RURAL DEVELOPMENT

AUTHOR- ROHAN ANAND

INSTITUTE- AIA

Rural development usually refers to the method of enhancing the quality of life and financial well-
being of individuals, specifically living in populated and remote areas.

Traditionally, rural development was centered on the misuse of land-intensive natural resources
such as forestry and agriculture. However today, the increasing urbanitation and the change in
global production networks have transformed the nature of rural areas.

Rural development still remains the core of the overall development of the country. More than two-
third of the country’s people are dependent on agriculture for their livelihood, and one-third of rural
India is still below the poverty line. Therefore, it is important for the government to be productive
and provide enough facilities to upgrade their standard of living.

Rural development is a term that concentrates on the actions taken for the development of rural
areas to improve the economy.

KEYWORDS
I. As a concept – Development of Rural areas
ii. As a phenomenon – Interaction between institutional factors
iii. As a Strategy – Approach to bring positive change in rural life

INTRODUCTION
The term rural development is becoming a buzz word all over the world. As most of the
people on earth live in rural areas, development in true sense cannot be expected without
addressing the basic necessities of this huge population. In the era of modern science and
technology, large amount of population in rural areas are still deprived of adequate
nutrition, good education, proper communication, and social justice. Therefore, rural
development is gaining importance in both the developed and developing countries.

However, till today, there is no universally acceptable definition of rural development. As a

concept, rural development is comprehensive and multidimensional. It means improving the
quality of life of the people living in rural areas through agriculture and allied activities. As a
phenomenon, rural development is the result of interactions between various physical,
technological, economic, socio-cultural and institutional factors.

For instance, if we want to develop rural area through agricultural activities, there is a need
to think of changing the attitude of farmers toward modem agriculture; introduction of HYV
of crops, mechanization of farming, use of fertilizers, pesticides; formation of SHGs for
microfinance; training of farmers for building capacities in modern agriculture;
improvement of roads and communication system, provision of electricity, market etc.
Therefore, it calls for a holistic approach of development.
As a strategy, rural poor are always targeted in rural development. As a discipline, it has
close relationship with subjects like agriculture and allied sciences, social sciences, health
sciences, engineering and management sciences.

METHODOLOGY
Based on the progressive changes in the approach, the methodologies evolved for rural
development can be described under three categories – Growth Centre Approach, Area
Development Approach and Integrated Development Approach.

AIM
In order to attain the objectives of rural development, different approaches need to be
followed. However, there is no single universally acceptable approach of rural development.
Since, development itself is a long term process; strategies are evolved to solve the rural
problems. The problems of rural people are many and approaches for their solutions also
vary according to situation and magnitude. There are various schools of thought which
perceive the approach of development differently and put their emphasis in different set of
factors in their theories.

OBJECTIVES
I. Providing goods and services in terms of social and economic infrastructure.
ii. Increasing the income of every rural family on a self-sustaining basis.
iii. Creation of additional employment opportunities in rural areas.
iv. It implies a broad based reorganization and mobilization of the rural masses so as to
enhance their capacity to cope effectively with the daily tasks of their lives and with changes
consequent upon this.
v. Improvement of services or rural masses in the process.
vi. Improvement of know-how, which is to be implemented to the rural people

LIMITATION
I individual and group approaches, Training classes require large number of extension
workers.
ii. Inadequate communication channels especially Mass Media in rural areas.
iii. Limitation of Funds and staff for training the farmers.
iv. As a traditional society with old ways and practices does not want to take risk unless they
see the results.
v. In an illiterate traditional society real leadership could not come forward.
vi. Communities and individuals differ in their needs as their circumstances change.
vii. Organizational constraints.
viii. Vaguely framed objectives of organization.