“If ideas and capital move, even if people don’t move, we will reach a stage where we will forget the rural-urban divide,” Professor Abhijit Sen, Member, Planning Commission, Government of India, said in his inaugural address at the 4th National Rural Development Summit – Rural Services – the NEXT Growth Enabler, organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry at New Delhi on October 17, 2012. According to him, while there is an understanding of what ‘rural’ India means, there is no real definition of it. To truly understand rural India, one needs to go beyond the census yardsticks and take note of the changes that have occurred in the last ten years. Notable amongst these, he said, have been increased connectivity, higher enrolment in and completion of school education and the spread of cellphones across rural India. These have, in some measure, changed the face of ‘rural’ India, taking it beyond the commonly-held definitions. Additionally, the focus should be on connectivity and innovative ideas for rural development, he said while concluding his inaugural address. This was the first of its kind initiative undertaken by CII with a focus on services in the rural sector and its importance for enabling growth in rural India. The Summit positioned services as the next frontier which holds huge potential for employment and income generation for rural India.
Deeply appreciative of CII organizing this Summit, Mr S Vijay Kumar, Secretary, Department of Rural Development, Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, said that there is no conflict between industrialization and rural development, and both are part of the same process. He said while India was growing faster than several countries in these trying times, the country needed to fare better on the Human Development Index, for which inclusive growth was a prerequisite. He spoke of the various Government initiatives in this direction, adding that “social mobilization is key to inclusive growth.”
Earlier, in his welcome address, Mr Subodh Bhargava, Past President, CII, & Chairman, CII National Council on Development Initiatives and Chairman, Tata Communications Ltd, said that the importance of rural India need not be overemphasized, and that CII has been working very closely with industry and the Government to integrate rural India into the larger economic growth story. That, he stressed, could be achieved by creating robust, well-integrated and value-adding growth chains in the rural sector. Industry should look at rural India, not just as a market, but as a “source” of value-added capabilities. Elaborating further, he said there is a need as well as scope for development of focused and specialized services in the rural economy across all the value chains engaged in both farm and off-farm activities.
Mr T. Vijaykumar, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, said that a shift in paradigm was required, where the focus should not be on the ‘Fortune at the bottom of the pyramid,’ but should rather be on creating ‘Fortune for the bottom of the pyramid.’
The discussion at the Summit focused on the opportunities and the potential of the service sector in and for rural India. The thrust areas for the deliberations were Agriservices, Finance, Health, ICTeS, with a running theme of the skill requirements for these sectors to enable growth of services in rural India.
New Delhi