GIST OF KURUKSHETERA

PERSPECTIVE
OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT
JANUARY, 2021

Contents
 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 2
 Adopting a Holistic Approach towards Rural Development ......................................... 3
 Swachh Bharat Mission Phase II aims for Sampoorna Swachhata ................................ 4
 Education in Rural India: Schemes for Women and Youth ............................................ 7
 Recent Farm Bills and Benefits to Farmers ....................................................................11
 Panchayati Raj System towards Changing Rural India .................................................13
 Livestock: Key for Doubling Farmers’ Income...............................................................15
 Rural Healthcare in India .................................................................................................17
 Importance of Infrastructure in Rural Development....................................................18
GIST OF KURUKSHETRA | JANUARY, 2021

Perspective
of Rural
Development
INTRODUCTION

 ‘A very important facet of rural development has been the Swachh Bharat Mission. This issue looks
at how the Swachh Bharat Mission in its second phase will provide impetus to the rural economy
through construction of household toilets and need based community sanitary complexes, as
well as the infrastructure for solid and liquid waste management. This issue also outlines the many
infrastructure schemes for rural India.

 Health, education and infrastructure facilities are the cornerstones of social and economic development.
Programmes such as Samagra Shiksha and BetiBachaoBetiPadhaohave been playing a major role in
ensuring quality education for rural India. Rural entrepreneurial talent and frugal innovations catering
to rural markets have the potential to revolutionise the rural ecosystem. The only requirement
is some nurturing and handholding. The advent of new reforms in the agricultural sector offers an
opportunity to the young innovators living the agricultural challenge to institutionalise local solutions.

 Doubling rural incomes is one of the biggest objectives of government policies. This will be possible
only if animal husbandry is integrated into agriculture and allied sectors with the salient policies
ensuring their effective as well as timely implementation.

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ADOPTING A HOLISTIC APPROACH TOWARDS

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

 India is well known globally for its rapidly growing digital prowess, technological capabilities and its
innovative spirit. With over 55000+ startups, 400+ incubators and over 34 Unicorns, the country is
rightly being perceived as one of the fastest growing Startup nations of the world.

 India also enjoys a demographic dividend that is the envy of many a country with over 65 percent of
its population under 35 yearsover 70 percent of the population of India are in Tier-2, Tier-3, cities
and in rural agri dominant India. Over 70 percent of the formal and informal Labour workforce of
India is associated with the micro, small and medium enterprises of rural India

 In USA, startups are creating more new job opportunities per year as compared to the jobs generated
by established firms. In Israel, unemployment rate tumbled from 9 percent in 2000s to 5.5 percent
in 2010s due to newly established firms growing at 23 percent in that period. In contrast, Japan has
lost its significance in the growing global economy due to stagnation in entrepreneurial activity.

 In 1800s, Prussians came up with the idea of a ‘factory model of education’. The factory model of
education states that the schools are built to train the future factory workers and that the students
should essentially be trained to become efficient factory workers.

 Inspired by this the Industrial Revolution aimed at “manufacturing” employable workers for the huge
pool of opportunities that had opened by the Industrial Revolution. The focus then was to create as
many human resources as possible to meet the gap in demand and supply of labour.

 This model created a huge impact in the way Industrial revolution prospered and was propelled over the
years, and thus lead the growth of economies.

 Today, we are in a world which is ideating and innovating constantly, and this has been the driving force
for both economies and countries., This can be seen via the advent of numerous startups and innovators
which are driving creation of jobs and up-skilling among the youth. In United States of America,
startups are creating pace with rapidly changing trends and digital capabilities of technology.

 The time thus has come to focus on building sustainable technology driven plans and approaches to
drive the Indian economy to leapfrog towards the 5 trillion-dollar economy goal; with the right push
towards creating more job creators and better job seekers this can be achieved.

Delivering Quality Education

 New Education Policy (NEP) 2020: The NEP strives to make us realise the importance of experiential
learning through technology driven practical education and also emphasises on the importance of
developing relevant skillsets for an agile world that we live in today.

 The demographic dividend is on our side and we must focus on building experiential model of learning
for the school kids.

 Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs) by Atal Innovation mission, NITI Aayog: Atal Tinkering Labs are state
of the art labs created in schools where children are introduced to new emerging technology
toolkits.

 These toolkits are miniaturised electronics devices, 3D printers, sensors, Robotics, Arduino kits etc. There
is also a year-round teacher training program which is run to equip the school teachers with the right
skill set and introduce them to the new technologies.

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Developing Youth as Change Makers

 There has been low penetration of the self-employment and start-up ecosystem in the rural, Tier III
and Tier IV cities of the country and an even lower penetration of the understanding of the SDGs.
 India is a big market and provides a lot of opportunities. We should now focus on providing an
institutional based structure to these young innovators and support them.
 There has to be a focused approach in spreading awareness about the SDGs and showcasing the
solutions created by the local youth to the community leaders thus igniting more minds and making
them drive the needed change.
 One such effort is being done by the Atal Innovation Mission of NM Aayog by establishing Atal
Community Innovation Centres (ACICs) in the underserved/unserved regions of the country. These
ACICs will focus on creating awareness about the SDGs and focus on providing young innovators
with an opportunity to grow and make a difference.
 A similar effort is to be carried out by creating a rural community youth fellowship program focusing
on harnessing the talent of a young innovator and creating a viable solution to a local SDG challenge.
Such a program would be highly beneficial in a Tier II and III city, rural areas or areas that traditionally
do not have a strong entrepreneurial ecosystem. It is also imperative that this fellowship program is
strongly supported by a Public Private Partnerships (PPP) network.

Digital Push and Transformation of the Agrarian Economy

 Farm mechanisationand creation of sustainable value chains has been a pain point that not many
innovators have been able to solve. The farm to fork model is complex and has challenges that the
startups and rural India is still struggling to solve as a whole.
 Role of Startups:
 The Startups can provide the farmers with quality seeds, technology driven irrigation and
precision agriculture mechanisms, water conservation, and demand forecast based market
opportunities in the pre-harvesting phase.
 They can support the farmers by providing them with technology driven solutions for quick
harvesting and with proper storage facilities.
 The startups can provide the farmers a direct market linkage or may decide to become the buyer
of the farm product.
 The startup and the farmers can also enter into an agreement to make a value-added product from
the farm product and sell the product in the market together.
All these efforts stated shall not only be beneficial for the holistic development of the rural economy
today but also will have a sustainable future for an AatmaNirbhar Bharat that can serve the world.

SWACHH BHARAT MISSION PHASE II AIMS

FOR SAMPOORNA SWACHHATA

 The Government of India, in February 2020, approved the Phase II of the Swachh Bharat Mission-
Grameen (SBM-G) with a total outlay of Rs. 1,40, 881 crores to focus on the solid and liquid waste
management (SLWM) and on the sustainability of ODF status.
 SBM-G in its first phase devoted itself in making India Open Defecation Free. As a result, rural
sanitation coverage has increased from 39 percent in 2014 to 100 percent in 2019 with over 10.2
crore toilets built across Indian districts, converting them to ODF. Achieving ODF status was the first

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PERSPECTIVE OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT www.iasscore.in

great peak conquered, in a series of many more such peaks.

 India achieved SDG Goal for providing safe sanitation for all 11 years before the targeted year
2030.
 The success of the programme is attributed to the 4 Ps - political leadership, public financing,
partnerships and public participation.
 The Swachh Bharat Mission in its second phase is committed to achieve Sampoorna Swachhata by
transforming the Mission into a Jan andolan.
 The Phase II will provide impetus to the rural economy through construction of household toilets
and need based community sanitary complexes, as well as the infrastructure for solid and liquid
waste management such as compost pits, soak pits, waste stabilisation ponds, bio-gas plants, material
recovery facilities etc.

Objectives of the SBM Phase II

 The key objective of the SBM Phase 11 became to make villages across India ODF Plus villages. An ODF
Plus village is defined as a village that sustains its open defecation free (ODF) status and also
ensures solid and liquid waste management and Is visually clean. A village is called visually clean
if at least 80 percent of its households and all its public places have minimal litter and minimal
stagnant water, and the village does not have any plastic waste dump.
 To declare a village ODF Plus following checklist Is provided in the guidelines:
 All households to have access to a functional toilet facility.
 All schools, Anganwadicentres and Panchayat Ghars have access to a functional toilet, with separate
toilets for female and male.
 Public places to be visually clean.
 At least 80 percent households and all public institutions have arrangements for managing
biodegradable solid and liquid waste.
 The village has a plastic segregation and collection system.
 At least five ODF Plus IEC wall paintings per villages on five key themes of ODF sustainability, hand
washing with soap, biodegradable waste management through compost pits, grey water management
through soak pits and plastic waste management
 Components of the SBM Phase II include constructions of individual household latrines, retrofitting
of toilets, need based construction of community sanitary complexes, biodegradable waste
management, GOBAR-dhan (Galvanising Organic Bio-Agro Resources-dhan), plastic waste
management, grey water management andfaecal sludge management.

Guiding Principles for Implementation of SBM Phase II

 Ensuring that no one is left behind.
 Promotion of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle to reduce the generation of waste at source.
 Utilisation of Existing SLWM infrastructure wherever possible by rejuvenating, upgrading and putting
them in use.
 To ensure that every household in the village has access to solid and liquid waste management
(SLWM).
 Operation and maintenance to be an obligatory component of planning.
 Encouragement of technologies with low operation and maintenance costs.

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 States will have the flexibility in deciding appropriate implementation mechanism and to choose
technologies best suited to their conditions.
 Clustering of villages for maximum economic efficiency: Wherever necessary and possible, villages
from different GPs can be clustered.
 Convergence with other schemes: For example, Finance Commission funds for co-financing of
assets; JalJeevan Mission for grey water management; MGNREGS for dovetailing of funds and
functionaries; and Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship for skill development of
field functionaries etc.
 Creating self-sustainable revenue models/ business models by encouraging private sector to leverage
its expertise and resources for meeting the growing demand of SLWM.

Information, Education and Communication (IEC)

 IEC of the Swachh Bharat Mission campaign had seen thousands of behavior change campaigns, iconic
mass media campaigns and participation of millions of students, women, teachers, cadets, celebrities,
political leaders, faith leaders and people from all walks of life; making it a true Jan Andolan.
 5 percent of the total project expenditure has been provided for IEC and Capacity Building for SBM
(G) Phase II. In Phase I, it was 8 percent for the IEC. The States have to put in its share of funds for IEC in
the Centre to State ratio of 60:40, except NER/ Special Category States where the sharing ratio is 90:10.
 Key IEC messages for ODF Plus are: Waste Segregation and Source, Menstrual Waste Management
and Hygiene Promotion.

Capacity Building
 Key Stakeholders include members of Village Water and Sanitation Committee (VWSC), Block Water
and Sanitation Committee (BWSC), District Water and Sanitation Mission (DWSM), Accredited
Social Health Activist (ASHA), Anganwadi, Self Help Groups, CS0s/ NGOs etc.
 Training workshops, refresher trainings for sensitisation, awareness generation and technical knowhow
are important to build the capacity of human resources.
 Orientation and training may be on various aspects of ODF Plus, including promoting behavioral
change through IPC, door to door visits, masonry work, plumbing, and constriction of compost pits,
soak pits, sheds, and other SLWM activities.
 Swachhagrahies are the foot soldiers of the SBM(G) and have proved excellent motivators in bringing
behaviour change for construction and usage of toilets.

Role of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs)

 As per the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992, sanitation is included in the 11th Schedule.
Therefore, the role of Gram Panchayat (GP) is pivotal in implementing SBM (G).
 Receiving funds, subject to conformity with State arrangements, and contributing from their own
resources for the financing of community toilets and SLWM infrastructure are some of the important
roles of the PRIs.
 With the support from the District, the GPs are expected to engage with business, corporate, social
organisations and financial institutions for creation of assets and their operation and maintenance
(O&M).
 The GP is also the custodian of the assets such as community sanitary complexes, drainages and SLWM
infrastructure.

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 The monitoring of the Phase II activities are assigned to the Block level and District level PRIs.

Research and Development

 At the Government of India level, a technical committee headed by the Principal Scientific Advisor
to the Prime Minister, has been set up to consult for new technologies and innovations in the
sector.
 A Research and Development Advisory Committee under the chairpersonship of Joint /
Additional Secretary of the Department works to promote research and development activities for
the sanitation.

Monitoring and Evaluation

 DDWS leads the monitoring and evaluation of the SBM Phase II work in coordination with the States/UTs
and Districts. The monitoring and evaluation have two aspects: first is ensuring the status of ODF
Plus villages and second is that of created assets and expenditure incurred.
 Monitoring of both qualitative (outcomes) and quantitative (output) progress.

The Way Forward

 “Cleanliness campaign is a journey, which will go on continuously.”
 After ODF, the country is now working on the goal of ODF plus. Now we have to improve the management
of waste, be it in a city or a village. We have to speed up the work of making wealth out of waste.

EDUCATION IN RURAL INDIA: SCHEMES FOR

WOMEN AND YOUTH

 The vision of a modern India, free from poverty, rests overwhelmingly on the growth and development
of rural India. Challenges are abound on every front—from lack of resources to infrastructural
bottlenecks to social constructs.
 Education for children and skill training for adults is ultimately the only way to help rural Indians
escape the poverty trap.
 Coming to rural women, though there has been enhanced access to education over the years,
those who are more educated remain unemployed because of the unavailability of formal jobs and low
wages.
 Retaining children remains a challenge for the schooling system. According to government data, in
2015-16, Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) was 56.2 percent at senior secondary level as compared to 99.2
percent at primary level.
 The decline in GER is higher for certain socio-economically disadvantaged groups, based on: (i)
gender identities (female, transgender persons), (ii) socio-cultural identities (scheduled castes,
scheduled tribes), (iii) geographical identities (students from small villages and small towns), (iv) socio-
economic identities (migrant communities and low income households), and (v) disabilities.
 As per the National Sample Survey Report (71’ round), more than 12 percent of rural households in
India did not have secondary schools within 5 km whereas in urban areas this percentage is less
than one percent.

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 According to the 2018-19 all-India survey on higher education (AISHE),GER in higher education in
India is 26.3 percent, which is calculated for 18-23 years of age group. GER for male population is
26.3 percent and for females, it is 26.4 percent. For Scheduled Castes, it is 23 percent and for Scheduled
Tribes, it is 17.2 percent as compared to the national GER of 26.3 percent.
 According to the 2018-19 data, 0.53 percent colleges are located in rural areas while 11.04 percent
colleges are exclusively for females. About 70 percent of people in India belong to the rural
areas.
 According to the PLFS Survey, unemployment rate in India was 5.8 percent in 2018-19. It was 5.6
percent among males and 3.5 percent among females in rural areas, while the rates were 7.1 percent
among males and 9.9 percent among females in urban areas.

Rooting for Rural Education

 Samagra Shiksha Scheme

 An integrated scheme for school education with effect from 2018-19, which envisages the ‘school’
as a continuum from pre-school, primary, upper primary, secondary to senior secondary levels
and subsumes the three erstwhile centrally sponsored schemes -SarvaShikshaAbhiyan (SSA),
RashtriyaMadhyamikShikshaAbhiyan (RMSA) and Teacher Education (TE).
 Bridging gender and social category gaps at all levels of school education is one of the major
objectives of the scheme.
 Under the scheme, provision has been made for giving preference to Special Focus Districts
(SFDs), Educationally Backward Blocks (EEBs), Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected districts,
and aspirational districts.
 The scheme provides for infrastructural strengthening of existing government schools based on the
gaps determined by Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) and proposals
received from respective States/UTs.
 Various interventions have been targeted to promote education, which include opening of schools
in the neighbourhood as defined by the State, provision of free text-books up to Class VIII, uniforms
to all girls and SC, ST, BPL boys up to class VIII, provision of gender segregated toilets in all schools,
teachers’ sensitisationprogrammes to promote girls’ participation, construction of residential
quarters for teachers in remote/hilly areas/in areas with difficult terrain.
 In addition, there is a provision for twinning of schools under which well-functioning private or
government schools in urban or semi-urban areas are linked with schools located in rural areas for
interaction and exchange of experience.
 Meritorious students belonging to the economically weaker sections can avail the benefit of
scholarship under National Means-cum-Merit Scholarship Scheme.

 Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNVs)

 The main objective is to provide good quality modern education -- including a strong component of
inculcation of values, awareness of the environment, adventure activities and physical education — to
talented children predominantly from the rural areas without regard to their family’s socio-economic
condition.
 The Navodaya Vidyalaya Scheme envisages opening of one JNV in each district of the country.

 Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS)

 Introduced in 1997-98 to provide quality school education to Scheduled Tribe (ST) students in
remote areas and to bring them at par with the general population.
 As per Budget announcement 2018-19, every block having 50 percent or more ST population
and at least 20,000 ST persons is to have an EMRS by the year 2022.

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 Mid-Day Meal Scheme

 Scheme is targeted at young children studying upto Class VIII, it is one of the most successful
programmes for keeping young children from disadvantaged sections like poor, dalits, tribals, girls
and children of labour work force in schools.
 Approximately 11.59 crore children in around 11.5 lakh schools benefit daily from MDM.

 Targeted intervention for Girls (under Samagra Shiksha)

 Opening of schools in the neighbourhood as defined by the state.
 Provision of free text-books and uniforms to girls up to Class VIII.
 Provision of gender segregated toilets in all schools.
 Teachers’ sensitization programmes to promote girls’ participation, provision for self-defense
training for the girls from classes VI to XII.

 Kasturba Gandhi BalikaVidyalayas

 KGBVs have been sanctioned in Educationally Backward Blocks (EBBS) under SamagraShiksha,
which are residential schools from class VI to XII for girls belonging to disadvantaged groups
such as SC, ST, OBC, Minority and Below Poverty Line (BPL).
 Presently, 4881 KGBVs are functional in which 53.42% are girls belonging to SC/ST communities.

Beti Bachao Beti Padhao

 Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) scheme works to develop an enabling environment for girl child
education. It is a tri-ministerial, convergent effort of the Ministries of Women and Child Development,
Health and Family Welfare and Human Resource Development.
 Specific objectives are:
 Prevent gender biased sex selective elimination.
 Ensure survival and protection of the girl child and
 Ensure education and participation of the girl child through coordinated and convergent efforts.
 Evaluation of BBBP scheme carried out by National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER)
in August 2020 has indicated a positive behavioural change towards the value of girl child.
 As per Health Management Information System of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, sex
ratio at birth has been set as a parameter for monitoring the progress of this scheme. The sex ratio at
birth has shown an improvement of 16 points at national level from 918 (2014-15) to 934 (2019-
20).

Empowering the Rural Woman

 Mahila Shakti Kendra Scheme

 It is a centrally sponsored scheme under Ministry of Women and Child Development to empower
rural women through community participation to facilitate women centric schemes and provide a
foothold for Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) scheme.
 Capacity building of women collectives is envisaged in collaboration with non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) co-operatives societies/KrishiVigyanKendrasin not more than 50 percent
of the MSK blocks in the 115 aspirational districts to address livelihood needs of women, particularly
those in remote/ vulnerable areas where women are not in a position to move out individually of their
immediate surroundings for formal skill training.

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Adult Literacy Programmes

 Saakshar Bharat Programme (operational till March 2018)

 It went beyond the ‘3’ R’s (i.e., Reading, Writing and Arithmetic); for it also sought to create
awareness of social disparities and a person’s deprivation on the means for its amelioration and
general well-being.

 Padhna Likhna Abhiyaan (replacing Saakshar Bharat Programme)

 It focusses on achieving 100 percent literacy by 2030.
 Under this scheme, massive literacy projects will be launched in the tribal and forests areas, prisons,
slums, etc., with technology as a facilitator.

 Skills Training in Higher Education

 The National Education Policy 2020 envisages that the school curriculum and pedagogy will aim
for holistic development of learners by equipping them with key 21st century skills and reduction
in curricular content to enhance essential learning and critical thinking.
 The policy emphasizes integration between vocational and academic streams in all schools and
higher education institutions in a phased manner.
 Vocational education will start on school from the 6th grade and will include internship.

 Scheme for Higher Education Youth in Apprenticeship and Skills (SHREYAS)

 SHREYAS is a programme conceived for students in degree courses, primarily non-technical,
with a view to introduce employable skills into their learning.
 It aims to cover 50 lakh students by 2022 by providing ‘on the job work exposure’ and stipend.

 National Apprenticeship Training Scheme (NATS)

 Instituted by Board of Apprenticeship Training/Practical Training, Ministry of Human Resource
Development.
 It provides skill training to fresh graduates, diploma holders in engineering and technology and Plus
2 vocational pass-outs, which rural youth can take advantage of.

 Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY)

 Implemented by Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship with an objective to
provide skilling to one crore people under Short Term Training (STY) and Recognition of Prior
Learning (RPL) across the country for four years i.e. 2016-2020.
 Under this scheme, post placement support of Rs. 1500/- per month per trainee is applicable for
special groups including women for 2-3 months post training.

Conclusion
! The current public expenditure on education in India has been around 4.43 percent of GDP (Analysis
of Budgeted Expenditure 2017-18) and around 10 percent of the total government spending (Economic
Survey 2017-18).
! The National Education Policy 2020 states that the Centre and states will work together to increase
the public investment in education sector to reach 6 percent of GDP at the earliest. Within this
gigantic exercise, we need to especially track the path that rural women and rural youth.

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RECENT FARM BILLS AND BENEFITS

TO FARMERS

 Indian Agriculture is characterised by millions of farmers cultivating more than 200 field, horticultural
and plantation crops across the country in three distinct seasons ofKharif, Rabi and Zaid (summer) on
over 141 million hectares of cultivated land.
 This generates more than 1000 million Tonnes of farm produce taking together foodgrains, oilseeds,
sugarcane, and fibre crops.

Characteristics of the agricultural produce marketing in India:

 Over the period, the Marketed surplus ratio (MSR)of all the commodities has increased, so much so
that in crops like sunflower and safflower the marketed surplus ratio is 100 and cotton and jute close to
100 (GOI, 2019). In other crops also, the MSR has increased substantially during recent years.
 These produces arrive in huge bulk in the market in a very short span of time, many a time, beyond
the absorption capacity of the domestic demand and the management capacity of the existing market
infrastructure and the system.
 The price discovery in the markets of APMCs except for those which are under e-National
Agriculture Market (eNAM) has been opaque and heavily monopolistic, in the hands of select
aggregators and commission agents.
 Contract farming in the past on crops like tomato, potato, barley, etc. in Punjab and Rajasthan and
elsewhere had mixed response and farmers at large had reservations in entering the contracts.
 The investment and active private participation have been dismally low due to frequent imposition
of the essential commodity act (ECA) limiting the storage. It cut on the larger private investment and
proved prohibitive rather than facilitative.
On June, 2020, the Government promulgated three ordinances on farmers’ produce trade and commerce;
farmer agreement of price assurance and farm services; and essential commodity. Subsequently, the
three Bills were passed by the Parliament on 20 September, 2020 to replace the ordinances.
However, a fraction of farmers, farmer bodies and experts started expressing the serious apprehensions
about these Bills that these laws will lead to:-
 Withdrawal of MSP,
 Deprivation of the farmers from their lands in favour of big private players,
 Hoarding of essential commodities.
These apprehensions, though imaginative, have somehow percolated deeply in a section of the farmers, the
largest being those who have been the biggest beneficiaries of APMC dominated procurements and the
price realisation.

The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and

Facilitation) Bill, 2020

 Problems Addressed:
 Post 1991 liberalisation, the income gap of the farmers and non-farm worker has been widening
reflecting that the benefits of the reforms in farm sector were too little and fragmented and could not
boost the income of the farmers.

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 India is likely to produce huge surplus of agricultural commodities in next 10 years (NITI Aayog,
2018), much beyond the absorption capacity of the domestic market.
 For import substitution of edible oils, fruits and nuts and other agricultural items, we require
investment for post-harvest infrastructure, and logistics which has not been coming due to
restrictive regulations of the APMCs/ECA.
 Encouraging the small and marginal farmers (SMF) to diversify towards high-value crops.
 The agriculture markets are too sparse and fragmented leading to glut and the price crash in
some markets while shortage and high prices at major demand centres.
 The agriculture census 2015-16 has put more than 86 percent farmers under small and marginal
category with average holdings of 0.38 ha to about 68.5percent farm households. This means
the likely surplus with them for offering to sale is low and much low to approach any APMC mandi
individually due to lack of economy of scale.
 On an average one mandi serve about 472 sq km against the norm of one market yard at about
80 sq km area.

 Reforms:
 The FPTC Act provides for the freedom to sell and buy farm produce at any place in the country,
promote e-commerce and allows setting up of an electronic platform.
 It legalises all the transactions which were earlier put under the regulations and restriction by
the APMCs.
 The direct purchase from the farmers at their farm as provided in the FPTC Act, 2020 will be
empowering him to decide the price of his produce.
The need is to establish a robust and accountable market intelligence system packed with technology and
well-trained scientific manpower to minimise the chances of any manipulation in prices of the produce.
Higher private investment could happen with reforms in agricultural market leading to price assurances
and unabated flow of food items from centre of production to major centre of consumptions.

The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price

Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020
 Themajor apprehension about the Act is that corporates will take away the lands of the farmers forcibly
by manipulating the agreement.
 The APAFS Bill 2020 will facilitate an assured price to the farmers for his produce as mutually
agreed between farmers and sponsor before the commencement of production operations, and
the technologies, services and inputs on mutually agreed terms and conditions for the production
of desired quality produce.
 The sponsor neither permitted to lease-in the land of the farmers, nor he/she can erect any assets
permanent nature on farmers’ land or modifying it or acquiring the ownership rights. The farmers will be
the sole custodian of all production operations as well.
The contract farming with Nestle, for milk in Punjab’s Moga district operating since 1961 could be an
example to cite. Over one lakh farmers are associated with the contract. Nestle has been providing the
technical guidance, feed, vaccines and veterinary services to milk producers. A high order supply chain has
been established based on a pre-announced weekly price based on the fat and solid content in the milk.
The assets of the farmers have not been taken by the MNC.

The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020

 The supply of the commodities enlisted in ECA such as cereals, edible oils and oils can only be
regulated under extraordinary circumstances like war, famine, extraordinary price rise and natural
calamities.

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 The modifications in ECA will encourage the big investment in creating much needed infrastructure
like warehouses, cold storages, pack houses, and logistics.
We must note that the gap between required and existing infrastructure is 70 percent in pack houses,
98 percent in reefer vehicles and 94 percent in ripening chambers. By creating these infrastructures,
much needed income to farmers will be augmented to a large extent.

Conclusion
 The States have to take these proactively and the Centre should provide matching grants, if needed for
creating alternative mechanism.
 The APMCs not only remain functional as a platform for marketing of agricultural produce but
will be strengthened and become more transparent due to increased competition which is a pre-
requisite for a well-meaning market.
 While the e-NAM and other initiatives will move on, most likely with the positive impact in long run,
the immediate action should be creating the awareness amongst farmers about the positives of the
amendments with some live examples and records of advantages based on the real learnings.

PANCHAYATI RAJ SYSTEM TOWARDS

CHANGING RURAL INDIA

 Panchayati Raj System has existed since ancient times in India. Villages used to have Panchayat (council
of persons) who would have both executive and judicial powers and authority to certain disputes in the
village. The institution of Panchayat used to represent not only collective will, but also the collective
wisdom of the entire rural community.
 The term ‘Gram Swaraj’ (village self-governance) was the vision of Gandhi ji. Recognising the importance
of panchayats, the constitution makers included provision of Panchayat in part IV (Directive Principles of
State Policy) of the Indian Constitution.
 The formal organisation and structure of Panchayati Raj was firstly recommended by Balwant Rai
committee (1957). It recommended the establishment of the scheme of ‘democratic decentralisation’
which ultimately came to be known as Panchayati Raj. It recommended a three-tier system at village,
block and district level and it also recommended direct election of village level panchayat. On October 2,
1959, Rajasthan (Nagaur district) became the first state to introduce the panchayat system in India.
 The Panchayati Raj Institutions were constitutionalised by the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act of
1992.

Key elements of 73rd Amendment Act of 1992

 The Article 243G of the Constitution intended to empower the Gram Panchayats (GPs) by enabling the
State Governments to devolve powers and authority in respect of all 29 Subjects listed in the Eleventh
Schedule for local planning and i implementation of schemes for economic development and social
justice.

Organisation of Gram Sabhas

 Creation of a three-tier Panchayati Raj Structure at the District (Vila), Block and Village levels.
 Minimum age for contesting elections to the PRIs is 21 years.

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 Provision for reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in Panchayats, in
proportion to their population, and for women in Panchayats up to one-third seats.

 State Election Commission to be set up in each State to conduct elections to PRIs.

 The tenure of PRIs is five years, if dissolved earlier, fresh elections to be held within six months.

 Creation of a State Finance Commission in each state every five years.

Composition of Panchayats
 PRIs were established as a three-tier structure based on direct elections at all the three tiers -village
(gram panchayat), intermediate (panchayat samiti) and district (ZilaParishad).

 The functions which could be devolved to PRIs include preparing plans for economic development
and social justice.

Three-tier Structure of Panchayati Raj

 Gram Panchayat
 The civic functions relating to sanitation, cleaning of public roads, minor irrigation, public toilets
and lavatories, primary health care, vaccination, the supply of drinking water, constructing
public wells, rural electrification, social health and primary and adult education, etc. are
obligatory functions of village panchayats.

 Functions like preparation of annual development plan of panchayat area, annual budget, relief in
natural calamities, removal of encroachment on public lands and implementation and monitoring of
poverty alleviation programmes were expected to be performed by panchayats.

 Panchayat Samiti
 It provides a link between Gram Panchayat and ZilaParishad.

 In Panchayat Samiti, some members are directly elected. Sarpanchs of Gram Panchayats are ex-officio
members of Panchayat Samiti.

 Zila Parishad
 Chairpersons of Panchayat Samitis are ex-officio members of ZilaParishads.

 Members of Parliament, Legislative Assemblies and Councils belonging to the districts are also
nominated members of ZilaParishads.

 It prepares district plans and integrates Samiti plans into district plans for submission to the State
Government.

 Devolution of Funds, Function and Functionaries to PRIs

 Devolution has two main aspects: the operational core that includes funds, function, functionaries,
and the support system that includes capacity building of PRIs, operationalising constitutional
mechanisms and introducing systems of transparency and accountability.

 Another critical aspect of legislation following the 73rd amendment was insertion of a clause under
the article 280 (3) (bb) of the constitution that the Union Finance Commission would recommend
measures to supplementing the resources of the Panchayats in the state on the basis of the
recommendation of Finance Commission of the State.

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 Rising Financial Devolution to PRIs

 For the period FY 2020-21, the Fifteenth Finance Commission has awarded a grant of Rs. 60,750
crores, for Rural Local Bodies (RLBs) in 28 states which has been the highest annual Finance
Commission allocation for the RLBs so far.

Conclusion
 On April, 24 (National Panchayati Raj Day), 2020, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi had launched a
unified e-GramSwaraj Portal and mobile application.
 The e-GramSwaraj helps prepare and execute Gram Panchayat Development Plans. The portal will
ensure real the monitoring and accountability. The portal is a major step towards digitization down to
the Gram Panchayat level.
 TheSwamitya scheme which is launched in pilot mode in six states helps to map rural inhabited
lands using drones and latest survey methods. The scheme will ensure streamlined planning, revenue
collection and provide clarity over property rights in rural areas.

LIVESTOCK: KEY FOR DOUBLING

FARMERS’ INCOME

 Agriculture in India, since independence, is considered as the backbone of Indian economy and farming
community is its spinal cord. More than 60-65 percent of the population is dependent on the
agriculture and its allied sectors.
 Animal husbandry has been the most important integral part of Indian agriculture system since
ancient time. It provides livelihood to two-third of the rural population, especially the landless and
marginal farmers. It acts as an insurance against natural calamities and crop failure.
 The population explosion not only reduced the farm land availability but also has become less profitable
for the farmers in India. Under this situation, livestock sector is showing huge potential for growth,
investment, income and sustainability.

Statistics:
 Agriculture contributes 17 percent to India’s total Gross Domestic Product (GDP), of which 27
percent comes from animal husbandry.
 Dairy, poultry and aquaculture contributes 4.4 percent to the nation’s GDP, which symbolises the
importance of the sectors
 It provides employment opportunities to over 16 million people across the country.
 As per the 20th Livestock census, India is
 first in the total buffalo population in the world.
 second in the population of goats and poultry market.
 third in population of sheep
 The total Livestock population shows an increase of 4.6 per cent over the Livestock census 2012.
 Livestock contributed 16 percent to the income of small farm households as against an average of
14 percent for all rural households.

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Challenges in Livestock Sector

 Large population of low-producing cattle.

 Availability of pedigreed Bulls of indigenous cow.

 Infertility in Bovines.

 Inadequate coverage of artificial insemination services along with qualified technical man Power,
particularly in rural and hilly areas.

 Chronic shortage of feed along with quality of fodder.

 Escalating price of feed ingredient like maize.

 Diversion of animal feed and fodder ingredients for industrial and human use.

 Inadequate disease control programmes including deficiency of vaccines of major diseases like
FMD, Brucellosis, etc.

 Inadequate availability of credit.

 Poor access to organised market.

 Limited animal insurance coverage.

Future Roadmap
 Enhancing the unit production of milk, meat and egg with better feeding, breeding and management
practices.

 Artificial insemination using semen from pedigreed bulls.

 Diagnosis of sub-clinical forms of diseases particularly sub-clinical mastitis to reduce the unit cost of
animal production and health.

 Integrated farming system along with implementation of biotechnology and its tool in animal
production system.

 Effective and regular health coverage including timely vaccination.

 Extensive establishment of Biogas units and commercialisation of organic farming system.

 Establishment of cooperative units and ease in marketing and getting proper value of animal
products.

 Encouraging the rearing of indigenous cow.

 Bridging the gap between the farmers and the market; farmers and the government; and farmers-
market and the government and private-cooperate involvement.

 Fast, ease and prompt financial assistance from cooperative society/ banks to livestock farmers.

 Attraction of rural youth and women in animal husbandry enterprises.

 Strengthening of veterinary and para-veterinary infrastructure.

Concluding Remarks
 Doubling of farmers’ income can only be possible if animal husbandry is integrated into agriculture and
allied sectors with salient polices and their effective as well as timed implementation.

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RURAL HEALTHCARE IN INDIA

 In Colonial India, most public health efforts were directed towards British residents and Indians who
worked for them. Indians were also kept away from medical education and serving as mainstream
doctors.

 India’s traditional medical practices like Ayurveda and Unani with services of Vaidya and hakims
were neglected for an exceptionally long time and suffered due to lack of funds and were constantly
projected as inferior by western medicine practitioners.

 Despite years of reform and efforts, in 1983, the Government of India’s first National Health Policy
acknowledged that the efforts to expand western healthcare services had benefited only the upper- class
people and failed to serve the urban poor or those in rural India.

 The policy recommended a decentralised health care system, encouraged community participation,
and invited private sector participation.It is with this background that the National Rural Health
Mission was launched in 2005.

 Because health care is a state responsibility, the central government can play a supplementary role
only. It was a bottom-up approach where the onus and focus of health care delivery was on the villages
and went up till the district level.

 The idea was to communitise, i.e., devolve funds, functions, and functionaries to local community
organisations and Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs). In 2013, NRHM became a sub-mission under the
over-arching National Health Mission with the addition of National Urban Health Mission (NUMH)
as the other sub-mission of the programme.

Coverage and Access for Rural Healthcare

 Rural healthcare delivers services through a three-tier system of sub-centers (SC), primary health
care centers (PHC) and community health centers (CHC). Between 2005 and 2019, there was an
increase of 7.8 percent in the number of SCs, 7 percent in PHCs and 59.4 percent in CHCs.

 Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) is a grassroot level health worker who is selected from a
village to serve that village. The ASHA works as a liaison between the local rural community and the
public health system. As of March 30, 2019, there were 9.29 lakh ASHAs in the country, which is 34,175
more than the required numbers.

Some Programmes for Rural Health Care

 Janani Suraksha Yojanais a cash incentive programme designed to encourage women to use formal
healthcare services for institutional deliveries. The objective is to reduce neonatal and maternal mortality
among poor, pregnant women, especially those in rural India.

 Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram was launched in 2011 to eliminate the out-of-pocket expenditure
for both pregnant mothers and sick infants upon accessing institutional health care. This programme
provides free drugs, consumables, free diagnostic, free blood and free diet for 3 days during normal
delivery and 7 days for caesarian section deliveries. This initiative also covers all ante-natal and post-
natal emergencies.

 Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA) was a similar programme launched in 2016
to provide quality antenatal care, free of cost and universally to all pregnant women on the 9th of every
month in their 2nd and 3rd trimesters of pregnancy, that can be availed at all government facilities.

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 Laqshya or the Labour Room and Quality Improvement initiative was launched in 2017 to as a
focused and targeted approach to strengthen key processes related to the labour rooms and maternity
operation theatres.

 Special Newborn Care Units (SNCUs) were established at district levels and sub-district level hospitals
with an annual load of more than 3000 to provide care for sick newborns who did not need assisted
ventilation or major surgeries.

 Rashtriya Kishore SwasthyaKaryakram targets adolescents between the age of 10 to 19 years. The
aim is to provide adolescent-friendly health care services to improve nutrition, mental health, sexual and
reproductive health, prevent injuries and violence, substance abuse and non-communicable diseases.

 RashtriyaBalSwasthyaKaryakram screens children under the age of 18 for four birth deficiencies -
Defects at birth, Diseases, Deficiencies and Development Delays including Disabilities.

 The rural health care system also has family welfare initiatives that deliver family planning management
services, education and use of contraceptives, menstrual hygiene schemes, sterilisation services and
awareness campaigns through public programmes.

 Anemia is a cause of concern among rural Indian population. Anemia Mukt Bharat targets new borns
and infants, school age children, adolescent boys and girls, women of reproductive age, pregnant and
lactating women. It uses 6 interventions — provision of folic acid supplements, deworming, year-
round behaviour change initiatives, communication campaigns, text alerts, mandatory provision
of folic acid fortified foods in public health programmes and addressing non-nutritional causes
of anemia in endemic pockets like malaria and fluorosis.
While the efforts of JSY and other schemes improved the number of institutional deliveries from 38.7
percent to 78.9 percent in the 10 years from 2005 to 2015, the maternal and newborn mortality rates
were not affected significantly. The rural focus of the programme has gaps that must be bridged.
To begin with, focus on incentivising medical staff to serve the rural community is a starting point to ensure
all programmes are efficiently delivered. As we move towards gaining from our demographic dividend in
the next 20-30years, we must ensure quality and timely delivery of services across the country.

IMPORTANCE OF INFRASTRUCTURE
IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT

 Rural development means sustained improvement in the well-being of rural people and a
strategy designed to improve the economic and social life of a group of people thus the rural
poor. Infrastructure is the backbone of any country. It plays a very important role in supporting nation’s
economic growth.

 Rural infrastructure is crucial for agriculture, agro-industries and poverty alleviation in the rural
areas. The development of rural areas is slow due to improper and inadequate provisions of infrastructure
as compared to urban areas.

 The government’s effort is to reduce poverty and increase the quality of life of the rural poor by
introducing rural infrastructure comprising transport including rural roads bridges; water and sanitation
which includes irrigation (dams, channels, embankments, etc.), waste management, water supply
etc.; communication including telecommunication and telecom services; and social and commercial
infrastructure viz. housing, education, sports, hospitals, tourism and post-harvest storage infrastructure
for agriculture.

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Roads in Rural India

It was the first time since independence, on 25 December 2000, the Government of India had launched
the Pradhan MantriGrameenSadakYojana (PMGSY) with the aim to provide all weather access to
eligible unconnected habitations. It is a 100 percent centrally sponsored scheme (CSS) which cover
only rural areas, and urban roads are excluded from the preview of this programme.
 PMGSY-I: Under PMGSY-I, the aim of the scheme was to provide access to the eligible unconnected
habitations in the rural areas with a population of 500 persons and above (census 2001) in plain
areas. In respect of Special Category States i.e., hilly and desert areas; the tribal areas, the objective is
to connect eligible unconnected habitations with a population of 250 persons and above. For most
intensive integrated action plan (IAP), blocks as identified by the Ministry of Home Affairs, the
unconnected habitations with population 100 and above are eligible to be covered under PMGSY-I.
 PMGSY-II: PMGSY-II aims to cover up-gradation of existing selected rural roads based on their
economic potential and their role in facilitating the growth of rural market centres and rural hubs. Growth
centres/rural hubs would provide markets, banking and other service facilities, enabling creation of
self-employment and livelihood opportunities on an ongoing basis.
 PMGSY-III: The Phase-III envisages consolation of the existing rural road network by upgradation
of existing through routes and major rural links that connects habitations to Grameen Agricultural
Markets (GrAMs), higher secondary schools, and hospitals. This not only helps the farm production,
but also yields many direct and indirect benefits such as minimising the spoilage of perishable goods like
fresh fruits and vegetables and ensures adequate remunerative prices for them.
Affordable and easy access to high schools and higher secondary schools is the need of the hour. Education
leads to multiple opportunities. Affordable and easily accessible health facilities is also the prime focus of
the government for which road connectivity plays an important role. All-weather roads have shown a very
positive correlation to improvement in health indicators.

Energy

 Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) launched in 2015 with two
components:
 To separate agriculture and non-agriculture feeders facilitating judicious rostering of supply to
agricultural and non-agricultural consumers in rural areas.
 Strengthening and augmentation of sub transmission and distribution infrastructure in rural
areas, including metering of distribution transformers/feeders/consumers end.

 Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY)

 The scheme is providing clean cooking fuel to poor households, especially in the rural areas to
provide deposit free LPG connections to the women of poor households.
 The scheme increases the usage of LPG and helped in reducing health disorders, air pollution and
deforestation. Use of fossil fuels and conventional fuel like cow-dung, firewood etc. has serious
implications on the health of the rural women and children.
 Under PMUY, cash assistance upto Rs.1600 is provided for releasing deposit free LPG
connection.

 Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana (Saubhagya)

 Under Saubhagya, free electricity connections to all households (both APL and poor families)
in rural areas and poor families in urban areas will be provided.

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 Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) has been designated as nodal agency.

 Provide Solar Photo Voltaic (SPV) based standalone systemfor un-electrified households
located in remote and inaccessible villages/habitations, where grid extension is not feasible or
cost effective.

 PM-KUSUM
 To provide 20 lakh farmers for setting up stand-alone solar pumps.
 To enable farmers to set up solar power generation capacity on their fallow/ barren lands and to
sell it to the grid would be operationalised.
 The scheme has the objective of increasing farmers° income, providing reliable source for irrigation
and de-dieselise the farm sector, removing farmers’ dependence on diesel and kerosene and linking
pump sets to solar energy.

Social and Commercial Infrastructure

 Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana (Gramin)

 To provide pucca houses to all rural homeless and those households living in kutcha and
dilapidated houses.
 The Government of India has also aimed at providing a dignified life to the beneficiaries by
providing basic amenities.
 The introduction of Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) in the programme has improved the financial
inclusion in rural areas.
 Due to pucca house that can withstand all weather conditions, a considerable reduction in open
defecation post-PMAY-G, usage of the toilet and floor cleaners, etc., have led to clean and
hygienic conditions.
 There has been an improvement in the schooling of children of the households post-PMAY-G period
in terms of both enrolment and performance at school owing to pucca house.
However, there is also a need for further strengthening of monitoring mechanism in order to make the
scheme more efficient in terms of maintaining quality, saving time and resources, and at the same time,
ensuring both tangible and intangible benefits to the beneficiaries.

Water and Sanitation

 Jal Jeevan Mission (HarGhar Jal)

 It aims to provide safe and adequate piped water supply to all households by 2024.
 The programme also implements source sustainability measures as mandatory elements, such as
recharge and reuse through grey water management, water conservation, rain water harvesting.
 The Jal Jeevan Mission will be based on a community approach to water and will include extensive
Information, Education and communication as a key component of the mission.

Swachha Bharat Mission (Grameen)

 Under the mission SBMG, all villages, Gram Panchayats, Districts, States and Union Territories in
India declared themselves “open-defecation free” (ODF) by 2nd October 2019.
 To ensure that the open defecation free behaviours are sustained, the Mission is moving towards the next
Phase-II of SBMG i.e., ODF-Plus. It will reinforce ODF behaviours and focus on providing interventions
for the safe management of solid and liquid waste in villages.

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Communication
 The government’s vision is that all public in at Gram Panchayat level such as Anganwadis, health
and wellness centres, government schools, PDS outlets, post offices and police stations will be
provided with digital connectivity.
 BharatNet: BharatNet is the world’s largest rural broadband network project which is to provide
broadband connectivity to all the 2.5 lakh gram panchayats (GPs) across India.
 Mapping of India’s genetic landscape is critical for next generation medicine, agriculture and for bio-
diversity management. To support this development, the government initiated national level Science
Schemes, to create a comprehensive database

Conclusion
 The infrastructure schemes for the rural areas have improved the lives of the rural people in different
ways and helped in reducing the poverty.
 Infrastructure has brought social and economic change among the rural households and empowered
them to live their lives with dignity and safety with improved living standards

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