Rural development: rural development through the plans (Vol.5)

Rural India is real India. Over seventy-six per cent of the total population of India lives in villages. Rural India still contributes about half of the national income. Agriculture is the basic occupation which sustains the rural economy. The progress of the country, therefore, lies in the development of villages. In the post independence period, the government has taken keen interest in the development of rural areas. Rural development is not simply an economic proposition; it has social, psychological and cultural dimensions as well. It is a multi-dimensional as well as multi-directional concept.
To be precise, rural development is a programme designed to improve the socio-economic living conditions of the rural poor. It aims also at raising their cultural level and reorienting their rich traditions. It seeks to achieve increased rural production and productivity, greater socio-economic equity and a higher standard of living for the rural poor. It is partly amelelorative and partly development-oriented. Development is interlinked with motivation, innovation and the active participation of the beneficiaries, inter alia, this calls for organisation and management. Rural development recognises the importance of improved food supplies and nutrition, as well as the importance of such basic services as health, housing, education and expanded communications, which will go a long way in enhancing the productivity of the rural poor. Moreover, it aims at providing gainful employment, so that the rural people, too, may contribute their mite to the national product.
Rural development implies a fuller development of existing resources, including the construction of infrastructure, such as roads and irrigation works, the introduction of new production technology, the revival of traditional arts and crafts, and the creation of new types of institutions and organisations. The strategies adopted for rural development in India in the post independence make an interesting study for they vary from Community Development Programme and the Integrated Rural Development Programme to the 20-Point Programme. The Seventh Plan has also laid special stress on the importance of rural development.
The present study on Rural Development in six well-documented volumes deals systematically as well as specifically with:
(1) Issues and Problems;
(ii) Programmes and Strategies;
(iii) Organisation and Management;
(iv) Experiments in Rural Development; (v) Rural Development Through the Plans; and (vi) Rural Development in the Seventh Plan.
The study presents a kaleidoscopic review of the varied policy measures, programmes and specific issues in a lucid manner. It makes a vivid micro-level analysis of the rural development programmes implemented during the successive plans and their role in poverty alleviation, uplifting the rural poor and eliminating unemployment. In the process, the failure of one programme has been covered up by the launching of another programme. The author strongly feels that the real beneficiaries are the urban elite, the rural rich, bureaucrats and politicians. The present study is expected to contribute substantially to right policy formulations for rural development in India and the developing countries of the world. It offers to readers a rich fare of stimulating ideas and challenging insights. People engaged in the varied rural development programmes, rural management and training, the professionals in industry and trade, administrators, planners and others will find these six volumes to be quite stimulating, useful and interesting.