Question

‘The features of Rural Economy are peculiar’- Argue.

Answer 1

The Rural economy has very peculiar features which are:

1. Village is an institution: The village is a primary institution and it satisfies almost all the needs of the rural community.
2. Dependence on agriculture: Agriculture and allied activities are the main occupations in rural areas.
3. Life of rural people: Lifestyles in villages are very simple. Public services like education, housing, health and sanitation, transport and communication, banking, roads, and markets are limited and unavailable.
4. Population density: The density of the population is very low and houses are scattered in the entire villages.
5. Employment: There exists unemployment, seasonal unemployment, and underemployment in rural areas.
6. Poverty: According to the 2011 – 12 estimates about 22 crores of people in rural areas live below the poverty line.
7. Indebtedness: Sir Malcolm Darling stated that an Indian farmer is born in debt, lives in debt, dies in debt, and bequeaths debt.
8. Rural income: As the rural economy is not sufficiently vibrant to provide them with jobs or self-employment opportunities the income of the rural people is constrained.
9. Dependency: Rural households are dependent on social grants and remittances from family members working in urban areas and cities.
10. Dualism: Dualism means the co-existence of two extremely different features which are the common characteristics in a rural area.
11. Inequality: The distribution of income, wealth, and assets is highly skewed among rural people.
12. Migration: Rural people are forced to migrate to urban areas to seek employment which gives rise to the formation of cities. Enmity and lack of basic amenities in rural areas also push the people to migrate. This is called double poisoning by Schumacher.