By area, India is the 7th largest country in the world, along with a population of 1.38 billion people.India is characterized by an immense diversity in climate, topography, flora, fauna, land use, and social-economic conditions. The agriculture sector makes 23% of the total economy and employs 60% of the country’s total labour force. Almost two-thirds of the total population lives in rural areas. High poverty rate, India is home to one of the largest population (175.7 million), living below the poverty line of 1.9 dollars a day (World Bank report). Although India occupies only 2.4% of the world’s total land area, it provides food to 18% of the world’s population.
India cannot grow without the development of rural India. The economic growth of India is meaningless in the absence of rural development, where lives the real India. India and its neighbours, Pakistan and China have almost had similar development strategies as an economy, post-independence. All three countries began towards their economic development at the same time. India and Pakistan attained independence in 1947, however, China was an independent economy in the year 1949. Up until 1980, all three countries had very similar growth rates and per capita income.
India announced its first five-year plan in the year 1951. Pakistan made its announcement in 1956, and china made it in 1953. During the last thirty years, there has been a seismic shift in the global economy. Rising from poverty, backwardness, and a morass of failed policies, China and India, the two most populous countries on the planet have rapidly emerged as powerful economies. Since both countries have a large population to support, rural development has been the most important factor in the overall development of the countries. Until 1970, the “RURAL DEVELOPMENT” was synonymous with agricultural development only. With the paradigm shift in economic development from growth to
broadly defined development, the concept of rural development has changed considerably. The concept now encompasses “concerns that go well beyond improvements in growth income and out”. Now the concern includes an assessment of change in the quality of life, broadly defined to include improvements in health, nutrition, education, fast communication, environmentally safe living conditions, and reduction in gender and income inequalities.
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As India lives in villages, so the importance of rural development assumes principal focus. In the process, the structure and the function inherent to rural development have undergone both qualitative and quantitative changes, so much so that both the terms “RURAL”and “DEVELOPMENT” need redefinition. What was rural traditionally is not rural today. Nor also the concept of development which has undergone a qualitative from state-centric to people-centric. China and India together comprise more than one- third of the total population on this planet. Two countries have somewhat similar challenges of population, nascent independence, lack of education, and other developmental resources. Let’s try to understand the reasons and the steps taken by both the countries in the process of their development. Labour’s and land productivity measured in agriculture for China and India for the period 1960 -1980 shows how China outperforms India and overtook in production per hectare.
In the early 1960s, both agricultural labour productivity and land productivity were lower in China. In 1960 it was only 71% of that of India. China caught with India in labour output by 1965 and has remained at a higher level since then. In 1983, labour productivity in China was 26% higher than in India. From 1960 to 1980, China worked on human capital management by investing more in health, education, skilling, and training. Today government expenditure on health care is more than five times than that of India. And in the training and skilling of their men power, India is no match to China. According to a report, the economy of China is classified in the “High Human Development” category, whereas the economy of India is in the “Medium Human Development” category. China ranks 89th whereas India ranks 131 in the Human Development Index. As per a report, exact arable land in India is 161 million hectares and in China, it is 130 million hectares. It is also to be noted that the average farm size in India is larger than china which is 1.4 hectares for India and 0.4 hectares in China. Despite all the limitations of small landholding constraints, China overcame all the hurdles to grow and perform much better than India. Both countries started floriculture in 1990.
Now China is having 20000 hectares under floriculture, whereas India is having 2000-3000 hectares used for this activity. In case of poultry also, India is far behind China. As for total milk production, India is the highest milk producer in the world and the US is next to it. But when milk is considered per animal, it is much lower than the US, which is almost 1/10 only. The increase in agricultural production has decreased in India from 2 7% to 2.5% (2005-2007), whereas China has been steadily growing 4-5% per annum over the last fifteen years.
Inclusive rural transformation is essential to eliminate poverty and hunger in our rural areas. We can’t depend solely on farming activities. We need to focus on and integrate non-farm activities in addition to agricultural activities. To achieve higher growth, we need to build inclusive and sustainable societies. Innovative policies, active participation of institutions, and adequate investments are the key factors in determining the speed and inclusiveness of rural transformation. As the country enters a new era of envisioned growth, now is the time for all Indians to come together as one and address the most social challenges facing the country today. Skilling and job creation, the socioeconomic inclusion of rural India, and the building of a healthy and sustainable future for every citizen by collaborative efforts can unlock the full potential of a young, progressive and dynamic nation that lives in the villages. Rural development is the key for India to become a developed country.
Tags: #agriculture, #agro, #farmer, #farming, #getgreengetgrowing, #gngagritech, #greenstories, #growth, #india, #population, #ruraldevelopment
