The topic is both interesting and mandatory in today’s time as the majority of India’s population still lives in rural areas – areas that are far under developed when compared to urban ones. But before we discuss the need of this area’s development , we need to know “what we mean by rural?”
In simple words , any area which is not urban is rural. By this we arise to another question : what is urban ? – An area with high population density and infrastructure of all kind. So by this information we can say that the term “rural” means an area having non-urban style of life , majorly in terms of occupation and settlement pattern.
Our eyes stuck at word “development” which refers to the process of improvement in terms of living , decreasing income inequality and many more.Thus, Rural development refers to the process of improving or uplifting the lifestyle of people living in rural areas. It is a strategy to improve both the economic and the social life of people and to increase the potential of future living.
Majority of people living in rural areas or villages spent their life even without complete fulfilment of basic needs. Lots of challenges are faced by these people : in terms of health , education , employment , and even in terms of infrastructure. Lack of resources and money make them stand weak in comparison to their counterparts living in urban areas.
Here we will first discuss job opportunites.
Those who are able to study in this environment fly to ciites for better living or for beetter opportunities. These is analogous to brain-drain from Inida to US.
The movement of these educated ruralites from villages to cities may be beneficial , atleast for them , but not for the country. It is true that cities give us many job opportunities but there are more job seekers , which further results in high count of unemployed workers. If at first place only , the ruralities have got their job in their villages only , then there would be no flying to cities and then count of unemployed ones would be fewer. This is one of the reason why rural development is necessary.
If more people are employed , both at urban and rural places , then that count is added to the country’s economic growth , which in turn leads to overall development.
There are various mutli national companies that are coming up in India and setting up their businesses. It is the duty of the government to convince them to set up their new offices at areas near to rural places – to employ as many ruralities as they can.
Policies needed to help ruralities involved in agriculture.
We know that major occupation of villagers is agriculture but the profit is less in this field. There are situations when farmers come ruralitie are not able to save even a penny- due to low yield or less rainfall or anything that causes less production. The government need to make policies that can cover the cost of basic materials required for agriculture to decrease their pain , to give them food and shelter , atleast.
Education is the one sector that needs proper attention of the policy makers
One thing is for sure that ruralities are far behind not only in terms of the school facilities but also in terms of teaching quality. Children lack confidence to succeed. They feel themselves inferior when given a chance to stand with their urban counterparts. The reason to inferiorty are many- the place they belong , the lifetyle they live , the clothes they wear , the house they live in , or the work their parents do.
A lot of work need to be done not just at providing basic school facilities but also at developing confidence among them that they are no less than others. Education is the key to their success and to their parents success , which ultimatley can become to the country’s success.
It is truly said that every success matters when comes to the country’s success. So this thought need to be taught to the upcoming generation living in poorly under developed rural areas.
Health is another sector that need to be looked upon !
Mahatma Gandhi has truly said “ Is is health that is real wealth and not piece of gold and silver.”
But to maintain health , we need to eat healthy food , live a healthy life by maintaining a balance between rest and work. This is said that ruralities cannot take this tip into action. The work they do [agriculture] involves lot of physical work , but the food they eat is not enough to make up their body balanced. Thus , most of them are malnutrioned – lack of nutrients , mostly children. Diseases are surrounded among them. The cure is expensive so most of them spend their life without any cure.
Necessary action is required in this field too. Medical camps should be organised time to time to keep a check of their health. And the ones who are facing any disease or ailment , then treatment should be provided at priority. Doctors should be motivated to visit their nearby villages or rural areas for free checkup. The government should ensure that the visit should be regular.
If every point is taken into consideration , then there is no stop to the rural development. Nothing can stop it. And nothing can then stop the country’s progress. After all , rural area is like a cell of national body and the cell-life must be healthy and strong enough for the nation to be healthy and strong.
Writer : Palak Jain, Ghaziabad, participant of Monthly International Essay Competition, November, 2019.
