Indian government has taken a special initiative to develop rural infrastructure. It is called 'Bharat Nirman' (Building India). You can find more information about this imitative from the website of this project. From the website, I am giving you the major goals of this project:
“ Roads
Provide road connections to +38,484 villages above 1000 population and all 20,867 habitations above 500 population in hilly and tribal areas.
Telephone Connections
Provide telephone connection to 66,822 number of villages without a telephone and replace presently dysfunctional systems.
Irrigation
Create 1 crore hectare of irrigation potential. 6 million hectare from major and medium projects, 3 million hectare for ground water development and 1 million hectare for minor irrigation projects.
Water Supply
Cover of 55,067 uncovered habitations. Provide additional coverage to 2.8 lakh habitations that have slipped back from full coverage. Provide potable water in 2,16,968 villages affected by poor water quality
Housing
Provide 60 lakh houses at the rate of 15 lakh houses each year to be built by funds allocated to the homeless through Panchayats.
Electrification
Provide electricity to 1,25,000 villages by grid based supply or in remote and inaccessible areas through alternative technologies.”
Indian Prime Minister has called upon the state governments to give more importance to the development of rural areas. I am quoting from a report of the Financial Express:
“Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the state governments should lay more emphasis on integration of rural India with economic development of the country by focusing on agriculture, drinking water and electrification of villages.
Expressing concern over current growth rate of agriculture at the inaugural session of a two-day conclave of Chief Ministers of 14 Congress-ruled states, he asked the states to make special efforts to ensure that schemes chalked out under Bharat Nirman programme for uplift of rural India were effectively implemented.”
Well, millions of villagers are still deprived of the basic facilities like safe drinking water, treatment and electricity. If India really wants to become a major power even in Asia, Indian government needs to address this problem more seriously.
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