The United Nations announcement that 50% of the world’s population is living in Urban areas that means rest 50% living in Rural areas. Only about 5 percent of world population lives in the big cities or metropolitan areas. The fact that over half of the world’s population live in places termed as Urban is a notable development but at the same time it is useful and important to know that why people are shifting from Rural to Urban.
The term Urban does not automatically mean that the population has become literate or lost its traditional rural values and social customs. The Excellent road connections, communications, cable TV and Internet and access and shopping malls and other facilities have rendered the Urban-Rural difference less relevant in developed countries. Rural inhabitants typically move to cities to exploit economic opportunities and improve their social mobility.
Recently, I had a visit to District Budgam where almost one of a family member from each family is employed in Government service. But at the same time development of the areas seems a distinct dream as nothing has been done so far. It seems that the District remained cut off from rest of the state from the last so many years. It seems that the people of the area adopted themselves to live in under the existing infrastructure. The educated youth of the area seems in desperate need of development and upgraded infrastructure. Despite hardworking people, the concept of development is nowhere and people are deprived off many basic facilities in lieu of Government Jobs.Since, providing a job to an unemployed educated youth is one of the duties of the Government but at the same time Government needs to come up with a comprehensive plan for overall development of rural areas.
While analyzing the Area, population and literacy rate of J&K, it is observed that a good number of people living in rural areas are literate and can be utilized for up gradation of the each District.
For rural development one often hears of providing urban facilities to rural areas. It is generally difficult even to provide basic facilities for health and education in rural areas as teachers and doctors are simply not willing to live in these villages without adequate facilities.
Idle land for cultivation
Cultivated land can only be left ‘idle’ temporarily after a time the carbon sequestered by land left idle renders it unviable for re-cultivation without excessive carbon dioxide emissions. Depending on the increase in carbon footprints of crop products deemed to be acceptable, estimates from Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of UN, cropping data appear to indicate that there were 19- 48 Mha of idle land suitable for return to cultivation.
To boost the agricultural sector and make it a sustainable business, productivity and infrastructure are the two key elements. Increasing productivity through technology, educating the farmers, helping them to source the best seeds, working on seasonal issues, minimizing waste by increasing warehouses and cold chain facilities, can ease the life of a farmer.
Rural Health Care
Rural Health care is one of biggest challenges facing the Health Ministry of India. With 50 percent of population living in rural areas and low level of health facilities, mortality rates due to diseases are on a high.
Rural sanitation and hygiene
A safe and sustainable water supply, sanitation and good hygiene are fundamental for a healthy, productive and dignified life. Poor access to water, sanitation and hygiene results in tremendous human and economic costs and rein forces gender and other societal inequalities, most notably for women and girls.
Access to healthcare services and benefits
The difficulties of access to health care facilities may impair outcomes by increasing patients’ physical and emotional stress, reducing the likelihood of seeking follow-up care, and limiting proximate family support. Rural people are less likely to be covered by Medicaid benefit. Rural residents are less likely to have employer- provided health care coverage or prescription drug coverage. The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission documented lower average Medicare costs and lower likelihood of using Medicare hospice benefits for rural beneficiaries in the last year of life.
Motor vehicle accident rates
One-third of all motor vehicle accidents occur in rural areas; however, two-thirds of motor vehicle deaths occur on rural roads. Rural residents are also nearly twice as likely as urban residents to die from unintentional injuries other than motor vehicle accidents
Importance of sign boards.
Installation of sign boards in rural areas are much more important due to thick housing and population of the areas. The sign board not only help the people to reach the destination but also adds beauty to the rural area.
Maintaining Rural Roads
The rural roads in developing countries, on which 20–200 vehicles travel per day, have been improved as part of their policies for rural development. Considering the lack of income opportunities in many rural areas and the intractable problems inherent in the deployment and operation of mechanical equipment for small-scattered works, labor-based technology (LBT) has been considered as the normal choice for rural road networks.
Link Roads
The importance of link roads connecting villages to the towns and district headquarters, which are the only means of communication for ushering development in every sphere of development activities, was realized long ago by the Government but not much headway taken in this regard may be due to a financial crunch.
Sports activities
The mental, social and physical health of individuals and communities in rural areas can be improved through active participation in sport and recreation activities. There is a suggestion that fewer available volunteers to organize and deliver sport besides identify the area for sports activities.
Water supply
Developed countries are used to having a supply of fresh, clean water piped straight into the houses for the convenience of people living in rural areas. In some African countries especially rural areas there isn’t any provision for the supply of drinking water. Women and children take water from rivers or lakes and carry this back to their house which is very labour-intensive.
Water transport
Though the efficiency of water transport varies greatly on average it has the potential to emit less greenhouse gas per passenger or unit of freight than do private passenger and freight vehicles. Water-based freight can be an efficient low carbon component of a multimodal freight system.
Mega Food Parks
The Mega Food Park aims to provide a mechanism to link agricultural production to the market by bringing together farmers, processors and retailers so as to ensure maximizing value addition, minimizing wastage, increasing farmers’ income and creating employment opportunities particularly in rural sector. The Mega Food Park Scheme is based on “Cluster” approach and envisages a well-defined agree and horticultural processing zone containing state-of-the art processing facilities with support infrastructure and well-established supply chain.
Model village
Creating model villages is thus going to be difficult. As villagers get educated and leave for towns, the so-called model villages may become half-deserted. One possible solution to the problem is that for 100 or so villages in each tehsil a central town with a population of about 50,000 will be created with urban facilities. This town will accommodate teachers, doctors, agricultural extension workers, agro-industries, etc. These will be created as Special Zones with modern rules on land, labour, transport, education, health, etc. The town will be managed by rural communities that it will be serving along with representatives of the urban community in the new town.
Smart Village
In Smart Villages access to sustainable energy services acts as a catalyst for development enabling the provision of good education and healthcare, access to clean water, sanitation and nutrition, the growth of productive enterprises to boost incomes and enhanced security, gender equality and democratic engagement.
A Smart Village is a bundle of dozens of services delivered effectively to the residents and businesses in an efficient manner. These services could be location specific depending on the demography of the village and occupations of the residents. The services such as Power, Water, Buildings, Retail, Health care, etc. were built shall be provided. New designs, technologies and management models should be used to upgrade the existing services and in building the new ones. This requires standardization use of IT and networks. This requires strategy, integrated planning and above all monitoring and execution of the activities using appropriate governance models.
The above few initiatives and many more will definitely be fruitful in converting a remote rural village into a Smart or Model village.
Shabir Ahamd Shah is an Executive in Financial Institution and can be reached at shabir_anas@yahoo.com
