Rural Development is the right answer for unemployment

“The future of India lies in its villages” - The words of our father of the nation.

Honorable chairperson, respected judges, teachers, parents and my dear friends. I wish you all a very good day.

Today, I am here to strongly support the motion that, “Rural development is the right answer for our unemployment”.

My very first argument is, there are certain procedures to transform a human into a human resource. Investments like education, healthcare, infrastructure and so on, should be provided at the right time for better results. This renovates the large population from a burden to an asset. Don’t you think my friend, that all these pre requisites for development are elusive to the rural population? Unless steps are taken to develop them, how will they be equipped for professional panache? Isn’t it inevitable to usher in the concept of rural development to tackle unemployment?

My worthy opponents were claiming that maintaining the traditional agricultural role of the countryside is essential. In a world where technology is changing in leaps and bounds, I strongly feel that we should instead encourage the countryside to modernize. The idealized vision of rural communities blissfully living together and passing down age old traditions from one generation to the other is long dead. The villagers of today demand jobs and are more than thrilled to be offered one in large-scale production farms or one of the livelihood diversification schemes. Far from being able to support others, subsistence farmers can hardly feed themselves and their families. Exploitation of small plots of land has long proven to be inefficient and in some cases even damaging to the environment. Do you still believe that we should continue to hold fast to an absolutely redundant tradition?

Rural life began to change a long time ago, and the process is inevitable. Without rethinking the role of the rural development, we will end up pushing the rural population into a tunnel of continuous poverty they can only escape by migrating to the city. This migration may in end, prove to be even more dangerous. That was my second argument!

Migration of rural masses, into the cities, is tagged with its inherent problems. One, the green gullible individual will be exploited hopelessly, even undermining whatever he has. Unaware of his rights in a strange land, they might be disguisedly employed, only to find themselves in the clutch of an unbreakable network of merciless employers. Second, they may be dragged into the underbelly of the society- the epicenter of crimes-a cinder box waiting to explode. My dear friends, can’t we provide them a secure job, in their own home town, under a reliable employer, with adequate satisfaction and mental peace? And for that, rural development is indeed the right answer.

I think my opponents are misleading us when they state that we should work to protect the countryside from unwelcome change, for I think, we should help the countryside embrace change. There are many ways in which we can help the countryside adapt, yet we also need to accept the fact that any change will be disruptive to some extent. Shock effects, and the negative side-effects that come with them are unavoidable, and can only be circumvented by realizing that change will occur whether we want it or not. And let me also add on, that the rural minds waiting endlessly, for a secure employment will surely welcome this metamorphosis, since they are aware of the opportunities which open up. Change is already here and I feel, we should work with it rather than against it, which was my third argument.

Here is my fourth argument , instead of finding faults with rural development schemes, those initiatives should be applauded! For every example of set-backs, as my worthy opponents have mentioned, there are many examples of the positive impact that investment has on rural communities. One only needs to look at Muhammad Yunus, a micro-credit pioneer from Bangladesh and winner of the Noble Peace Prize, to understand the life changing effect that a credit as small as $9 can have on the lives of rural inhabitants. These credits have opened a world of opportunities and hope for rural inhabitants throughout the world and, more importantly, have helped set free their creativity and entrepreneurship. Micro-credit has given the world community a lesson in small-scale management, perseverance and the much needed, financial success.

I would like to submit my fifth argument. There is an underlying chorus that rural communities provide a valuable safety net of agriculture in the times of crisis. My stand is that, modernization of the countryside does not mean that the village cannot continue to serve an important role as a social buffer in times of crisis. It means that it might be able to offer a lot more: an alternative to city living that could attract people not just in the times of crisis. Resisting change means rural areas will continue their plunge into poverty and only reinforce the unfortunate wastage of potent economic reserves.

Tourism, heritage, art forms, music, festivals are some of the arenas which beam out a ray of hope for India’s rural population. The constructional works much needed for infrastructure calls for a need of both skilled and unskilled workers. Rural development can throw some light into an otherwise bleak future of our rural population. If my opponents still state that rural development has an insignificant role to play, I beg to differ. The line that bifurcates the rural from urban is thick and broad as ever. It is our responsibility to erase it forever. So let’s revive the spirits of rustic life, with prosperity- a much assured result of rural development.

Therefore, let me conclude by strongly supporting the motion that “rural development is the right answer for our unemployment”

--Thank you--