Kurukshetra Jan 2014

GIST OF YOJ ANA VOL13 27
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G ist of
KURUKSHETRA
NEW HOPE TO FIGHT HUNGER
The much awaited National Food Security Bill
has been recent l y passed by voi ce vot e t he
Parliament. It will ensure legal food entitlement to
75% of t he rural populat ion and 50% of t he urban
population across the country at reasonably cheaper
price. The scheme provides for distribution of rice at
Rs. 3 per kilogram, wheat at Rs. 2 and coarse grains
at Re. 1 per person. From t he dat e t o be notified
Government would provide 5 kg of food-grains per
person per month to Priority households, and 35 kg
per household per month to 25 million Antyodaya
households.
The tot al number of Priority and Antyodaya
househol d woul d be 75 per cent of t he rur al
population and 50 per cent of the urban population,
t hus covering about 180 mil li on households as
against to only 100 million households right now. It
i s a wel come st ep and wi l l reduce hunger and
malnutrition in especially from the underprivileged
class in urban and rural areas.
The history of the Food Security Legislation in
I ndi a dat es back t o 1942 when t he Publ i c
Dist ribution Syst em (PDS) was evolved owing t o
shortage of food grains during World War II. The
then government had started distributing food grains
t hr ough PDS and t he i nt ervent i on had been
continued in major cities and certain food deficient
regi ons. However, t he poli cy on PDS has been
witnessed major changes with a universal approach
in certain phases after independence. The Seventh
Five Year Plan assigned t he PDS a crucial role by
bringing t he ent ire population into its ambit and
over t he years. I t evol ved as an i mport ant
government i nt ervent i on t owards ensuri ng
availability of food-grains to the public at affordable
prices as well as for tackling poverty However, a
Target ed PDS (TPDS) for food-grains has been in
place since 1997. Under the TPDS the quantum of
provisioning of food-grains varies across Below
Poverty Line (BPL) and Above Poverty Line (APL)
households with different prices.
The Nat ional Sample Survey Organizat ion
(NSSO) dat a i ndi cat ed t hat per capi t a f ood
expendi t ure dur i ng t he peri od 1993 t o 2010
increased only by 0.2 per cent annually in rural
India, and decreased by 0.1 per cent per annum in
the urban areas.
The cereal intake of the bottom 20 per cent in
rural India is only 10 kg per month as against 12 kg
for the top class of the population, though the poor
need more food as they do more manual work and
t hei r access t o f rui t s, veget abl es and mi l k i s
negligible. From their limited resources the poor are
forced t o spend more on heal t h, chi l drens
education, transport and fuel than before. Food is
still needed, but not demanded for lack of resources.
In the process they get stunted and malnourished.
Endemi c hunger cont i nues t o af f l i ct a l ar ge
proportion of Indian population.
The government of India took more than four
years after the President of Indias declaration in the
Parliament on 4th June 2009 to bring the National
Food Securi t y Act t hrough an Ordi nance. The
Gover nment s food secur i t y bi l l promi ses t he
count r ys 810 million poor persons coarse grains
(such as sorghum, pearl millet or bajra, and finger
millet or ragi) at 1 per kg. These coarse cereals are
rich in minerals especially micronutrients and would
help to reduce the micronutrients deficiency in the
t arget ed populace. The proposed Nat ional Food
28 VOL13 GIST OF KURUKSHETRA
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Security scheme will annually need 62 million tonnes
of food-grains (rice, wheat and coarse cereals such as
sorghum, pearl millet or bajra, and finger millet or
ragi). Last year, Government Agencies procured
around 82 million tonnes of food-grains. However,
havi ng passed t he f ood securi t y Bi l l i n t he
Parliament , its ardent proponent s are promising
freedom from hunger and malnutrition. The skeptics,
however, believe that it will have dire consequences
on t he f i scal si t uat i on, fur t her eroding Indi as
business confidence, slowing down growth, further
tumbling of the rupee and higher inf lation. To know
the reality, however, one needs to dig a little deeper
and only future course of action by the government
will tell the real success of the National Food Security
Bill.
However, for t his t o become a realit y, t he
government must focus on identifying Below Poverty
Line (BPL) households correctly during the exercise
of income status classification for the success of the
Nat i onal Food Securi t y Bi l l . Once t hose BPL
households, which currently do not have access to
subsidized food, receive an appropriat e ident it y
proof, t hey woul d be able t o avail food subsidy,
amounting t o the difference bet ween t he market
pri ces and t he subsi di zed pri ces. Then t he
Government will see the real fruits of this passed bill.
The National Food Security Bills success would also
be measured by t he proport i on of el i gi bl e
households t hat act uall y benef it from t he bi ll ,
especially in states with a large BPL population. The
government can leverage the Aadhar platform, and
link their Unique Identification Number to income
status, once the deserving beneficiaries are identified.
It will also pulp achieve the Millennium Development
Goals (MDG) of India through implementation of
t he Nat i onal Food Securi t y Act . The successf ul
implementation of the National Food Security Bill by
the Government Agencies will leave more savings in
t he hands of rural and urban below poverty line
(BPL) households, enabling them to spend on health,
educat ion and nut rit ious food and ult imat ely t o
overcome t he problem of malnut rit ion form t he
targeted population of India.
At this point of time we can only visualize the
bright future of t he National Food Security Bill to
reduce t he hunger and mal nut ri t i on f rom t he
underprivileged Indian population in t he years to
come.2.
WATER AND SANITATION
FOR QUALITY LIFE IN RURAL INDIA
A wide rural-urban divide exists in the quality
of life in India. Urban people have better access to
education, health, sanitation, transport , electricity,
banking, communicat ion and many other services
t han t hei r rural count erpar t s. Due t o l ack of
product ive jobs, modern ameni t ies and services
required for a decent living, many of rural people
migrat e t o ci t i es and t owns in search of bet t er
employment opport unit ies and basic amenit ies,
however, most of them could get employment in the
informal sector that does not have any social security
provision for them. A majority of them lives in slums
without having adequate basic civic amenities. These
are the rural migrants who, by and large, increase the
urban poverty and put more pressure on urban civic
services.
In order t o cont rol t he undesirable f low of
rural workforce t o urban area and to improve t he
quali t y of l i f e i n rural areas, cent ral and st at e
governments have implemented a number of socio-
economic development programmes in rural areas.
The most recent among t hem are Bharat Nirman,
NRHM, TSC, MGNREGS, IWDP, NRLM, etc. Schemes
like PURA (Provision of Urban Amenities in Rural
Areas) indent t o remove the rural-urban divide in
the quality of life and ensure that rural people may
get basic amenities and facilitates at par with that
are recei ved by t he urban peopl e. However, t he
PURA scheme, due to its limited coverage, could not
bring desired change in t he quality of life in rural
India. Although, these various rural development
schemes have improved t he socio-economic and
physical infrastructure and quality of life, however,
rural India is still far behind the urban India in terms
of various socio-economic development indicators.
India spends a little more than 4% of GDP on
heal t hcare .servi ces of whi ch publ i c sect or
const it utes only one-forth. About 80% of privat e
expendit ure on t he heal t hcare is out -of-pocket
expendi t ure. Inadequat e and i neff i ci ent publi c
GIST OF KURUKSHETRA VOL13 29
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healthcare infrastructure and inadequate access to
safe drinking water and sanitation has put enormous
burden of medical and health expenditure on rural
households. Economically marginalized groups suffer
more due to contaminated water and poor sanitation
and hygiene conditions as they cannot afford to buy
costly water purifiers and other sanitary and hygiene
related facilities. Therefore, preventive measures can
be more cost effective than the curative measures as
they would ensure better health of the people and
al so prevent l oss of product i vi t y and mi ssed
educat ional opport unit y t hat may occur due t o
morbidi t y among t he workers and school going
chi l dr en. A l arge sum of publ i c and pri vat e
expenditure on water-borne diseases could be saved
if quality of water and sanitation is improved. It is in
this context that this article attempts to examine the
role of water and sanitation in improving the quality
of life in rural areas.
Progress in Water and Sanitation
As per the Census data, drinking water from
three sources-tap, well, and hand pump/ tube-well-
is considered safe drinking water. India has made
si gnifi cant progress i n provi di ng access of safe
drinking water to the rural households. The number
of rural households having access to safe water has
increased from 26.5% in 1981 t o 82.7% in 2011.
Although at the national level percentage of rural
households having tap water has increased from 24.3
in 2001 to 30.8 in 2011, it varies significantly across
states. It was as high as 88.7 in Himachal Pradesh and
as low as 2.6 in Bihar in 2011. Percentage of rural
households having access to tap water was observed
much above t he average i n t he st at es li ke Tamil
Nadu, Maharasht ra, Karnat aka, Gujarat , Andhra
Pradesh, whi le i t was much below t he nat i onal
average i n t he st at es l i ke, Bi har, Jhar khand,
Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, etc. It
may be relevant t o not e t hat providing tap/ hand
pump water to the households may not always be
considered as safe if the very source of the water is
polluted and contaminated due to point and non-
point of sources of pollution.
Popul at i on Census 2011 al so provi des
i nf ormat ion on whet her t he t ap wat er is f rom
treated or untreated sources. At the national level
out of 30.8% rural households having tap water only
17.9% have it from the treated sources, while in
urban areas, out of 70.6% households having tap
water, 62% get it from t he t reat ed sources. This
shows t hat there is a huge gap between rural and
urban areas as far as access to safe drinking water is
considered. Some households also reported to treat
water before its use. Out of total 14.32 crore rural
households of India, only 2.86 crore (19.9%) reported
to treat the water before its use. Further, 2.23 lakh
rural households (0.78% of those who treated the
water) report ed to use ROs (Reverse Osmosis) to
purify water. Contrary to this, in urban areas, out of
5.57 crores total households, 2.08 crore (37.5%) used
the treated water. The share of ROs was 5.32% in
the total water treating households. In some part of
t he countr y, qualit y of wat er is so poor t hat t he
households have to purchase even the bottled water
for drinking. At t he nat i onal level, l0 per 1000
househol ds i n r ural areas and 31 per 1000
households in urban areas used the bottled water. As
report ed i n a st udy by Ni l i ma Das on Fact ors
Affect ing Consumer Purchase Decision of Wat er
Purifier in 2013, water purifier market in India is
growing at a compounded annual growt h rat e of
about 25% and is likely to touch Rs.70000 million by
2015 from t he current l evel of about Rs.32000
million.
Rural-urban divide is more visible in case of
access to sanitary facilities than the drinking water.
Although there has been some improvement in the
access to toilets in rural areas in 2011 over 2001 still
69.3% of rural households do not have any t oilet
facili t y in t hei r houses. The percent age of such
househol ds i n urban areas was onl y 18.6. The
percentage of households having access to water
closet latrine has increased significantly from 7.1 in
2001 to 19.4 in 2011 in rural areas and from 46.1 to
72.6 in urban areas, while percentage share of other
latrine has declined during the same period. It may
be mentioned here that under the Total Sanitation
Campaign (TSC) programme (1999) and Nirmal
Gram Puraskar (2003L coverage of rural sanitation
got a boost during t he last one decade. However,
there is a wide inter-stat e disparity in this regard
also. For example, percentage of rural households
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without toilet facility in 2011 was high as 92.4 in
Jharkhand and as low as 6.8 in Kerala. Similarly, in
urban areas al so, t he percent age of househol ds
without toilet facility was as low as 1.5 in Mizoram
and as high as 39.8 in Chhat t isgarh. Populat ion
Census 2011 also classifies the households using
water closet toilets into three categories, namely,
piped sewer system, seotic tank and other system.
Toilet liked to thepiped sewer system is considered
safest for sanitary and environment points of views.
The percentage of households having access to such
f aci l i t y was onl y 2.2 i n rural ar eas, whi l e t he
corresponding percentage in urban India was 32.7.
Access to drainage facility is another important
indicator of quality of life. As per the Census 2011,
63.2% of rural households did not have any drainage
facult ies, while t he corresponding percent age in
urban areas was only 18.2. Furt her, 31% of rural
househol ds had open drai nage, whi ch i s not
considered safe for t he healt h of the people. Only
5.7% of rural households had the closed drainage
facility, while in urban areas, the percentage of such
households was much higher (44.7%).
Linkage of
Water and Sanitation with Health
Water, sanit at ion, and health are the inter-
related issues that are required to be addressed in an
int egrat ed and holistic manner. Improved wat er,
sanitation and drainage facilities help to prevent the
wat er-borne/ wat er relat ed di seases and make
possible for the people to have a healthy and decent
life. Cont aminat ed wat er, open defecation, lack of
personal and food hygiene and improper disposal of
solid and liquid waste are key factors responsible for
morbidity. Since, victor-borne diseases are mostly
communi cabl e i n nat ure and have negat i ve
externalities; these can be effectively controlled only
if all t he rural people have access t o t hese basic
amenities. It is estimated that around 37.7 million
peopl e of I ndi a are af fect ed by t hese di seases
annually; 1.5 million children are estimated to die of
diarrhoea alone and 73 million working days are lost
each year due to waterborne diseases. The resulting
economic burden is estimated at $600 million a year
(www.wat eraid.org). It has been est imat ed t hat
diarrheal diseases can be reduced by an average of 6-
20 per cent with improvements in water supply and
by 32 per cent with improvements in sanitation.
Total Sanitation Campaign (1999) intends to
provide good sanit ation facilit ies in rural areas to
improve the overall health status of the people and
reduce the mortality rates, including IMR and CMR
Assessment St udy of Impact and Sust ainability of
Nirmal Gram Puraskar conducted by CMS Research
House, New Delhi for Department of Drinking Water
and Sanitat ion, Ministry of Rural Development in
2011 shows that after construction of sanitary toilets
in the sample households, intensity of water-borne
di seases has decl i ned. Si xt y one percent of
households reported a reduction in the occurrence of
water-borne diseases like diarrhoea, dysentery, and
jaundice. Furt her, 50% households also reported
weight-gain among their children after construction
of latrines. The const ruction of latrines had led to
less number of man-days lost of the working adults
due to illness, as reported by 51 % of the household
respondents Anot her 52% households report ed a
reduction the annual medical expenses.
Rural-urban divide in the access to these basic
ameni t i es al so expl ai ns, t o a great er ext ent ,
differences in the health status of rural and urban
households. As per the latest estimates, IMR in rural
areas was 51 per 1000, while corresponding rate in
the urban areas was only 31. Similarly, CMR was 15.7
in rural areas and only 8.7 in urban areas. Birth and
death rates were also observed higher in rural than
urban areas. Life expectation at birth in rural areas
was 62.1 years, while it was 68.8 years in urban areas.
Part l y t he rural -urban di f f erence i n t he heat h
outcome may be due t o the difference in monthly
per capita consumption expenditure (MPCE), which
is considered as a proxy for the level of living. For
example, as per the NSSO 68
t h
Round (July 2011-
June 2012), average MPCE i n rural areas was
Rs.1281.45, while it was Rs. Rs.2408.68 in urban
areas.
NSS 61
st
Round (January- June, 2004)
provides information on morbidit y in India. The
survey finds a broad positive association between
MPCE and proportion of ailing persons (PAP) in both
rural and urban areas. Similarly, MPCE was also
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found positively associated with number of cases of
hospitalization. However, it may not necessarily be
the case that the poor are less prone to diseases than
the rich, it may be due to underreporting of ailing
cases by t he poor or poor households could not
afford t o admit their ailing members to hospitals.
Al t hough on an average, expendi t ure per
hospitalization was higher in urban (Rs.8851) than
rural (Rs. 5695) areas; rural people spent more
amount of money on transport, escort, lodging etc
relat ed to the patient treatment than their urban
counterparts. According to the 61t round, diarrhoea
accounted for the third largest number of cases of
hospitalisation in India. It accounted for 7.6% of all
hospitalized cases in rural and 6.2% cases in urban
areas. This implies that intensity of diarrhoea was
hi gher i n rural t han t he urban ar eas. Thus,
prevention of morbidly would not only reduce the
burden of medical expenditure on t he households
but al so hel p t o reduce t he l oss of i ncome and
productivity that occurs due to morbidity.
Role of
Local Self-Government Institutions
Under t he 73d Const itut ional Amendment
Act, drinking water, sewage and sanitation are the
subjects of Gram Panchayat (GP). These institutions
can playa vital role in prevent ing the water-borne
diseases by improving the wat er, sanit at ion and
drai nage syst em in t heir juri sdict i on. Wi t h t he
technical support from the government officials and
local NGOs, they can prepare and execut e village
master plan for water supply, sewage and drainage.
However, it is dismal t o not e that even after two
decades of new Panchayati Raj System in India; PRls
have not yet become t he effect ive inst it ut ions of
local self governance in most of the states. The main
reason for this state of affair seems to be the article
243G of the Act which provides discretionary power
t o t he st at e government s t o t ransfer or not t o
t ransfer 29 subject s of local import ance t o t hese
institutions. Provisions of this article create inter-
state differences in the power and functions of PRls.
Some states have devolved more funds, functions and
functionaries to these bodies, while others have not
done much progress in this regard.
Effort s are, therefore, required to build t he
capacity of these institutions. Apart from equipping
them with trained staff and sufficient funds, elected
members of t hese inst itut ions be sensit ized and
made aware of the tangible and non-tangible benefits
of proper operation, construction, management and
maintenance of safe drinking water and sanitation
servi ces. A cl ean hygieni c envi ronment can be
ensured only when the people make demand for it.
Therefore, wit h t he involvement of civil societ y
organizations, local demand for improved water and
sanitation services may be created. Approach Paper
to the 12th Plan highlights that: An important reason
for the relative lack of success of many flagship
programmes in India is that the local institutions that
should run these programmes are not adequately
empowered.
I t i s good t o not e t hat t he 13
t h
Fi nance
Commission of India recommended separate grants
t o PRls, which could be part ly used t o meet t he
operation and maintenance expenditure incurred by
them on ensuring pot able drinking water supply.
During the 12th Plan, the Ministry of Panchayat Raj
proposed t o int roduce Rajeev Gandhi Panchayat
Sashaktikaran Abhiyan (RGPSA), a 100% centrally
sponsored scheme to improving their administrative
and technical capacities, promoting democratic and
participative decision making and putting in place
accountability process of social audit. These efforts
may be more effect ive if Gram Sabha (GS) is also
empowered along with t he GP. Without a vibrant ,
enlightened and motivated GS, activities of GP may
remain Pradhan-cent ric. Act i ve involvement of
members of GS, particularly those of disadvantaged
groups, in the decision-making, planning, execution
and benefit sharing is quite essential. More crucial is
to develop the capacity of local CBOs (Community
Based Organizat ion) and institutions so that they
may take active participation in the functioning of
GP which has now become t he hub of almost all
development activities in the rural areas.
Monitoring the quality of water and sanitation
services by the government machinery may not be
economically viable in the rural areas. There is need
to train at group of young persons (4-5) in each GP
so that they may periodically monitor the quality of
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drinking water, educate the households about the
benef i t s of saf e dri nki ng wat er and i mproved
sani t at ion. These t rained yout hs should also be
i nvol ved i n mai nt ai ni ng t he soci o-economi c,
demographic and healt h relat ed dat abase at t he
village level. Maintenance of such GP-Ievel database
is necessary t o design, formulat e and implement
ef f ect i ve grass root s l evel pl anni ng f or t he
sustainable development of the village community.
These t rai ned yout hs shoul d be gi ven some
honorarium by the GP for this purpose.
Summing Up
Quality of life is the function of various socio-
economi c-cul t ural, environment al and physical
development indicators. This article focuses mainly
on t he role of wat er, sanit at ion and drainage in
improving the quality of life of rural households. Due
to lack of safe water, sanitary and drainage system,
the intensit y of water-borne diseases is higher in
rural than urban areas. Inadequate and inefficient
delivery of these basic amenities in the rural areas
put enormous burden of di seases on rur al
households, especially the poor households who are
not able t o afford to have cost ly wat er-purifying
system. Huge amount of out-of-pocket expenditure
on medical treatments by the rural households can
be saved i f al l t he househol ds have access t o
uncontaminated drinking water and sanitary toilets
properl y l i nked wi t h t he sewer syst em. I t i s,
therefore, necessary to protect the water bodies in
general and drinking water sources in particular from
both point and non-point sources of pollution. In this
regard, rural community should be made aware of
t he t angible and non-t angible benefits of having
clean wat er, no open-air defecat ion and covered
drainage system. Health benefits of t he improved
wat er, sanit at ion and drainage syst em would be
opt imized when the entire community adopts the
system.3.
MEASURES TO
IMPROVES RURAL INFRASTRUCTURE
Inf rast ruct ure Development is crit i cal for
I ndi as economi c growt h and f or sust ai nabl e
development. Building world class infrastructure is a
pre-condition for attaining a sustained growth of 7%
to 8% per annum, which is needed to improve the
quality of life of the citizens.
Infrastructure has been defined as comprising
t hose basi c ser vi ces wi t hout whi ch pr i mar y,
secondary and tertiary productive activities cannot
function. Also referred to as Social Overhead Capital,
investment in infrastructure is meant to encourage
investment later, other directly productive activities.
Simply stating, infrastructure includes transportation
services such as roads, railways, port s and civil
avi at i on, t el ecommuni cat i on, power, wat er
management.
India st ill lives in its villages. It s economic
growth and development depends to a large extent
upon the development of it s 700- million st rong
rural population. Majority of the population lives in
about 600,000 small villages and is engaged primarily
in agriculture, directly or indirectly. According to a
Nat ional Sample Survey report, a majority of our
villages do not have basic infrastructural facilities like
electricity, drinking water, post offices and even pre-
primary schools.
Therefore development of rural infrastructure
is important for achieving a higher rat e of growth
and improving the overall quality of life.
Rural infrastructure may be defined as those
wide ranges of public facilit ies or infrast ruct ural
arr angement s desi gned excl usi vel y f or t he
betterment of rural life and initiated mostly by the
Government and made available within rural areas.
For exampl e, provi sioni ng of all -weat her road
connectivity t o rural areas, elect ricity dist ribut ion
facilities and telecommunication networks will act as
a catalytic intervention for the rural population by
ensuring their access to a vast range of economically
gainful activities, regulated and fair market, health,
education and other public services; availability of
war ehouses and god owns i n rural ar eas can
ameliorate food security concerns; irrigation facilities
can boost up agr i cul t ural product i vi t y, reduce
vulnerability to drought, and stabilize yields. Thus, a
concer t ed ef f ort t owards bui l di ng rur al
infrast ruct ure, t o a great ext ent , can bridge t he
rural-urban development gap by accelerating the
growth of rural economy and increasing the quality
of life of the rural people.
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Rural Infrastructure - a Five-fold Impact
on the Economy
Development of rural infrastructure has a
five-fold impact on the economy.
Creating better access to employment and
providing further earning opportunities.
Increase in production efficiency.
Creating access to previously inaccessible
commodities and services.
Time saving which can be better utilized in
productive activities.
Better health and physical condition of the
rural population.
For providing a concert ed ef fort t owards
st rengt hening t he base of rural infrast ruct ure, a
t ime-bound comprehensive plan call ed Bharat
Nirman was initiated in 2005 by the Government of
India, with its six major areas of intervention like
(1) improving rural housing,
(2) boosting irrigation,
(3) developing road-connectivity in villages,
(4) strengthening rural water supply,
(5) promoting rural electrification and
(6) expandi ng r ural t el ecommuni cat i on
connectivity.
Current ly, quit e a few number of Cent rally
Sponsored schemes and programs are in operation to
achieve the overall goal of Bharat Nirman.
Indira Awaas Yojana (lAY): ai ms at
provisioning free houses for Scheduled Castes (SC)/
Schedul ed Tri bes (ST) popul at i on l i vi ng below
poverty line. During 2009-10, against the physical
t arget of 40.52 lakh houses - 21.18 lakhs houses
have been constructed till January, 2010 and 27.53
lakh houses are under construction. New target of
1.2 crore houses by 2014 has been adopted.
Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana
(PMGSY): Introduced as a fully funded Cent rally
Sponsored Scheme on 25
t h
December 2000, Pradhan
Mant ri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) t arget s t o
provide all weather road connectivit y across rural
parts of the nation. Till December 2009, a tot al of
33,812 habi t at i ons have been connect ed by
const ructing 97,583 KM, rural roads; in addit ion,
1,84,353 KM. exi st i ng rur al r oads have been
upgraded.
Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC): The
Tot al Sanit at ion Campaign (TSC) was st art ed in
1999; by adopt i ng a part i ci pat ory approach t o
promote rural sanitation, has shown some amazing
result s in t he last few years by encouraging t he
st akehol der-shi ps of Gram panchayat s i n
maintenance of sanitation and hygiene in villages. For
coverage under TSC, project s in 606 dist rict s of
different States in the country have been sanctioned
during 2009-10. The campaign has been successful in
the construction of 125.2 lakh individual households
latrines and 1.44 lakh school toilets.
National Drinking Water Mission
(NDWM): adopts an integrated approach to provide
sustainable supply of safe drinking water to the rural
population. Against the target of covering 586 not
covered 1.23 lakh slipped back and 34,595 quality
affected habitations ... 253 not covered and 1.18
lakh slipped back habit at ions were covered and
32,129 quality affected habitations were addressed
duri ng t he year 2009-10 by NRDWP and about
4,500 rural schools have reportedly been provided
with drinking water facilities.
Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran
Yojana (RGGVY): was launched in April, 2005 for
accelerating the process of rural electrification in the
country. For the year 2009-10, RGGVY set a target
to electrify 17,500 un-electrified villages and 47 lakh
Below Poverty Line (BPL) Households against which
18,374 villages and 47.18 lakh Households were
provided access to electricity.
Rural Infrastructure Development Fund
(RIDF): a NABARD assisted initiative, is also playing
an i mperat i ve rol e i n l i nki ng rural vi l l ages by
providing road-connectivity across rural India. As a
result of the telecom penetration which has been
evident across villages in recent years, rural tele-
densit y has increased from 2006's figure of 2 per
cent to 33.79 per cent as of March 2011; statistics
al so shows t hat t he number of rural wi rel ess
subscriber has drastically grown up to 282.23 million
as on March 2011, from March 2010's figure of 200
million. As far as facilitating irrigation is concerned,
till 2009 - 6.5 million hectares of rural land has been
brought under assured irrigation and it has also been
planned to cover the remaining 3.5 million hectares
by 2012
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Mahatma Gandhi National Rural
Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA): Aiming
at ensuring 100 days guaranteed employment for
every rural household in a financial year - has put a
major emphasis on creation of durable community
assets as well as social and economic infrastructure in
rural areas. Since its inception, in September 2005,
the program has been instrumental in enhancement
of rural livelihood opportunities on a sustained basis,
by developing need-based rural infrast ruct ures.
During financial year 2009-10, 36.511akh works were
undert aken, of whi ch 51% const i t ut ed wat er
conser vat i on, 16% rural connect ivit y, 14% land
development and provision of irrigation facility to
individual beneficiaries constituted around 17%.
Rural Health: The Nat ional Rural Healt h
Mission (NRHM) was launched by the Government
of India in April 2005, with a view to brining about
dramatic improvement in the health system and the
health status of the people, especially those who live
in the rural areas of the country. The Mission seeks
to provide universal access to equitable, affordable
and quality health care which is accountable and at
the same time responsive to the needs of the people.
The NRHM also aims t o achieve the goals set out
under the National Health Policy and the Millennium
Development Goals during the Mission period.
Education: A National Mission on Education
t hr ough I nf ormat i on and Communi cat i on
Technology was launched in Februar y 2009. The
proposed Mission aims at ensuring connectivity of
the learners to the World of Knowledge in cyberspace
and enhance their self-learning skills and capabilities
for online problem solving and to work for creation
of knowledge modules with right contents to address
the personalized needs of learners; certification of
compet encies of t he learners; acquired t hrough
formal or non-formal means; and t o develop and
maint ain t he dat abase having profil e of human
resources.
Non Conventional Energy: I ndi a has
developed one of the worlds largest programmes
for renewable energy, covering the entire gamut of
technologies including biogas, biomass, solar energy,
wind energy, small hydro power, geothermal energy
and other emerging technologies.
Bharat Nirman: Intensifying Effort towards
Achieving Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
Targets for Rural India Bharat Nirman has appeared
t o be a key player boost i ng rural Indias journey
towards achievement of MDG-targets. Some of the
key goals addressed by t his programme may be
enumerated as follows:
1. Poverty and Hunger Reduction- Studies
by Pl anni ng Commi ssi on have r eveal ed t hat
i nadequat e rur al i nf rast ruct ur e has been
instrument al in accelerat ing t he growt h of rural
povert y; and poor purchasing power among rural
population ultimately leads to wide-spread hunger
and food insecurity across rural India. Under Bharat
Ni r man-a major i mpet us t owards need based
development of rural infrast ruct ure and focus on
irrigation has shown some tangible changes in this
direction.
2. Universalisation of Primary Education-
Infrastructure has been a major barrier in access to
education across rural India. Under Bharat Nirman,
electricity, accessible roads and safe drinking water
provisions have been promoted. This has encouraged
more and more children and youth specially girls to
come forward and avail education facilities across the
country.
3. Health Related Goals - Provisioning of
safe drinking water and facilitating water supply in
under-served areas is appearing t o be a boon for
boost i ng up t he heal t h rel at ed goal s under
Millennium Commitments - be it child or mental
healt h and fighting diseases like HIV. St udies by
developmental organisations like WHO and Water -
Aid have brought into light that at any given point
of time 20% of people around the world are effected
by water borne diseases. Hence access to clean and
safe drinking water under Bharat Nirman has been a
positive initiative towards this direction. Accessibility
t o roads have helped in promot ing inst it ut ional
delivery across rural India reducing percent age of
mat ernal and chi ld mort ali t y t o a consi derabl e
number.
4. Ensuring Environmental Sustaina-
bility- Saf e and adequat e wat er suppl y has
promoted hygienic sanitation practices across rural
I ndi a. Thi s has cr eat ed a posi t i ve i mpact on
environment sustainability.
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Facing The Ground Reality: The Task Ahead
Following are the few strategies that can be followed
for ensuring greater reach ability of the programme:
4. Promoting Public Private Partnership
in Infrastructure Building- Devel opment of
I nf rast ruct ure i s t he sol e obj ect i ve of t hi s
programme. Thi s can be f urt her boost ed by
encouraging appropriate public-private partnership.
Since the financial resource of the government is
l imi t ed, pri vat e i nvest ment s i n t he sect or wil l
increase fund-f low and will help reach the targets of
Bharat Nirman.
2. Setting area-specific targets-
Requi rement of every rural area is uni que and
different. Sectoral allocation of resources could be an
important step so that resources are well utilized.
Therefore steps can be taken to identify area specific
needs in collaboration with local Panchayats of the
area. Chalking out essential requirements will help in
providing effective intervention and reduce wastage
of resources under this programme.
3. Initiating suitable measures/
mechanisms for regular monitoring and
evaluation at the grassroots level - Every
programme and scheme implement ed across the
country appears to very effective in pen and papers;
however t here are gaps in implementation due to
limit at ions in every region. Suit able monit oring
mechanisms coul d be formulat ed so t hat every
scheme under the programme could be evaluat ed,
rol e of st akeholders can be re-analysed and t he
programme can be upgraded and implemented in a
better way.
4. Reducing the inequality in Regional
growth - Generally it is observed that compared to
mainstream area development, many backward areas
l i ke t he Nort h-East ar e of t en l ef t devoi d of
development . St eps should be taken so t hat this
regional balance in development can be reduced and
a holistic approach should be adopted.
5. Encouraging role of civil society
institutions - Civil Societ ies can be involved in
different aspects or programme implementation.
They can playa support ive role t o panchayat i raj
i nst i t ut i ons l i ke f or exampl e - need based
monitoring, follow up which may be instrumental in
further up-gradation of the programme.
6. Proper utilization of community
resources under Bharat Nirman Plan - Keeping in
view t he f inancial and human resources of t he
Government, steps should be taken so that different
community level resources are utilized at different
stages of programme implementation.
7. Capacity building and training of
Panchayat officials - Panchayat and ot her
government represent at i ves specially t he newly
elected leaders, women leaders should be provided
adequate training from time to time to ensure better
performance as t hey are t he key players at t he
grassroot s l evel f or i mpl ement at i on of t he
programme. The members shoul d be provided
sui t able orient at ion regarding proper usage of
Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) and Participatory
Learning and Action (PLA) while allocating resource
for identification of rural infrastructure needs.
8. Encouraging more autonomy to Gram
Sabha for a transparent planning at the village
level- Being the executing unit of Gram Panchayat;
Gram Sabha should be given more aut onomy in
designing the layout of different initiat ives under
Bharat Nirman. Autonomous functioning of Gram
Sabha will boost up peoples participation promoting
stakeholder ship in the programme.
The infrastructure sector has both backward
and forward linkages with the agricultural and the
industrial sectors and therefore the development of
t hi s sect or i s a pr erequi si t e f or t he overal l
devel opment of t he economy. Infrast ruct ure, in
general, and rural i nf rast ruct ure in part i cul ar,
cont ri but es t o economi c devel opment bot h by
increasing productivity and by providing amenities
which enhance t he quality of life. The problem of
inadequate infrastructure in rural areas can also be
interpreted in terms of access rather than availability
of services. Bharat Nirman wit h it s t ime-bound
int egrat ed approach can hel p bui ld sust ainable
infrastructure which will help in asset creation for the
Nation as well as to bridge the ban rural divide in the
context of development.4.
INITIATIVE FOR
RURAL DEVELOPMENT IN INDIA
Rural India is the real face of our country as it
represents 68.9 per cent of our population. We need
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cont i nuous ef f ort s t o accel er at e t he growt h
t raject ory t o maint ain t he rural landscape of our
count r y. It is i mport ant t o not e here t hat rural
demography is very import ant to food security of
our country because it provide the important human
resource to propel the various efforts. According to
the National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO),
the nominal per capita expenditure growth in rural
India has been nearly 38 per cent.
Thi s i s f or t he f i r st t i me t he per capi t a
expenditure growth has been significantly higher in
the rural areas compared to a little over 34 per cent
in urban India. In 2012, rural areas in India laid claim
t o 56 per cent of Indi as income, 64 per cent of
consumer expendit ure and 33 per cent of Indias
savi ngs. Rural I ndi as share of consumpt ion of
popular consumer goods and durables stood at 30-
60 percent , and sales t o rural India are growing
steadily. Per capita rural consumption in India grew
annually at 19 percent between 2009-10 and 2011-
12 which was two percentage points higher than its
urban counterpart. In incremental terms, spending
by rural India during t hese two years reached Rs.
3,750 billion, significantly higher than the Rs. 2,994
billion spent by urbanites.
The concer t ed ef f ort s of t he Cent r al
Government have changed the life of the people in
the rural areas. People below the poverty line have
been reduced by 137 million in the last 8 years in
absolute number according to the criteria fixed by
the Tendulkar Committee. In 2011-12, our country
had 270 million persons below t he poverty line as
compared to 407 million in 2004-5. The percentage
of persons below the Poverty Line has been reduced
from 41.8 to 25.7 per cent in rural areas and from
37.2 to 21.9 per cent for the country as a whole. The
development is consistent as 50.1 per cent in rural
areas and 45.3 per cent for the count ry as a whole
were bel ow povert y l ine i n 1993-94. There are
number of fact ors responsible for t his st imulus.
Education is one of them. Mobile telephony is also
t he indicat or of our development to some ext ent
and out of total 861 million mobile phone users in
the country, 333 million are from rural India.
Rural Literacy
Education plays the role of foundation stone in
t he overal l soci o-economi c devel opment of a
country. It is an effective tool for the empowerment
of a community. In 1901 only five per cent of our
total population was literate. The rural literacy rate
which was 24.48 per cent in 1961, improved to 68.91
per cent in 2011 ref lecting an average growth rate of
0.89 per cent per annum during the last 50 years
under context. On the other hand, urban literacy rate
also went up from 58.59 per cent to 84.99 per cent,
showing the average annual growth rate of 0.53 per
cent during 1961-2011. A posit ive development
during the reference period has been that the literacy
rate improved at a faster rate in rural as compared
to urban areas. As a result, the gap in rural-urban
literacy rate narrowed down from 34.11 percentage
points in 1961 to 16.06 percentage points in 2011.
Improvement in Other Vital Statistics
Heal t h is anot her i mport ant indicat or of
quality of life and various health indicators have also
shown significant improvement. Crude birth rate in
rural India declined from 38.9 per thousand in 1971
to 23.7 per thousand in 2010. On t he other hand,
urban areas of the country also witnessed a decline
in birt h rat e from 30.1 per t housand to 18.0 per
thousand during the same period. It is evident that
birth rate in rural areas came down at a faster rate
as compared to urban areas. Death rate in rural areas
also came down from 16.4 per thousand to 7.7 per
thousand during 1971-2010. Due to the extension of
medical and health facilities at an accelerated pace in
rural areas of the count ry, t he rural urban gap in
death rate came down from 6.7 per thousand to 1.9
per thousand during the period 1971-2010. Infant
mortality rate is also an important indicator of level
of economic development of a countr y. There has
been a sharp decline in rural infant mortality rate
from 138 per thousand in 1971 to 51 per thousand
in 2010. Urban areas also witnessed a decline from
82 to 31 per thousand in infant mortality rate during
this period. Infant mortality rate is high in rural areas
which are matter of concern but the National Rural
Health Mission will help immensely to overcome this
bot tleneck. The rural urban differentials in infant
mortalit y rat e narrowed down from 56 t o 20 per
thousand during the period under context. National
Rural Health Mission was launched in 2005. There
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has been a dramat ic decl ine i n Indias child and
mat ernal mort alit y figures since 2008 aft er t he
NRHM was rolled out. In fact , the decline in Indias
under-five mortality and Maternal Mortality Ratio
{MMR} has been sharper than the global figures. In
1990, Indias under-five mortality was 114 deaths
per 1,000 live births whereas the global average was
87. According to the 2011 official statistics, only 55
Indian children die in the first five years of their life
and globally the figure is 51. Similarly on the Mother
Mort alit y Rat e front , 600 women died for every
1,00,000 live births in 1990, while the global figure
was 400. Now, it has decreased to 212 whereas the
global average is 260. Again, the decline is 65 per cent
in India whereas it is 35 per cent globally. Encouraged
by t hese results, now the Central government has
i dent if ied 184 hi gh pri orit y di st ri ct s, based on
composite health index across States and announced
30 per cent higher allocations, better infrastructure
and incentives for human resources to bring these at
par with the rest.
Rural Employment
Traditionally agriculture is the main occupation
of t he peopl e i n t he rural ar eas. The shar e of
agriculture to overall GDP in India has come down to
14 percent, while 66.2 percent of rural males and
81.6 percent of rural f emal es are engaged i n
agriculture as cultivators or labourers. Inadequate
diversification has taken place in rural occupations as
many 66.2 percent of rural males and 81.6 percent
of rural females, report ing agri cul t ure as t hei r
principal economic activity. Rural India remain the
focus of policymakers as 10.1 per cent of its labour
force is unemployed compared with 7.3 per cent in
urban areas. In rural areas, agriculture continues to
be the dominant employer (52 per cent), followed by
construction (7.2 per cent), manufacturing (6.7 per
cent ), and communi t y servi ces {6.3 per cent }.
Alt hough t here is a case for st rengthening well-
concei ved schemes guarant eei ng mi ni mum
employment, they could at best be bridge solutions.
Upgrading the skills of the rural workforce to enable
it to match the requirements of the manufacturing
and services sect ors would provide more last ing
resul t s. Agri cul t ur e i s t he most i mport ant
component of development in t he rural areas.
Agricult ure accounts for about 10 per cent of t he
total export earnings and provides raw material to a
large number of industries. Agriculture in India uses
52 per cent of t he work force, contribut es 14 per
cent of Gross Domestic Product of the country. One
of t he most import ant f act ors for empl oyment
generation in the agriculture is to maintain the high
growth rate. Agriculture provides the principal means
of livelihood for over 52 per cent of our population
whi ch l i ves i n t he rural areas. But , of l at e t he
transition away from agriculture has accelerated. The
transition from agriculture to industry and services
has been rapid in rural India over the past decade.
This change has been possible because almost 75 per
cent of the new factories during the last decade came
up in rural India, contributing to 70 per cent of all
new manuf act ur i ng jobs creat ed. As a r esul t ,
manufacturing GDP in rural India witnessed an 18
per cent compound annual growt h rat e (CAGR)
during 1999-09, and is now 55 per cent of Indias
manufacturing GDP. Presently, The Mahatma Gandhi
Nat i onal Rural Empl oyment Guarant ee Act
(MGNREGA) i s a f l agshi p programme of
Government of India for providing employment to
the rural people. In 2012-13, 4.48 crore households
were provided employment and 163.38 crore person
days of employment were generat ed. During t he
period, 64.54 lakh works were undertaken, of which
58 per cent for water conservation, 12 per cent for
the provision of irrigation facilit y, 18 per cent for
rur al connect i vi t y and 8 per cent f or l and
development.
Non-farm Employment Opportunities
According to the 68
t h
round of the NSSO, 13.9
million jobs were creat ed in two years from June
2010 till January 2012. It is important because the
increase in employment during 2004-05 to 2009-10
was merely 1.1 million. It may be interpreted as a
remarkable achievement, more so when the sharp
increase in addit ional jobs came about at a t ime
when t he I ndi an economy was experi enci ng a
downturn with the GDP growth slipping from 9.3 per
cent i n 2010-11 t o 6.2 per cent i n 2011-12.
Significant finding is that rural women are shifting
towards self-help groups and self-employment, which
is clear from the percentage of women taking up self-
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employment rising to 59 per cent in 2011-12 from
56 per cent i n 2009-10. Non-farm empl oyment
opportunities are very important for increasing the
income of people in the rural areas. There have been
periodic init iatives of the Cent ral Government in
int roducing innovat ive schemes t o engage rural
yout h i n non-f arm empl oyment . Rural Sel f -
Employment Training Institutes (RESTI) are one of
such recent initiatives.
These institutes are promoted for the purpose
of providing opport unities to the rural youth for
their skill upgradation leading to self-employment.
The Ministry of Rural Development has established
RSETls in all the rural districts of the country. These
institutes are managed and run by the public/ private
sect or banks with active support of t he St ate and
Central Government s. The RESTls core offering
includes its free, unique and int ensive short-term
residential training designed for rural youth. These
instit utes primarily focuses on below povert y line
rur al yout h and are based on demand dri ven
approach which provide a wide choice of vocations
and continued hand holding to ensure sustainability
of micro enterprise and credit linkage after training.
So far, more than 190 RSETls have been established
i n di f f erent St at es of t he count ry wi t h act i ve
participation of 35 public/ private banks, and these
instit ut es have t rained more t han 1.5 lakh rural
youth on various trades. In a bid to further reach out
to rural youth in the countrys 24 most critical Left-
Wing-Extremism-affected districts, the Centre
has i nt roduced a pl acement -ori ent ed ski l l -
development scheme called Roshni, targeting 50,000
persons, mostly tribals. In this scheme, at least SO
per cent of the candidates would be women. Central
Government i s cont i nuousl y maki ng ef f ort s t o
st rengt hen t he r ural economy. New direct cash
transfer scheme currently being implemented in the
country will also create savings for poor people by
reducing t he hidden t ransact ion cost s, such as
transport, that recipients often face when trying to
access and receive benefit s. Under t his init iative,
government subsidies for 29 of 42 welfare schemes
will be transferred directly into beneficiaries bank
accounts. The electronic cash transfers will be based
on t he 12-di gi t uni que i dent i f i cat i on number
(Aadhaar). This scheme will enhance the efficiency of
wel f ar e schemes, because i t wi l l enabl e t he
government to reach out to identified beneficiaries
and ensure that they receive the services and support
owed them. Through this cash transfer program, the
government plans to deposit Rs. 3.2lakh crore in the
bank accounts of 10 crore poor families by 2014.
There is concerted view with the planners at
the Central Government that the rural development
should be i ncl usive and sust ainable in order t o
alleviate the poverty. The tentative Gross Budgetary
Support (GBS) for the Ministry of Rural Development
for t he Twelft h Five Year Pl an (2012-17) is Rs.
44,3261 crore (against t he Rs. 29,1682 crores of
Elevent h Plan period) which i ncludes t he major
programs. Such initiatives will certainly give boost to
the growth trajectory in the rural India. In the vast
l andscape of t hi s count ry such ef f ort s shoul d
cont i nue t o a poi nt when t he dream of Mahat
Gandhi of self reliant village life is fully achieved.

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