IMPORTANCE OF INFRASTRUCTURE IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Relevance:

Sociology:

Rural and Agrarian transformation in India:

• Programmes of rural development, Community Development Programme, cooperatives, poverty alleviation schemes.

G.S paper III: Infrastructure

Rural development:

• Rural development involves the improvement of the economic and social life of the rural poor and involves the extension of benefits of development to the poorest among those seeking a livelihood in the rural areas.

Rural infrastructure:

• Infrastructure is the backbone of any country. It plays a very important role in supporting a nation’s economic growth.
• Rural infrastructure in the country is crucial for agriculture, agro-industries and poverty alleviation in the rural areas. Rural infrastructure provides essential production conditions which are required for social and economic growth and for promoting the quality of life in rural areas.
• The government’s effort is to reduce poverty and increase the quality of life of the rural poor by introducing various major and minor schemes and programmes related to rural infrastructure.

Roads:

• Roads in rural parts of the country are a very important and critical component of rural development. It is the key to the success of the rural economy; rural health; education; and better road connectivity with the rest of the world.
• Though rural roads had been constructed under various different schemes till the year 2000, there was not a single national policy to construct only rural roads especially the all-weather roads for the unconnected habitations. In December 2000, the Government of India had launched the Pradhan Mantri Grameen Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) with the aim to provide all-weather access to eligible unconnected habitations. It is a 100 percent centrally sponsored scheme.
• 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.
• Under PMGSV-II the focus will be to consolidate the entire rural roads network by up-gradation of selected routes and some major rural links would be also developed.

Electricity:

• The Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) was 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.
• Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana (Saubhagya) aims to provide free electricity connections to all households (both APL and poor families) in rural areas and poor families in urban areas.
• The PM-KUSUM scheme has the objective of increasing farmers’ income, providing a reliable source for irrigation and de-dieselise the farm sector by enabling farmers to set up solar power generation capacity on their fallow/barren lands and to sell it to the grid.

LPG Connections:

• The Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) aims to provide clean cooking fuel to poor households, especially in rural areas.
• It aims to provide deposit free LPG connections to the women of poor households. The scope of PMUY has now been expanded to cover all the poor families in the country subject to fulfilling the terms and conditions.
• The scheme increased the usage of LPG and helped in reducing health disorders, air pollution and deforestation. The use of fossil fuels and conventional fuel like cow-dung, firewood, etc. has serious implications on the health of rural women and children.

Housing infrastructure:

• Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana (Gramin) aims to provide pucca houses to all rural homeless and those households living in kutcha and dilapidated houses and providing basic amenities such as improved sanitation, piped drinking water, electricity & gas connection, etc.

• • Considerable reduction in open defection post-PMAY-G, usage of the toilet have led to clean and hygienic conditions which led to the improved health status of the PMAY-G household members.
  • Owning a pucca house had a positive impact on the beneficiary’s perception about living their lives with dignity and safety, and the majority of the beneficiaries felt a significant improvement in terms of social inclusion as well.
  • Income and employment opportunities have also improved.
  • The mean expenditure also rose in post-PMAY-G in both food and non-food items as compared to the pre-PMAY-G households indicating an improved living standard.

Water and Sanitation:

• Water is an essential commodity and the whole world is focussing on the scarcity of potable drinking water. Water stress-related issues are now a serious concern across the country. A very focused safe water (Jal Jeevan Mission) and comprehensive sanitation program (Swachch Bharat Mission) have been launched to support the health vision.

• • Jal Jeevan Mission is aiming to provide piped water supply to all households. It envisions providing safe and adequate drinking water through individual household tap connections by 2024 to all households in rural India. The programme also implements source sustainability measures as mandatory elements, such as recharge and reuse through greywater management, water conservation, rainwater harvesting.
  • Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramm): 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, the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, by constructing over 100 million toilets in rural India. To ensure that the open defecation free behaviours are sustained, no one is left behind, and that solid and liquid waste management facilities are accessible, the Mission is moving towards the Phase-II of SBMG i.e ODF-Plus. ODF Plus activities under Phase-II of Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) will reinforce ODF behaviours and focus on providing interventions for the safe management of solid and liquid waste in villages.

Communication:

• The government’s vision is that all “public institutions” at the 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 is the world’s largest rural broadband network project which aims to provide broadband connectivity to all the 2.5 lakh gram panchayats (GPs) across India.

Conclusion:

• The infrastructure schemes for rural areas have improved the lives of rural people in different ways and helped in reducing poverty. People are connected to the nearest city centres and the district headquarters by road and also connected by electronic communication. By providing tap water to the households, rural road connectivity and housing, there is a visible improvement in the health indicators and school enrolment. Infrastructure has brought social and economic change among rural households and empowered them to live their lives with dignity and safety with improved living standards.