The rural life or one can say the real lifestyle of over 600 million Indians, double in size that of the total population of the United States, been left behind in Indian economy? With an incredible growth rate, a rising middle class and booming exports- India rising seems to be the story everywhere! But for one small fact, India is only 400 million, the rest of over 600 million population lives in Bharat- The adobe of rural life.

So has the economic boom , consistent at above 6% GDP since 1995 which contributed 8 lane highways, sea links, metro rails and malls and more malls missed touching the lives of rural India? Has Indian economy forgotten Bharat? Surprisingly the case seems opposite!

Sometime back many business papers called as pink papers published editorials of how to capture the lower end of the Indian economic pyramid, also known as the rural market or rural class. The interesting thing to find here is the robustness of the rural market which excites big-time corporate honchos to plan and design strategies for products which appeal to this segment, while at nano prices.

The best example of Indian economy’s venture here can be seen in the telecommunication sector in particular and the cellular segment in precise. Today India’s rural areas are well connected, nothing like this has ever happened in over 5,000 plus years of our history. The reason the simple word called “focus” which was paid on new technologies which are efficient and a marketing plan for the cheapest call rate in the world at Rs. 1/- . Thus, even the rural India couldn’t resist the temptation to call.

The “Nano effect” may be new in board rooms, but when Ratan Tata decided for a masses car- “The Nano” in short, the focus must have been on the rural India, whose life long ambitious was to buy a Bajaj scoter earlier or a Hero Honda bike now, car seemed to be an unreachable dream for many. In this whole process the World’s largest two wheeler market was born, so did one of the largest second hand car segment- all courtesy the demand in rural India. But if price was a deterrent, then focus on the rural masses- their needs and thinking became the solution. Products like Nano or the cellular segment aren’t generally aimed at the urban class but more for masses in the rural areas.

Politics of economy in the rural side

Some in cities feel that the huge vote bank in rural India dominates the verdict of who’s in or out of power. Then how come the rural side of the spectrum is in misery all the time- that’s a daily question which the opposition, media and the rural masses ask themselves often.

The reality in this case cannot be ignored after 60 years of independence- vast poverty, lack of industries, non-existent essential infrastructure- health, education and otherwise, excessive dependence on agriculture. It seems a daunting task for the masses to emerge with sustainable growth, but the some vital changes or perceived changes are impacting
the rural areas and that to coming from the government. Recently the Jawahar Rozgar Yojana and other such poverty alleviation and employment generation schemes were re-launched with vigor under a new look of NREGS- which guarantees (as far as government is concerned) to provide 100 days or equivalent employment to rural unemployed. Thus the populist policy gave the taste of a welfare state to the rural masses, this in turn has converted into other economic activities of construction of infrastructure, and stamping of rural migration to cities.

With all the populist schemes worth billion dollar which have a positive impact also showed some negative outcomes. In some explanation for price rise of food commodity the theory of poor in rural areas & now able to buy more food grains has been sighted as a problem. Problem or alleviation of this shows how deep and complex relationship exists between Indian economy and the rural lives. Thus a long term sustainable growth strategy which promotes industry through legally acquired land for SEZs as well as modernization of agriculture and the rural infrastructure is needed to fully integrate the millions of Indians of Bharat into the Indian economy.

- Rohit Vaid