Rural Development

1. Write the meaning of rural development.

Ans. It was a comprehensive program which includes actions and
initiatives taken to improve the standard of living in non-urban
neighborhoods, country side and remote villages.
2. Bring out the key issues in rural development.
Ans. Rural development action mainly aims at the social, economic
development of the backward areas.
-Development of human resources including female literacy,
education, skilled development and public health.
-Land reforms and development of the productive resources of each
locality.
-Infrastructural development includes construction of village roads,
provision of electricity, irrigation, transport etc.
-Introduction of special measures of alleviating the poverty.
3. List out the factors that hinders rural development in India.
Ans. Decline in public investment in agriculture sector since 1991.
-Inadequate agricultural marketing and research facilities.
-Lack of alternate employment opportunities in the industry or
service sector.
4. Give an account of self-help groups or micro credit programs.
Ans. Self-help groups are the non-formal agencies set up for the
empowerment of the rural societies. It has emerged to fill a gap in
the formal credit system because the credit delivery mechanism was
inadequate.
-The self-help groups promote thrift in small proportions by
collecting a minimum contribution from each member. From the
collected money, credit is then given to needy members at
reasonable rates of interest. Such credit provisions are generally
known as micro credit programs.
5. Critically evaluate the role of rural banking system in the process
of rural development in India.
Ans. The institutional structure of rural banking today consists of: -
1) Commercial Banks
2) Regional Banks
3) Cooperative Banks
4) Land Development Banks
-Their objective is to dispense credit at cheaper rates.
-The rapid expansion of the banking system has a positive effect on
farm activities and non-farm activities.
-It helps farmers to get a variety of loans for meeting their
agricultural needs.
-As a result, famines became the event of the past and India
achieved food security.
-However, the performance of the rural banking system is not good
because of the following reasons: -
1) The chronic underperformance of farmers credit institutions
2) Except commercial banks, other formal institutions have failed to
develop a virtue of deposit mobilization.
3) There is a high incidence of willful defaulters among farmers.
6. Define agricultural marketing.
Ans. It is a process that involves assembling, storage, processing,
grading and distribution of agricultural goods across the country.
7. What is the main problem of agricultural marketing at the time
of independence?
Ans. Farmers while selling their products to traders suffered from
faulty weighing and manipulation of accounts.
-Farmers did not have the required information or prices prevailing
in markets and often forced to sell at low prices.
-They did not have proper storage facility to keep surplus produce.
8. Write 4 measures taken by the government to improve
agricultural marketing.
Ans. Regulation of markets to create transparent market conditions.
-This policy benefitted both farmers and consumers.
-The second component is provision of infrastructural facilities like
railways, godowns, warehouses, cold storages and processing.
-The third aspect of the govt. is the initiative to establish cooperative
marketing in order to ensure fair price to their products.
-The fourth element is the policy of instruments like assurance of
minimum support price, maintenance of buffer stock and
distribution system.
9. What are the alternative channels available for agricultural
marketing?
Ans. It has been observed that if farmers can directly sell their
produce the farmers can get the good price to their product and the
consumers also get benefitted of fresh goods therefore govt.
provided facilities to alternative marketing channel. Some of these
examples are: -
1) Ryuthu Bazaar in Andhra Pradesh
2) Uzhavar Sandei in Tamil Nadu
3) Apni Mandi in Haryana
10. What do you mean by diversification of economic activity? Why
do we need it?
Ans. Diversification of productive activity means shifting of
workplace from farm activities to non-farm activities and agricultural
allied activities.
-The need for diversification arises from the fact that there is a
greater risk involved in farming activity due to its seasonal variation
and over dependence on rainfall. Moreover, diversification can
provide sustainable livelihood options to rural people.
11. What do you mean by operation flood?
Ans. Operation flood or white revolution is associated with
production of milk. As a result of operation flood milk cooperatives
are formed in order to collect the milk according the milk according
to different quality and marketed to urban centers.
12. Define the term “Golden Revolution”.
Ans. The mass production of fruits, vegetables and various flowers
due to high investment is known as golden revolution.
13. Bring out the importance of animal husbandry, fisheries and
horticulture.
Ans. Animal Husbandry: -
It means live stock farming system consisting of cattle’s, goats,
poultry, livestock production provides increased stability of income,
food security and nutrition for the family, without disturbing other
food producing activities. It provides and alternative livelihood
option to small and marginal farmers including women.
Fisheries: -
After progressive increase in allocation and introduction of new
technology, the development of fisheries has come a long way.
Today, total fish production accounts for 1.4% of the total GDP. Fish
export has increased. It leads to an increase in the participation of
women in fish marketing.
Horticulture: -
India has adopted growing of diverse horticultural crops such as
fruits, vegetables, flowers, medicinal and aromatic plants, spices and
plantation crops. These crops play a vital role in providing food and
nutrition to the society, it addresses the problem of unemployment
and generates more income. Golden revolution has improved
economic conditions of farmers engaged in horticulture.
14. Information technology plays a very important role in achieving
sustainable development and food security. Comment.
Ans. Information technology helps the govt. to predict the areas of
food insecurity by using appropriate software tasks.
-It has a positive impact on the agricultural sector as it spreads
information regarding new technology and its application.
-It helps to predict the prices, weather and soil conditions.
-It also has a potential of employment generation in rural areas.
15. Write the meaning of organic farming.
Ans. Organic farming is a system of farming that restores, maintains
and enhances ecological balance by using organic inputs.
16. Enlist the benefits and limitations of organic farming.
Ans. Benefits: -
-Organic farming offers locally produced and cheap inputs instead of
costlier inputs.
-It helps to generate more income through the exports of organic
food which has a high demand in international market.
-Organically grown food has more nutritional value than chemical
farm products.
-It is a remedy for unemployment as it was labor intensive
techniques.
Limitations: -
-The yield from organic farming is less than chemical farming in the
initial years.
-Organic products have shorter life compared to sprayed products.
-Choice in production of off-season products is limited.
-Inadequate infrastructure creates problems in marketing of organic
products.