Why Rural India is important (for policy makers, business country as a whole)?

The word Rural has no specific definition and it depends upon the perceptions of the people. Different people differentiate or mark rural area in accordance to their priorities. It is measured by the parameters leading to underdevelopment or unawareness. It can deal with different sectors and is not specific to any area of work. The Rural area for a policy maker may be one but the same area from the point of view of a businessman might not be underdeveloped. This is the reason, the word ‘Rural’ cannot be defined and it doesn’t hold any concrete definition.
When we talk about development it basically deals with the quality of life of the people. Development of a country is measured by the HDI index that takes into account parameters like life expectancy, literacy and the standard of living of its citizens. And in a country with such a large population living below this standard needs to concentrate more on the rural areas to bring about an inclusive growth & development.
Rural has become a very important area to be focussed upon because of many reasons. It acts as major source of man power, resources, opportunities etc. There is a large force of underdeveloped people. There is a need to enlighten them and make them aware about different things and then they can be helpful to the country as a whole in many ways. Again, there is abundance of resources available in rural areas. But the proper utilization of those is not done. And therefore it needs to be worked upon. Rural area also contributes in the production process. It is a source of major producer. It has a large number of work forces and availability of resources. Also, due to its backwardness and high population it can actually be a source of major consumers.
India has a very high population residing in rural area. Today, the focus of market has shifted to rural India. Rural India seems to have a multiplier effect as looked upon by the business leaders. They feel that the area possess immense potential which would help in the overall economic growth. For the business tycoons, the area gives them a lot of opportunities to introduce & market their products. After exploring the urban areas where the saturation level has reached, they need to explore a new and unexposed area where they can spot and create a new lot of consumers. It would help them spread their business and increase the profitability. With increase in the number of consumers, the price of the product would decrease which finally would lead to further increase in the number of consumers. Thus, rural India is very significant for the purpose of business in todays world.

However, the purchasing power of the rural people should be decent for a business to prosper. This requires the generation of a fair amount of income by the people. And this is the area where the policy makers need to work upon. Government should make plan and schemes that would help the people of rural areas with their job or create other non-conventional job opportunities. Schemes like e-choupal, mobile sms service etc helps the farmers in getting information related to weather forecast and crop data. Other schemes like NGREGA, Swarnjayanti Gram Swarojgar yojana etc helps the people to shift to non-farming jobs. Technological advancement and its high penetration in the rural areas help the policy makers and implementers to connect with the people and introduce them to the modern world. For example, rural ATMs with in-built biometric authentication help the illiterate masses to avoid the otherwise cumbersome time taking process. It also helps in financial inclusion and thereby improving the local economy. This would also lead in the reduction of the income disparities. Other initiatives like PMGSY help in improving the infrastructure of the area. These attempts help the government modernizing and developing the rural areas. It also proves effective in administering land revenues. These developments help the central government to reach remote areas and gain location-specific information for disaster management. Managing and developing a high percentage of these rural people will overall affect the economy and growth of the country. Again, rural India can be a pilot study for the policy makers to check the feasibility and durability of their project. It can help them in the study and research process. It will help the government to get along with the diversity of India. It would also deal with the problem of migration. These are the reasons that rural India has become so important for the policy-makers.
As seen from the perspective of the whole country, developments in the rural area will add to the overall development of the country. For example, our industries need to employ literate labour force. But most of the people residing in rural areas are illiterate. So the need of the hour is that to increase the education level, developments in these sectors are needed. These things would also improve the agriculture, which is carried on in villages. It would make the local governments strong and would help in dealing with the judicial and legal proceedings. Again, demographic and health scenario in those areas are also of a grave concern. Knowledge on nutrition and hygiene standard would help the rural people contribute to the progress of the nation as a whole. Awareness among the people would help them deal with ecological problems. It would also help in the empowerment process which is a necessity. It would help in treating the gender imbalance. Issues like domestic violence, patriarchy would reduce. They would also be aware about their rights and freedom. This would help them take stand for themselves. Again, focussing on rural areas would help in the skill development of the people. Building up self-reliance among the people would reduce their dependency and exploitation. It would increase the choices available thereby leading to the growth of the people and their quality of living. Thus, concentrating on rural India would bring about an inclusive development in the country and would help deal with many problems and diversities.
On a whole, it can be said that rural India has become an important entity. It is the area on which lots of work has to be done and then it can add to the progress of our country. There are so many reasons demonstrating that rural India is full of potential. By using the managerial and strategic skills, if rural India is focussed upon, the potential there can be made into use which would help bring about an overall growth. Thus, rural India holds a lot of significance.