Major Issues of Rural Development In India Amaresh Patel BASIC OF LAW Thu, Dec 23, 2021, at ,09:21 PM Major Issues of Rural Development In IndiaBy Amaresh Patel,Author of five law books, and Chief Editor at Turquoise Publication Rural development is the process of improving quality of life and economic well-being of people living in rural area. However, the major source of rural income depends upon agricultural output and labour engagement. Since, 88.84% of Indian population lives in villages according to the census of 2011, development of the nation and reaching the goal of $ 5 trillion economy depends upon development of rural India but on the contrary 1/3rd of the rural India is still living below the poverty line which has become the biggest impediment to the all-round development of the economy. Following are some of the major impediments to the rural development; a) Poverty Alleviation Poverty remains a predominantly rural problem, with a majority of India’s poor located in rural areas. The poverty, alone, is responsible for lack of sanitation, health, food and proper education. According to the latest report by World Bank, it is estimated that the poverty rate in India will increase by 12% due to COVID-19. Thus, widespread poverty is major issue of rural development. The government initiative such as Prime Minister Shram Yogi Maan Dhan (PM-SYM) launched in 2019 by Ministry of Labour and Employment for old age protection and social security of unorganised workers and Pradhan Mantri Street Vendor’s Atmanirbhar Nidhi- PM SVANidhi launched in 2020 by Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to provide micro credit facilities to the street vendors affected due to COVID-19 pandemic are commendable. Such programmes, if implemented properly, could ease out the anxiety in rural India created due to COVID-19 pandemic. b) Development of Healthcare Initiatives Health infrastructure in rural India is still quite inadequate. Access to healthcare services is critical to good health yet rural residents face a variety of access barrier. Absence of connectivity to the villages and inadequate number of health center and skilled health workers, still endangers the life of rural population in the country. The Government of India has launched Ayushmann Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY) in 2018, which is also the largest government funded health assurance scheme in the world to tackle health challenges in the rural India. Over 50 crores poor and vulnerable beneficiaries are eligible for these benefits. It provides a cover of ₹ 5 lakhs per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitals and across public and private empaneled hospitals in India. c) Development of productive resources In the rural economy agricultural land are the most important productive resources for rural development and is the key in determining the livelihood strategies for rural population which is itself an impediment to the growth of rural economy. People shall be encouraged to involve in non-farm productive activities such as food processing, dairy farming, organic farming, fisheries, animal husbandry and cold storage unit for enabling them to better and affordable access to healthcare, sanitation facilities at workplace and home and education for all. The Ministry of Rural Development has launched several programmes such as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) for providing wage employment, National Rural Livelihood Mission for Self-Employment and Skill Development, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana - Grameen (PMAY-G) for providing housing to BPL households, Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) for construction of quality roads, National Social Assistance Programme for Social Pension (NSAP), Shyama Prasad Mukherjee RURBAN Mission (SPMRM), and Integrated Watershed Management Program (IWMP) for improving the productivity of land, to improvise and develop the productive resources of rural India. d) Development of infrastructure Infrastructure age backbone of a country and the same is true for rural India. It not only plays a vital role in the development of infrastructure but also plays a significant role in generation of huge employment. For Aatmnirbhar Bharat a decent infrastructure like electricity, irrigation, transport, construction of village road, schools and universities needs immediate attention in the rural area. Under Rurban Mission government has envisioned to develop good quality and well maintained rural roads facilities, improved connectivity, safer and efficient access to livelihood and socio-economic opportunities for rural communities. Under Jal Jivan Mission, 100% of rural households to have functional household tap connection by 2024 and 100% of rural habitations to have full access to safe drinking water. All rural households to have access to toilets and 100% of villages to be Open Defection Free. e) Development of Human Resource Development of human resource is important path for all other developmental activities. All form of development, that is, social, economic, technological, cultural, and agricultural are ultimately meant to serve the people in terms of improving their happiness through better standards of living. Development of human resource is also directly proportional to yielding efficiency in the government initiatives and programmes. However, in rural India, due to lack of school and colleges, literacy rate it’s only 68.91%. Dindayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana, launched in 2014, a part of National Livelihood Mission, is one such scheme by Prime Minister of India to fulfil the career aspirations of rural youth and adding diversity to the income of rural families. Around 690 projects are being implemented by 300 partners. As per the government reports, over 2.7 lakhs candidates have been trained till now and nearly 1.34 lakhs candidates have been placed in job. A way forward Rural India is the backbone of Indian economy. Rural development is not merely development of rural areas, but rather it involves human development of varied nature including a well development of mental caliber of the rural people so as to transform India into Aatmnirbhar Bharat with the modern facilities available to any developed community. Therefore, the initiative of transformation of rural India into ‘Rurban’ on the sustainable and equitable model would play a vital role in development of Indian economy and bringing close to its goal of $ 5 trillion economy.