Long Road to Thriving Rural India

India’s rural transformation risks stalling without urgent recalibration.

With 65 percent of its population residing in villages heavily dependent on agriculture, India's path to sustainable development is inextricably tied to fortifying its rural foundations. Successive governments have recognised this, placing rural welfare schemes at the heart of policy. Among them, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act stands as a critical pillar for livelihood generation. Complementing this, the Ministry of Rural Development has pursued a range of initiatives designed to drive holistic progress and lay the groundwork for a thriving countryside.

The 2011 Socio-Economic Caste Census, released in 2015, exposed a stark rural housing shortage of 4.03 crore homes. In response, the government launched the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana–Grameen (PMAY-G) in 2016, aiming for "Housing for All" by 2022, coinciding with India’s 75th year of independence. Phase one targeted the construction of 1 crore houses by 2019, while phase two aimed for another 1.95 crore houses by 2022. Beneficiaries were promised Rs.1.2 lakh per unit in plains and Rs.1.3 lakh in hilly areas, alongside an optional Rs.70,000 housing loan subsidised at three percent.

Progress was initially brisk. Yet the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the pace, necessitating extensions: first to 2024, and more recently to 2029. As of January 2025, 2.71 crore houses have been completed despite persistent bureaucratic and political hurdles. Problems such as lack of awareness among beneficiaries, land shortages, mismanagement of funds, and permanent migration have hindered completion rates. Several state governments, notably Assam, Bihar, and Maharashtra, introduced financial aid programmes to support land acquisition. Meanwhile, the Parliamentary Standing Committee recommended multi-storey housing options to overcome land scarcity, but uptake remains sluggish. An audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General in 2023 uncovered misrepresentations in construction progress, including duplicated photographs and unrelated imagery. Recommendations for tighter controls and enhanced financial support were made in 2023 and 2024, but await implementation.

Reliable, all-weather road connectivity is another cornerstone of rural development. The Prime Minister Gram Sadak Yojana, initiated under Atal Bihari Vajpayee, sought to connect eligible rural habitations. The scheme's five verticals focus on linking villages of different sizes, upgrading major link roads, consolidating market connectivity, reaching Left Wing Extremism-affected areas and building roads for Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups under the PM-JANMAN programme.

By January 2025, PMGSY had achieved 93 percent of its ambitious 8.33 lakh kilometre target, connecting 1.61 lakh habitations. Yet progress under RCPLWEA and PM-JANMAN remains slow, hampered by law-and-order challenges and inhospitable terrain.

Road maintenance, handled first by contractors and later by state governments, is now monitored through the digitised e-Marg system, which tracks 3.36 lakh kilometres of rural roads. Nonetheless, maintenance funding remains vulnerable to political whims and changing state priorities. Encouragingly, PMGSY’s impact has been profound: the National Rural Infrastructure Development Agency noted a 12-percentage-point increase in non-farm employment in connected areas, while a World Bank study credited PMGSY with substantial reductions in rural poverty. Remote and hilly regions, however, continue to lag behind.

Parallel to infrastructure development, financial empowerment has been a priority. The Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana–National Rural Livelihood Mission has sought to reduce rural poverty by strengthening access to financial services and employment generation through Self-Help Groups. The programme has been transformative: by January 2025, 91.75 lakh SHGs, covering 10 crore households, had benefited. SHGs achieved a remarkable 98 percent loan repayment rate in 2022, supported by government grants and priority lending from nationalised banks.

The Deendayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana complements this by offering placement-linked skill training. Between 2016 and 2024, it trained 13.95 lakh youths, of whom 9.53 lakh secured employment. Yet recent operational challenges have prompted the ministry to plan revamps to enhance effectiveness.

Social security remains a crucial plank through the National Social Assistance Programme, which supports vulnerable groups such as the elderly, widows, and the disabled. COVID-19 prompted increases in benefits, particularly for women and the elderly. Though complaints persist over irregular payments and occasional inclusion of ineligible beneficiaries, studies confirm NSAP’s role in rural upliftment.

The government’s emphasis on digitisation, particularly through Direct Benefit Transfers to Jan-Dhan Accounts, has yielded a globally lauded model of efficiency. Yet, fundamental challenges threaten to blunt momentum. The continued reliance on 2011 census data is increasingly anachronistic, failing to capture India’s rapid rural transformation. To sustain the Viksit Bharat mission and realise a genuinely inclusive rural renaissance, an expedited census and recalibration of schemes is not just advisable but imperative.

(The author is a Chartered Accountant with a leading company)