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Monday, October 26, 2009

Rural India still deprived

October 24 is observed as the World Development Information Day across the globe with the objective of drawing people's attention towards development problems.

But, most of the people, particularly in Varanasi are unaware about it and its importance. The main aim of World Development Information Day is to inform and motivate young people vital development issues that directly affect the life of people particularly in rural areas.

Agriculture, which is concentrated in rural India, is the mainstay of the Indian economy. According to government report, agriculture and allied sectors contribute nearly 22 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP of India), while about 65-70 per cent of the population is dependent on agriculture for their livelihood.

But, it is unfortunate to know that farmers have to struggle hard for basic amenities like health care, agricultural services, seed/fertiliser procurement facility and veterinary services. It is also a startling fact that the girls living in 1010 villages in the district have to travel over five kilometres to get secondary education because there is no such facility in these villages. Similarly the girl students of upper primary of 399 villages have to cover this distance to attend the schools.

According to the statistics of the district records, the district has 1289 villages in eight development blocks including Baragaon, Cholapur, Chiraigaon, Araziline, Kashi Vidyapeeth, Pindra, Harahua and Sevapuri. The policy draft of the ministry of rural development clearly mentions that the rural development implies both the economic betterment of people and greater social transformation. In order to provide the rural people with better prospects for economic development, increased participation of people in the rural development programmes, decentralisation of planning, better enforcement of land reforms and greater access to credit are envisaged. To achieve this target there are many schemes like Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana, Rural Housing, National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, and National Social Assistance Programme.

But, reality is that the rural folk are still a deprived section of the society. The records show that the agricultural mandis are over five km from 1180 villages while the native of 676 villages have to cover long distance to reach veterinary hospitals for the treatment of their livestock.

Similarly the natives of 578 villages have to cover a distance of over five km for health care facility in primary or community health centres. The cooperative agriculture and rural development banks are over 5km from 1239 villages while the farmers of 1204 villages have to travel such distance to reach selling/purchasing cooperative committees.
A number of villagers have also to travel far for amenities like cold storage, post office and public telephone in this age of information technology.


Source:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/varanasi/Rural-India-still-deprived/articleshow/5157868.cms




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