What do you mean by rural development? Bring out the key issues in rural development.

Rural Development is the economic and social transformation of the village economy. It focuses mainly on the development of the backward areas of rural India.

The key issues in rural development that needs to be corrected by implementing various initiatives are as follows:

•Poverty: the weaker section of the rural economy survives in substandard living conditions. Care must be taken to provide productive employment opportunities to the people so that their living conditions can be improved.

•Education: literacy, especially for women and children and skill development is a vital issue that needs to be addresses for improving the present and future conditions of rural India.

•Health & Sanitation: due to poverty, most people do not have access to basic sanitation which affects health negatively over time. Initiatives are being taken to provide affordable access to healthcare and sanitation facilities at workplace and homes. Also, education needs to be imparted so that the people have acceptance towards changes in their sanitation systems. For example: Mr. Arunachalam Murugunantham, a social entrepreneur, actually took the initiative of improving sanitation of women during their menstruation period by manufacturing biodegradable sanitary napkins but the acceptance among women of the rural economy is difficult because of lack of education and a blocked mindset.

•Infrastructure: facilities like roads, railways, land needs to be developed. Infrastructure development like electricity, better credit facilities, marketing, transportation, storage, processing units, facilities for agricultural research and extension, etc. are also required for improving living conditions.

•Employment: farming is the major employment of people in villages and since, it is seasonal in nature, the marginal farmers or labourers migrate to urban areas seasonally or permanently or they take credit in the off period to sustain their living conditions and often fall into a debt trap. Thus, they need to be provided with better means to increase productivity of grains and fruits and vegetables and also be given opportunities to diversify non-farm activities like food processing.

•Implementation of Land reforms.