Rural Development

Concept of Rural Development
According to Robert Chambers, Rural Development is a strategy to enable a specific group of people.
It involves helping the poorest among those who seek a livehood in the rural areas to demand and control more of the benefits of rural development. This group includes small scale farmers, tenants and landless.
According to Singh (1999), the term rural development includes over all development of rural areas with a view to improve the quality of life of rural people.
According to World Bank(1975), Rural Development is a strategy designed to improve the socio-economic life of rural poor; as such it involves extending the benefits of development to poorest in rural areas example; small farmers, tenants, landless and other disadvantages group.
The goal of Rural Development cannot be achieved without available infrastructural development, commercialization of agriculture, proper utilization and mobilization of resources inclusive development. Rural Development seeks to alleviates poverty, mass utilization of resources, commercialization of agriculture, food security, creating opportunities, infrastructural development of rural community and modernization of overall society.
Conditions Necessary for Rural Development
1) Technological change and Innovation
* Need to do change in agricultural production
a ) Mechanized agriculture to replace human labor, mechanization would increase the Agricultural productivity
b) Inputs for Green Revolution
* Need to promote use of hybrid seeds, water control(irrigation ), chemicals ( fertilizer, pesticides, insecticides) to increase production.
2) Appropriate Institutional and Government policies
* Government policies should be conductive to small farmers, tenants and landless agricultural laborers.
* Often large landowners have better access to inputs and low interest government loans while small holders turn to money lenders.
* Must create incentives for small farmers. This often means less government intervention.
3) Land reform
* Farm structure and land tenure patterns need to be adapted to increasing food production and promoting benefits of Agrarian society.
* Highly unequal structure of land ownership probably single most important determinant in explaining inequitable distribution of income.
4. Supportive policies
* Need government policies that provides incentives and opportunities and access to needed inputs.
* Must be corresponding changes in rural institutions that control production(bank, money lenders)
* Must be corresponding changes in supporting government services( credit,education,rural trasport and feeder roads)
Objectives of Rural Development
The main objective of Rural Development is improving living standards of rural people by utilizing the easily available natural and human resources.
The other objective of rural development programmer are as follow:
1) Development of agriculture and allied activities.
2) Development of village and cottage industries and handicrafts.
3) Development of socio-economic infrastructure which include setting up of rural banks, co-operative, schools etc .
4) Development of community services and facilities ie; drinking water, electricity, rural roads , health services etc.
5) Development of human resources mobilization.
Importance of Rural Development
1) Improvement in the quality of life of rural people is the important agenda of rural development programme.
2) A country where the number of people living in rural areas , rural development programme is necessary aspect.
3) Rural Development implies both the economic betterment of people as well as greater social transformation.
4) The basic objective of all rural development has been the welfare of millions.
5) With time and experience, it is realized that accelerated and meaningful development can be achieved only if people of the grass root are involved " people's participation " has became keyword in rural development programme.
Rural Development in Nepal
Government of Nepal has tried to adopt rural development approach for the development of rural areas after 1950s by the integrated development program. First rural development program in Nepal was Tribhuvan Village Development Program which mainly focused on the development of agriculture, road, drinking, water, education and health. Different rural development program like rural infrastructure work, rural infrastructure development program, agriculture road program, rural access program, district road support program, poverty alleviation project, Remote and specific area development program, periodic district development plan have been implemented during and after ninth five year plan.

Rural development in Nepal is a complex phenomenon involving an interaction of economic, social, political and cultural factors. The concept of rural development is a process of development and change to improve rural social life entirely. It is linked to infrastructural development, commercialization of agriculture, proper utilization and mobilization of resources, food security, creating opportunities, inclusive social development in the rural community and modernization of overall society. However, achievements of rural development efforts in Nepal are not satisfactory because of imposed development, unstable political situation, absence of people's participation, lack of research and political commitment.