Around two-thirds of India’s population lived in rural areas in 2021, according to United Nations Population Division’s World Urbanisation Prospects, and around 47% of India’s workers were dependent on agriculture, according to the Periodic Labour Force Survey 2020-21.
Therefore, the government needs to focus on rural development, the Economic Survey 2022-23 said. The report has made a positive assessment of the government’s rural development initiatives on the basis of the 2019-21 National Family Health Survey (NFHS) data, which was released in May 2022.
The way in which the government wishes to engage with rural economy is through “transforming lives and livelihoods through proactive socioeconomic inclusion, integration, and empowerment of rural India,” according to the Vision Document 2019-24 of the rural development ministry released in November 2019.
Social sector measures taken by the government for its vision of rural India include increasing coverage of rural housing, drinking water, sanitation, clean fuel, social protection and rural connectivity, according to the survey. For example, the National Rural Drinking Water Programme, now called the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), has provided tap connections to 110 million households, or 57% of rural households by January 25, 2023, according to the JJM dashboard.
Similarly, rural livelihoods have been improved by micro- finance institutions and support for self-help groups, apart from bringing digitisation and technology to the rural economy, according to the survey.
The impact of these efforts can be seen by comparing the NFHS data for 2015-16 and 2019-21, which showed improvement in several indicators of quality of life in rural areas. “These outcome-oriented statistics establish tangible medium-run progress in rural living standards, aided by the policy focus on basic amenities and efficient programme implementation,” the survey added.
