Rural infrastructure needs for poverty alleviation

Every one out of four persons in India is suffering from poverty and hunger. However, majority of the poor live in rural India. If the economic capabilities of the poor are to be effectively advanced, the focus has to be on infrastructure development and on employment generating schemes for the target groups. Our past experience shows that the rural infrastructure development programmes and employment generating schemes undertaken in India lack coordination among the stakeholders, have a fragmented approach, and are grossly under-budgeted. Besides, the construction quality of the rural roads, rural go downs and other rural infrastructures in India is extremely poor. No attention is paid to structural design aspect and safety norms, while carrying out rural infrastructure development works. This paper discuses how rural India is ill equipped to face any challenge.