Rural Poverty Alleviation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Rural Poverty Alleviation - Essay Example In a large and diverse country like India, it is not surprising to experience the kind of hardships and obstacles that appear to hinder every attempt at large scale alleviation of poverty in general and rural poverty in particular. India is a vast democracy of myriad tradition and culture. She is also multi-lingual and in the grip of traditional customs and religious beliefs. Influential politicians, religious leaders, film stars and iconic sportsmen don the mantle of role models and guides. The television perfectly and effectively keeps everyone pre-occupied with live performances and programs, leaving the common man and woman, boy and girl with little time for serious issues of life and responsibilities. Lest I am branded as pessimist, let me hasten to add that India has achieved the targets of rural poverty alleviation to an appreciable extent in the six decades after independence. By and large, there is more prosperity in villages now than before. Government schemes like Jawahar Rojgar Yojana, Drought Prone Area Programs (DPAP), Panchayati Raj, land reforms, etc. have been designed with the common man in the rural backyard in mind. The rural folk enjoy a better transport and communication system, they are politically, economically and academically more aware, and successive five-year plans, especially from the sixth five-year plan onwards, have bestowed more privileges and benefits on them. (8th Five Year Plan) Statistics of the National... Government schemes like Jawahar Rojgar Yojana, Drought Prone Area Programs (DPAP), Panchayati Raj, land reforms, etc. have been designed with the common man in the rural backyard in mind. The rural folk enjoy a better transport and communication system, they are politically, economically and academically more aware, and successive five-year plans, especially from the sixth five-year plan onwards, have bestowed more privileges and benefits on them. (8th Five Year Plan) Conversely, however, the sheen in these progressive schemes and undertakings lost their shine with corruption at every level, powerful hold by vested interests, political compulsions and exploitation. Statistics of the National Rural Employment Program and Rural Landless Employment Guarantee Program (RLEGP), showing the extent of finance involved in rural employment programs in the Seventh Five Year Plan, are reproduced below: Performance of NREP in the Seventh Five Year Plan Year Resource availability (Rs. crores) Expenditure: (Rs. crores) Employment Generation (in million mandays) Manday Cost(Rs.) Wage-Non- Wage Ratio 1985-86 593.08 531.95 316.41 16.81 60:40 1986-87 765.13 717.77 395.39 18.15 60-40 1987-88 888.21 788.31 370.77 21.26 59:41 1988-89 845.68 901.84 394.96 22.83 57:43 Performance of RLEGP in the Seventh Plan Year Resource availability (Rs. crores) Expenditure (Rs. crores) Employment Generation (in million mandays) Manday Cost (Rs.) Wage/Non- Wage Ratio 1985-86 580.35 453.17 2.47.58 18.30 57:43 1986-87 649.96 635.91 306.14 20.77 57:43 1987-88 648.41 653.53 304.11 21.49 58:42 1988-89 761.55 669.37 296.56 22.57 58:42 (Source: 8th Five Year Plan) Disillusionment with Rural Life Mass migration of people from hinterland and rural areas into cities and, to a lesser extent, towns and