RURAL AREA Where the people are engaged in primary industry in the sense that they produce things directly for the first time in cooperation.

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Transcript RURAL AREA Where the people are engaged in primary industry in the sense that they produce things directly for the first time in cooperation.

Slide 1

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 2

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 3

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 4

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 5

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 6

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 7

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 8

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 9

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 10

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 11

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 12

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 13

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 14

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 15

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 16

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 17

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 18

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 19

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 20

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 21

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 22

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 23

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 24

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 25

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 26

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 27

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 28

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 29

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 30

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 31

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 32

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 33

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 34

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 35

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 36

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 37

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 38

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 39

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 40

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 41

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 42

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 43

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 44

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 45

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 46

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 47

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 48

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 49

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 50

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 51

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 52

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 53

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 54

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 55

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 56

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 57

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 58

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 59

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 60

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 61

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 62

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 63

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 64

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 65

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 66

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 67

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 68

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 69

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 70

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 71

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 72

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 73

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 74

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 75

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 76

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 77

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 78

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 79

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 80

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 81

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 82

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 83

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 84

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.


Slide 85

RURAL AREA
Where the people are engaged in primary
industry in the sense that they produce
things directly for the first time in
cooperation with nature.

Rural areas are separately settled places away
from the influence of large cities and towns.
Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from
unsettled lands or wilderness, such as forest.
Rural areas can have an agricultural character,
though many rural areas are characterized by an
economy based on cottage industry, mining, oil
and gas exploration, or tourism.

RURAL COMMUNITY

A group of people with a common characteristic or
interest living together, in a village.
A Rural Community can be classified as rural
based on the criteria of lower population density,
less social differentiation, less social and spatial
mobility, slow rate of social change, etc.
Agriculture is the major occupation of rural people.

MAIN FEATURES OF RURAL COMMUNITY
Village is an institutionThe Village is a primary institution. The development of villages is
influenced considerably by the life of the village. It satisfies almost all
the needs of the rural.
CommunityThey have a sense of unity and a feeling of belongingness towards each
other.
ReligionFaith in religion and universal power is found in the life of the villages.
AgricultureMain occupation is agriculture which involves dependence on nature.
Nature gives the livelihood to them. Farmers worship forces of nature.

LIFE OF RURAL PEOPLE

Lifestyles in rural areas are different than those in
urban areas, mainly because limited services are
available.
Governmental services like law enforcement,
schools, fire departments, and libraries may be
distant, limited in scope, or unavailable.
Utilities like water, sewer, street lighting, and
garbage collection may not be present.
Public transport is sometimes absent or very
limited, people use their own vehicles, walk or ride an
animal.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural development is a strategy designed to
improve the economic and social life of rural poor.
It is a process, which aims at improving the well being
and self realization of people living outside the
urbanized areas through collective process.
Rural Development is all about bringing change
among rural community from the traditional way of
living to progressive way of living. It is also
expressed as a movement for progress.

The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:

“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the
efforts of the people themselves are united, those of
government authorities to improve their economic, social and
cultural conditions of communities in to the life of the nation
and to enable them to contribute fully to national
programme.”

Introduction of rural development
RURAL BUSINESS AND ITS FEATURES


Conducting activities to improve the rural areas



Population



Its is the areas of darkness



Literacy level

Expenditure patterns
 Rural and urban areas are not same
 Moving towards luxury products
 Willingness to buy new products

DEV. IN RURAL AREA CAN BRING

INFASTRUCTURE

ECONOMY

EDUCATION

TECHNO
LOGY

HEALTH

OBJECTIVES OF RURAL DEV.

1. To develop farm, home, public service and village
community.
2. To bring improvement in producing of crops and
animals living condition.
3. To improve health and education condition etc.
improvement of the rural people.
4. To improve villagers with their own efforts.
5. To improve village communication.

Main Objectives
To build
Infrastructure

Public Service

Communication

To improve
Health

Education

Living condition

To generate
Employment

Farm & storage

Economical
activities

PROBLEMS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. People related
2. Agricultural related problems
3. Infrastructure related problems

4. Economic problems
5. Social and Cultural problems
6. Leadership related problems
7. Administrative problems

PEOPLE RELATED PROBLEMS

1. Traditional way of thinking.
2. Poor understanding.
3. Low level of education to understand developmental
efforts and new technology.
4. Deprived psychology and scientific orientation.
5. Lack of confidence.
6. Poor awareness.
7. Low level of education.
8. Existence of unfelt needs.
9. Personal ego.

AGRICULTURE RELATED PROB.

1. Lack of expected awareness, knowledge, skill and
attitude.
2. Unavailability of inputs.
3. Poor marketing facility.
4. Small size of land holding.
5. Unwillingness to work and stay in rural areas.

INFASTRUCTRAL RELATED PROB.
Poor infrastructure facilities like-:
1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Transport
4. Educational institutions
5. Communication
6. Health
7. Employment
8. Storage facility etc.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
1. Unfavourable economic condition to
technology.
2. High cost of inputs.
3. Under privileged
rural industries

adopt high cost

LEADERSHIP RELATED PROBLEM
1. Leadership in few hands.

2. Self interest of leaders.
3. Biased political scenario

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
1. Political interference.
2. Lack of motivation and interest.
3. Unwillingness to work in villages.
4. Improper utilization of budget.
5. No proper monitoring of programs
that lack in their implementation.

SCOPE & IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT

Importance of Rural Development

Rural development is a dynamic process, which is
mainly concerned with the rural areas. These includeAgricultural growth, putting up of economic and social
infrastructure, fair wages as also housing and house
sites for the landless, village planning, public health,
education and functional literacy, communication etc.
Rural development is a national necessity and has
considerable importance in India

Rural development is needed because-:

1. To develop rural area as whole in terms of culture, society,
economy, technology and health.
2. To develop living slandered of rural mass.
3. To develop rural youths, children and women.
4. To develop and empower human resource of rural area in
terms of their psychology, skill, knowledge, attitude and
other abilities.
5. To solve the problems faced by the rural mass for their
development.

6. To develop infrastructure facility of rural area.
7. To provide minimum facility to rural mass in terms of
drinking water, education, transport, electricity and
communication.
8. To develop rural institutions like Panchayat, cooperatives,
post, banking and credit.
9. To develop rural industries through the development of
handicrafts, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries and other related economic
operations in the rural sector.
10. To develop agriculture, animal husbandry and other
agricultural related areas.

11. To restore uncultivated land, provide irrigation facilities
and motivate farmers to adopt improved seed, fertilizers,
package of practices of crop cultivation and soil conservation
methods.
12. To develop entertainment and recreational facility for
rural mass.
13. To develop leadership quality of rural area.
14. To improve rural marketing facility.
15. To minimise gap between the urban and rural in terms of
facilities availed.

16. To improve rural people’s participation in the
development of state and nation as whole.
17. To improve scopes of employment for rural mass.
18. For the sustainable development of rural area.
19. To eliminate rural poverty.
20. To empower them.

Importance of the rural markets to the country

 Enhanced GDP of the country
 Competitive advantages for the nation
 Increased per capita income of rural people

provides an opportunity for the businesses
 The needs of the people are transforming

Need identification of rural producers

 Problem in reaching the Urban areas
 Low Literacy and expertise
 Lack of funds
 Establishing the distribution channel
 Lack of support
 High competition

Distribution management in rural areas

 Ration shops
 Retailers in agriculture inputs
 Semi-wholesalers in mandi

Social and Cultural Environment
33

 Variations between regions and sub-regions
 In villages inward migration is insignificant while outward






migration to urban and foreign is reasonably high
The settlement pattern is in clusters largely around caste
lines
Houses are largely semi-pucca and kacha
Land is the primary source of livelihood
Activities limited to smaller geographic areas resulting in
higher adherence to customs and traditions

Village Community
34

 Villages are self-sufficient and autonomous
 Each village has a council of elders (panchayat)
 Panchayats have the constitutional authority for exercising

self-governance
 The panchayat structure has undergone change with
elections and reservation for underprivileged families
 Shift from subsistence farming to commercial and mixed
farming has made the village dependent on external factors

Caste System
35

 The rural society has a strong caste system:
 Brahmins
 Kshatriyas (Warriors)
 Vaishyas (Business Class and traders)
 Shudras (involved in odd jobs) – Untouchables
 The settlements of the lower castes are normally on the

outskirts of the village
 Marketers have to be sensitive to the caste system
especially in the area of communication

RMB 02

Political Environment
36

 The rural areas were dominated by upper castes
 The panchayati raj system has introduced an integrated

and inclusive approach to governance in the rural sector
 Villages with 5000 population or a cluster of villages with
a combined population of 5000 form a panchayat
 Gram Sabhas are to be organised once a quarter to bring
in transperancy, accountability and achievement
 The sarpanch represents the village at the tehsil/taluka/
block level

Structure dynamics and Development in
rural India post independence
 Since independence the Government of India has

launched various programmes of ‘planned change’
encompassing social, economic and political
processes. There are two approaches adopted by the
government with regard to the patterns of
development. These approaches are (a) the
‘transformation’ approach and (b) the ‘improvement
‘approach.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘transformation’ approach attaches importance

to a radical change in the existing system in terms of
scale of operation, production techniques, and sociolegal reforms. Implementation of land reform
measures comes within the purview of this approach.
So far as the land reform measures are concerned, a
large number of tenants or farmers have now
become the owners of the land that they are
cultivating.

Development in rural India post
independence
 Co-operative farming has been advocated to solve

the problems of sub-division and fragmentation of
holdings. Through the Bhoodan movement efforts
are being made to provide the landless labourers
with land. Efforts are also being made for the
compilation and updating of the land records.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The ‘improvement’ approach seeks to bring about

agricultural development within the existing
production system. It attaches importance to the
programmes of rural development such as the
Community Development Programme, Panchayati
Raj Institutions and other programmes and agencies
related to the process of development in rural India.

Development in rural India post
independence
 According to the Planning Commission, community

development is the process of changing the life of a
community from backwardness to a new economic
and social order through its open efforts. The
Community Development Programme undertaken by
the government of free India on 2nd October 1952 –
the day of Gandhi Jayanti – constitutes the biggest
rural reconstruction scheme.

Development in rural India post
independence
 The programme is instrumental in raising the

standard of living of the ruralites and in
reconstructing the rural India. Prof. Carl Taylor
rightly observes that the programme signifies active
co-operation and involvement of the ruralites in
formulating and executing their own plans and
programmes.

 IRDP
 The Integrated Rural Development Programme

signifies a programme for improving the living
standards of the poorest of the poor living in rural
areas and for making the process of rural
development self-sustaining. Initiated in 1978-79,
the programme was extended to all development
blocks in the country in 1980-81.

 NREP
 National Rural Employment Programme was

launched in October, 1980 as a centrally sponsored
scheme on 50:50 sharing basis between centre and
states. Generating additional gainful employment
opportunities, creating durable community assets
and improving the overall quality of life in rural
areas constitute the three -fold objectives of the
programme. The programme is implemented
through DRDA. It has been merged with the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojna from April, 1989.

 The scheme of Training Rural Youth for Self-

Employment was initiated in August, 1979, with the
primary objective of providing technical skills to the
rural youth to enable them to seek employment in
fields of agriculture, industry, services and business
activities.
 Only youth in the age group of 18 – 35 and belonging
to families living below the poverty line are eligible
for training. Priority is given to persons belonging to
SCs and STs, ex-servicemen and women. The
effectiveness of the scheme is affected by several
factors such as inadequate coverage, low level of

 Jawahar Rozgar Yojna was launched in April, 1989.

It is pre-eminently a wage employment programme.
Under the scheme, it is expected that at least one
member of each poor family would be provided with
employment for 50 to 100 days in a year at a work
place near his / her residence. About 30 per cent of
the jobs under this scheme are reserved for women.
The scheme is implemented through Village
Panchayats. It covers 46 per cent of our population.

 Antyodaya Programme:
 Antyodaya means the welfare of a person standing at

the end of the queue. In other words, the programme
is oriented to uplift the poorest of the poor in the
countryside. The scheme was introduced during the
regime of Janata Government in 1978. So far as the
operation of this programme is concerned, every year
five poorest families of every village are identified
and selected. Efforts are made for the economic
betterment of these families.

 EAS:
 The Employment Assurance Scheme was launched in

1983 and expanded in phases to cover the whole
country in 1996. It aims at providing 100 days of
employment to two members of a rural family in a
year. The secondary objective is the creation of
economic infrastructure and community assets for
sustained production and employment generation.
The expenditure under EAS is shared between the
centre and the states on an 80: 20 basis.

 SGSY:
 The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana was

launched in April 1999 replacing earlier programmes
like the IRDP, the TRYSEM etc. This programme is
instrumental in the setting up of a large number of
industries through bank credit and subsidy. It plays
an important role in enabling the poor families to
rise above the poverty line in three years.

 NSAP:
 The National Social Assistance Programme was

conceived by the central government to provide
social assistance to poor households. The
programme came into force from 15th August 1995
and includes three schemes as its components such
as National Old Age Pension Scheme, National
Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity
Benefit Scheme.

Warana – The Wired Village
 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

can be used as an effective tool for rural
development. An example of the adoption of ICT by
a rural community is the Warana “Wired Village”
project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There,
the local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the
operations connected with sugar cane growing and
harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in
terms of transparency and time saved on
administrative transactions, as well as the
cooperative, in terms of monetary gains.

 Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30

kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. Much of
Warana’s success is due to the presence of a strong
co-operative movement. About 50,000 farmers live
in 100 villages spread in the 25,000-sq. kilometer
area covered by the co-operative. The main economic
activity is sugar cane growing and processing.

 ICT was brought to this area by the Warana "Wired

Village" project, launched in 1998 as a collaboration
between the National Informatics Centre (NIC), the
Government of Maharashtra, the Warana Vibhag
Shikshan Mandal (Education Department). The right
conditions to bring ICT to Warana exist both in terms of
human development and of infrastructure, as, for
instance, there is uninterrupted power supply in the
area. The project aims at bringing agricultural, market
and educational information to 70 villages around
Warana Nagar and intends to simplify other business
operations of the co-operative. Many of these features
have not been implemented yet.

 Warana is an example of a rural community, which

has been able to empower its people not only with
stable sources of employment, but also through
participation, and access to health, education and
financial services. All decisions concerning the sugar
factory are taken by an elective body, the 19-member
board of the sugar co-operative. Elections take place
every five years in the 100 villages around Warana:
three members are elected from each of five clusters
of villages, while two seats on the board are reserved
for women and two for representatives of backward
castes. The board, in turn, elects a chairman and a
vice-chairman

 The sugar cane factory, which produces 110,000 tons

of sugar per year, employs 8,000 workers and
collects sugar cane from about 35,000 farmers, is the
main source of income for the Warana
community. Other important centres of economic
activity are a milk factory, a food-processing unit, a
chain of department stores, poultry farming, and a
series of women’s co-operatives. The milk factory
employs 1,200 workers and collects 280,000 litres of
milk per day from the 125 milk societies belonging to
the dairy co-operative

 Presently, however, the cooperative is facing a series

of economic and social challenges. These include
low sugar prices and difficulties in coordinating the
many activities of a large and growing cooperative,
which lead to losses in terms of efficiency and
transparency. A big challenge is also to retain
educated youth in the area when the prospects of
better opportunities elsewhere.

UNIT 2

About India:
58

 Area: 3,287,590 sq km
 Population: 1,188,310,000
 Literacy : 61%
 Government: Federal Democratic Republic
 Unemployment: 10.7%
 GDP: $3.57 trillion
 Chief Occupations: Agriculture is the chief

occupation of the country followed by service and
industrial jobs.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
59
 Land



Arable Land: 48%
Forests: 22%

 Water


Total renewable water resources: 1,907.8 km3/year

 Soil


Many fertile soils including alluvial soil which comprises 80% of the total fertile
soil available

 Minerals


India occupies a prominent place in the world in the production of many
minerals. The chief minerals include Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
titanium ore, chromite, diamonds, limestone, thorium, petroleum, natural gas

 Energy


India makes use of both renewable and non renewable energy resources. Energy
resources include natural gas, thermal, hydro, nuclear and other renewable
sources.

Our Natural Resources Wealth
60

 Vegetation
 India has diverse vegetation which includes tropical rainforests,
deciduous forests and coniferous forests. India has 6 % of the
world’s flowering plants.
 Wildlife
 India has many species of animals, birds and reptiles which includes
7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian of the
wildlife population in the world Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic
Lion, Leopard, Sloth Bear and Indian Rhinoceros, antelopes are
some of the important animals.

Natural Resources Chart
61

3

2

1

0
Arable Land Forests

Fertile Soil

Water
resources

Wildlife

Vegetation

Minerals

Energy

What is calling for our
attention?
 India as country is blessed with rich natural

resources. But from our research on the usage of
natural resources in our country, we found that the
resources are depleting every day. For example:






Forest and arable land is being depleted due to urbanization,
overpopulation and overconsumption
Wild life resources are being lost due to illegal poaching,
hunting and industrialization.
Water resources are being contaminated are drying up due to
industrialization.

Threats to Natural Resources
63

 Urbanisation and Industrialisation
 Overpopulation
 Overconsumption and irresponsible use
 Deforestation
 Erosion
 Habitat Destruction
 Natural Hazards
 No proper access to resources such as water

Doing what matters!

What are we doing to save our
 The Governmentresources?
of India has undertaken many
65

measures for the conservation of the resources








Regulations and reforms for proper housing and
infrastructure development to avoid land acquisition
problems
Mass media public service messages to educate the people on
the importance of conservation of resources
Increase the wildlife and forest reserves in the country
Schemes to do a proper inventory of the resources and
monitor changes in the environment.
Various projects and schemes that promote conservation of
resources.

Proposed Action
Plan
66
Problems

Solutions

Overpopulation

Develop population control measures and
educate people on the advantages of a small
family.

Overconsumption and irresponsible use

Educate people on the importance of
conservation of resources using mass
media. Develop partnerships with advocacy
groups and environmental NGOs for
spreading the message.

No proper access to resources

Privatization of the some of the resource
management function will help in better
developing the delivery mechanism

Deforestation and Habitat destruction

Have stringent regulations for the
protection of the resources and ensure that
the defaulters are punished

Natural Hazards

Develop and employ tools for monitoring
the possibility of natural hazards and
providing preventive measures

Overview of rural production system
 The Rural Economy in India is wholly agriculture

based and it is of tremendous importance because it
has vital supply and demand links with the other
Indian industries. Agriculture is the main stay of the
Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of
rural India which inhabitants more than 70% of total
Indian population. The fertility of the soil has
augmented the success of agriculture in India.
Further, Rural Economy in India has been playing an
important role towards the overall economic growth
and social growth of India

 India has been predominantly an agriculture-based

country and it was the only source of livelihood in
ancient time. During prehistoric time when there
was no currency system the India economy system
followed barter system for trading i.e. the excess of
agricultural produce were exchanged against other
items. The agriculture produce and system in India
are varied and thus offers a wide agricultural product
portfolio

 The rural/agricultural workforce has a high

proportion of family-owned and managed
businesses. Commercial farming is a small part of
the total industry.
 There has been development towards specialisation

in intensive animal industries. In the past many
mixed farms were varied and grew relatively small
amounts of several products, including plants and
animals.

 Industry sectors are cotton, dairy, goats, grains,

horse breeding, milk harvesting, poultry, production
horticulture, rural business, sheep and wool, sugar
cane, wool harvesting.
 Many of these industries are labor intensive and

hence requires a huge number of people to work
hard thus providing employment to many

 Women are actively involved in agriculture in rural

areas, as farmers, providers of food and
entrepreneurs often operating with little resources
and capacity. Ensuring inclusion of women in
extension, skill development and other areas for
capacity development should be part of the strategies
for the enhancement of rural agriculture

 The horticulture sector encompasses a wide range of

crops e.g., fruit crops, vegetable crops, potato and
tuber crops, ornamental crops, medicinal and
aromatic crops, spices and plantation crops. India,
with its wide variability of climate and soil, is highly
favourable for growing a large number of
horticultural crops. It is the fastest growing sector
within agriculture.

 It contributes in poverty alleviation, nutritional

security and have ample scope for farmers to
increase their income and helpful in sustaining large
number of agro-based industries which generate
huge employment opportunities. Presently
horticulture contributes 28 per cent of agricultural
GDP. The national goal of achieving 4.0 per cent
growth in agriculture can be achieved through major
contrib

 Sericulture is both an art and science of raising

silkworms for silk production. India is the second
largest producer of raw silk after China and the
biggest consumer of raw silk and silk fabrics. An
analysis of trends in international silk production
suggests that sericulture has better prospects for
growth in the developing countries rather than in the
advanced countries.

 Silk production in temperate countries like Japan,

South Korea, USSR etc., is declining steadily not only
because of the high cost of labour and heavy
industrialization in these countries, but also due to
climatic restrictions imposed on mulberry leaf
availability that allows only two cocoon crops per
annum. Thus, India has a distinct advantage of
practicing sericulture all through the year, yielding a
stream of about 4 – 6 crops as a result of its tropical
climate.

 In India, sericulture is not only a tradition but also a

living culture. It is a farm-based, labour intensive
and commercially attractive economic activity falling
under the cottage and small-scale sector. It
particularly suits rural-based farmers, entrepreneurs
and artisans, as it requires low investment but, with
potential for relatively higher returns. It provides
income and employment to the rural poor especially
farmers with small land-holdings and the
marginalized and weaker sections of the society.
Several socio-economic studies have affirmed that
the benefit-cost ratio in sericulture is highest among
comparable agricultural crops

 Forestry in India is a significant rural industry

and a major environmental resource. India is one of
the ten most forest-rich countries of the world along
with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Australia, Indonesia and Sudan. Together,
India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world.[India's forest cover
grew at 0.22% annually over 1990-2000,[3] and has
grown at the rate of 0.46% per year over 20002010, after decades where forest degradation was a
matter of serious concern.

 A large number of farmers in India depend

on animal husbandry for their livelihood. In
addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, wool
and hides, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major
source of power for both farmers and drayers. Thus,
animal husbandry plays an important role in the
rural economy. The gross value of output from this
sector was 358 billion (US$5.9 billion) in FY 1989,
an amount that constituted about 25 percent of the
total agricultural output of 1.4
trillion (US$23.0 billion)

 Fisheries in India is a very important economic

activity and a flourishing sector with varied
resources and potentials. Only after the Indian
Independence, has fisheries together with agriculture
been recognized as an important sector. The
vibrancy of the sector can be visualized by the 11–
fold increase that India achieved in fish production
in just six decades, i.e. from 0.75 million tonnes in
1950-51 to 9.6 million tonnes during 2012–13.

 This resulted in an unparalleled average annual

growth rate of over 4.5 percent over the years which
has placed the country on the forefront of global fish
production, only after China. Besides meeting the
domestic needs, the dependence of over 14.5 million
people on fisheries activities for their livelihood and
foreign exchange earnings to the tune of US$ 3.51
billion (2012–13) from fish and fisheries products,
amply justifies the importance of the sector on the
country's economy and in livelihood security.

 India is also an important country that produces fish

through aquaculture in the world. India is home to
more than 10 percent of the global fish diversity.
Presently, the country ranks second in the world in
total fish production with an annual fish production
of about 9.06 million metric tonnes.

 The importance of dairying in a country like India

hardly needs emphasizing. India has vast resources
of livestock, which play an important role in the
national economy and also in the socioeconomic
development of millions of rural households. India
has one of the largest stocks of cattle and buffaloes:
more than 50 percent of the world's buffaloes and 20
percent of its cattle.

 The Indian dairy sector contributes a large share of

the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the contribution of agriculture and allied
sectors to the national GDP has declined during the
past few decades, the contribution of the livestock
sector has increased from less than 5 percent in the
early 1980s to over 6 percent in the late 1990s. Milk
and milk products constitute a major share of the
value of output from the livestock sector; their share
increased from less than 50 percent in 1950-51 to
about 65 percent in the late 1990s.