This document discusses socio-economic factors of rural development. It defines rural development as a process to improve the well-being of people living in rural areas. Key factors that affect rural development include social factors like demographics, traditions, and leadership as well as economic factors like resource availability, infrastructure, and financial support. Rural development is important for national development as most of India's population lives in rural areas and increased agriculture can reduce dependence on imports.

1. Aarti Singh, Birsa Agricultural University
Socio-economic factors of rural
development
Aarti Singh
M.Sc, Forestry
Session - 2015-16
Roll no - 10 1

2. Aarti Singh, Birsa Agricultural University
Outline
• Rural development
Rural areas
Definition of rural development
Objectives and benefits of rural development
Indicators of rural development
• Factors of rural development
Social factors
Economic factors
• Importance of rural development
• Summary of the presentation
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3. Aarti Singh, Birsa Agricultural University
Rural areas
• Rural areas are separately settled places away from the influence of
large cities and towns. Such areas are distinct from more intensively
settled urban and sub-urban areas, and also from unsettled lands or
wilderness, such as forest.
• Rural areas can have an agricultural character, though many rural
areas are characterized by an economy based on cottage industry,
mining, oil and gas exploration, or tourism.
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4. • Rural development is defined as process
in which there is over well being of
people with respect to socio-economic
aspects living in sparsely populated areas
in isolation.
• It is strategy to improve social and
economic life of poor people.
• Rural Development is all about bringing
change among rural community from the
traditional way of living to progressive
way of living. It is also expressed as a
movement for progress.
What is rural development?
Aarti Sing, Birsa Agricutural University
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5. Aarti Singh, Birsa Agricultural University
“Rural Development is a process of change, by which the efforts of
the people themselves are united, those of government
authorities to improve their economic, social and cultural
conditions of communities in to the life of the nation and to
enable them to contribute fully to national programme.”
The United Nations defines
Rural Development as:
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6. Aarti Singh, Birsa Agricultural University
INFA-
STRUCTURE
TECHNO
LOGY
HEALTHEDUCATION
ECONOMY
Benefits of rural development
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7. Aarti Singh, Birsa Agricultural University
Objectives of Rural Development:
To generate
Employment Farm & storage Economical activities
To improve
Health Education Living condition
To build
Infrastructure Public Service Communication
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8. Aarti Singh, Birsa Agricultural University
Factors affecting rural development
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Primary factors:
• Availability and efficient utilization of natural resources
• Production and employment capacities
• Manpower and technology
• Good and responsible leadership
• Basic infrastructure
• Peace and political stability
• Literacy level
• Family size
• Land reform laws
• Religious beliefs and customs

9. Aarti Singh, Birsa Agricultural University
Factors affecting rural development
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Secondary factors:
Geographical location, size of a village, productivity
of land, type of land use, active population,
production areas, proximity to a river, housing
comfort, characteristics of drinking water, productive
fruit areas, cooperativeness, and social
infrastructure investments.

10. Aarti Singh, Birsa Agricultural University
Factors affecting rural development
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These factors can be now sub divided into two sections, viz. social
factors and economic factors:
Social factors
• Active population and demographic dependence
• Provision of services such as, hospitals, schools etc.
• Division of society based on caste and class
• Access to above services
• Religious beliefs and customs
• Traditional way of thinking
• Peace and political stability
• Good and responsible leadership

11. Aarti Singh, Birsa Agricultural University
Factors affecting rural development
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These factors can be now sub divided into two sections, viz. social
factors and economic factors:
Economic factors
• Availability and efficient utilization of natural resources
• Production and employment capacities
• Availability of basic infrastructures
• Manpower and technology
• Land reform laws
• Availability of means of communication and transport
• Financial support from government and NGOs
• Higher agricultural input.
Given social and economic factors will be discussed in the coming
slides.

12. Aarti Singh, Birsa Agricultural University
Social factors
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13. Aarti Singh, Birsa Agricultural University
Social factors
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Demography:
• The density of population and the trends of
population growth hugely affect rural
development.
• Active population and aging population
balance is needed for a sustainable rural
development.
• As population increases pressure to increase
agricultural productivity and also utilization of
natural resources increases.
• Immense use of chemicals to increase the
productivity might help for a short term but
may lead to infertility of agricultural land and
hence hampering the rural development in
long run

14. Aarti Singh, Birsa Agricultural University
Social factors
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Religious beliefs and customs:
• Religious beliefs and customs have mainly
been detrimental to rural development.
• It discourages people from adopting new
technologies
• It discourages people from co-operating
with other community

15. Aarti Singh, Birsa Agricultural University
Social factors
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Traditional way of thinking:
• Traditional farming practices which were
prevalent in olden days are no longer
viable to support today’s population.
• For eg. Burning crops in fields leading to
pollution and loss of fertility in the top
layer of soil
• Using traditional ways of reaping crops
leading to wastage

16. Aarti Singh, Birsa Agricultural University
Social factors
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Division of society based on caste and class:
• Indian society is divided based on caste
and class
• Lower caste people and untouchables are
mistreated and are not given proper
access to resources
• This leads to unequal growth in the social
stratum and is detrimental to the overall
rural development

17. Aarti Singh, Birsa Agricultural University
Social factors
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Good and responsible leadership:
• Every society from ancient times
needs a good leader to lead it in a
right path and keep it together
• Leaders have power vested in by
people to help in development
process
• But, a biased, inactive and
incompetent leader can lead to
destruction of society
• Peace and stability depend heavily
on our leaders

18. Aarti Singh, Birsa Agricultural University
Economic factors
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19. Aarti Singh, Birsa Agricultural University
Economic factors
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Availability and efficient utilization of natural
resources:
• With limited resources to feed a big population
it is important to avail and efficiently utilize
natural resources
• Over utilization of forest resources may lead to
change in local climate patterns, human –
animal conflicts leading to loss of animal or
human lives
• Adoption of water conservation techniques to
conserve water for irrigation and drinking
purposes and lesser dependent on rain

20. Aarti Singh, Birsa Agricultural University
Economic factors
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Means of communication and
transport:
• Produced good in a rural area needs
to be transported to near by markets
• Cost of products will depend not
only on initial input but also on the
transportation cost
• A better means of communication
means better access to latest
technology and weather reports,
which will increase production and
avert any loss due to unwanted
weather conditions

21. Aarti Singh, Birsa Agricultural University
Economic factors
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Land reform laws:
• With a rapid development of our
country new industries, roads,
railway lines etc. are being setup
• It is important to have adequate land
reform laws to protect people from
rural areas
• Lack of these laws may lead to
exploitation of farmers, destruction
of agricultural land, and loss of
livelihood, which will eventually lead
to poverty

22. Aarti Singh, Birsa Agricultural University
Economic factors
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Financial support from government
and NGOs:
• Rural industries are mainly small
scale industries which are supported
by governments and NGOs
• These industry provide employment
and elevate people from poverty
• Financial support to buy fertilizers
and crop seeds from government at
subsidized rates also helps in up-
liftment of poor farmers

23. Aarti Singh, Birsa Agricultural University
Economic factors
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Administrative machinery:
• Efficient administrative machinery
helps in proper implementation of
governmental programs and proper
utilization of budgets
• With a hassle free administrative
machinery people can focus more on
their work rather than administrative
issues
• Some egs. are issuing of ration card,
aadhar card, opening up new bank
accounts etc.

24. Aarti Singh, Birsa Agricultural University
Economic factors
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Geographical location:
• Geographical location of a village plays an
important role in its development
• A place windward side of mountain will
have higher chances of getting rain than a
place on the leeward side of the mountain
• A village in mountainous region will not
have proper means of transport compared
to a village in plains
• Also, the quality of soil depends on the
geographical location

25. Aarti Singh, Birsa Agricultural University
Importance of rural development
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• Rural development is a national necessity and has considerable
importance in India
• 80 percent of our population lives in rural areas and
development of rural areas means development of our country
• Increased contribution of agriculture to Indian GDP will reduce
dependence on foreign exports

26. Aarti Singh, Birsa Agricultural University
Summary
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We learnt the following:
• What is meant by rural?
• What is rural development?
• Factors affecting rural development
• Social factors and economic factors
• Importance of rural development

27. Aarti Singh, Birsa Agricultural University
Thank you!
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