The SECC data on rural households have been released by the central government. Those who have some experience of village life may not be surprised at the findings. One simple conclusion is that there is massive poverty in the rural India. There are no jobs and most of the rural poor do manual labour to survive. Most of them live in mud houses without basic amenities. Agriculture which was the backbone of India once does not provide sustenance to the vast rural population at present.
The economic development has remained largely an urban phenomenon. When the figures of the urban households are released there may be further shocks. The wide-spread use of subsidies to the poor has not lifted them from poverty and unemployment. There is a need to relook at the whole spectrum of economic development. Massive investment is required in the rural sector to make a dent in the poverty scenario.
Part of the blame for the economic stagnation must lie on certain social activists, politicians and NGOs. They have opposed almost all the developmental projects thus keeping the poor, poor. Without industries, without infrastructure projects like railways, roads, waterways, employment cannot be generated. Sometimes judicial interventions have delayed projects.
A petition may be admitted without giving a stay. There is a need to put a break on the ‘agitation for the sake of agitation’ behaviour of certain groups. Stalling various developmental projects not only harms the present generation but the future generations as well.
