Human Development in India - NCAER

12Villages in a Global WorldThroughout this report, we have documented tremendousdifferences in the lives of individuals and households based ontheir geographic location, with rural residents having poorerhealth, education, incomes, and employment opportunities.However, it is also important to note the diversity amongrural residents. Many rural areas have seen rapid integrationinto the global economy while others seem to have beenforgotten. This chapter explores the regional variation in theconnectedness of the villages to the larger world and findsthe differences quite remarkable.Despite rapid urbanization and migration to urban areasin search of employment, according to the 2001 Census,72.2 per cent of Indians continue to reside in villages. As wedocumented earlier, characteristics of communities greatlyinfluence the success of the men, women, and children wholive in them and this has important consequences for humandevelopment. For example, access to roads is important forthe movement of goods and people and for the diffusion ofideas. Electricity access not only helps agricultural productivitybut also increases the efficiency with which people canaccomplish tasks like fetching water, reading, working inthe evening after sun down, and enjoy some leisure throughaccess to television. Similarly, access to schools and healthfacilities ensures an educated and healthy population.The IHDS collected information on 1,454 villagesnationwide through interviews with key informants in eachvillage. 1 These key informants were usually village officials,but the information collected from them was often supplementedwith interviews with other individuals. The surveyfocuses on a variety of dimensions of village life and accessto infrastructure, allowing us to ground the household-basedinformation described in earlier chapters in a contextualperspective. While interpreting these results, caution in makinginterstate comparisons must be exercised because thesample of villages is far more restricted than the sample ofhouseholds. Moreover, large and small villages are weightedequally in the results presented here.This chapter focuses on the following:(1) Village connectivity via road, rail, telephone, and availabilityof electricity and water; (2) The availability of publicservices such as schools and health care, and, (3) The presenceof NGOs and development programmes.VILLAGE CONNECTIVITYAs inclusive growth emerges as the theme for Indian economicdevelopment, it is important to recognize that this inclusiondepends on how well connected the communities are to thewider economy. At its most basic level, this connectivitytakes a physical form: access to electricity, post office,and telephone. Other measures include access to publictransportation and banks. Paved roads are also importantfor connectivity, and our village level data indicates that oneof the most important results of Indian growth seems to bethe development of an extensive network of roads. With theexception of Uttarakhand, most villages in the IHDS sampleseem to have a paved road in, or near the village. However,the geography of the state influences the distance from thenearest town and from the district headquarters. While the1The IHDS surveyed 1,503 villages, but several village questionnaires were incomplete, resulting in 1,454 completed village questionnaires.