Rural India

Rural India According to census India 2001 scattered throughout India are approximately 500,000 villages. The Census of India regards most settlements of fewer than 5,000 as a village. These settlements range from tiny hamlets of thatched huts to larger settlements of tile-roofed stone and brick houses. Most Indian villages are small; nearly 80 percent have fewer than 1,000 inhabitants.

Contents [hide] 1 Illiteracy 2 NAREGA 3 Five Challenges 4 References 5 Also See Illiteracy

CSers in a Primary School Illiteracy is major problem in rural development. According to a nationwide survey that was carried out by IMRB-SRI of school-going children, aged 6 to 13, almost 6.94% of children in this age group are out of school. Of these, a massive 68.26% are those who never went to school. 31.74% are those who dropped out after one or more years of schooling. That there is a clear urban-rural divide in elementary education in the country becomes apparent, on studyingthese findings. Of the number of school going children in the age group 6-13 years in rural areas, 7.8% are out of school. The comparative percentage is 4.34% in urban areas. Incidentally, more girls than boys are out of school. This is especially so in the age-group of 11-13 years, where approximately 10% of the girls do not go to school, as against 6.5% boys. "This is primarily because families expect girls to help out at home. Also, there is the thought that "ladki paraya dhan hai- iskopara kar kyafaayda. "which is acutely prevalent in rural areas. Finally, there is the distance factor- many children have to walk upto 3-4 kms to reach the school, which again becomes a de-motivator," says A V i Surya, Research Director of IMRB-SRI. Among those children who are attending school, an overwhelming 74.51% are in government schools, 22.95% are i in private recognized schools, 1.85% in private unrecognized schools and .59% in madarsas and Alternative Innovative Education (AIE) Centres, started under the Sarva Siksha Ab-hiyan of the Government. The proportion of out-of-school children is relatively higher in Muslims (9.97%) and Scheduled Tribes (9.54%). The Scheduled Castes follow, with almost 8.17% of the children from this category, not going to school. This is probably attributable to social restrictions within these groups. Also. according to Chanchal Sinha of Child Relief & You (CRY), "The proportion of government-run schools is coming down. The most affected, therefore are children from these marginalised and weaker sections -who have no option but to use government schools." However, the disturbing trend is that even amongst those children who are enrolled in schools, the levels of comprehension arent that great. For example, as per the ASER survey, 35% of all children in the age group 7-14 could not read simple paragraphs and close to 52% could not read a short story Also, 41% of children could do neither two digit subtraction problem nor division problems. Then, there is the problem of drop-outs. The IMRB-SRI survey, however, puts the percentage of drop-outs as being the highest among those, who dropped out after completing class V and class II (20.5% each). Next is the percentage of those who dropped out after class III (17.5%). The silver lining, however, is that the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan that the government had initiated seems to have had some impact, in that the number of out-of-school children have come down, from the time the Abhiyan was launched five years ago. However, according to CRY'S Sinha, we are still far away from the Abhiyans objective of ensuring that all children complete at least eight years of elementary schooling. "We should ensure that all children are in formal schools until the age of 18. The need is to increase the spend on education to at least 6% of the GDP from the current 4.2%. Also, the Common School System should be implemented soon, to ensure access, equality and quality in education," he says.

NAREGA

Workers at NAREGA site THE National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) guarantees 100 days of employment at the rate of Rs 60 a day. According to the website of the Union ministry of labour, the minimum wage is pegged at Rs 66 per day. In dollar terms this comes to about $8.5 per week, assuming a six-day week. In America, the minimum wage is roughly $5.5 per hour before deduction of payroll taxes. Assuming a 40-hour week, this amounts to $220 a week. The cost of living is much lower in India, the differences being adjusted through purchasing power parity (PPP). According to the World Bank, the rupee equivalent of a dollar can buy goods and services valued at about five times what a dollar can in America. Therefore a weekly wage of $8.5 in India is equivalent to $42.5 in America. Ceterisparibus, the minimum wage in America is five times higher than what it is in India. Theoretically speaking, since capital is scarce and labour abundant and less productive, wages are relatively lower in India. But minimum wages are not market clearing wages. They are regulatory wages to ensure that market wages do not fall below subsistence. They are expected to cover the essential current costs of accommodation, food and clothing (roti, ka-pada aurmakaan} of a small family. Let us consider the monthly expenses of a family of four living in the American Midwest. The family spends $520 on rent for a two-bedroom apartment, $150 on utilities, $250 on food and clothes, $100 on petrol, and $200 on family health insurance, or $1,220 in all. A minimum wage of $220 a week yields a net monthly income of $820 after tax. Payroll taxes smoothen the consumption curve during spells of unemployment and in old age. This leaves an uncovered monthly shortfall of $400 a month, which could be covered by two hours overtime (at 150% of the minimum wage) five days a week, or by three hours part-time work, possibly by the spouse.therefore, the minimum wage captures the market value of food, accommodation, utilities, transportation, healthcare and social security at subsistence levels for small nuclear families. The rise in single parent families and health insurance costs distort but do not entirely alter this picture, especially since private charities and public support and emergency systems constitute effective back-ups. The Indian minimum wage of Rs 3,500 per month (with the spouse working full time), in comparison, would at best cover the cost of subsistence sourced from informal markets for an equivalent family of four. Whereas the poor in America purchase standardised food products and clothes from discount supermarkets, in India these are purchased from roadside sellers peddling dubious quality. Most daily wagers reside on encroached public land controlled by land mafias. Since slums are adjacent to workplaces, transportation costs are minimal. Utilities such as power and water are also sourced from informal markets, usually controlled by the same land mafias who steal power and water from publicly 'extra-legal' control of assets into capital. Howsoever seductive this argument, the assertion that this would solve the problem of poverty and development in backward societies is moot. Modernisation and globalisation have everywhere spelt the doom of petty production. Destruction of traditional (artisanal) industries and depeasantisation are necessary concomitants of the modernisation process based on economies of scale. The crisis in our small-scale industrial and agricultural sectors is ample proof of this. Viewed from this perspective, the NREGS can be seen as acknowledgement of the crisis and collapse of petty production. There is also a lurking danger in the Soto solution, especially when the underlying governance environment is weak. Often when extra-legal assets are transferred as legal property rights and hence potential collateral for capital, the recipients are either so destitute or more likely so uninformed that they then formally transfer away those rights for a value well under market. This could actually legalise the hold infrastructural mafias have over the marginalised. Under prevailing circumstances raising the regulatory minimum wage may only compound the gap between the minimum wage and the market clearing wage, and also hit the country's cost competitiveness in manufacturing. Big-ticket public and private investment based on their respective comparative advantage (public and private goods respectively), expansion of wage labour, higher incomes through enhanced labour productivity, and improved governance are imperative to address these problems. Such big-ticket investment would also remove supply constraints in the ready availability and affordability of standardised mass produced goods and services. A comprehensive social security net would ease the transition from an informal economy based on petty production and services to a modem one. All NGOs are requested to cotact and decide a way of pressurising government to revise its minimum wage structure. contact

Five Challenges

Prime Minister Man-mohan Singh outlined five challenges, including improving financial system for global integration, for India to become a developed economy while cautioning that the rapid progress should not lead to complacency "It would be wrong to assume, as some do, that the major development challenges had been solved and that the Indian economy can effortlessly coast towards becoming a developed economy," Singh said while releasing "India rural infrastructure report" by economic think-tank NCAER. Despite a high level of public debt, inflation has been contained and "in brief the economic environment facing the private sector has been transformed and the results are evident," he said. Giving polic economy, improved delivery of public services, improved management of urban areas, preparing financial system for greater inclusion and increased global integration besides facilitating private investment in infrastructure, he said "we must not be complacent." He said rapid growth was needed to provide hope and productive employment for millions of young people joining the labour force each year and to accelerate the reduction of extreme poverty. The Prime Minister said it was heartening to note that growth process that began with the external sector and services, has now spread to manufacturing. Reiterating concern over the agriculture sector, Singh said agriculture would have to be redirected to higher-value activities to provide decent income to small farmers. Improved rural connectivity and economic and social infrastructure would be critical in this effort as well as removal of barriers to domestic trade, he said. Prime Minister also called upon the states to "experiment with a range of models" for delivery of basic education and health services considering affect on poor people. Referring to important but "expensive business" of urbanisation, he said, "our competitiveness as a nation will increasingly depend on the efficient functioning of our cities." Our challenge is to modernise the governance of our cities so they can generate the resources for their own growth and attract private financing in a stable environment, Singh remarked. Apparently referring to stiff opposition of Left parties against opening of financial sector. Prime Minister said extending its reach would be crucial for "permitting our small entrepreneurs and producers to realise their potential." "India stands to gain hugely from greater integration of its financial system with that of the • world, in a prudential way," he said. Emphasising on public-private sector partnership in infrastructure sector. Prime Minister called for establishing a credible regulatory regime. Investments will only materialise if there is confidence in the independence and stability of the regulatory regime, he said.

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_India http://eserver.org/courses/fall95/76-100g/papers/mekala/ http://nrega.nic.in/ http://pmindia.nic.in/speeches.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhani http://www.imrbint.com/sector/social_sectors.html http://www.ncaer.org/ Also See

Katar Singh: Rural Development Principles,Policies and Management,Introduction.Sage Publication,London 1986 Douglas Ensminger: Rural India in transition, page 48.All India Panchayat Parishad 1972 --Vipingoyal 13:54, 29 March 2009 (UTC)