BEING FAMILIAR WITH THE NEW WORD "RURBAN"

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is gearing up to launch the latest social sector programme: to bridge the gap between the cities and the villages on infrastructure.

The Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban (rural-urban) mission was announced last year to replace the UPA government’s PURA (provision of urban amenities in rural areas) initiative. The programme, lifted straight out of Gujarat, will focus on creating community assets and improving basic infrastructure such as roads, shelter, power and drinking water in rural belts. At the micro level, the scheme will ensure building of internal roads, sewerage and drainage infrastructure. For larger infrastructure, like quality schools and colleges, health centres, etc, the government will adopt a cluster development strategy. Skill development will be a core area of the Rurban mission.

Today literacy is becoming a major concern among rural INDIA than it was some 10 years ago. Small towns are also establishing educational institutes and technical schools and colleges. This demonstrates a strong desire for upward mobility among small town residents. Many children today are seeking private education. The rate of literacy is increasing faster in rural INDIA  than it is in urban INDIA indicates how serious villagers are to better their lives.

Also census have shown that 18 new cities with over a million people have emerged. Not only are the cities touching the million mark but are also assuming serious urban characteristics. In these aspiring big cities, a proportionately higher number of white collar jobs are coming up than in full-blown megalopolises. Many of the small towns were villages till yesterday and have broken with their official status as 'rural' only recently. This makes a large number of 'rurbanites' autochthones and they are joined by a large number of migrants from villages.

Many small towns with a population of about 1,00,000 have beauty parlours and gymnasiums, Pizza Hut outlets and ATM machines. They also have a number of English-medium schools and management and technical institutes. As a matter of fact, it is hard not to find them even in slightly larger villages. This explains why graduates from rural areas tend to prefer small towns to the metros.

Hence to sum it up, it is interesting to see the transformations INDIA is going through and hope that it soon achieves it mark of coming out to be a developed nation.

"IMAGINE with all your mind, BELIEVE with all your heart, ACHIEVE with all your might."