Rural India

On the other side of the media world, the one we call Rural, life is changing faster than ever. In my recent visit to the interiors of MP I encountered diverse truths, a few that you all would agree with but never talk about and others that would be termed as surprises.

But you must be wondering, what a girl like me (I could go ahead and use more adjectives for myself but I guess most of you are aware of the "Me" I'm talking about) was doing in the lush green villages of India. Well I work with Intellect and we have our Rural Fact Finder (our eyes in the rural area) called the Bharat Barometer. I was out there to gather the ground realities of our own product and make sure alls working well. And I could not help but observe the rural and I must say I'm charmed with the rapid change.

I drove to villages where the population varied from 2000 to 6000 and in my entire journey I barely came across a KUTTCHA road. I was told this is the result of the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (after all our government does work). And guess what, electricity is no longer a scarcity. They receive about 8 hours of electricity in small installments across the day and about 12 hours a day in the peak season (harvesting season). These villagers are well-aware of the latest news around. Be it movies or new songs or new programmes on TV. Needless to say that atleast 3 out of every 10 homes have DTH and back there it sure is a matter of status to have one. The children (12-18 years) are highly aspirational as compared to their urban counter parts. Though all villages have schooling only till the 5th grade, most children want to continue studying.

However, what still remains unchanged is their source of income. They are very much dependent on farming. I came across two distinct classes of villagers, laborers & farmers (land owners). Laborers earn anywhere between Rs. 30 - 60 a day (to my mind it's a meager amount considering the number of mouths to feed, yet sufficient). On the other hand farmers earn a heavy sum on sale of their produce. A thought came to my mind, what do these villagers do with the money? My curiosity got the better of me and I inquired amongst villagers. The labor class spent all the money earned on the basic necessities. The farmers invest in agricultural equipments, cattle, fertilizers, high quality seeds, purchasing additional land and after this if money is left, they lend to fellow villagers. The concept of bank accounts/savings account is heard of but not popular.

Talking about earnings and investments, the most difficult things to tell in the rural areas (unlike urban areas) is the difference between a well-to-do and not-so-well-to-do person. The PUCCAest