Inclusive Rural Development Under Neo-Liberalism and Gandhian Strategy

Abstract

Rural people comprise the vast majority of the population in the developing world and virtually all of them need development that is inclusive. In the poorest and least developed countries more than 90% of the population live in rural areas. South Asia has some of the most densely populated rural areas of the world. No problem is of greater concern in the world today than the poverty. The economic gap between the rich and poor nations is one dimension of this problem. The gap between the urban and rural areas is another and the gaps within the rural areas are yet another. Attacking poverty is at the level of providing food security and not giving access to resources or power or breaking the chains of inequalities and exploitation. Here inclusive rural development assumes the significance. But this should be different from existing notions of rural development. An inclusive view of rural development was reflected in the UN second development decade goals. It equates rural development with the far reaching transformation of the social and economic structures, institutions, relationships and processes in any rural area. It conceives the goals of rural development not simply as agricultural and economic growth in the narrow sense but as balanced social and economic development, with emphasis on equitable distribution as well as creation of benefits. Among the goals are the generation of new employment; more equitable access to arable land; more equitable distribution of income; widespread improvements in health, nutrition and housing; greatly broadened opportunities for all individuals to realise their full potential through education; and a strong voice for all rural people in shaping the decisions and actions that affect their lives. These, of course, are long-range goals, but they provide the guidelines for shorter-range actions and the framework for rural development strategies. (Coombs: 1974)