What is Rural Outreach?

What is Rural Outreach? Rural outreach is very important in India as this is where most people live in the country. With India being a country full of diversity, education is very important in order to make sure that rural areas get a chance to fully benefit from development. This blog will explain about what is rural outreach.

Rural outreach can be defined as continuous and comprehensive socio-economic process, attempting to improve all aspects of rural life.

Need for Rural Outreach

The real progress of India did not mean simply the growth and expansion of industrial urban centers but mainly the development of the villages. (BY MAHATMA GANDHI)

• As we known nearly 70% population live in rural areas and in that also One-third rural population live in poverty.
• Also a major problem is that they depend too much on agriculture, its a major source of livelihood in rural areas, has grown at a meagre rate of 2.7% per annum in the last fifty years.
• This rate has decelerated to 2.3% after economic reforms in 1991.

Areas which need fresh initiative for Outreach in Rural India are:

• Development of human resources in Literacy, Skill development, Sanitation etc.
• Land reforms (Land to the tiller, raising productivity)
• Alternate Employment Opportunities.
• Proper Implementation of poverty alleviation programs and raising standard of living through productive employment opportunity.

Need for credit in Rural Outreach

Unavailability of credit is a major concern in rural India. People need credit:

1. To purchase seeds, fertilizers and other inputs.
2. to purchase implements and equipment.
3. To oblique family expenses of marriage, death, religious ceremonies etc.

Source of Rural credit

Important Facts about Rural credit

• India adopted the institutional rural credit approach in 1969.
• The objectives were:

1. To provide adequate credit to farmers at affordable interest rate.
2. To assist small and marginal farmers in raising their output and income.

What is cooperative credit?

To liberate the peasantry from the clutches of moneylenders and provide cheaper credit.

What is land development banks?

Collaterals required. Loans for permanent improvement of lands, repaying old debts and purchasing agricultural implements.

What is regional Rural banks?

Opened in non-credit coverage areas. Provides loans to small and marginal farmers, agricultural labourer , artisans etc.

What is commercial bank credit?

Played significant role after nationalization of banks in 1969.

What is government loan?

Lend during emergency or distress, like floods, famines etc. at nominal interest rates.

What is NABARD?

The Apex bank it coordinates the functioning of different financial institutions and working for expansion of rural credit.

• Established in1982. Fully owned by government of India.
• Its objective is to strength functioning of rural credit.
• It does not provide credit directly to people.
• It also provides financial assistance to non-farm sector, to promote integrated rural development.

What is self help group (sgh)?

It uses the money pooled through small contributions by members to give credit to needy members, which is repaid in small instalments.

• By march end 2003, more than 7 lakh SGH had been credit linked.
• They have helped in women empowerment.
• There were 6 core women members in total 54 lakh women SGHs in the year 2019.

Now lets talk about problem faced by Rural banking:

1. Insufficient total volume of credit.
2. Agriculture default rates have increased.
3. Inadequate coverage of institutional credit.
4. Small and marginal farmers have been overlooked.

What is agricultural marketing system?

Agricultural marketing is a process that involves the assembling, storage, processing, transportation, packing, grading and distribution of different agricultural commodities across the country.

Some reasons for exploitation of farmers

In the pre-independence period, farmers faced

• Faulty weighing and manipulation of accounts.
• Lack of information on prices.
• Lack of storage facilities.
• Lack of transport facilities.
• Huge loan

Some few measures taken by government to improve agricultural marketing in India in 2022

• Regulation of markets to create orderly and transparent marketing conditions.
• Improvement of physical infrastructure facilities.
• Cooperative marketing.
• Assurance of minimum support prices (MSP) for 24 agricultural products.
• Maintenance of buffer stock of wheat and rice by FCI ( Food Corporation Of India).
• Distribution of food grains and sugar through public distribution system(PDS).

These measures aim to protect the income of the farmers and to provide food grains at a subsidized rate to the poor.

Emerging alternate marketing channels

• Selling of agricultural products directly to consumers. Ex- Apni Mandi ( punjab, haryana and rajasthan), Rythu Bazars (Andhra Pradesh and Telengana ) etc.
• Contracts between farmers and several national and multinational companies.
• Assured procurement, supply of seeds and other inputs.

Now lets discuss diversification of agriculture in India

Their is greater risk in depending only on agricultural income. Agriculture diversification provides:

• Supplementary gainful employment.
• Higher and stable income.

Diversification includes-

• Diversification of crop production.
• Diversification of productive activities.

Diversification of crop production

Change in cropping pattern.

• From food grains to cash crops. From subsistence farming to commercial farming.
• Adopting multi-cropping system.

Diversification of productive activities

Shift of workforce from agriculture to other allied activities (Poultry, Fisheries etc.) and Non-Agricultural sectors (Leather industries, tourism, handlooms, crafts, pottery etc. )

It would provide alternative avenues of sustainable livelihood and would raise the level of income.

What is horticulture?

• It includes fruits, vegetable, flowers, medicinal and aromatic plants, spices etc.
• Provides food, nutrition and employment (One-Fifth of labour force).
• Contributes nearly one-third of value of agriculture output.
• It accounts for 6% of GDP of India.

What is information technology?

• The branch of engineering that deals with the use of computers and telecommunications to collect, save and transmit information.
• It enable government to predict areas to food insecurity and vulnerability.
• It helps agriculture sector by circulating information regarding emerging technology, prices, weather, soil conditions etc.

Final Thoughts

Rural Outreach in India is a movement of people coming together to help the people in India. It is a movement of people who are living below the poverty line in India who are in dire need of access to basic needs such as clean drinking water, food, and healthcare.

It provides education, healthcare, and economic opportunities to the rural communities. It helps to improve the lives of the rural people by providing them with the skills to overcome their challenges. It has been implemented in numerous locations in India and has been a success.

We hope you enjoyed our blog on What is Rural Outreach? We know that some of our readers may not know much about this organization, so we wanted to share with you our past and present experiences with Rural Outreach in India. If you would like to learn more about this noble cause or find out how to support the organization, please visit our website at EduKar.

Thank you for reading, we hope you found our article to be informative and helpful!