Indian Economy- Chapter 6

Rural development
Q.1 What is Rural development?

It is a comprehensive term. It focuses on action for the development of areas that are lagging behind in
the overall development of village economy. Although there is a decline in the contribution of
agricultural sector to GDP, yet the population dependent on it has not declined.

Rural development covers agricultural development as well as all those aspects which improve the living
conditions of people in the rural areas. Rural development is a comprehensive process which targets
betterment in all aspects of rural areas. Thus, developing agriculture implies improvement of rural areas.

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Q.2 What are the challenges or key issues of Rural Development?

Rural development attempts to improve all aspects of rural life. Some of the areas which are challenging
and need fresh initiatives for development in rural India include: -

1. Development of human resource

Human resource being very basic input for production of goods and services needs to be developed
extensively.

It includes focus on

❖ literacy, more specifically, female literacy, education and skill development

❖ health, addressing both sanitation and public health

2. Land reforms

Land reforms are very urgently required because land is very strategic in rural development. Land
reforms are required for

❖ Improvement in agricultural productivity

❖ Abolition of intermediaries
❖ Protection of the rights of tiller of the soil
❖ Eliminating the exploitation of cultivators

3. Development of infrastructure

Infrastructure includes those facilities which are important to increase overall production.
Infrastructural development refers to the development of:

❖ electricity, irrigation, transport facilities

❖ credit marketing, financial assistance
 ❖ transport facilities - construction of village roads and feeder roads to nearby highways
❖ information dissemination

4. Alleviation of poverty

One third of rural India still lives in poverty. In Order to witness or develop rural India some measures
are required:

❖ special measures for alleviation of poverty must be undertaken

❖ efforts should be made to bring about significant improvement in the living conditions of weaker
sections of the population
❖ Emphasis should be laid on access to productive employment opportunities.

5. Development of productive resource of each locality

There is a need to recognize and then develop productive resources of each locality so that:

❖ available resources can be utilized to the optimum

❖ opportunities of investment and employment in farmer's and non-farm areas such as food
processing can be enhanced
❖ Better an affordable access to health care, sanitation, facilities at workplaces and homes should
be provided along with “education for all” for rapid rural development.

Conclusion

Decline in public investment since 1991, inadequate infrastructure, lack of employment etc., further
impede rural development. The impact of this phenomenon can be seen from the growing distress
witnessed amongst farmers across different parts of India. Some of the crucial aspects of rural India like
credit and marketing systems, agricultural diversification and the role of organic farming in promoting
sustainable development becomes very important for studying rural development.

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Q.3 Write a note on credit and marketing in rural areas (rural credit).

Ans. Growth of rural economy depends primarily on infusion of capital, from time to time, to achieve
higher productivity in agriculture and non-agricultural sectors. As the time gestation between crop
sowing and realization of income after production is quite long, farmers borrow from various sources to
meet their initial investment on seeds, fertilizers, implements and other family expenses on marriage,
death, religious ceremonies etc.

Rural credit refers to credit for the farmers in rural areas. Credit contributes to the growth in rural areas.
Government should ensure an effective rural credit delivery system so that timely access to credit is
made possible in order to enhance agricultural productivity.

Classification of rural credit needs

Credit needs of the farmer can be classified into two categories

✔ according to time
✔ according to purpose

1. According to time

According to time credit can be discussed as:

A) Short term credit

● It is credit required to meet short-term needs.
● The period of this loan ranges between six months to 15 months.
● It is required to buy seeds, tools, manures, fertilizers etc.

B) Medium term credit

● It is credit required to meet medium term needs.
● The period of this loan ranges between 15 months to five years.
● It is required to buy machinery, equipments, digging wells, constructing cattle sheds etc.

C) Long term credit

● It is credit required to meet long-term needs.
● The period of this loan ranges between 5 to 20 years.
● It is required to buy assets like tractors, land, heavy machines an equipments etc.

2. According to purpose

Credit needs of farmers on the basis of purpose can be discussed as

A) Productive purpose
● It is credit required to meet productive purpose.
● In other words, this credit is required to enhance agricultural production.
● It is required to buy seeds, machines, fertilizers, constructing cattle sheds, digging wells,
undertaking permanent land improvements etc.

B) Unproductive purpose
● it is credit required to meet unproductive purpose.
● In other words, this credit is required to meet social obligations which do not enhance
agricultural productivity.
 ● It is required to meet expenditure on the personal front such as religious ceremonies, marriages,
to pay back old debts etc.

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Q.4 What are the sources of rural credit?

Ans. Introduction

At the time of independence, moneylenders and traders exploited small and marginal farmers and
landless laborers by lending money to them on high interest rates and by manipulating the accounts to
keep them in a debt trap. A major change occurred after 1969 when India adopted social banking an
multi agency approach to adequately meet the needs of rural credit.

Later the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) was setup in 1982 as an apex
body to coordinate the activities of all institutions involved in rural financial system.

With modernization and up gradation of agriculture, the requirements of credit has increased
tremendously.

The sources of rural credit can be classified as:

✔ Non-institutional sources
✔ Institutional sources

1. Non-institutional sources (informal sector)

These are traditional sources of rural credit in India. These sources include money lenders, relatives,
traders, Commission agents, landlords, friends etc.

● Out of all the above sources, moneylenders have been advancing a major share of rural credit
requirement. They advanced nearly 94% of total credit requirement in the year 1951-1952.
Major problems in taking loans from money lenders are:
a) They charge very high rate of interest and thus exploit farmers.
b) They acquire land on failure to pay back the loan.
c) They manipulate the accounts.
● Traders and Commission agents provide advanced credit to the farmers on the mortgage of
crops. The problem of taking loans from traders and Commission agents are:
a) They charge high rate of interest.
b) They forced farmers to sell their crops to them at low prices.
● Landlords also become an important source of granting rural credit. Some of the problems faced
by farmers are:
a) Landlords charge high rate of interest.
b) They exploit small farmers by manipulating accounts.
● Relatives also play an important role in granting credit to the farmers. These normally carry no
interest and money is returned as per the requirement of the loan provider or after the harvest.
 2. Institutional sources ( formal sector)

The institutional structure of rural banking today consists of a set of multi-agency institutions namely
commercial banks, regional rural banks (RRBs), cooperatives and land development banks.

Cooperative credit society was established in 1904 which played a major role in shifting the role of
informal sector to formal sector to provide rural credit.

A major change occurred after 1969 when India adopted social banking and multi-agency approach
to adequately meet the needs of rural credit. Also, nationalization of commercial banks in July 1969
expanded the role of formal sector

Some of the important institutional sources of agricultural credit are:

1. Cooperative credit societies

These societies advanced credit to the farmers at reasonable rates of interest. These contribute nearly
30% of the rural credit. They focus on the following objectives:
♦ To free the farmers from the clutches of moneylenders.
♦ advanced credit at low rates of interest.
♦ Spread credit facilities all over the country.
♦ Ensure timely and continuous flow of credit to the rural areas.

2. Land development banks

These provide long-term credit. The credit is granted against the mortgage of their lands. Objectives of
land development banks are:

● to provide long-term credit.

● to provide credit for purchasing agricultural inputs, constructing permanent structure on land
etc.

These provide funds for other productive purposes also example giving subsidies to agriculturalists.

3. Commercial banks credit

After the nationalization in 1969, commercial banks played a major role in advancing credit. The
objectives of commercial banks are:

● To directly help the farmers by expanding their branches into rural areas.
● To indirectly help the farmers through agents.
● To create awareness about existence of facilities being provided by them through newspapers,
radio, television etc.
 4. Regional rural banks

These banks have been setup in 1975 to cover the gap in credit structure of the available facilities in the
rural areas. Their main objectives are:

● to open the branches in those areas where there are no banking facilities available.
● to provide credit facilities to small and marginal farmers.

5. Self-help groups

Recently self-help groups have emerged to fill the gap in the formal credit system because the formal
credit delivery mechanism has not only proven inadequate but has also not been fully integrated into
the overall rural social and community development. It came up as the micro finance program. Focus of
SHG’s is on those rural poor who do not have sustainable access to formal banking system. The
objectives are:

● Since some kind of collateral is required, vast proportion of poor rural households were
automatically out of the credit network. The SHG's promote thrift in small proportions by a
minimum contribution from each member. From this pooled money, credit is given to the needy
members to be repayable in small installments at reasonable interest rates. By March end 2003
more than 7 lakh SGS had reportedly been credit linked. Such credit provisions are generally
referred to as micro-credit programs.
These have helped in the empowerment of woman as easy loans are available for woman.
These borrowings are mainly confined to consumption purposes and are not used for productive
purposes.

6. National Bank for agricultural and rural development (NABARD)

NABARD was set up in 1982 as an apex body to coordinate the activities of all institutions involved in the
rural financing system. Its main functions are:

★ To act as an apex agency for the institutions which advanced credit in the rural areas.
★ To promote the strength of the credit institutions in credit delivery systems example of
commercial banks, cooperatives and regional rural banks.
★ To provides assistance to the nonfarm sectors also like fishing, animal husbandry etc.
★ To control and evaluate the projects financed by it.
★ It coordinates the functioning of different financial institutions involved in advancing rural
credit.

Critical appraisal of rural banking

Rapid expansion of the banking system had a positive effect on rural farm and nonfarm output,
income and employment. After the green revolution, graded facilities help farmers to avail variety of
loans for meeting their production needs. With buffer stock of greens, famines became events of
 the past. Even then, there are number of problems faced by agricultural credit structure of the
country. Some of the problems faced in rural banking are: -

1. Insufficiency:

the volume of rural credit in the country is still insufficient in comparison to its demand. it means that
the demand of rural credit is more than the supply of it.

2. Inadequate coverage of institutional sources:

the institutional credit arrangement continues to be inadequate as they have failed to cover the entire
rural farmers of the country.

3. Inadequate amount of sanction:

The amount of loan sanctioned to the farmers is also inadequate. As a result, farmers often divert such
loans for unproductive purposes, which dilute the very purpose of such loan.

4. less attention to poor or marginal farmers:

Lesser attention has been given on the credit requirements of needy (small and marginal) farmers. on
the other hand, well-to-do farmers are getting more attention due to better credit worthiness.

5. Growing overdues:

The problem of overdues in agricultural credit continues to be an area of concern.

The basic reason for growing overdues is the poor repaying capacity of farmers. As a result, credit
agencies are becoming cautious of granting loans to farmers.

Agriculture loan default rates have been chronically high. It is alleged that farmers are deliberately
refusing to pay back loans. It is a threat to the smooth functioning of banking system and needs to be
controlled.

Conclusion

The expansion and promotion of rural banking sector has taken a backseat after reforms. Except the
commercial banks, other for formal institutions failed to develop a culture of deposit mobilization,
lending to needy borrowers an effective load recovery.

To improve the situation:

✔ banks need to change their approach from just being lenders to building up relationship banking
with the borrowers; and
✔ farmers should also be encouraged to inculcate the habit of thrift (savings) and efficient
utilization of financial resources.

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Q.5 Write a note on agricultural marketing system.

Ans. Introduction
Prior to independence, farmers while selling their produce to traders suffered from faulty weighing and
manipulation of accounts. Indian farmers were confined to subsistence farming. They sold a very small
proportion of their produce to pay old debts and meet some other requirements of consumption. They
were forced to sell their produce at low prices as they had weak bargaining power and due to lack of
required information on prevailing prices. They did not have the required information on prevailing
prices. They also did not have proper storage facilities to keep back their produce for selling later at a
better price. Even today more than 10% of goods produced in farms are wasted due to lack of storage.

Even those who could not take their produce to the wholesale markets did have little knowledge about
organized markets. All this required an improvement in the system. State intervention became
necessary to regulate the activities of private traders.

Agricultural marketing is a process that involves the assembling, storage processing, transportation,
packaging, grading and distribution of different agricultural commodities across the country. Through
this system the farmers can sell their surplus at fair prices in the wholesale market. Various market
channels exist which helped the farmers to sell their produce at reasonable prices in the market.

Measures/ steps taken by the government to improve agricultural marketing system after independence

1. Regulation of markets

This was the first step to create orderly and transparent marketing conditions. by and large, this policy
benefited farmers as well as consumers.

This measure targets organized markets in order to protect the farmers from exploitation by the
brokers.

The market committees ensure that the farmers get reasonable price for their produce. However, there
is still a need to develop about 27,000 rural periodic markets to realize the full potential of rural
marketing.

2. Provision of physical infrastructure

This measure attempts to make provision of physical infrastructural facilities like roads, railways,
warehouses, godowns, cold storages and processing units.

These facilities will help in strengthening the market channels. However, the current infrastructural
facilities are quite inadequate there is a need to develop more infrastructural facilities to ensure high
growth rate of economy.

3. Cooperative marketing

Cooperative marketing, in realizing fair prices for farmer’s products, is the third aspect of government
initiative the success of milk cooperatives in transforming the social and economic landscape of Gujarat
and some other parts of the country is testimony of the role of cooperatives.

Under this system, farmers get together and form marketing societies to sell the produce collectively
and take benefit of collective bargaining to secure a better price of their product.

However, due to lack of appropriate link between marketing and processing cooperatives and lack of
finances, corporative have received a set back during the recent past.
 4. Policy instruments:
a) Minimum support price (MSP)

It is an important step initiated by the government to give assurance of minimum support price for
agricultural products. The government fixes minimum support price to increase the farmers to sell their
produce.

b) Maintenance of buffer stock

The government buys the excess supply of unsold stock from the farmers and maintains buffer stock of
these products and uses these during emergencies. The food Corporation of India (FCI) purchases food
grains (wheat and rice) at the procurement prices in order to maintain buffer stocks and generate
rational prices to the farmers to give them sufficient incentives.

c) Public distribution system ( PDS)

This system operates through fair price shops in which essential commodities like wheat, rice, sugar,
kerosene etc. are sold to people below poverty line. Price charged is less than the market price.

Problems of agricultural marketing in India

1. Predominance of private traders:

Private trade by moneylenders, rural political elites, big merchants and rich farmers pre-dominates
agricultural markets. Need for government intervention is at of utmost importance when a large share
of agriculture produce is handled by the private sector.

2. Distress sale and lack of market information

Most of the Indian farmers are poor and under deaths, so they often make a distress sale (sale at a price
lower than the market price) of their products. It brings low income to them as goods are sold to the
village money lenders or brokers who exploit their situation. Sometimes due to lack of market
information on prevailing prices, they sell their produce at fewer prices.

3. Lack of transport facilities

There are no proper roads and transport facilities to help farmers carry their produce to the organized
markets where they can get fair price of their products will stop hence they are forced to sell their
products at the village market at low prices.

4. Lack of regulated markets

Regulation of markets by government has benefited farmers as well as the consumers. However, these
are still less in number. There is still a need to develop about 27,000 rural periodic markets as regulated
marketplaces to realize the full potential of rural markets.

5. Lack of infrastructural facilities

Though provision of physical infrastructural facilities like warehouses, godowns, cold storages etc. Has
been made, still the present infrastructural facilities are quite in order to meet the growing demand and
hence need to be improved.
 6. long chain of intermediaries

There is a long train of middlemen between the cultivator of the products and the ultimate consumers.
All these intermediaries charge for their services and hence the return to the actual cultivator falls.

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Q.6 Write a note on diversification in agriculture.

Ans. Introduction

Agriculture is the backbone of Indian economy. Major proportion of workforce of the country depends
on agriculture. Most of the agricultural employment activities are concentrated in the kharif season, but
during the rabi season, it becomes difficult to find gainful employment due to inadequate irrigation
facilities. Depending exclusively on farming only for earning a livelihood is not sufficient, expansion of
workforce area is equally essential to explore new areas to work, to increase levels of income, to
overcome poverty and tribulations.

Therefore, diversification in agriculture is required so that gainful employment for surplus labor can be
located in allied activities in agriculture and other non-farm activities.

The need for a diversification arises from the fact that:

There is greater risk independent exclusively on farming for livelihood.

To overcome poverty, expansion of work areas/ gainful employment in new areas is also
required.

Diversification towards new areas is necessary not only to reduce the risk from agriculture sector but
also to provide productive sustainable livelihood options to rural people. there are two aspects of
diversification:

1. Diversification of crop production/ change in cropping pattern

2. Diversification of productive activities

1. Diversification of crop production/ change in cropping pattern

It relates to changing cropping pattern to shift from subsistence farming to commercial farming.

It implies producing diverse variety of crops rather than one single crop. It refers to shift from single
cropping system to multi-cropping system. It would help shift from subsistence farming to commercial
farming that is moving from food grains to cash crops.

Choice of cropping pattern can be done on the basis of demand of the crop and hence according to the
price structure. Level of income would increase if price fluctuations and cash crops are considered by
minimizing the market risk.

2. Diversification of production activity/ employment

As agriculture is already overcrowded, a major proportion of the increasing labor force needs to find
alternate employment opportunities in other non-farm sectors. Non-farm activities have several sub
sectors:

▪ Some subsectors are dynamic as they have sufficient infrastructure to grow while other sub
sectors have the potential but do not have sufficient infrastructure to develop as they are in
subsistence, low productivity propositions.
◊ The dynamic sub sectors include agro-processing industries, food processing industries, leather
industry, tourism etc.
◊ Those sub sectors which have the potential but seriously lack infrastructure and other support
include traditional home-based industries like pottery, crafts, handlooms etc.

Majority of rural woman find employment in agriculture while men in rural areas used to look for
nonfarm employment. In recent times, women have also begun to look for nonfarm jobs.

Important nonfarm areas of employment are:

1. Animal husbandry:
● In India the farming community uses the mixed crop livestock farming system- cattle, goats, fowl
are the widely held species.
● Livestock production provides increased stability in income, food security, transport, fuel and
nutrition for the family without disrupting other food producing activities.
● Today, livestock sector alone provides alternate livelihood options to over 70 million small and
marginal farmers including landless laborers. A significant number of women also find
employment in the livestock sector.
● Poultry accounts for the largest share with 58% followed by others. a former until 30 sector over
the last three decades had been quite impressive. Milk production in the country has increased
by more than eight times between 1951 to 2014. This can be attributed mainly to the successful
implementation of operation flood.
● Operation flood is a system whereby all the farmers can pull their milk produced according to
different grading based on quality and the same is processed and marketed to urban centres
through cooperatives. In this system the farmers are assured of a fair price and income from the
supply of milk to open markets. Gujrat state is held as success story in the efficient
implementation of milk cooperatives which has been emulated by many states.

2. Fisheries:
● The fishing community regards the water body as mother or provider. The water bodies
consisting of sea, oceans, rivers, lakes common natural equity bonds etc. Are there for an
integral and life-giving source for the fishing community.
● In India, after progressive increase in budgetary allocations an introduction of new technologies
in fisheries and aquaculture, the development of histories has come a long way.
● Presently fish production from inland sources contributes about 64% to the total fish production
and the balance 36% comes from the marine sector.
● Today total fish production accounts for 0.8% of the total GDP among states: Kerala, Gujarat,
Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu are the major producers of marine products.
● Even though women are not involved in active fishing about 60% of the workforce in export
marketing and 40% internal marketing are woman.
● There is a need to increase credit facilities through cooperatives and SHGs for fisherwoman to
meet the working capital requirements for marketing.

3. Horticulture:
● It is an important sector for diversification in agriculture. Blessed with a varying climate and soil
conditions, India has adopted growing of diverse horticultural crops such as fruits, vegetables,
tuber crops, Flowers, medicinal and aromatic plants, spices and plantation crops.
● These crops play a vital role in providing food and nutrition, besides addressing employment
concerns.
● Horticulture sector contributes nearly 1/3 of the value of agricultural output and 6% of GDP of
India.
● India has emerged as a world leader introducing a variety of fruits like mangoes, bananas,
coconuts, cashew nuts and a number of spices and is the 2nd largest producer of fruits and
vegetables.
● Economic condition of many farmers engaged in horticulture has improved and it has become a
means of improving livelihood for many underprivileged classes.
● Flower harvesting, nursery, maintenance, hybrid seed production and tissue culture,
propagation of fruits and Flowers and food processing are highly remunerative employment
options for woman in rural areas.
● Horticulture has emerged as a successful sustainable livelihood option and needs to be
encouraged significantly. Enhancing its role requires investment in infrastructure like electricity,
cold storage systems, marketing linkages, small scale processing units and technology
improvement and dissemination.
● Though, in terms of numbers our livestock population is quite impressive but its productivity is
quite low as compared to other countries. It requires improved technology and promotion of
good breeds of animals to enhance productivity. Credit facilities to small and marginal farmers
and landless laborers would enhance sustainable livelihood options through livestock
production. Production of fisheries has also increased substantially however problems related to
overfishing and pollution needs to be regulated and controlled.

4. Other alternate livelihoods options

● The IT has revolutionized many sectors in the Indian economy. There is a strong belief that IT
can play a critical role in achieving sustainable development and food security in the 21st
century.
 ● Governments can predict areas of food insecurity and vulnerability using appropriate
information and software tools so that action can be taken to prevent or reduce the likelihood
of an emergency.
● It also has a positive impact on the agricultural sector as it can disseminate information
regarding emerging technologies in its applications, prices, weather and soil conditions for
growing different crops etc.. Accordingly, quality and quantity of crops can be increased
manifold.
● IT has potential of employment generation in rural areas. Experiments with IT and its application
to rural development are carried out in different parts of India.

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Q.7 Write a note on sustainable development and organic farming.

Ans Introduction

In recent years, people have become more aware of the harmful effects of chemical based fertilizers and
pesticides on their health. Traditional agriculture relies heavily on chemical fertilizers and toxic
pesticides etc. These enter the food supply, penetrate the water resources, deplete the soil and
devastate natural ecosystems. For sustainable development of the economy we need to use eco-friendly
technologies which help us to enjoy the benefit of economic development for a long time along with no
harm to the environment so that the future generations can also fulfill their needs. One such technology
which is eco-friendly is organic farming.

Organic farming is a whole system of farming that re stores maintains and enhances the ecological
balance. There is a great demand of organic food which is free from chemical based fertilizers and toxic
pesticides etc. Organic food is growing in popularity across the world. Many countries have around 10%
of their food system under organic farming.

Organic farming is needed because:

It is an economic farming technology. It can be picked up by small and marginal farmers.

There is urgent requirement to optimally utilize scarce resources so that they can be preserved
for future generations too, to promote sustainable development.
Conventional farming methods used chemical base with lasers and toxic pesticides which
deplete the soil and diverse state natural ecosystem, so there is an urgent need of an eco-
friendly technology like organic farming.

Benefits of organic farming

1. Economical

Organic farming offers a means to substitute costlier agricultural inputs such as HYV seeds, chemical
fertilizers from a pesticides etc. With locally produced organic inputs which are cheaper and generate
profitable returns on investment.

2. Generation of income
Organic agriculture also generates income through exports as the demand for organically grown crops is
on a rise. It is because now people are more aware of maintaining reasonable standards of their health.

3. Healthy foods

Studies have shown that organically grown food has more nutritional value than food grown by chemical
farming will stop. Thus; organic farming provides us with healthy foods. Present rate trends show that
demand for organic food is rising as it is more nutritious.

4. Environment friendly

The produce of organic agriculture is pesticide free and produced in an environmentally sustainable
way. Organic farming discards the use of chemical fertilizer.

5. Generates employment

Organic farming requires more labor input than required in traditional farming. Thus, organic farming
will help in solving the problem of unemployment to some extent will stop so India will find organic
farming an attractive proposition.

6. Maintains natural ecosystems

Conventional farming relies heavily on chemical fertilizers and pesticides and hence depletes the soil
and disturbs the natural ecosystems. On the other hand, organic farming re stores, maintains and
enhances ecological balance as it is eco-friendly. The produced through organic farming is pesticide free
and produced in an environmentally sustainable way.

Challenges before organic farming

1. Needs popularization

Most of the farmers are not aware of organic farming. Popularizing organic farming requires awareness
and willingness on the part of farmers to adopt the new technology.

2. Inadequate infrastructure and marketing

These are major concerns which need to be taken care of as it is a new technology which needs basic
facilities and services to start organic farming. Also marketing channels are to be strengthened to
market the organic products.

3. Shorter shelf life

Compared to conventional farming methods organic products have more blemishes and a shorter shelf
life than sprayed produce. This may discourage some farmers to adapt to this technology.

4. Less output

Yields from organic farming are less than traditional agricultural farming in the initial years. Therefore, it
may be difficult for the small and marginal farmers to opt for this technology on a large scale. Also, there
is a limited choice of ultimate production in off season.
 5. Limited crops in production

The choice is the introduction of offseason crops is quite limited in organic farming do too much cost
and time involved in preparing soil.

In spite of the above limitations organic potting his interest enable development of agriculture and India
has a clear advantage in going for a gap in informing at domestic and international level

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