Dynamics of Development in Rural & Tribal Bharat
India is truly a country represented holistically by the villages in Rural and Tribal India. Due to many reasons in independent India villages did not get the kind of priority in developmental planning, the way they should have been aligned with the vision of Mahatma Gandhi.
Though Rural Development has been in the forefront of every Government in India since independence, but we are still witnessing a huge deficit on several key indicators of development in rural / tribal areas. There are several indicators which clearly indicate the poor treatment with tribal & rural Bharat.
India’s demographic dividends is the most talked about idea in recent times but more than 60% is not getting level playing field to explore their potential. They are the people living in the villages and denied access to facilities available in Urban India. On the other side, when it comes to earning livelihood and progress, they must complete with urban population who are privileged to have facilities far better than village community.
In recent past, it seems, there is big policy shift and some of the schemes by the govt are aimed at addressing some critical issues ranging from financial inclusion, access to free skill development trainings, livelihood opportunities and financial support through flagship scheme like MUDRA. There is still a long way to go and some of the major challenges that remain are:
Key Challenges:
- The Physical connectivity which is also being talked about in the concept of PURA (Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Area)
- Availability of quality education at par with urban India
- Availability of clean drinking water and electricity
- Availability of high-Speed internet connectivity
- Long term vision for Agri sector
- Rural based small industries which are sustainable
- Primary Health care facilities
- Quality of life in a village
- Developmental clusters at district and block level for local employment opportunities for youth
If the above-mentioned challenges are addressed, India is all set to capitalise the demographic dividends, otherwise India is setting foot on a volcano that is her population. India needs to explore the potentials of large percentage of population to turn the large population in her favour.