and social life of a specific group of people by extending the benefits of development to the poorest among those who seek livelihood in the rural areas.
RELEVANCE OF THE TOPIC
In India, out of total population of 121 crores, 83.3 crores live in rural areas (Census of India, 2011). Thus, nearly 70 per cent of the India’s population lives in rural areas. These rural populations can be characterised by mass poverty, low levels of literacy and income, high level of unemployment, and poor nutrition and health status. In order to tackle these specific problems, a number of rural development
programmes are being implemented to create opportunities for improvement of the quality of life of these rural people. The term “rural development‟ is the overall development of rural areas to improve the quality of life of rural people.
APPROACHES OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT IN INDIA
i. Rural Development Projects and Programmes:
Rural development projects are micro level efforts to bring about desirable changes in rural areas. However, rural development programmes involve a large number of projects which are aligned to one another, so that; they affect various facts of rural economic and social life.
ii. Community Development Programme:
The community development programme initiated in the year 1952 made an attempt to increase involvement of rural people in development process. It laid emphasis on building of infrastructure in rural areas with the active involvement of people through organizational set up of National Extension Services.
iii. Package Approach:
In order to increase agricultural production per se in the country, this approach was adopted. Popularly known as package programme, emphasis was given on application of all improved practices, such as seeds, fertilizers, irrigation, plant protection measures and use of improved agricultural implements.
iv. Area Approach:
In this approach, specific areas were targeted for development initiatives. The areas which needs specific attention for certain problems to tackle were selected in this approach. The Drought Prone Area Programme (DPAP), Command Area Development Programme (CADP) are some of the major initiatives under this approach.
v. Target Approach:
The poor, unprivileged section of the society deprived of the benefits from package programme, were selected under this approach. The Small Farmers Development Agency (SFDA), Marginal Farmers and Agricultural Labourers (MFAL) were some of the programmes under this approach.
vi. Integrated Rural Development:
The rural economy and social structure in most of the developing countries is characterised by widespread poverty, poor health conditions, illiteracy, exploitation, inequitable distribution of land and other assets and lack of rural infrastructure and public utility. Therefore, the problem requires an approach that will take into account all these factors in devising a comprehensive strategy to foster development in rural areas.
vii. Grass Root Level Approach or Local Level Participation in Rural Development:
There is a paradigm shift of approach in rural development in recent times. The efforts are more people-centric and situation specific. It is because of the fact that the problem of the rural areas varies with the situation to situation and problems need to be solved locally using available resources.
KEY ISSUES IN RURAL ECONOMY
- According to the latest reports by the World Bank, it is estimated that the poverty rates in India will increase to 12% ( approximately ) due to COVID-19.
- In India, many poor communities are isolated due to bad road conditions, inadequate transport, and lack of mobile communication services. Bad connectivity causes many other problems for rural people.
- Even the villages that are electrified are not getting quality power and estimation shows that 33% of villages are under electrification. They only have access to less than 50kWh of electricity per month.
- Water causes a majority of health diseases. Inadequate or impure water supply is an issue in most rural areas these days.
- In 2015, the youth literacy rate in India was 90.2% while the adult literacy rate in India was 74.04% in 2011. In India, there is a wide gender gap in literacy rates. In 2011, 82.14% of men were literate while only 65.46% of women were literate.
- Unemployment is a big issue in India, especially in rural areas. Youth is migrating to urban areas to find jobs while the aged remain in rural areas.
SOME GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES
- Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana, a part of National Livelihood Mission, has the objectives of catering to the career aspirations of the rural youth and adding diversity to the income of rural families.
- Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana which is redesigned as National Rural Livelihood Mission was launched in 2011 by Ministry of Rural Develop. Also known as Ajeevika , this scheme aims at empowering women self-help model across the country.
- The Prime Minister Rural Development Fellowship (PMRDF) is a scheme initiated by the Ministry of Rural Development, implemented in collaboration with State Governments. It has dual goals of providing short-term support to the district administration in the underdeveloped and remote areas of the country and develop competent and committed leaders and facilitators who can serve as a resource for a long-term.
- As per the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) of 2005, 100 days of employment is guaranteed to any rural household adult who is willing to do unskilled manual work in a financial year. The Act addresses the working people and their fundamental right to live life with dignity.
- The Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana (SGRY) was launched in 2001 to provide employment to the poor. It also aimed at providing food to people in areas who live below the poverty line and improving their nutritional levels.
- Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) is a rural development project launched in 2014 by the Government of India in which each Member of Parliament will take the responsibility of three villages and look after the personal, human, social, environmental and economic development of the villages.
- PURA is a strategy for Rural Development in India which was proposed by former President APJ Abdul Kalam in his book Target 3 billion. PURA proposes that urban infrastructure and services should be provided in rural areas to create opportunities outside the cities.
CONCLUSION
Rural India is the backbone of Indian economy. Rural development is not merely development of rural areas, but rather it involves human development of varied nature including a well development of mental caliber of the rural people so as to transform India into Aatmnirbhar Bharat with the modern facilities available to any developed community. Therefore, the initiative of transformation of rural India into ‘Rurban’ on the sustainable and equitable model would play a vital role in development of Indian economy and bringing close to its goal of $ 5 trillion economy.