Recap

Rural Development — key takeaways

• What it means — Rural development is a comprehensive term for a plan of action to develop rural areas that are lagging behind in socio-economic development, covering human resources, land reforms, local productive resources, infrastructure and poverty alleviation.
• Infrastructure — There is a need to improve both the quantity and quality of rural infrastructure, including banking, marketing, storage, transport and communications, so the sector can realise its true potential.
• Credit and marketing — Institutional credit (through NABARD, commercial banks, RRBs, cooperatives, land development banks and Self-Help Group micro-credit) and organised marketing (regulated markets, infrastructure, cooperative marketing and policy instruments like MSP, buffer stocks and the PDS) are essential supports, though private trade still dominates and rural banking has weaknesses to fix. …