Chapter-1 Introduction
Factors influencing Rural Development-
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Factors influencing Rural Development-Ever since India’s independence, policy makers emphasized capital-intensive industrialization and urban infrastructure rather than farm investment and rural land reforms. This advancement to urban areas left the rural areas in dust and caused the rural-urban imbalance. But now the government is very much concerned about the development of rural sector due to two reasons; firstly, major portion of Indian population is still rural and secondly, urban sector has developed a lot and now the government has to focus on the prospects of development in rural sector. Generally the rural economy is based on growth and development of two sectors namely; Farm sector and Non-Farm sector. 
Fig. 1.6: Rural Economy Structure in India Farm Sector: In the narrow sense, farm sector includes crop, livestock production, land and forestry while in the broad sense it includes all the elements of the narrow sense as well as research, training, extension, manufacturing of agricultural inputs, agro-industries, rural development, infrastructure, regional and river development and environmental protection. Elements of the farm sector are as follows: Farming: Farming, as the largest private enterprise, is the lifeline and the mainstay of Indian economy which plays a vital role through providing livelihood opportunities and export earnings. Farm productivity has grown since Green Revolution, due to the special emphasis placed on agriculture in the five year plans and steady improvements in irrigation, technology, application of modern agricultural practices and provision of agricultural credit and subsidies. Table 1.13: Changes in Indian Agriculture (1950-2012)
Agricultural development must be viewed as a core element of economic plans since the nation's food security depends on the performance of this sector. Besides this farm sector also promotes other sectors i.e., industrial sector. Table 1.14: Performance of Indian Farm Sector (including allied sectors) (in ` crores)
Source: RBI, Planning Commission, CSO, DGCI & S Note : Growth rates (%) (GDP) are actual growth rates and at factor cost at 1999-00. While India continues to provide high subsidies, ODA for agricultural and rural development, yet slow farm growth is concern for policymakers as 2/3rd of India’s people depend on rural employment for a living.1 Any change in the farm sector-Positive or Negative has a multiplier effect on the entire economy especially on rural economy. In the recent past, the impact of various foods, financial and economic crises has been felt across the world. This has compromised the lives, livelihood and food security also. So, farming continues to have the pride of place in our national policies and plans. The first generation of reforms concentrated on the industrial economy and reforms in the farm sector were neglected.2 So, there is a compelling case for increased investment in the sector in future. P. Reddy of the “Consortium of Indian Farmers’ Association” has said that it is the time for administrative reforms in agriculture. In a National Seminar on “Mainstream developmentalism and Gandhian alternatives”, Prof S. N. Chaudhary has rightly said that we all have progressed and moved from villages to town but we have forgotten our responsibility of giving back to the same village from where we moved on. Table 1.15: Government Outlay on Agriculture & Allied Sectors (in ` crores)
Source: Tenth Five Year Plan compiled with Eleventh Five Year Plan. Besides the reducing Government outlay in five year plans, Indian agriculture is facing difficulties of irrigation, HYVs, marketing of farm produces, technology constraints, fertilizer, capital equipment and the most important credit. Allied activities of farming are as follows: Horticulture: India with diverse soil and climate comprises several agro- ecological regions providing ample opportunity to grow a variety of horticulture crops. It has become an indispensable part of Indian agriculture, offering a wide range of choices to farmers for crop diversification. It is labour intensive and generates lot of employment opportunities. The outlook of the growers has been significantly changed in India consequent to the recognition of the need for attaining nutrition security and for more profitable land use. Table 1.16: Performance of Major Horticulture Crops in India
Source: Agricultural Statistics at a glance; Various Issues, National Horticulture Board. Floriculture: Floriculture or flower farming is a discipline of horticulture concerned with the cultivation of flowering and ornamental plants for gardens and for floristry, comprising the floral industry. Plant breeding of new varieties of flowers is the major occupation of floriculturists. After liberalization, Indian government identified it as a sunrise industry with high potentials of growth and accorded it 100% export oriented status. Owing to steady increase in demand of flower, it emerged as important commercial trades in farming. Present status and growing trade is still in infancy. Marigold, Jasmine, Chrysanthemum, Aster, Crossandra, Tuberose are the India’s most exported loose flower and Rose, Gladiolus, Tuberose, Carnation, Orchids, Liliums, Gerbera, Chrysanthemum, Gypsophila are the most exported cut flowers. Tamil Nadu is the largest loose flower producing state, while West Bengal is the leading cut flower producing state in India. Apiculture: Apiculture is a farm based enterprise, which generates additional income for farmers. Honey and wax are important bee products, which are used in various diet preparations, medicines, cosmetics, ointments, candles and house-hold bee-wax items, besides ayurvedic drug preparations. The growing market potential for honey and its products has emerged it as a viable enterprise. USA, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Belgium, UK are the major importers of Indian honey. Punjab, Haryana, U.P., Bihar and West Bengal are major honey producing states. Table 1.17: Performance of Floriculture and Apiculture in India
Source: Ministry of Agriculture, Note : *= in ` million. Sericulture: Sericulture, an art of rearing silkworm for the production of cocoons which is raw material for production of silk, is not only a tradition but also a living culture in India. It is farm-based, labour intensive and raw material producing activity for the rural industries. It provides employment and prevents rural-urban migration. India is endowed with all five varieties of silk: Mulberry, Tropical Tasar, Oak Tasar, Eri and Muga. Mulberry silk is the most popular variety in India. India, the second largest producer of silk in the world, is gathering momentum to become a prominent player in global markets. The need of the hour is to produce more quality silk with reduced cost to meet the growing global demands. USA, UK, Italy, UAE and Honduras are major importers of Indian silk. Major silk producing states of mulberry silk are Karnataka, AP, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and J & K; of tasar silk are Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Orissa; of oak tasar silk are Manipur, HP, UP, Assam, Meghalaya and J & K; of eri silk are north-eastern states and Assam; and muga silk culture is specific to Assam only. Table 1.18: Performance of Sericulture (raw silk) in India
Source: Central Silk Board of India Forestry: Forestry in India is more than just about wood and fuel. As of 2010, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN estimates India's forest cover to be about 68 million hectares, or about 20% of the country's area. India produces a range of processed forest (wood and non-wood) products ranging from sawnwood, panel products and wood pulp to bamboo, rattan ware and pine resin. Forestry is a major Indian government enterprise which faces the challenges of dwindling forest cover area due to overpopulation, farming and environmental factors. India's long-term strategy for forest development is to reduce soil erosion and flooding; to supply the growing needs of the domestic wood products industries; and to supply the needs of the rural population for fuel wood, fodder, small timber, and other forestry products. Organic Farming: Organic farming is a form of agriculture relying on techniques of crop rotation, green manure, compost and biological pest control to maintain soil productivity and control pests on a farm. It excludes the use of manufactured fertilizers and plant growth regulators. From 42,000 hectares under organic certification in 2003-04, more than 4.4 million hectares area was under organic certification in India as on March 2010. Indian organic food industry is gaining gradual momentum through increased demand for organic products in the developed countries and extensive support by the government coupled with its focus on agri-exports. Animal Husbandry, Fisheries, and Dairying: A large number of Indian farmers depend on animal husbandry for livelihood. In addition to supplying milk, meat, eggs, animals, mainly bullocks, are the major source of power for farmers. So animal husbandry plays an important role in the rural economy. India has the world's largest dairy herd. Operation Flood, world's largest integrated dairy development program, attempted to establish linkages between rural milk producers and urban consumers. Fish production has increased more than fivefold since India's independence and is a major industry in the coastal states. Government provides subsidy to poor fishermen to motorize this traditional craft. India is having 4 main fishing harbors, 23 minor fishing harbors and 95 fish-landing centers to provide landing and berthing facilities to fishing. Table 1.19: Production of Major Livestock Products and Fisheries in India
Source: Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries Rural Non-farm sector (RNFS) – RNFS means rural economic activities other than farming, forestry, and fishing including mining, construction, farm processing, trade, transport, financial and personal services. It is highly labour intensive covering the secondary and tertiary sector of the economy. Table 1.20: Performance of NFS Activities in India (GDP at constant 2004-05 prices in %)
Source: Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) Various RNFS activities are as follows: Mining and quarrying: India is very vast and extensive country endowed with huge resources of 79 minerals of metallic and non-metallic nature. Mining and quarrying is the backbone of Indian industries, as it is the main source of raw material for most of the industries. India ranked 3rd in coal production in 2011 (5.6%), 4th in crude steel production in 2011 and fourth in iron ore production in 2010. The main problem with mining is lack of assessment of India’s natural resources with uneven distribution of minerals drastically from one region to another. A number of areas are still remaining unexplored and their mineral resources are yet to be assessed. In recent decades, mining industry has been facing issues of large scale displacements, resistance of locals, environmental issues (pollution), corruption, deforestation, dangers to animal habitats etc. Manufacturing: Through its vast domestic market, available cheap labour with requisite advanced technical skills in product, process and capital engineering, higher education system and spanning diverse industries India is attracting MNCs to set up their manufacturing base in India. It is not necessary that a single player builds up the scale. Therefore India needs to promote the MSMEs to build global scales and to be a global manufacturing powerhouse. For meeting the local and global requirements some industries must be promoted as the glassware industry of Firozabad, brassware of Moradabad or Chikan industry of Lucknow. Construction: Construction in India is witnessing rapid diversification as huge investments are made in IT parks, malls, cineplexes, multiplexes and townships, unlike the earlier trend of focusing on building plain residential or commercial complexes. The industry has been growing over 20% annually over the past 5 years, contributing 8% of the GDP, says a report by International Quality and Productivity Centre. In 2010-11, 41 million households were employed on NREGA. According to a study by Price water house Coopers and Urban Land Institute, India leads among top real estate investment markets in Asia for 2010. Transport, storage and communication: Since the early 1990s, India's growing economy has witnessed a rise in demand for transport infrastructure due to good physical connectivity in the urban and rural areas for economic growth. Transport, the largest contributor to GDP, caters to the needs of 1.1 billion people in which road transportation had contributed the lion’s share. India’s vision of 2020 is to have a well-developed network of roads and railways and adequate capacity to handle the growth in demand for transport. Major improvements in the sector are required to support the continued economic growth and to keep pace with rising demand. The share of rural areas in the sector remains relatively low, but it is rising. In terms of drivers, cleaners and helpers, around 11.5 million people additionally would be employed by 2022 in the road sector itself. In this competitive era, the manufacturers have to exercise not only to control on cost but also to use all the components of supply chain management and storage for differentiation in domestic and international markets. Due to the advantage of forthcoming road infrastructure, software capabilities, cheap labour work force, private telecom network, and the most important availability of end market, storage activities are going to contribute in a big way for achieving Vision 2020. At present FCI, CWC, and SWC are engaged in building large scale storage capacity as public sector agencies. Cold storage is very popular in rural areas. NABARD sanctioned warehouses of average storage capacity of 1,261 MT and around 75% of numbers of godowns with capacity of less than 1,000 MT under “Rural Godown Scheme” over past 10 years. Most of these small/medium godowns have been built by farmers/community of farmers which ensures reduced distress sale and better prices to farmers for their produce. In 2010, the Government launched a scheme of construction/renovation of rural godowns to provide scientific storage in the rural areas by incentivizing private sector to invest in this area. Communication services are not only mainly an urban phenomenon. The sector is predicted to emerge as the single largest sector of India's economy with a 15% share of GDP by 2014-15. In India's transformation from an agrarian to a services economy, it is recognized as the fastest growing sector, growing by 25.7% during 2001-08. A study by NCAER highlighted the importance of communication sector in driving growth across rural and urban India. This is a key element in the vision of a truly inclusive knowledge society. There were 298.05 million rural telecom subscribers with rural teledensity of 35.60 as on 30 June, 2011.
With an extensive focus on agri tourism, thousands of farmers in India plans to raise its share and claim its status in world employment generation through a capital investment of $94.5 billion in the tourism sector by 2019. While the backward areas are supposed to benefit and develop from tourism, generation of employment and economic development are the other desired contributions associated with it. While agri tourism would facilitate the development of agri museums with benefits for farm vacations, heritage trails, farm tours; agro related festivals, fairs and farmers’ markets; local cuisine, culinary practices, handicrafts and vernacular skills would also gain the limelight and create further non-farm employment opportunities. Being one of the most profitable industries India’s tourism is also credited with contributing a substantial amount of foreign exchange and in growth of other sectors too. But it has been affected by problems of leakages, wars, tsunami and bird flu etc. But infrastructure is the primary problem which has been improved but still it is far from what is required to become a world tourist destination. Another major obstacle is the infamous corruption of India. Resolving these issues will itself help in overcoming other smaller problems mentioned above. Directory: bitstream -> 10603 10603 -> A mathematical theory of communication bitstream -> Methodism and Culture bitstream -> Review of coastal ecosystem management to improve the health and resilience of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area 10603 -> Present state of the area 10603 -> Marine Pollution And Its Effects on Global Environment 10603 -> Introduction chapter I introduction 10603 -> References 10603 -> Bibliography Abd El Halim 10603 -> A thesis submitted to sambalpur university for award of Download 1.67 Mb. Share with your friends:
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