Rural Development:- It lays emphasis on focusing on the development of those components of the rural economy which have been lagging behind in the development of the rural economy. It is a process of improving the standard of living and socio-economic welfare of the people living in rural areas.
Main issues in Rural Development :-
- Development of human resources such as: – Literacy, especially female literacy, education and skill development.
- Human resources such as:- Including both sanitation and public health.
- Honestly implement land reforms.
- Development of productive resources of each region.
- Development of infrastructure such as:- Electricity, irrigation, credit, marketing, transport facilities, construction of rural roads including highway roads, agricultural research extension and information dissemination facilities.
- In which special attention should be given to providing opportunities for productive employment, special measures for poverty alleviation and significant improvement in the living conditions of the weaker sections of the society.
Need for Rural Development in India
Mahatma Gandhi had always said that the real development of India lies in the development of villages. The importance of rural development in India lies in the fact that –
Agriculture is the main source of livelihood in the rural sector, with more than two-thirds of India’s population still (directly or indirectly) dependent on it and a quarter of the rural population in India still living in absolute poverty. Although the share of agricultural sector’s contribution to GDP was declining, there was no significant change in the population dependent on this sector.
During 1991-2012 (i.e. after the introduction of reforms), the growth rate of the agriculture sector declined to around 3 per cent per annum due to decline in public investment, removal of fertilizer subsidies and changes in government policies. In recent years, this sector has become unstable. The GVA growth rate of agriculture and allied sectors was less than one per cent during 2014-15. Inadequate infrastructure, lack of alternative employment opportunities in industry or service sector, increasing demand for employment, etc., further hamper rural development.
Importance (or need) of credit in rural areas :-
The development of the rural economy mainly depends on the inflow of capital from time to time to achieve high productivity in the agricultural and non-farm sectors. Small and marginal farmers do subsistence farming, they need credit as they do not have any surplus production. Secondly, credit plays a very important role in rural areas because of the long tenure. Long duration means, the time interval between sowing of the crop and receipt of income after production is quite long, due to which farmers have to meet their initial investment of seeds, fertilisers, equipment (agriculture purpose) etc. and marriage, death etc. Borrow from various sources, for other purposes such as expenses for religious ceremonies (non-agricultural purposes). Thus, the rural economy requires credit for two purposes: agricultural purpose and non-agricultural purpose.
1. Non-institutional sources: This includes moneylenders, traders, commission agents, landlords, relatives and friends. Since independence, these sources have been exploiting the small and marginal farmers and landless laborers by lending them at high interest rates and manipulating the accounts so that they can be trapped in the debt trap. In 1951, their contribution to the total finance used to meet up to 93.6 percent and now it has come down to only 30 percent.
2. Institutional Source: It is based on multi-agency approach. India adopted social banking and multi-agency approach in 1969 to adequately meet rural credit needs. They are expected to provide adequate credit to farmers at affordable interest rates and help small and marginal farmers to increase their agricultural productivity and maximize their income.
It includes the following organizations such as :-
(i) Commercial Banks
(ii) Regional Rural Banks (RRBs)
(iii) Co-operative Credit Societies
(iv) Land Development Bank
(v) Self Help Groups (SHGs)
(vi) National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD)
National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD)
The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development was established in 1982 as an apex body to coordinate the activities of all institutions involved in the rural finance system.
National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development: – In 1979, the Reserve Bank of India constituted a committee to know the entire structure of rural credit. The commentary gave its report in March 1981 and advised the establishment of NABARD, it was established in July 1982, its authorized capital is Rs 500 crore, half of the share capital is given by the Reserve Bank of India and the remaining half is given by the Indian government. The Deputy Governor of Reserve Bank of India is the Chairman of NABARD.
The main functions of NABARD are as follows:-
1) To give short term, medium term and long term loans to State Co-operative Banks, Regional Rural Banks and other financial institutions which are recognized by RBI.
2) To give long-term loans to the State Government for acquiring the share capital of the cooperative society.
3) To provide loans to recognized institutions for investment in securities or to contribute to the share capital of institutions engaged in agriculture and rural development.
5) To take the responsibility of investigation of co-operative banks and primary co-operative societies.
6) To encourage research in agriculture and rural development.
Short credit program/system
Micro credit refers to loans and other financial services provided to the poor through Self Help Groups (SHGs). Recently SHGs have emerged to fill the gap in the formal credit system as the formal credit delivery system has not only proved to be inadequate but also not fully integrated into the overall rural social and community development. SHGs are playing a vital role in meeting the credit needs of the poor by inculcating the habit of savings in rural households. They promote thrift in small proportions by each member’s minimum contribution. From the collected money, repaymentable credit is given in small installments at reasonable interest rates to the needy members. These self-help groups have also helped in the empowerment of women in the rural economy.
Garib Mahila Bank (SHG)
‘Kudumbasree‘ is a women-oriented community based poverty alleviation program being implemented in Kerala.
In 1995, a Government Savings and Credit Society was started as a small savings bank for poor women with the aim of encouraging savings.
Thrift and Credit Society raised Rs 1 crore in small savings. These societies have been recognized as the largest informal banks in Asia in terms of participation and savings collected.
Critical Evaluation of Rural Banking System
Positive Impact (Achievements) of Rural Banking System:
(i) Credit facilities helped farmers to meet their production needs and avail various types of loans which helped in increasing both agricultural and non-farm production.
(ii) Buffer stock has been created and food security is achieved and famine has become a phenomenon of the past.
Negative Effects (Defects) of Rural Banking System:
(i) The formal credit delivery system has not only proved to be inadequate but also not fully integrated into the overall rural social and community development. Since a large proportion of poor rural households are automatically taken out of the credit network.
(ii) These areas are financially and administratively weak.
(iii) 70 per cent of the total credit is confined to eight states only.
(iv) They are more dependent on external sources of finance
Suggestions to improve the condition of rural banking:
(i) Banks need to change their approach from being mere lenders to building relationships with borrowers.
(ii) Farmers should also be encouraged to inculcate the habit of thrift and efficient use of financial resources.
Agricultural Marketing :-
Agricultural marketing is a process that involves collection, storage, processing, transportation, packing, grading and distribution of various agricultural commodities across the country.
Problems faced by farmers in agricultural marketing :-
(i) Before independence, farmers had to face wrong weighings and manipulation of accounts, while selling their produce to traders.
(ii) Farmers who did not have the necessary knowledge of the prices prevailing in the markets were often forced to sell at low prices.
(iii) They also did not have proper storage facilities to keep their produce with them to sell them at a better price later. More than 10 per cent of the farm produce was wasted due to lack of storage.
(iv) Inadequate transport facilities and poor roads have added to the problem of transporting agricultural produce to nearby markets. Despite government intervention, private trade (by moneylenders, the rural political class, big traders and wealthy farmers) dominates agricultural markets. Therefore, state intervention became necessary to regulate the activities of private traders.
Measures taken by the government to improve agricultural marketing:-
(i) Regulation of markets to create orderly and transparent marketing conditions.
(ii) Provision of physical infrastructure like roads, railways, godowns, cold storage and processing units. The existing infrastructure is inadequate to meet the growing demand and needs improvement.
(iii) Through cooperative marketing, farmers are encouraged to ensure fair prices.
(iv) Various policy tools launched by the government aimed at protecting the income of farmers and providing food grains at subsidized rates to the poor, such as (A) Minimum Support Price (MSP) for agricultural products (B) Indian Food Buffer stock for maintenance of wheat and rice by the Corporation and (C) distribution of food grains and sugar through PDS (Public Distribution System)
Brief note on Co-operative :-
The objective of cooperative marketing is to get fair price for the produce of the farmers. Under this, marketing committees are formed by farmers to sell the produce collectively and take advantage of collective bargaining, to get better price.
The milk cooperatives in Gujarat have been very successful in changing the social and economic conditions of Gujarat and some other parts of the country.
However, the cooperative movements have seen some drawbacks in recent times.
Which is due to the following reasons:-
Not involving all farmers in cooperatives.
Lack of coordination between marketing and processing cooperatives.
Inefficient financial operations.
Emerging Alternative Marketing Channels
It is felt that if farmers sell their produce directly to the consumers, it increases their income. It is in this context that the need for alternative marketing channels arises.
1. Farmers set up their own mandis and sell their produce directly to the consumers which fetches them comparatively higher price, thereby earning attractive profits. Some examples are Apni Mandi (Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan); Hadaspar Mandi (Pune); Rythu Market (vegetable and fruit market in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana) and Uzhavar Sandies (farmer’s market in Tamil Nadu).
2. Many national and multinational fast food chains are increasingly entering into contracts/alliances with farmers, wherein they sell farmers’ produce directly to the customers. They provide proper seeds and other inputs to the farmers but also assure the purchase of produce at predetermined prices.
Diversification into productive activities (agricultural diversification) Agriculture (or rural)
Diversification involves two aspects :-
1. Diversification of crop production i.e. change in cropping pattern
2. Diversification of production activities i.e. from agriculture to other allied activities (livestock, poultry, fisheries etc.) and shifting of workforce to non-farm sector.
Need for agricultural diversification :-
The need for diversification (i.e. focus on allied activities, non-farm employment and other emerging livelihood options) arises from the fact that:-
(i) There is greater risk in relying exclusively on agriculture for livelihood. Thus, diversification towards new sectors (non-farm employment) is necessary to reduce the risk from the agricultural sector and provide alternatives to productive sustainable livelihoods to the rural people.
(ii) Most of the agricultural employment activities are concentrated in the Kharif season. However, during the Rabi season, it becomes difficult to find gainful employment in areas where there are inadequate irrigation facilities. Therefore, expansion in other areas is necessary to provide supplementary gainful employment and to remove poverty and other tribulations for the rural people and to achieve higher levels of income.
(iii) Agriculture is already overcrowded. Thus, a large segment of the growing labor force needs to find alternative employment opportunities in other non-farm sectors.
pay attention:-
There are several segments of non-farm activities. Some have dynamic relationships that allow for healthy growth while others are involved in subsistence low productivity. The dynamic sub-sectors include agro-processing industry, food processing industry, leather industry, tourism etc. Sectors that have potential but severely lack infrastructure and other support include traditional household industries such as pottery, crafts, handlooms, etc.
Tamil Nadu Agricultural Women (TANWA)
This is a project went up in Tamil Nadu to train women in the latest agricultural technologies encourages women to participate actively in increasing agricultural productivity and household incomes Hakmahilaan form Women are forming groups, which act like self-help groups. Many other Krishi Mahila groups are creating savings in their group by acting like mini banks through micro-credit system. With accumulated savings, they promote small-scale household activities such as mushroom farming, soap manufacturing, doll making or other income-generating activities.
1. Animal Husbandry and Dairying
Animal Husbandry: Animal husbandry (or animal husbandry) is that branch of agriculture, which is concerned with the breeding, rearing and care of farm animals. In India, the farming community uses the mixed farming livestock farming system. Cattle, cows, buffaloes, goats, poultry are the widely held species. Livestock production provides greater stability in income, food security, transportation, fuel and nutrition for the family without disrupting other food-producing activities. Today, the livestock sector alone provides an alternative means of livelihood to over 70 million small and marginal farmers, including landless labourers, a significant number of whom are women. In India, poultry accounts for the largest share with 58% in the distribution of livestock.
Dairy: This is the branch of agriculture that involves the breeding, raising and use of dairy cattle for the production of milk and various dairy products processed from it. Dairying is the business of producing, storing and distributing milk and its products.
Operation flood
Milk production has increased almost tenfold in India between 1951-2016 due to the successful implementation of ‘Operation Flood’ (also known as White Revolution launched by the National Dairy Development Board in 1970, the then Chairman Dr. Varghese Kurien expert.) It is a system under which all farmers can collect their produced milk according to different grading (based on quality) and it is collected and marketed in urban centers through cooperative societies. Is. In this system farmers are assured of fair price and income from the supply of milk in urban markets. The state of Gujarat is considered as a success story in efficient implementation of milk cooperatives like Amul, which have been followed by many other states.
Note :- Meat, eggs, wool and other by-products are also emerging as important producing areas for diversification.
Measures that can be taken to improve livestock production:
In order to increase productivity, there is a need to promote advanced technology and good breeds of animals.
a) Better veterinary care and credit facilities to small and marginal farmers and landless laborers will increase the options for sustainable livelihood through livestock production.
2. Fishing: It involves the capture, collection, and sale of fish and other aquatic animals. The fishing community considers water bodies (sea, oceans, rivers, lakes, natural aquatic ponds, rivers etc.) as ‘mother’ or ‘provider’ as they provide life-sustaining source to the fishing community. In India, the development of fisheries has come a long way, following progressive increase in budgetary allocation and introduction of new technologies in fisheries and aquaculture. In India, inland sources contribute about 65 per cent of the total fish production and 35 per cent comes from the marine sector (sea and ocean). Today the total fish production is 0.9 percent of the total GDP. West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu are the major fish producing states of India. Although women are not actively involved in fishing, women make up 60 percent of the workforce in export marketing and 40 percent in internal marketing. Yet a large proportion of the fishermen’s families remain poor. The fishing community today is facing major problems like mass unemployment, low per capita income, absence of mobility of workers in other sectors and high rates of illiteracy and indebtedness.
Measures that can be taken to improve fisheries:-
a) The problems related to over-fishing and pollution need to be regulated and controlled.
b) There is a need to increase credit facilities for fishermen through cooperatives and self-help groups to meet the working capital requirements for marketing.
c) The welfare programs of the fishermen community have to be changed in such a way that it can provide long term benefits and sustainable livelihood.
3. Horticulture: Horticulture refers to that branch of agriculture which is concerned with growing fruits, vegetables, tuber crops, flowers, medicinal and aromatic plants, spices and plantation crops for commercial purposes. These crops provide food and nutrition apart from providing employment. India has adopted horticulture as it is associated with a changing climate and soil conditions. In India, the horticulture sector contributes about a third of agricultural production and six per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). India has emerged as a world leader in the production of a variety of fruits such as mango, banana, coconut, cashew and many spices and is the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables.
The period between 1991-2003 is also called the period of ‘Golden Revolution’ because during this period, planned investment in horticulture resulted in excessive production and the sector emerged as a sustainable livelihood option. Horticulture has improved the economic condition of many farmers and has become a means of improving livelihood for many underprivileged sections. Flower harvesting, nursery maintenance, hybrid seed production, fruit and flower propagation and food processing are highly gainful employment options for women in rural areas.
Measures that can be taken to improve horticulture:-
a) Horticulture has emerged as a successful sustainable livelihood option and needs to be promoted significantly. Its role requires investment in infrastructure such as power, cold storage, systems, marketing linkages, small-scale processing units and technology improvement and dissemination.
Green Revolution Vs Golden Revolution
Green revolution:
It refers to the massive increase in food grain production in the late 1960s, resulting in increased use of high-yielding variety (HYV) seeds and the use of appropriate amounts of fertilizers and pesticides. Also the regular supply of water led to an increase in the production of rice and wheat in particular. As a result of this revolution, India became self-sufficient in the production of food grains (rice and wheat).
Golden Revolution:
The period 1991-2003 is known as the period of Golden Revolution because during this period the planned investment in horticulture led to excessive production and this sector emerged as a sustainable livelihood option. There was an increase in the production of spices, etc. As a result of this revolution, India became the world leader in the production of mango, banana, coconut and spices.
For rural people, it is important to focus on diversification or collaborative activity as it gives them the opportunity to earn additional income and overcome poverty.
Role of Information Technology (IT) in Sustainable Development and Food Security IT has revolutionized many sectors in the Indian economy. It is widely accepted that IT can play an important role in achieving sustainable development and food security in the twenty-first century. Through appropriate information and software tools, the government can predict areas of food insecurity and vulnerability so that actions can be taken to prevent or reduce the likelihood of an emergency. IT can also disseminate information about emerging technologies and its applications, prices, weather and soil conditions for growing various crops, etc. IT can act as a tool to unleash the creative potential and knowledge inherent in the society. It also has potential for employment generation in rural areas.
Village adoption by MPs:-
In October, 2014, the Government of India launched a new scheme named Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY). Under this scheme, the Members of Parliament of India are required to identify and develop a village from their constituencies. First, MPs can develop one village as a model village by 2016 and two more by 2019, covering more than 2,500 villages in India.
According to the plan, the population of the village can be 3,000-5,000 in the plains and 1,000-3,000 in the hills and should not be the village of the MP or his spouse. Parliamentarians are expected to facilitate village development planning, motivate villagers to take up activities and build infrastructure in the areas of health, nutrition and education.
Conclusion – The rural sector remains backward until amazing changes take place. There is a greater need today to make rural areas more robust through diversification in dairy, poultry, fisheries, vegetables and fruits.
Efforts should be made to link rural production centers with urban and foreign (export) markets to achieve higher return on investment for the products.
Efforts should be made to develop infrastructure elements like credit and marketing, state agriculture departments, farmer friendly agricultural policies and there should be continuous evaluation and dialogue between farmer groups to realize the full potential of the sector
There is a need to invent or procure alternative sets of eco-friendly technologies that lead to sustainable development under various circumstances.
Organic Agriculture :-
Organic agriculture is that method of farming, which restores the environmental balance, preserves and enhances it It helps in organic farming. In organic farming, farmers use organic manures, bio-fertilizers and organic pesticides.
Need for organic agriculture
(a) With the use of modern methods of agriculture, the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides has increased more, due to which the use of soil pesticides has increased, the fertility has decreased and the amount of chemicals in the grains has increased.
(b) It has become very important to protect the environment.
(c) Organic agriculture is a cheap technique of farming, small and medium farmers can also buy it.
Organic Agriculture:-
1. Affordable Process:- Organic farming relies on the use of locally made organic inputs in place of expensive inputs, these inputs remain cheap and that is why the return on investment on them is high.
2. Nutritious and healthy food:- Nutrients are also more in the food items produced by organic method, so organic agriculture provides us with more healthy food.
3. Solves the problem of unemployment: – Since the use of labor inputs in organic agriculture is more than that of traditional agriculture, it is the solution to the problem of unemployment.
Limitations of Organic Agriculture:-
1. It has been observed that modern farming techniques give more productivity than organic farming, thus organic products are relatively expensive.
2. Due to lack of awareness and limited selection of alternative production during off season, small and marginal farmers cannot adopt this type of farming.
3. Organic products perish quickly.
Why are farmers opposing this bill?
Farmers’ organizations allege that due to the new law, the agriculture sector will go into the hands of the capitalists, which will harm the farmers. Because the government will then set the minimum price only at times like famine, war, natural calamity, as was imposed on sanitizers and masks during the Corona period.
Some of the main reasons are as follows
- The hoarding of agricultural produce will increase the price of commodities.
- Minimum price is fixed for the farmers in the market. While this is not clear in the new law. Whether the farmer will get the minimum price for the crop or not. Because higher production can lead to lower prices.
- In APMC, farmers do not have the fear of any kind of fraud in the price of the crop. Whereas according to the new bill, any trader with a PAN card can buy the crop.
Farmer Agriculture Law Bill 2020 (kisan Bill)
First Bill
The first law named ‘Farmer Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020‘, the central government has freed farmers to sell crops anywhere in the country. So that this will increase the business between the states and also reduce the expenditure on marketing and transportation.
Second Bill
The second law is the ‘Agriculture (Empowerment and Protection) Price Assurance and Agricultural Services Agreement Bill, 2020‘, in this bill the government has provisioned a national framework on farmers. The bill strengthens the linkage of farmers with the sale of agricultural produce, farm services, agribusiness firms, processors, wholesalers, large retailers and exporters. Supply of quality seeds to the contracted farmers, technical support and monitoring of the crop, facility of credit and crop insurance have been provided.
Third Bill
The Third law is the ‘Essential Commodities Amendment Bill, 2020‘. So that farmers get good price. Through this law, the private sector is being given the freedom of unlimited storage. Private investment will be exempted for depositing the produce.
In the new Kisan Bill, farmers have been made free to sell their crops. Now any farmer can sell his crop to the trader outside the market.
The farmer can sell his crop anywhere in any part of the country.
Farmers will not have to pay any cess of any kind. Also, according to the bill, now the cost of freight will also have to be paid.
According to the new Kisan Agriculture Bill, farmers will be provided with an e-trading platform. Through which electronic uninterrupted trade can be ensured.
Under the kisan Krishi Bill, in addition to the mandis, there will be freedom of trade on formgate, cold storage, warehouse, processing units in the business area.
Through this bill, farmers and traders will be able to connect directly with each other, which will eliminate the benefits of middlemen.
Doubts
- The purchase of food grains will stop on the minimum support price fixed by the government.
- The farmer sells the crop outside the market. then APMC mandis will be finished
- What will happen to government e-trading portals like e-NAM?
Note : E-Nam (What is E-Nam)
- National Agriculture Market (e-NAM), is a pan India electronic trading portal. It was started by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 14 April 2016.
- The government did this with the aim of creating a “One Nation One Market” for agricultural products. It was started to strengthen the agricultural market. Under this, farmers can sell their produce online from their nearest market. Also, traders can send money to farmers from anywhere.
- E-NAM has eliminated the middlemen between the farmer and the buyer. Now farmers as well as customers are getting its benefit. There are about 2700 agricultural produce markets and 4,000 sub-markets across the country.
- At present 150 commodities including food grains, oilseeds, fiber, vegetables and fruits are traded on e-NAM platform. At the same time, initially, standard parameters were developed for 25 agricultural commodities.
Solution
- Crop procurement will continue at MSP as before. Farmers will be able to sell their produce at MSP.
- Apart from the grain market, the farmer will also get another option.
- The e-NAM trading system started by the government will also continue.
- Trade of agricultural products will increase on electronic platforms. This will bring transparency and save time.